Broadcasting (July - Dec 1939)

'Broadcasting' Publishes a Daily Newspaper By Facsimile and Distributes Free Photographs CYNOSURE OF INTEREST at the NAB convention were the daily facsimile newspapers published by Broadcasting Magazine and the boardwalk photographs distributed free to every person snapped by our photographer. The facsimile newspaper was delivered to hotel rooms each morning after being first set up on vari-typer the evening before, then transmitted over RCA facsimile apparatus in its exhibit room, then rushed to Camden, 70 miles away, for multiple reproduction by offset process. On the boardwalk Broadcasting had a photographer busy during most of the daylight hours, taking pictures of delegates and their wives and children. Each was given a number; later each person in each photograph was presented a print with the magazine's compliments, some 600 being distributed. Also photographed by Broadcasting, working in collaboration with RCA, were most of the persons appearing before the television cameras, their pictures being taken off the receiver screens. Copies of these will be sent from Washington to each principal with the compliments of Broadcasting since the photos will undoubtedly be cherished in later years as relics of the pioneer days of television [see page 25]. PICK THEIR PIX — Mrs. Lambdin Kay, wife of the general manager of WSB, Atlanta, and Mrs. Celestia Smithgall, vdfe of WSB's program director, select their free boardwalk photographs from panel displayed by Broadcasting Magazine in the Ambassador Hotel entrance. Wheeler Confers On ASCAP Issue Wm Meet Further With Both Sides on Copyright Problem THE WHOLE copyright issue was discussed at a conference July 12 in the office of Senator Wheeler by Gene Buck, ASCAP president, Louis D. Frolich, ASCAP counsel, Ed Craney, KGIR, Butte, militant crusader against existing ASCAP operations, and Philip C. Loucks, attorney, former NAB managing director. It was understood that Senator Wheeler said he regarded a "payas-you-use" basis as a reasonable way of copyi'ight royalty payment, though he disclaimed any intimate knowledge of the problem. He recalled that the old method of RCA in collecting royalties from radio manufacturers on cabinets as well as patented chassis had been similarly fought and finally changed by agreement after he had conferred with Owen D. Young. He used this as an analogy in the ASCAP situation since broadcasters pay a blanket percentage on programs, whether or not music is used. Further Meetings Planned What action, if any, will result from the conference is problematical, particularly in the light of the NAB ultimatum given ASCAP by unanimous vote of the Atlantic City convention. It is understood, however, that Senator Wheeler will use his good offices in further conferences on the subject and that in addition to the participants in the July 12 session, Frank M. Russell, NBC Washington vice-president, and Harry C. Butcher. CBS Washington vice-president, will participate. Senator Wheeler also is understood to have indicated clearly that he favored clearance of programs at the source, a key issue in the copyright situation. In this respect, he pointed out that affiliated stations have no control over program emanations of the key stations and therefore should not be held responsible or liable for them in any manner. Waterman Pen Program Would Test NAB Code A PROPOSED network program presenting a grapholog;ist's analysis of character from handwriting, proposed for sponsorship this fall by L. E. Waterman Co., Newark, fountain pen and ink manufacturer, loomed as one of the first test cases under the newly adopted NAB program code. A representative of the company informally outlined the proposed coast-to-coast series to NAB officials during the Atlantic City convention, but pending setting up of code compliance machinery in September, the firm plans to furnish the NAB with a formal statement of the program's i| content. I KWFT Joins CBS KWFT, new regional station at Wichita Falls, Tex., joined CBS effective July 15 as the network's 116th station. It is a member of the Southwestern group, with a [ $125 an hour base rate. KWFT is ! assigned to 620 kc. with 1,000 watts , day, 250 night, having started opij erating this month. BILLS IN CONGRESS LIKELY TO PERISH WITH CONGRESS now winding up legislative odds and ends and getting ready to go home by Aug. 1, the various bills affecting the radio industry are definitely on the shelf and no action is anticipated on any of them until next session. Only neutrality legislation is expected to keep Congress in session beyond Aug. 1, and even in this event Congressional leaders expect no action on legislation in which broadcasting has a direct interest. This applies to the Wheeler Bill, proposing reorganization of the FCC, the Johnson Bill, to ban advertising of beer over the air, the measure poviding for establishment of a high-powered Pan American shortwave broadcastingstation, and several other bills. Likewise, no action is expected on the various resolutions calling for an investigation of the FCC. Senator Wallace White (R-Me.). has stated he will not press for consideration of his resolution pending before the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee. Rep. Bayard Clark (D-N.C.) told Broadcasting July 14 that there was no sentiment in the Rules Committee for reporting out the Wigglesworth and Connery resolutions calling for a broad probe of not only the FCC but the broadcasting industry as a whole. BOARDWALK PHOTOS Approximately 100 boardwalk photographs taken by BROADCASTING at Atlantic City remain unclaimed, and BROADCASTING will be glad to forward them without charge to the principals upon receipt of the number-card issued at the time they were taken. JESSE KAUFMAN & Son are snapped by Broadcasting's boardwalk photographer on the occasion of the ex-WCAE and Hearst Radio executive's reappearance at NAB conventions. Mr. Kaufman will operate WFBM, Indianapolis, as a result of the FCC's authorization July 13 of its sale to him in association with Harry Bitner, the publisher [see page 84]. He also is now lessor of KFNF, Shenandoah, la. Some 600 pictures like the above were distributed free to their principals by Broadcasting. Tripartite Pledge Made by Movies, Radio and Press Tribute Is Paid Broadcasters For Adoption of New Code RADIO, press and moving pictures — the "Mirrors of America" — pledged their three-way cooperation in maintaining freedom of expression through self regulation July 12 in a special nationwide broadcast during which the industries' three leaders spoke from Atlantic City, Los Angeles and London. The 30-minute broadcast, carried on coast-to-coast network hookups, observed the acceptance by radio industry representatives at the NAB convention of the new code of broadcasting ethics, and brought the felicitations of Will Hays, president of Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, and James G. Stahlman, former president of the American Newspaper Publishers Assn., to NAB President Neville Miller and the broadcasting industry. Bound to Be Free Speaking from the Ambassador Hotel, convention headquarters in Atlantic City, at the beginning and conclusion of the program, Mr. Miller declared that radio was determined to maintain its freedom of expression and at the same time comply with canons of good taste in order to continue its rise as a social force. He expressed satisfaction with the new code as a means to this end, and pointed to the earnest attitude of broadcasters in adopting the regulatory standards despite the general effect of lost revenue. Mr. Hays, speaking from Los Angeles, pictured the success of the movie industry's efforts at selfgovernment through MPPDA, and expressed confidence that the new radio code would work to the benefit of the broadcasting industry as has the movie code to the screen. The moving picture, which he observed owes its origin to America, is "a child of democracy", he declared, and as such must constantly reflect democratic attitudes. Freedom, he commented, means the liberty to choose what one wants to see rather than what is being shown or produced, all the while remaining within the bounds of good taste and decency. Bringing in his observations of the "freedom situation" in Europe during a Transatlantic pickup from London, where he flew recently on the Yankee Clipper, Mr. Stahlman declared that so long as America had the Constitution and so long as truth remained the watchword in the media of public information, there was no possibility of the American pi-ess, radio or moving pictures becoming mere implements of propaganda. Reflecting the satisfaction of the industry with the braodcast, NAB members at their concluding general session July 13 adopted a resolution thanking Messrs. Hays and Stahlman "for their most valuable contribution to the principles of free speech and the preservation of that most important factor contributing to our democratic form of government as expressed in the international broadcast" which had been titled, "The Mirrors of America". BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising July 15, 1939 • Page 15