Broadcasting (Jan - June 1941)

Lloyd A, Free and Harold N. Graves Jr. Named to Head Foreign Monitoring Unit CONGRATULATIONS are mutual as Arthur Simon (left), general manager of WPEN, Philadelphia, greets Chief Engineer Charles Burtis upon increase of power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts. Special Ceremony Marks WPEN's Power Boost WPEN, Philadelphia, stepped up its power from 1,000 to 5,000 watts on June 16, marking the dedication of its new transmitter with a special hour program devoted to national defense. The highlight of the dedicatory program was the actual switchover from 1,000 watts to the increased power. Arthur Simon, WPEN general manager, gave the signal for the change. The new transmitter is a Westinghouse 5 HV model. Charles Burtis, chief engineer, directed remodeling of the transmitter house, adding a new wing. The plant, only six miles from the heart of the city is more than 210 feet above sea level. WPEN operates on a non-directional day-time signal, directional after sunset. APPOINTMENT of Lloyd A. Free, formerly editor of Public Opiyiion Quarteiiy, as director of its Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service, was announced last Tuesday by the FCC. Harold N. Graves Jr. also was retained as administrative assistant, second in command of the new FCC project which will record and analyze foreign shortwave propaganda broadcasts. Mr. Free's appointment, coming after several weeks of conversations between FCC Chairman James Lawrence Fly and various experts considered for the post, presages a speedy building up of personnel on the project to full operating strength. The new service, instituted upon recommendation of the Defense Communications Board, has been operating with a skeleton staff since late March under direction of Mr. Graves. A full complement of specialized personnel, including chiefs of five operating sections being set up, is expected to be at work and the service operating full blast by Aug. 1. Meantime operations will continue on an expanding schedule. Radio Background In announcing his appointment as director, the FCC spoke of Mr. Free's unusual qualifications for the assignment. Receiving a fellowship While your WSAI program plays a tune for sales, the Winged Plug of WSAI blows his own horn and pulls listeners to your program with street car and bus cards, neon signs, news pictures, movie trailers, taxicab covers, downtown window neon displays, monthly house-organ for retailers plus many another "plus'' you get with Cincinnati's Own Station. NBC RED AND BLUE — 5,000 WATTS NIGHT AND DAY LOOKING with interest at the desk barometer set he received as the annual award of the Schenectady Advertising Club as the "individual who has brought the greatest fame to Schenectady", is Dr. Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, famed General Electric radio and television pioneer. Dr. Alexanderson made the alternator used in the first voice broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1906, and during the World War became world-famous with the Alexanderson alternator. RCA, in fact, was formed to keep this device in American hands. He now has a total of 282 patents and is one of the scientists working on research problems in connection with national defense. from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1937, Mr. Free studied operations of the British Broadcasting Corp. at first hand and subsequently made a survey of American radio methods while with CBS. In 1939 he was assistant director of the Princeton Radio Research Project, and since has edited the Public Opinion Quarterly. At the time has was with the Princeton Project, Mr. Free also served as secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation's committee on mass communications and as adviser on a study by the office of radio research of Columbia U. Mr. Free, the son of former Rep. Arthur M. Free, of California, was born Sept. 29, 1908, at San Jose, Cal. Taking his preparatory education in District of Columbia schools, he received a B.S. degree from Princeton in 1930, finishing first in his class. After a year of study and teaching at Yenching U, China, he studied law at George Washington U and Stanford, receiving an LL.B. degree from the latter school in 1934, again leading his class. Will Have Five Units Mr. Graves, who for several months has served as administrative assistant of the new FCC unit, was born in Manila, P. L, where his father, now assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, was stationed at the time. Upon graduating from Princeton U, Mr. Graves studied journalism at Columbus U and later served with the foreign affairs staff of two national news magazines. He returned to Princeton in 1939 to become director of the radio listening post. His report for the Princeton post, Wa? on the Shortwave, recently was published by the Foreign Policy Assn. According to present plans, the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service will have a complete staff of 314 persons. Organization is to be divided into five categories — analysis, reports, translation and transcription, technical, and clerical— with a chief heading each section. The analysis section is to deal with intercepted material on a subjective basis, 1. e., the psychology behind certain broadcasts, while the reports section will look at the material from a news angle, developing the objective aspects. Already named to the staff of the reports section as assistant editor, is Thomas B. Grandin, formerly CBS correspondent in France. Functioning as a corollary to the FCC's extensive national defense monitoring activity, supervised by G. E. Sterling, chief of the National Defense Operations Section, the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service will operate as a separate organization. Recordings of foreign shortwave broadcasts picked up and transcribed by a staff of 32 recording engineers in the field will be turned over to the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service for translation and analysis. By June 30, the end of fiscal year 1941, the FCC's national defense operations field staff, functioning in the 11 monitoring districts set up in the United States and possessions, will number 438, the FCC estimated. In addition, a field staff of 95, handling routine FCC operations, is maintained. The 438 include 11 area supervisors, 8 assistant area supervisors, 240 radio operators, 91 monitoring officers, 102 assistant monitoring officers, 32 recording engineers (supervised by Mr. Sterling but paid out of FBMS funds), and a clerical staff of 22. Funds Sought Now pending in the House is a supplemental FCC appropriation of $674,414 for operation of the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service in fiscal year 1942. Chairman Fly appeared before the House Appropriations Committee June 7 to outline the function of the project. Because of the defense aspects of the service, little difficulty is anticipated in securing the funds [Broadcasting, June 2]. Asked at his press conference last Monday whether any changes were contemplated in the present U. S. international shortwave operations, such as Government ownership or operation, Chairman Fly said no change was planned and observed that there is growing evidence of closer cooperation between Government and business in this field of broadcasting. He commented that the whole international broadcast picture, from the point of view of U. S. shortwave station operators, seemed to be "creeping" in the direction of a unified policy which would both give evidence of this country's good neighborliness and aid the sale of sponsors' products in Latin America. JACK WINSTON, manager of KFAR, Fairbanks, Alaska, is in Southern California on combined business and pleasure. WSAI CINCINNATI'S OWN STATION REPRESENTED BY INTERNATIONAL RADIO SALES Page 18 • June 16, 1941 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising