Broadcasting (July - Dec 1940)

Communication Defense Board Seen Proposed Agency Would Coordinate Various Industry Work {Continued from page 9) chairmanship appointment, it is indicated, with the military and naval establisments presumably of the opinion that a military man and not a civilian should head the organization. Even before Mr. Fly began whipping into action on all fronts, plans had been drawn for eventual creation of such a board. Apropos the $1,600,000 personnelmonitoring expansion program (which has not been announced as such), the FCC stated that effective policing of communications under the coordinated national defense program necessitated the augmenting of the present field force of less than 200 men. The plan is perhaps to quadi-uple the personnel and to purchase additional fixed monitoring stations as well as new bases of operation for mobile units. 24-Hour Surveillance The Commission said a 24-hour surveillance of all communication channels will be undertaken, including broadcasting. Present monitoring facilities will be supplemented with ten primary longe-range direction finders, to determine the bearings of unauthorized or otherwise suspicious communications. The mobile equipment, including directionfinding aparatus, traces the origin of these transmissions. The vastly expanded monitoring operations, to be provided for with national defense appropriations, supplements other actions of the FCC, including tightening up on amateurs and ship operators, fingerprinting of more than 100,000 licensed operators as part of the proof-of -citizenship quest, watching of radiotelegraph and radiotelephone circuits for superfluous signs and translating of foreign-language broadcast material. Even the checking of diathermy machines and other high frequency apparatus used for medical purposes, to ascertain they are not being converted into transmitters for subversive purposes, is planned. The FCC proposes also to keep tab on transmitters in stock or storerooms to make sure they are not being used. The additional personnel, to supplement the field force in more than a score of cities, will be supplied through the Civil Service rolls or by special examination under civil service. In explaining the overall plans, Mr. Fly emphasized that the idea is to maintain "normal operations". He said it would be "tragic" if operations were disturbed. The position of the FCC, he inferred, would be that of protecting, so far as consistent with military requirements, the status of industries under is licensing jurisdiction. He called for a "balanced perspective", and again scouted "alarmist" reports of Government absorption of private industry operations. Further measures to nip pos sible "Fifth Column" activities in communications generally are being taken by the FCC. Moreover, there were indications in the Senate that legislation might be enacted to ban foreign holdings in any licensee company, whatever its nature, as against the existing provision permitting not more than one-fifth of the directors of a corporation to be non-citizens. Citizenship Proof The FCC, in perhaps its most spectacular move since the war emergency began, has issued orders requiring citizenship proof and fingerprints from the some 100,000 licensed operators, both commercial and amateur, while at the same time planning expansion of radio monitoring operations throughout the country. On June 18, the FCC issued its regulations requiring the fingerprinting and proof of citizenship for all licensed operators, to be returnable Aug. 15. These must be certified by Federal, state or local officials, the Department of Justice or the FCC field offices. The June 18 action covering proof of citizenship and fingerprinting will apply to all licensed broadcast station operators, numbered among the 9,700 holding radiotelephone operating permits. In addition there are 55,000 amateurs, 84,000 radio telegraph licensees, and 36,000 holders of restricted licenses who must provide proof of citizenship, fingerprints, photographs, information about citizenship or nationality of the applicant's immediate family, and whether the operator has had service with the American military or naval establishments or has been in the service of any foreign government. This latter action was preceded June 14 by a warning by the FCC to all commercial operators to adhere to the strict letter of the law prohibiting superfluous and personal "chatter" and unidentified communications by radio. Similar warning had been given to ship radio operators June 10. Foreign language programs still are causing considerable concern in official circles. In some quarters a summary ban on foreign language news commentaries is favored. But another school of thought believes such action might lead to unrest among foreign elements who do not understand English and thereby provoke undesirable activity. Yet another group is inclined toward support of a plan whereby all foreign language news commentaries would be interpreted from English to the native tongue and then transcribed, thereby avoiding any possibility of ad libbing. International broadcast stations likewise present a serious problem, particularly in the light of the propaganda being transmitted to South America by Nazi stations, beamed for that service. Because of the censorship furor provoked when the FCC sought to require transmission of "cultural" programs to Latin American countries about a year ago, this issue is being handled rather gingerly. Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable to expect that the Government — perhaps through the State Department — will seek to have international station licensees transmit programs geared to offset insidious propaganda from abroad. Two Plans Mulled At this writing, aside from the Defense Committee plan, there appear to be two separate plans for communications control, in the event of declaration of a national emergency or of our involvement. What might be described as "Premise A" is based on collaboration with the broadcasting industry down the line, with perhaps some EQUIPMENT of this type is used by the FCC in monitoring the air. A typical monitoring station (above), of which there are six, includes a standard of frequency, interpolation equipment, receivers, recorders and oscillographs, measuring from 100 kc. to 100 mc. The Commission has 42 autos like this one for use in field service. supervising director designated to coordinate operations under the projected general board. "Premise B" — the more drastic plan — would be invoked only if "Premise A" failed. The latter might involve taking over of all actual broadcast operations by a Government agency but, it is emphatically stated, even that plan does not involve a ban on commercial operation. It would simply mean, as now outlined, rigid supervision of all program operations by Government personnel. It readily can be understood why the Government does not propose to interfere with commercial broadcasting. If that were done, vast appropriations would be required to program and maintain stations, aside from reimbursing licensees under the "due process" principles. Moreover, since one of the fundamental factors in the planning is that of maintaining public morale and keeping the people posted, a minimum upsetting of established broadcast operations, so far as the listener is concerned, is definitely the objective. Can't Stop Listening In appraising the broadcasting propaganda problem, the Government is faced with several difficult situations. Control of incoming broadcasts from abroad is perhaps the most serious. They cannot be controlled unless a ban on listening to foreign shortwave stations is imposed. On programs originated domestically, no serious problem is foreseen (save foreign language and international networks) where broadcasting is concerned. Officials also are pondering the question of local broadcasting, where stations are solely on their own, picking up news services and local speakers. How such operations can be supervised without placement of "supervisors" in each station is being discussed. It is clear that Government officials appreciate the "show psychology" of radio. They do not want to change the radio fare any more than may be necessary. Above all, they want to maintain the relationship between station and sponsors. Personnel Setup Many inquiries have reached Government departments, particularly the military, regarding personnel assignments in event of war. Insofar as broadcasting is concerned, it is likely the first step, under a declared national emergency, will be to operate under civil status, except for the top Government official. The second phase might involve transfer of executives from civil to military reserve status. In the latter connection, it is understood the military departments have cataloged perhaps all individuals in radio, keying them for particular assignments in time of war emergency. Thought also has been given to the suggestion that all manufacturers of transmitting equipment be required to register with the Government the serial number of all transmitters sold, whatever their nature. The FCC then would be in a position to check accurately use of unlicensed transmitters, without the necessity of actually catching the outlaw redhanded". 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