Broadcasting (July - Dec 1940)

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S LE I TER Congratulating Radio on Its 20th Birthday Following is President Roosevelt's letter of Nov. 25 to Neville Miller, NAB president, felicitating American radio on its twentieth birthday and vend over the iichriirks Nov. 'Mi: ON THE OCCASION of the twentieth birthday of broadcasting', I wish to extend through you my congratulations and best wishes to the industry. The growth of broadcasting as we know it in America has been one of the outstanding achievements of this generation. Since the days of 20 years ago when attic experimenters tinl<:ered with crystal sets and the reception of a distant signal was a mere novelty, the modern receiver has become a necessity in the American household. With this fine record of technical achievement, the radio industry also has rendered excellent public service. It has brought information and entertainment of quality to the millions of American homes which otherwise could not have enjoyed such benefits. In fact, it might be said that radio has erased the old boundaries of time and space. As millions of American families gather each day about their receivers, we become neighbors in a new and true sense. Today the need is greater than ever that broadcasting should perform its function as a medium of public information. Factual and accurate news made available to all of oUr people is a basic essential of democracy. Radio has done its job well in this field. Elsewhere radio and the press are instruments of the state, used by dictators without regard for truth or justice. I reaffirm to you my belief that democracy will not tolerate any attempts at domination or control by government at the free and open avenues of public information. The best assurance that this will continue to be so is the proper discharge of the public responsibilities by those who operate these media. The nations of this hemisphere are engaged in a cooperative undertaking to keep war and aggression from our shores. It is my hope that radio will increase and continue its eff'orts to create a broader understanding among the people of this hemisphere. The exchange of programs among the broadcasting stations of the Americas and the origination of special broadcasts from and to our neighbors serve to strengthen the common purpose which tinites us at home. Again, I felicitate the radio industry on its twentieth birthday. You have reached an amazing maturity for one so young. Your government has no wish to interfere or hinder the continued development of the American system of broadcasting. Radio was born and developed in the real American way and its future must continue on that basis. AFRA Finishing Draft Of Talent A gency Code WITH an agreement between the American Federation of Radio Artists and the independent talent agents practically reached following lengthy negotiations, a final draft of the union's code for talent agencies is now being dravra up and will probably be agreed upon within the next few days, according to Emily Holt, executive secretary of AFRA. Changes in the original document, which was negotiated with network officials covering their artists bureaus at the same time that AFRA and the networks renewed their agreements for wages and working conditions for talent employed on all network programs, are only in the regulatory and disciplinai'y sections of the code, Mrs. Holt stated, and do not affect the provisions on compensation. The delay caused by these negotiations in handling the routine business of the union has resulted in a postponement of AFRA's negotiations with the transcription manufacturers for a code governing employment of actors, singers and announcers on transcribed programs, she said, adding that these negotiations will probably not be resumed until the first of the year. NAB and IRNA Sessions Scheduled in New York POSTPONEMENT of the meeting of the NAB board of directors in New York from Dec. 3-4 to Dec. 56 was announced Nov. 28 by NAB President Neville Miller. The sessions will be held in the Roosevelt Hotel. The NAB Legislative Committee will meet at the Ritz Tower ,Dec. 4. Network negotiating committees of Independent Radio Network Affiliates will confer with NBC land CBS in New York Dec. 4, according to Samuel R. Rosenbaum, IRNA chairman. The sesions are in line with policy established last summer under which committees representng the affiliates, NBC and CBS confer on matters relating to commercial and programming policies. Monarch on Coast REID, MURDOCH & Co., Los Angeles (Monarch coffee), in a 13week campaign which started Nov. 20 is using five-weekly participations in the Mildred Van home economics program on KECA, that city. Firm is also currently using five-weekly participations in Norma Young's Happy Homes on KHJ; 35 time signal