Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

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House Passes Davis Measure Providing Radio Lotteries Ban Bill May Be Consolidated With White Proposals • Other Legislation Pending in Both Bodies AT THE END of a veritable "radio field day," in the course of which a score or more members of Congress joined in wordy wrangling over various phases of broadcasting, Rep. Ewin Davis (D.) of Tennessee, chairman of the House committee in charge of radio legislation, on Feb. 10 secured passage without any changes of his bill (H. R. 7716) amending the Radio Act of 1927 in various particulars. Further tightening of radio regulations may be expected if this bill, which now goes to the Senate, finally becomes law. Probably its most important provision, from the point of view of broadcasters, is the one placing radio under the same restraints as newspapers with respect to lotteries and schemes of chance. That provision ("Section 13) reads: "No person shall broadcast by means of any radio station for which a license is required by any law of the United States, any information concerning any lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme, offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or any information concerning any ticket, certificate, or instrument representing any chance, share, or interest in or dependent upon the event of any lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or any list of prizes or information concerning any list of prizes awarded by means of any such scheme. Any person so doing, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,00(5 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both." Other provisions of the Davis bill include: 1. To end trafficking in wave lengths, a provision is added to Section 12 specifying that "no station license shall be transferred, assigned or in any manner either voluntarily or involuntarily disposed of, or indirectly by transfer of control of any company, corporation or association holding such license, to any person, firm, company, association or corporation unless the Commission shall, after a hearing, decide that said transfer is in the public interest, and shall give its consent in writing." Eliminates Territories 2. SECTION 2 is amended to eliminate the territorial possessions, the Virgin Islands, Porto Rico, Alaska, Guam, Eastern Samoa and Hawaii, from the zone system, while continuing to make applicable other provisions of the radio law to them. The effect of this provision may mean that their facilities will not be charged, as now, against zone quotas. 3. Section 3 is amended to provide for election of a chairman of the Radio Commission annually, as well as a vice-chairman. 4. Section 4 is amended to make hearings mandatory on all changes in wave lengths, power or time. This section also contains other provisions designed to "tighten up" hearing provisions. 5. Section 9 is revised to embrace Section 14 of the present act and amended so as to give the Commission authority to "revoke, modify or suspend" any station license. The Commission had requested authority to suspend stations for not to exceed 30 days as a punitive measure. As amended, the section fixes no limit on time of suspension, but simply requires that before action is taken the Commission shall notify the parties in writing and give them opportunity to show cause why such an order should not be issued. 6. The appeals provisions of the law embodied in Section 16 were rewritten to eliminate ambiguous language and to provide for an appeal from a construction permit as well as other denials. The bill differs from the White omnibus bill (S. 481) now before the Senate in that it contains the lottery provision but does not include the section aimed at Dr. John The following tabulation shows the present status of radio legislation: SENATE S. 4 — Fess radio educational bill, pending Committee on Interstate Commerce. S. 21 — King copyright bill, pending Committee on Patents. S. 22 — King bill licenses for unused patents, pending Committee on Patents. S. 176 — Hebert copyright bill, pending Committee on Patents. S. 481— White omnibus radio bill, pending Committee on Interstate Commerce. S. 750— McNary bill to prohibit lotteries, pending Committee on Interstate Commerce. S. 1035— Tydings copyright bill, pending Committee on Patents. S. 1037 — Dill bill transferring Radio Division to Commission, passed by Senate and pending before House Committee Merchant Marine, Radio & Fisheries. S. 1866 — Dill patent bill, pending Committee on Patents. S. 3046 — Dill bill on clear channels, pending Committee on Interstate Commerce. S. 3047— Hatfield bill for labor clear channel, pending Committee on Interstate Commerce. S. Res. 28 — Howell bill for investigating possibility of broadcas ing from Senate chamber, pending Committee on Rules. S. Res. 58 — Dill bill to investigate RKO, pending Committee on Audit and Control. S. Res. 71— Dill bill providing for broadcasting from Senate chamber, pending Committee on Rules. S. Res. 129 — Couzens-Dill resolution for advertising investigation by Radio Commission, passed by Senate and now in effect. R. Brinkley, now operating XER, at Villa Acuna, Mexico, by remote control from Del Rio, Texas, just across the