Broadcasting (July - Dec 1939)

ilR©AP€ASTfllNl€ ctnxL tvoT Broadcast Advertising* 17. No. 6 WASHINGTON, D. C, SEPTEMBER 15, 1939 $3.00 A YEAR— 15c A COPY NAB Creates $1,500,000 Music Project By SOL TAISHOFF Opens War on ASCAP by Approving Plan for Industry to Own Corporation Providing Independent Music BY UNANIMOUSLY approvjing a $1,500,000 fund to esjtablish its own supply of jmusic, an embattled broad■<;asting industry Sept. 15 of[ficially declared war on the [American Society of Composfjers, Authors & Publishers, virtual monopoly of the music I industry. Action came at the special convention of the NAB at the Palmer House, Chicago, when some 250 broadcasters |by voice vote authorized esItablishment of a new corporajtion in which broadcasters would hold all of the stock. An all-inclusive plan where'by the industry — NAB memibers and non-members alike — jwill pledge to the corporation la fund made up of 50% of jtheir payments to ASCAP in 11937, was approved. Probably |to be known as Broadcast Music [line, the new corporation would I' create an independent and competilitive supply of music, both in sheet Iform and transcribed, as well as acquire existing publishing houses, encourage independent composers and develop public domain sources while existing transcription companies foster tax-free music. There were 290 registrants at the 1 convention [see pages 81 and 85 for I full list]. Devised by Kaye The ambitious project adopted was based upon the plan devised by Sydney M. Kaye, New York attorney retained by NAB last month, in collaboration with the NAB Copyright Committee and as revised by the NAB board in preconvention sessions. Because the ■ stock issue must be registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission, actual setting up of the corporation and issuance of stock subscriptions will not commence for about a month. The plan envisages retention of executive personnel from the mu; sic publishing field. Neville Miller, NAB president, who engineered the campaign, will serve as its presi dent in the interim. Everett E. Revercomb, NAB auditor, temporarily will serve as secretary and treasurer until a paid executive is employed. Other directors of the corporation, authorized in the resolution adopted unanimously by the convention, will be Walter Damm, representing newspaper owned stations; John Elmer, representing in dependent stations; Edward Klauber, representing CBS; Lenox R. Lohr, for NBC; Samuel R. Rosenbaum, for Independent Radio Network Affiliates, and John Shepard 3d, for regional broadcasting stations. The resolution, presented to the convention by George W. Norton Jr., president of WAVE, Louisville, and a member of the board, out lined the purpose of the plan. It brought out that an adequate music supply is essential to the industry and that efforts of the NAB Negotiating Committee since last May to bargain with ASCAP on a fair basis had proved futile. Since ASCAP had refused to indicate its demands and since threat had been made to exact concessions in advance, the resolution stated it was concluded that the NAB should form the separate corporation as a means of introducing competition in radio and of assuring an ade( Continued on Page 8 A) Board Orders Code Eftective Oct. 1 Appoints Committee to Enforce Voluntary Restrictions THE RECENTLY adopted NAB code [Broadcasting, July 15] will become effective Oct. 1, it was announced by the board of directors of NAB following an all-day session at the Palmer House, Chicago, Sept. 13. The board instructed Neville Miller, NAB President, to appoint a committee fully empowered to interpret and enforce the code throughout the industry. The complete resolution read : Resolved that the Code of the NAB adopted by the 17th Annual Convention of the Association become fully effective Oct. 1. 1939, except as it may ajjply to existing commercial contracts which shall be respected for their duration but provided they do not run for more than one year from Oct. 1, 1939. The Code Compliance Committee shall immediately make itself available to resolve doubts of broadcasters as to whether proposed xiew business conforms or can be made to conform to the Code. New business, competitive with existing accounts, may be accepted with the same length of commercial copy as is permitted to the existing accounts. Edgar L. Bill, president of WMBD, Peoria, was named chairman of the code compliance committee. Ed Kirby, NAB public relations director, will serve as committee secretary. Other members include members of the group which drafted the self-regulation code last summer. They are Lenox R. Lohr, NBC president; Edward Klauber, CBS executive vice-president; T. C. Streibert, WOR-MBS vice-president; Walter J. Damm, WTMJ, Milwaukee; Ed Craney, KGIR, Butte; Karl C. Wyler, KTSM, El Paso; Samuel R. Rosenbaum, WFIL, Philadelphia. Two additional members will be named later by President Miller in lieu of Paul W. Morency, WTIC, Hartford, and Herb Hollister, KANS, Wichita, who served on the original code group, but who, as members of the CODE COMPLIANCE responsibilities will come under the direction of Edgar L. Bill, president of WMBD, Peoria, and a leader in the selfregulation movement. Mr. Bill was designated by the NAB Board as chairman of the Committee on Audience Relations, which will supervise handling of code complaints. Secretary of the Committee will be Ed Kirby, NAB public relations director. NAB board, cannot qualify. The board itself will sit as a sort of "court of appeals" over the code compliance committee. Children's programs, controversial public issues, educational broadcasting, news, religious broadcasts and length of commercial copy all are regulated under the code. Restricted is such advertising as spiritous or "hard" liquor; products the sale of which constitutes a violation of law; fortune-telling, mind-reading, etc.; schools offering questionable or untrue promises of employment to induce enrollment; matrimonial agencies; offers of "homework" by any but responsible firms; dopesters, tipster and race track publications; all forms of speculative finance; cures and products claiming to cure; advertising statements or claims known to be false or deceptive; continuity describing, repellently, any functions or symptomatic results of disturbances, or relief granted such disturbances through use of any product; unfair attacks on others; misleading statements or comparisons of price or value. "The code is more than an expression of radio policy," said Mr. Miller. "It is an outstanding example of voluntary industry self-regulation, conceived and executed in the public interest." Attended by all 23 members of the board, the session was devoted to code discussion throughout the morning. In the afternoon copyright problems held the floor, with the board in consultation with Sydney M. Kaye, special copyright counsel and coordinator, and Stuart Sprague, who has been retained to assist him. BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising September 15, 1939 • Page