announcements a week on KFAC, and 42 each week on KIEV. Agency is W. B. Ross & Associates, Los Angeles. Proprietary on 60 LYDIA E. PINKHAM MEDICINE Co., Lynn, Mass., from Dec. 1 until Feb. 1 plans to gradually increase radio advertising for its vegetable compound by eliminating the smaller stations it is currently using and placing five-minute programs and one-minute transcribed announcements on 60 stations in larger cities. Erwin, Wasey & Co., New York, handles the account. Nehi Revising NEHI Corp., Columbus, Ga., currently sponsoring Robert Ripley's Believe It or Not program on CBS, is understood to be dropping the program probably Dec. 6 or 13, with plans to sponsor Tom Howard and Roy Shelton in the same period together with a daytime serial on behalf of Royal Crown Cola. The agency, BBDO, New York, has released no statement on the change and details will probably be withheld pending settlement of the current litigation brought by Coca Cola Co. against all beverage companies using the name "Cola." Report for Radio is Rt^jj^uii hy AP; Facsimile Tests SiiHtainin^, (^cunnwrcial Pact Fh Nrfroliat«><l Willi MfJS ASSOCIATED PRESS will start its processed radio report Dec. 1, according to W. J. McCambridge, assistant general manager, who stated that a force of experienced news writers and news broadcasters had been engaged to handle this new service. For the last few weeks sample radio reports have been prepared daily from the general AP news reports and carefully studied by AP executives, so that service would be developed before transmission to stations was begun. Since AP first made its news available to radio on a basis comparable to that of the other news agencies, a report especially prepared for broadcasting has been requested by more subscribers than any other feature of the service, and plans for its establishment have been under way for several months. MBS to Sign An agreement with MBS, making AP news available to this netwoi'k for both sustaining and commercial use, has already gone into eff'ect, Mr. McCambridge said, but contracts have not been signed. Under a verbal agreement reached with Fred Weber, general manager of Mutual, along the same lines as those previously negotiated with NBC and CBS, the network receives AP service on an "exchange of news" basis which makes news collected by MBS correspondents available to AP and which also provides for a cash differential to be paid by the network. In addition to making its news available for use by broadcasters, AP is experimenting with radio as a means of transmitting AP news and pictures. While they are still in the laboratory stage with a lot of work still to be done, these experiments have demonstrated the practicability of facsimile broadcasting, especially by the use of frequency modulation, for news transmission, said Mr. McCambridge. Facsimile Experiments Copy has been transmitted by facsimile radio between New York and Chicago at the rate of 140 words a minute, he stated, more than twice the speed of present wireline transmission of copy, which normally goes at about 60 words a minute. Maps, charts, cartoons and other two-tone illustrative material has also been transmitted with good results, he said, and experiments are being conducted with the transmission of photographs. The regular AP wirephoto apparatus can be used for radio transmission and reception without any major changes. Although stressing that the change from wires to radio will not come within the next year, he predicted it is not too far away. FM is the basis of the whole plan, he declared, as all of AP's experiments have shown that facsimile copy sent by FM can be received clearly in locations such as the AP Bldg. in New York's Rockefeller Center where reception by amplitude modulation is undependable and impracticable. RADIO'S PUBLIC SERVICE obligations are being met fully and fairly, according to a consensus of representatives of various walks of life who spoke on a special American Forum of the Air broadcast Nov. 26 from an improvised studio adjoining the ballroom of the Willard Hotel, Washington, while the NAB Twentieth Birthday Party was in progress. Theodore Granik's MBS program was selected as indicative of freedom of speech on the radio, and the program was can-ied for a half-hour on that network. Lauding radio's efforts were (1 to r) Rabbi Edward Israel, president, Synagogue Council of America; FCC Chairman Fly; Edward J. Heff'ron, executive secretary, National Council of Catholic Men; Martin Codel, publisher. Broadcasting; Neville Miller, NAB president; Theodore Granik; Paul B. West, president, Assn. of National Advertisers; Senator Elbert D. Thomas, of Utah; Samuel M. Cavert, general secretary, Federal Council of Churches of Christ of America. BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising December I, 1940 • Page 15