Rio Grande River. Rep. Davis is working on another bill to end broadcasting by Americans from foreign lands, notably Mexico and Cuba, with the obvious intention of circumventing the American radio law. Bill Merger Expected IT IS POSSIBLE that the Davis measure just passed will be consolidated with the bill introduced by Senator White (R.) of Maine, but the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce has not yet set hearings on radio legislation. At any rate, the Davis bill must await Senate passage and Presidential approval before it becomes law. Before the Davis bill was passed by the House, many angles of radio were discussed and criticism of the Radio Commission was rampant. Many amendments were offered but all rejected. One amendment would have required Commission examiners to hold hearings where the stations are located instead of in Washington. This was defeated, 187 to 126, when Rep. Davis declared that the expense would be too great. The Dill bill (S. 1037) for consolidating the Radio Division, Department of Commerce, recently passed by the Senate, still awaits passage in the House. Another bill S. Res. 146 — Blaine resolution calling on Attorney General for status of R. C. A. suit, passed by Senate. S. Res. 163 — Dill resolution calling upon the State Department to call a North American broadcasting conference, pending Interstate Commerce Committee. HOUSE H. R. 139 — Vestal copyright bill, pending Committee on Patents. H. R. 256 — Christopherson bill prohibiting radio lotteries, pending Committee on the Judiciary. H. R. 410 — French lottery bill pending Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio & Fisheries. H. R. 421— Hoch bill to amend I. C. C. Act to define radio as "Common carrier" pending Committee on Interstate & Foreign Commerce. H. R. 6039 — Sirovich bill to transfer Radio Commission to Department of Commerce, pending Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio & Fisheries. H. R. 7253 — Connery bill to provide clear channel for labor, pending Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio & Fisheries. H. R. 7507 — Lea bill on ocean vessel radio equipment in Canal Zone, pending Committee on Interstate & Foreign Commerce. H. R. 7716 — Davis radio omnibus bill, passed by House Feb. 10. H. R. 8759— Amlie bill prohibiting radio advertising on Sunday, pending Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio & Fisheries. H. Res. 80 — Horr resolution to investigate Radio Commission and NBC control of Pacific Coast stations, pending Committee on Rules. H. Res. 110 — Amlie resolution on free speech, pending Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio & Fisheries. just introduced in the House (H. R. 8759) by Rep. Amlie (R.) of Wisconsin, which has been referred to committee, proposes "to prohibit commercial advertising by means of radio on Sunday." It has very little chance of passage. Senator Dill has introduced a resolution (S. Res. 163) relating to the Mexican-Cuban situation (See story on page 6). He is working on a copyright measure, while Rep! Davis is working on a bill aimed at curbing radio advertising, restricting interference from Mexico and Cuba and imposing license fees on broadcasting stations for the support of the federal agencies of radio regulation. Rep. Davis says he will soon call hearings on these subjects. Unfair Advertising Attacked in Report Six Classes Listed by Section Of Better Business Bureau THE COMMITTEE on Unfair Advertising and Selling Practices of the Affiliated Better Business Bureaus, Inc., with headquarters in New York, this month released its report condemning six advertising practices as "unecomonic, unfair and against the public interest." The report states that the recommendations are designed to eliminate advertising that fa) may undermine public confidence or (b) injure unfairly the sales or goodwill of a competitor. The committee, which is national in scope, condemned the following practices: "1. Misleading advertising — by untrue, deceptive of misleading statement, representation or illustration. "2. Unfair competitive claims — any statement, representation or implication which might be reasonably construed to lead to a false or incorrect conclusion in regard to goods, prices, service or advertising of any competitor or .f another industry. "3. Disparagement of competitors— any statement, representation or insinuation which disparages or attacks the goods, etc., of any competitor. "4. Underselling claims — any statement or representation which lays the claim to a policy or continuing practice of generally underselling competitors. "5. 'Bait' offers — the use of, participation in, publishing or broadcasting of 'bait' offers of merchandise wherein the prospective customer is denied a fair opportunity to purchase. "6. Deceptive statements accompanying cut prices — any statements referring to cut prices on trademarked merchandise or other in such manner as to lead the public to believe all other merchandise sold by advertiser is similarly low priced, when such is not the case." CBS Adds KOY CBS ADDED KOY, Phoenix, Ariz., 500 w. on 1390 kc, to its network with a special inaugural program originating in the Don Lee studios, Los Angeles, Jan. 31. Status of Radio Legislation Page 10 BROADCASTING • February 15, 1932