Variety (Jan 1949)

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28 ItADIO Wednesday, January 26, 1949 Revamping of FCC Into Panel System May Land in Scrap Heap Washington, Jan. 25. the Federal Communications mission, reported, to. have been ready for adoption a week ago, seems to have hit a snag and may not come off at all; : Plan, which involves setting up a panel of three commissioners to handle radio and television broad- cast matters, has been discussed by the Commission in executive Com. I Detroit WJBK Spreads Self in New Quarters Detroit, Jan. 25. Another step toward the expan- sion of WJBK and WJBK-TV, De- troit, was accomplished last week witli the occupation of compleitely new studios and offices atop De^ troit's Masonic Temple Building. Included in the sixth floor plans (now completed) -are executive sessions, rather than in regular offices of WJBK-AM, WJBK-FM and WJBK-TV; two large AM meetings with Staff heads. The sup- posedly "secret" proceedings^ re- ports have it, were held to prevent leaks-^^and leaks are exactly what occurred. From various quarters in the Gommission the story has been traveling that FCC chairman Wayne Coy is being pressured into the reorganization by one of the Commissioners^ Edward M. Web- ster, who wants to be relieved of broadcast chores to give more time to his baby: the special: and safety services which use radio for a mul- titude of industrial, municipal, Federal, public utility, and mis- cellaneous purposes. Webster, whose term expires Jtine 30 of this year, is said to have made it plain that unless the plan is. carried out he's not inte^ ested in another term. Reports vary as to whether Webster issued a straight ultimatum, or expressed himself in more subtle ways. But there is little doubt Coy would like to keep him on. The panel system appears to have evoked no great enthusiasm in the Commission, and it has eveiK been suspected that the leak was 1 a deliberate step to get the plan out into the open where parties concerned-rand possibly the Dem- ocratic leaders—might have some- thing to say about it. For one thing, the projected broadcast ivanel would be composed of two Republicans (Hyde and Sterling> and one Democrat < Hennoek). In the absence of a member. Chair- man Coy, a Democrat, would ftll in. Coolness to the panel arises from doubts as to its overall value to the Commission as a time-saver. If the right of appeal to the full i Commission is granted on panel ac- tions—which lawyers will demand, since one vote may be decisive in many cases—not only, would little time be saved by the system but greater complications might result. For tills reason there is sentiment to give the panel the equivalent authority of the full Commission, with appeals allowed only to the courts. Further, the panel system would not relieve thitfull Commission of various major functions which now take up a large part of its time^ These involve ipllpcations of fre- quencies for the various- radio serv-j ices, hearings and arguments on adoption of new rules, and general administrative policy matters. AVCO May Waiting Period On Station Sale Takes Another Beating studios for: dramatic and musical productions; two AM control rooms; two.specially designed tele- vision studios containing the latest, in General Electric TV equipment; TV studio control room and TV master control room. The seventh floor, also to be used for television: productions,: was originally de- signed as a studio theatre with a | capacity of 1,200 seats. ^ ^ In addition to the daily "program-! i ming from two networks (CBS and DuMont) being seen on WJBK-TV via Channel: 2, plans are being made for television shows of local origin to be produced, in the , Ma-'; sonic Temple studios. -Included-iii these will be the "Gentile and Binge TV Frolic," a weekly half- hour comedy show, and an entirely new type TV show starring WJBK's disk jockey, Jack the Bell- boy. ALIAS "SUE CARSON" PALMO FULLER Palmo is the "Sue Carson" of KLZ's popular afternoon partici- pating stanza, "Budget Brigade." She mixes recipes and household hints with guests such as Lon Mc- Allister; Donald Duck and Donald Woods'. She's also a veteran on KLZ's writing staff. KLZ, Denver WKOB First GI Station Casualty Washington, Jan': 25. First GI casualty in the radio station business occurred Saturday (22) when WKOB, North Adams, Mass., a daytime 250-watter, shut up shop and notified the FCC it was surrendering its license. It was understood a bankruptcy peti- tion will foUoW; : Negotiations to assign the station to a new owner, who was to assume a large part of the liabilities, to- taling about $40,000, collapsed re- cently. Assets were said to be about $20,000. Iltatipa was, started about 18. months ago by, George W. Fisher, John T. Ward, Jr.; E. B. Cureton, Jr., and Joseph R. Trott, Jr., all veterans, who procured a GI bank loan and borrowed additional sums from friends and relatives. Failure of the operation was ascribed to Inefficient management, due to inexperience, and lack :of cooperation among the partners. There is a fulltime station in North Adams, a town of about 23,000. Bob Hope's Edge Vs. Crosley in Bid For WHAS Buy Washington, Jan. 25. i wmca WOV : Questions were raised by the | yj-amJ wrrn ' FCC yesterday-(24) as to qualifica- tions of old line broadcasters to purchase Louisville Courier-Jour- nal radio and televi.sion properties. Result is that Bob Hope's bid to buy the 50kw WHAS, its FM af- filiate and TV construction permit appeared to have the edge. Hope, under the corporate name of Hope Productions, recently matched the $1,925,000 price of- fered by Crosley Broadcasting Co., the : original purchaser-applicant, via the 60-day AVCO procedure in which other bidders may put in at the . same price and terms; Also competing, for the package is the Fort Industry Co. In 'an order yesterday (Mon.) .scheduling a hearing on the bids for Feb. 28 in Washington, FCC said that in considering the, three purchase applications on their merits it was unable to determine that Crosley is best qualified. It therefore, designated that the three applicants be heard on issues in- volving technical, financial, legal and other qualifications required in the public interest to operate the outlets. One of the issues raised is the' extent to which Crosley's 50kw clear channel Cincinnati outlet, WLW, spills over into the area; covered by WHAS, ,also a clear channel station. Unless Crosley (Continued on page 42) . N.Y. High School Teachers To Learn Facts of Radio students who often listen to the radio while doing their homework will soon be listening as part of their homework. The assigned dial- ing is expected to result from the course in "American Broadcasting —1949" to teach New York high school teachers the facts of radio. In addition to giving instructors backgrounding in programs which can be used for in-school listening, the course of 15 classes will show the pedagogs how many airers may be assigned profitably, education- wise and entertainment-Wise, for home dialing by students. Sessions will be held on Wednes- day afternoons at 4 p.m., beginning March 2, in studios of WMCA. NAB Prexy Justin Miller and New York School Superintendent 'William Jansen will kick off the series. Ted Cott, WNEW veepee and chairman of: the organizational committee that launched the proj- ect, announced tliat the final three I sessions will be: a workshop ham- I mering-out details: of how radio can j help the schools and vice versa. I Participating with the New York City English Teachers Assn. are WNBC, WCBS, WQXR, WNEW, WMGM, WNYCi WHOM, WQR and WJZ. Execs of these stations and other industry specialists will conduct the classes. Chairman of the teachers group is Milton Zisowitz, of Forest Hills High School, who is accepting ap- plications for enrollment. : Katherine Roche's WGN Bowout After 23 Yrs. Chicago, Jan^ 25; . After 23 years with WGN, Kath- erine Gould Roche is stepping out as station's home management com- mentator, "June Baker." Program, loaded with' sponsors and toprated women's show in Chi area, is being finally been combined into a pub' lie service "network." Plan was announced by Gordon C. Kinney, AG- radio director, following ap- I pirdval :by, the fcowncil^s board of directors. I Sparkplug of project was Ted I Cott, head of NAB's Independent, ! Stations Committee and WNEW, : i rJ. Y., program v.p. Cott gave the replaced Feb. 14 by Virginia Clark ' council the indies' beefs that the using the name of "Virginia i "^t? get the stars and the glory, Drake," and with different format. | while the locals get only a con- si*. V. , . . J ,,r,-,i.T • I fusmg flood of requests for spots.: Miss Roche joined WGN in 1926 i ^ addition, indies get such a wel- to make a statistical report on pro- ter of appeals they- don't know gram preferences. She served as I ^yj,ich to highlight day director of W(3N studios and ; The committee surveyed'the 450 In 1933 started the June Baker pro- ■ in^ieg i„ the NAB, getting more gram. Her future plans alter re- t^an 400 replies in favor of ac- tiremcnt on Feb. 11 include spend- cepting materials and allocations Indies Combine Into Public Service 'Net' Under Advertising Council Aegis Under aegis of the Advertising I ganizations to use indie facilities Council, independent stations have I with specially prepared top qual- ' ity shows and material N. Y. Busses Set For FM Preem . Washington, Jan. 25. Two, and possibly three FM sta- tions: will provide Transit Radio service on N. Y. busses, including music, news, time signals, sports scores-^ahd commercials, TR's na- tional sales manager Frank E. Pel- legrin told the Washington Adver- tising Club here today (Tues.) . ': . Service is schoduled to start soon on Fifth avenue vehicles, Pellegrin said, with the transit companies sharing in the revenue. Because of technical problems, it will re- quire several stations to provide the service. It is not to be used on subways and commuter trains be- cause of their noise. Pellegrin said , the- commercials will follow the National Assn. of Broadcasters' code in length and frequency. Fifty-word spot, he .said, has been found very effective I for "impulse buying" and "remind- I er copy" to householders on their way to and from shopping. Serv- ice starts in D. C- this - week through arrangement with WWDC- FMi local indie, which is revising its daytime format for the bus- riders. Service is now in use in 15 key cities. . Washington, Jan. 25. • FedeiMl Communication Com- mission's AVCO 60-day waiting period station sales, previously un- der attack, was given another "swift kick over the weekend. The Corn- mission was informed that the only case in which a competitive bid was accepted in preference to that of the original purchaser- applicant has fallen flat, with con- siderable loss to the latter. Last October, the AVCO proce- dure was condemned by the Fed- eral Communications Bar Assn. as a "futile" system which only : causes hardship and uncertainty to ; personnel of a station during the 60-day period it must wait for, com- peting bidders to file and for a longer period when hearings are held to consider. oth^r bidders. FCBA, in urging that the system be abolished, had pointed out that the owner of a station doesn't have to accept the: offer of a competitive; - I bidder even though the cornmis- I sion finds the latter's qualifications are better. I In the one case, involving KMED, Medford, Ore., in which a competitive bid was approved over that of the original buyer, the sta- tion owner was unable to come to terms with the "AVCO bidder," with the result that the sale, ap- proval of which was asked nearly three years ago, has still not been consummated. In a letter to the Commission Saturday (22), Courtney, Krieger & Jorgensen, counsel, for the orig^.; inal buyer, Gibson Broadcasting Co,. Said the AVCO procedure has taken up so much time that the extended deadline for purchase of the station has expired. The at- torneys pointed out that the com- peting applicant abandoned his apr plication last August and that a decision handed down by the FCC : last Dec. 8 merely gave the parties "the right to start proceedings all over again in accordance with the so-called AVCO procedure." Since the contract under which, Gibson could purchase the station expired Dec. 31 and 60 days would be required for AVCO, the letter Stated, "the entire sale and trans- fer of this station was. as effec-. tively denied as if the Commission had refused to permit it." In the meantime, KMED grew from a 1 kw to a 5 kw station, its competi- tive and network position changed, and according to counsel, "it is now impossible for the parties to agree upon a new contract for the sale and transfer of this facility." For a period of two years and nine months from the date the sale contract was first executed, the letter concluded, Gibson had $400,000 committed, to the .st.ition owner, Mrs. W. J. Virgin, "to no result except an out-of-pocket co.st to him of some $40,000." ing .some time on her farm in Mich- igan. 20G MOB SHOW CONTRIB ChicagOj Jan, 25 Morris B. Sachs Amateur Hour, ] bulletin listing worthy national or- Oldest program of this type in the i ganizations whose drives are not from the ad council. According to j the plan, AC will send the 400 lo- ' cals a packet every month, includ- i ing a week-by-week sked : of top- i priority public service campaigns; I radio fact sheets and a bi-monthly country, raised over $20,000 for the March of Dimes last Sunday <23). Show featured talented crippled children, with top vote- fetter being awarded a Kai86r car. Ruthrauff & Ryan produced; Council will -also publicize reports on the indie civic pitches, along with data on the. nets' good works. Al- though an individual broadcaster's charity stint may not look like much, indie reps feel, when data from 400 stations are totaled re- sults will be impressive. Effect of the plan ^tis already be- ing felt. Arthritis-rheumatism fund raisers have prepped a special show for the indies featuring Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Les Brownf Abe Burrows and Dorothy Shay, platter concluding with the line "presented as a public service by the independent .stations of the U. S." Cancer fund is also work- ing on show with similar credits: Some programs will be formatted with time for local cut-ins, giving charities good plug on the grass roots level. Additionally, indies will be able to go to public serv- ice organizations saying, in effect, "you've been given a priority allo- cation, we're at, your service, now give us a show on a par with the nets." Concept: of the Indies as a co- Strauss Stores Drop Jack Eigen Sponsorship The Strauss Stores are dropping the Jack Eigen show over WINS, N. Y., March 24. Show; emanating from the Copacabana, N. Y., covers a four-hour period starting at mid- night. William Warren agency, representing Strauss, as.signed no reason for cutting off the bank- rolling, but is shopping around for Martin Block an Int'I Disk Jockey Via 'Voice' Martin Block, who next week starts his 15th year spinning plat- ters on WNEW, will become the first international disk jockey on the State Department's !'Voice of America." Block will cut half-hour record- ings, which; will be flown to various parts of the globe. Voice feels short-waving would lower quality of reception. To English-speaking nations such as Britain, Ireland, India and Australia, Block's tran- scriptions will be sent as is. How- ever, for French, Spanish, Portu- guese and other overseas listeners, foreign language versions wiU be prepared, including portions of Block's English commentary. Dislcs will feature guests and stress hot jazz, as lyrics don't mean much to listeners abroad. I'"ii'.st batch of foreign transcriptions is slated for Radiodiffusion Francaise, on the allocation calendar but are nevertheless acceptable. AG will also provide "tailored"' hesive group may have commercial material for the indies;,'give them ivsignificance,,: with agencies and consultation and advisory service [ sponsors learning pulling power of by mail or phone, and urge alt or-Uhe non-affiliates. another show. Strauss also dropped the Lou Fisher disk jockey stint following Eigen. Eigen show is rated as one of i ,„ . , the top early morning programs, I official French net. getting a myriad of culfo : guests I ~~ from the Copa Lounge. Songstress Monica Lewis is cur- rently subbing for Eigen, who is on a Florida vacation. CONE'S CHI HONOR Chicago, Jan. 25. Fairfax Cone, board chairman of Foote, Cone & Belding, was elected to Community Fund Board of Di- rectors. He'll head up a year round cam- paign committee in overall charge of Fund drive. 'Barn Dance' to ABC "The National Barn Dance," which has been on the air 15 years, most of the time on NBC, will be heard on a network of ABC sta- tions in the west and midwest, starting March 19: . , For the past year the airer, which mixes folk tunes, cowboy ballads and pop songs, has been heard »0" cally on WLS, Chicago. "Barn Dance" will be sponsored by Phil- lips Petroleum on 68 ABC stations. Lambert & Feasley is the agency-