Broadcasting (July - Dec 1943)

Corderman to Join W E In New York Leaves OWI Bureau to Take Firm's Radio Division ROY C. CORDERMAN, assistant chief of the OWI Bureau of Communications Facilities, has resigned effective July 15 to join the Radio Division of Western Electric at 120 Broadway, New York. Mr. Corderman, who has been on leave from AT&T since Dec. 1, 1941, will continue to do war work in Western ElecMr. Corderman j. • > /-> trie s Government Contracts Section. With his departure from OWI, Mr. Corderman will resign from the International Broadcasting Coordination Committee under FCC Commissioner T. A. M. Craven. On IBCC, Mr. Corderman represented both OWI and CIAA. On Loan From AT&T Widely known as an engineer and as coordinator of the Emergency Network of the American Radio Relay League of the Middle Atlantic and Southeastern Areas, Mr. Corderman had been loaned to the CIAA by AT&T on Dec. 1, 1941. Six months later he transferred to OWI as chief of the facilities division and in March of this year, was made assistant chief of the Bureau of Communication Facilities under Murry Brophy [Broadcasting, March 22]. In his OWI post, Mr. Corderman was the contact between commercial communications firms and OWI. He was responsible for renegotiation of contracts which saved the Overseas large sums of money. In addition, he arranged for lease of a private cable between New York and London as a substitute for use of regular commercial channels. At the time of his departure, he was completing arrangements for new equipment which will permit simultaneous transmission of telegraph and broadcast signals over shortwave transmitters. Feen-a-Mint War Aid THE JULY 16 broadcast of Double or Nothing, MBS program sponsored by Pharmaco Inc., New York, for Feen-a-mint, will originate in Wrackem Memorial Hall, Detroit, with an audience of 2000 outstanding war workers and with war workers as contestants. Commercials will be devoted entirely to war savings bonds as a part of the drug industry advertising campaign to assist the Treasury Department's war drive. Wesley P. Combs, vice president, Wm. Esty & Co., New York, agency in charge of the account; Harry Holcomb, producer; Sidney Allen, MBS salesman, and Lester Gottlieb, MBS publicity director, will accompany the program to Detroit, which has officially designated this week as "Double or Nothing Week." PARK CONCERTS featuring local radio talent were opened in Portland, Ore., July 11, with the cooperation of radio-minded Mayor R. Earl Riley. In scenic "Park Blocks" area, the city constructed a stage for the Under the Stars concerts. The entire orchestral and vocal staff of KOIN form the musical aggregation for the series and are billed as the "KOIN Portland Civic Orchestra." Shown here checking plans for the outdoor concert hall are (1 to r) : C. W. (Chuck) Meyers, KOIN president; Joseph Sampietro, music director; Mayor Earl Riley, and Chester R. Duncan, KOIN director of public relations. With Portland crammed to bursting with war workers, Mayor Riley says the concerts are an important addition to the city's recreational services. FM Licensees Favor Extension Of Band for Post -War Growth Twenty Station Operators Answer 10 Questions Asked by E. K. Jett in 'Broadcasting' MAJORITY of existing FM broadcast station licensees believe the FM band should be extended to accommodate anticipated post-war expansion, according to a survey made by FM Broadcasters Inc. and announced last Thursday by Walter J. Damm, WTMJ-W55M, Milwaukee, president of the trade group. A series of 10 questions propounded by E. K. Jett, chief engineer of the FCC, in an article in the April 26 War Conference Issue of Broadcasting served as a basis for the survey. Members of the trade group were circularized with the abstract questions set forth in the Jett article. It also was the basis for a conference of the FM group in New York last month, attended by Lt. Jett. Allocation Favored To the initial question — whether the present FM allocation from 43 to 50 mc. is best for FM — 13 station operators responded affirmatively and five answered "no." To the next question — whether the FM band should be extended either up or down, 11 FM broadcasters indicated they felt the band should be extended, two indicated the present band was adequate, while six could not be classified. "What new or modified standards should be adopted?" was a question that brought 19 answers. Of these 11 felt that some modifications were desirable; six that no modifications are necessary and two could not be classified. Asked whether mileage separa tions heretofore recognized for licensing purposes for the same and adjacent channel operation are satisfactory, nine responded "yes," seven "no" and two felt this could only be determined in the future. Asked what degree of interference may be expected from sky wave propagation if the present FM band is retained, nine broadcasters felt that while there had been some interference, it would not be serious. Five others felt the interference expected would be serious and five responses could not be classified. "'In view of the fidelity characteristics of the receivers manufactured, has too much stress been placed on high fidelity in FM transmission and programming?" was question No. 6. Of the 20 who responded 10 answered "no," eight answered affirmatively and two answers could not be classified. Inferior Receivers To the question "What steps, if any, should be taken to prevent the distribution of inferior receivers incapable of taking reasonable advantage of service provided?" the majority of the answers indicated that "public education should be the method of preventing the distribution of inferior receivers". There was no breakdown on this question. A dozen of the 20 broadcasters felt the allocation of FM stations on the basis of trade areas should be continued and did not know of a more satisfactory method. Six broadcasters felt there should be RADIO OPERATORS AVAILABLE AT NAB MORE THAN 360 names of licensed radio operators and technicians are now on file in the NAB Technicians Pool, Howard S. Frazier, NAB director of engineering, said last week. The list includes men and women in 41 States, most of whom hold either first or second class licenses. NAB submits four to eight names of available technicians to stations applying to the pool, Mr. Frazier said. Each name is accompanied by a description of experience, license, draft status, salary. A station is free to reject all names on a list and ask for additional applicants, Mr. Frazier said. Included in the pool are at least 20 persons discharged from Army and Navy service. With the Signal Corps civilian training courses now tapering off, NAB also has names of many persons trained by the government. Some of the names were obtained by FCC in a recent poll of radio license holders doing non-radio work who would be willing to accept radio jobs. I, Barbe Joins SESAC CHARLES M. BARBE, recently with the British Ministry of Information doing special broadcasts for the BBC, has been named station relations representative in the central states for SESAC, music licensing organization. Mr. Barbe succeeded William L. Shirer as European representative for CBS in December 1940, reporting successively from Berlin, Rome, Berne and London. His radio experience in this country includes positions with WFBM and WKBF (WIRE), Indianapolis, and WPTF, Raleigh, and WBIG, Greensboro, N. C. Elgin Picks Time ELGIN WATCH Co., Elgin, 111., has definitely decided to use the Saturday evening 7-7:30 period on CBS for The Man Behind the Gun, when the company resumes sponsorship of the adventure series in September. CBS is presenting the program on a sustaining basis this summer in that half-hour spot, after moving it from its previous time Sundays at 10:30 p.m. Agency is J. Walter Thompson Co., New York. a change, while two supplied answers which could not be classified. Of 19 answers received to the question whether FM boosters should be permitted, 16 answered affirmatively, while two were unfavorable and one answer could not be classified. The same majority also felt that the boosters should be allowed to operate unattended and on channels different from the channel of the originating transmitter. To the question "What should be the standards for synchronous operation?" the answers were not sufficiently definite to permit classification, as various interpretations were placed on the question. Most of the answers, however, indicate that "this is something to be determined in the future". Page 16 • July 12, 1943 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising