Broadcasting (Jan - June 1940)

AFRA Offers Code to Disc Companies Sharp Restrictions on Use of Recordings Are Proposed AMERICAN Federation of Radio Artists on May 28 mailed to transcription producers copies of its new "Code of Fair Practice for Transcriptions and Recordings for Radio Broadcasting Purposes", together with a letter inviting them to call at union headquarters "with the view of concluding this agreement". The 18-page mimeographed agreement lists the minimum terms and conditions under which actors, singers, announcers and sound effects men may be employed for the making of transcribed programs — terms and conditions AFRA officials describe as representing the wishes of the union's entire 9,500 members, terms and conditions which committees and membership meetings have worked out over a period of about nine months. Transcription interests would not discuss the code publicly but indicated that a statement will be issued when their negotiating committee meets June 4. Types of Discs In the; main the new code is a duplicate of the code of fair practice for network commercial programs which went into effect in February, 1939. Artists employed on Class A transcriptions, "custom built transcriptions used by one sponsor for a specified product, or open end transcriptions for one sponsor used on four or more stations for one product or one or more stations of 50,000 watts or over," are to be paid the same minimum wages as for the same services on network commercials. In addition to the 15-minute, 30-minute and 60-minute minimums, the new code also provides for programs of five minutes or less, which are not covered in the network code. But program distribution via transcriptions does not always parallel that of the networks, so the new code provides for Class B transcriptions, defined as "open end transcriptions which may be used on any number of stations not over 1,000 watts in power," for which artists may be employed at wages lower than those for Class A discs. However, "if an open end transcription is used by one sponsor for one product on four or more stations up to 50,000 watts in power or on one station of 50,000 watts or over, such transcription is automatically reclassified as Class A and ... in such case the artist shall receive as additional compensation not less than the difference between the original fee paid and the minimum fee for Class A transcriptions. If an open end transcription is used by individual stations or sponsors on single stations of more than 1,000 watts but less than 50,000 watts in power, the artist shall receive the difference between the open end and custom built rate." Class B, says AFRA, was set up to protect the small manufac turer who sells his recordings chiefly to low-powered stations for resale to local advertisers. The restrictions are designed to prevent national advertisers from taking advantage of the lower scale for programs of wide distribution. It is obvious, however, that if a difference in use means a difference in payment of talent the recording companies will have to keep far more elaborate records. This is as true for Class A as for Class B transcriptions, for the Code states that artists on Class A programs shall be paid "an additional fee equal in amount to the fee for the original recording (a) for the use of such recording by each subsequent sponsor to whom such recording may be sold, leased or otherwise made available for broadcast purposes, and (b) for each alteration or deletion of the commercial message." Companies providing transcribed library services may be forced to change not merely their system of keeping records but their entire sales policies. Library service recordings made by singers, says the code, "shall in no case be used for any purpose after six months from date of recording and in no event as a part of commercial broadcasts," although a six-month renewal may be secured by an additional payment equal to the original talent fee. Designed, says APRA, to protect singers of standard songs which might be played again and again for years and years, this clause would make it impossible for library services to be sold on the same basis as today. Further limiting the use of recordings, the code states that "recordings of six minutes or upwards may be played once only on any one station within a period of one year from date of recording," while "recordings of five minutes or less may be played as often as desired for the original fee, but not after two months from date of recording and processing." In each case, repaying the original fee will extend the use for like periods, under the same conditions. 'Unfair' Clause The section that is expected to produce the most violent objections from transcription manufacturers, however, is the one on unfair stations, which reads: "The producer agrees, on notice by AFRA that any radio station has been declared unfair by AFRA, not to require members of AFRA to perform services in connection with recordings released to such station, nor to make available to such station recordings on which AFRA members are used, for the purpose of aiding and abetting such station in continuing its unfair practices." Since the producer has also agreed to employ only AFRA members, this clause might possiblv place him in the position of telling the subscribers to his library service that unless they signed AFRA contracts for their staff artists he would be unable to supplv them with recordings, if AFRA chose to designate such stations "unfair". Lady Newscaster THE EXCEPTION rather than the rule is the woman newscaster in American radio, and Betty Louis Bemis is one of those exceptions who qualifies by reason of extraordinary capability and experience. On June 3 she joins WLW, Cincinnati, to handle a daily news program, having resigned from KLZ, Denver. Daughter of the publisher of the Littleton (Colo.) Independent, who is also manager of the Colorado Press Assn., Miss Bemis is a U of Colorado pre-medical graduate who went to the U of Paris on an exchange scholarship and was soon engaged in news reporting. In Africa during her summer vacation, she was arrested as a suspected spy. Then she went to Belgium and Germany, and was en route to Budapest and Prague when the Munich crisis occurred. The authorities sent her back to Paris and she soon sailed for home, joining the staff of KLZ last year. Asked whether this clause does not constitute a secondary boycott provision, Mrs. Emily Holt, executive secretary of AFRA, replied that it does not. "Every member of a union," she stated, "has the right to refuse to work with non-union people if he so desires, even if his work is performed through a mechanical projection of himself. It would be unthinkable that recordings made by AFRA members might be used to supply a service to stations against whom AFRA might be conducting a strike, thus enabling those stations to remain on the air despite a lack of live talent." She added that many AFRA members have suggested that they stop making recordings altogether until such time as all stations have signed AFRA contracts. Another section of the code that will probably elicit strong opposition from the manufacturers of transcriptions is the "present inventory" clause, which requires that all recordings made before the code goes into effect must be withdrawn from use by "the day of , 1940" unless the artists employed on the discs are paid the new scale of fees called for by the code. As this section will prevent the company with a large stock of old records on hand to sell them at cut rates in competition with new recordings produced un der the code, it will protect the manufacturers as well as the artists from unfair competition, AFRA believes. Although the code is offered for one year only, AFRA makes allowance for the development of frequency modulation in a section that states that for this type of station power shall not be the determining factor and reserving for AFRA the right to establish applicable rules and regulations to FM stations. AFRA also reserves the right to establish rules and regulations for artists employed in making phonograph records. Regarding sound effects men, who were not specifically mentioned in the network commercial code, AFRA reserves the right to set up rules for minimum wages and working conditions for them when "engaged for transcriptions, slide films, phonograph records or any other mechanical device covered by this code." A slide film schedule provides for minimum payment of $15 for a 15-minute platter plus $6 per hour rehearsal, with one hour rehearsal required on each record. Arbitration Plan If a recording of less than 15 minutes is used in connection with a live commercial broadcast, the fee applicable for the live program shall be paid, the code states. This provision was made, says AFRA, to prevent a $2 transcribed commercial announcement replacing a $21 live announcer on a network commercial program. The code also contains clauses prohibiting "dubbing", requiring each recording to bear an AFRA label, setting up safeguards against violation, providing for arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Assn. of controversies over interpretation of the code, and the like. The code also contains a clause reading as follows: "The signatory agrees that every radio artist retains for himself his common law and property rights in his recorded interpretation, subject only to the signatory's right to use such recording as provided in this code, upon the payment of the fees required herein." Minimum Fees under AFRA's Proposed Transcription Code: ACTOES AND ANNOUNCEKS Minutes Class A Fees Ctiiss B Fees 1 or less $ 2.00 $ 2.00 1 to 2 3.00 3.00 3 to 5 5.00 5.00 6 to 15 15.00 10.00 16 to 30 25.00 12.50 31 to 60 35.00 17.50 Rehearsals : $6 an hour for Class A : $3 an hour for Class B. SINGERS ON CLASS A PROGRAMS (Fees per Person) 9 or more 5 to 8 Z to U SoloMinutes Voices Voices Voices ista 5 or less_-$ 5 $ 8 $10 $15 6 to 15 14 24 30 40 16 to 30.. 16 28 35 50 31 to 45-. 18 32 40 60 46 to 60— 20 36 45 70 SINGERS ON LIBRARY PROGRAMS (15 minutes or less) 9 or more voices $20 per person 5 to 8 voices 32 per person 2 to 4 voices 40 per person Soloists 50 per person Rehearsals : 5 or more voices, $4 an hour : 2 to 4 voices, $5 an hour ; soloists, $6 an hour. Page 24 • June 1, 1940 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising