Broadcasting (July - Dec 1943)

BEST RADIO BUY IN BALTIMORE! AND THE BLUE NETWORK John Elmer Geo. H. Roeder President Gen. Manager FREE & PETERS Exclusive National Rep. EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE AUDIENCE PROGRAMS as if a tw:n FALLS, IDAHO NEAREST STATION 100 MILES — NBC — Friendly, persuasive personalities, plus entertainment and service geared to this six-state area GET RESULTS! WIBW ^VTO PE3K A Mr. Lang was mistaken, and he expressed surprise that Mr. Lang should have written this letter without consulting him. He also denied other statements of the same tenor in the letter, which ended that Mr. Lupis "concluded the discussion by saying that he was confident you (Luotto) would eventually obtain proof of the fact that he never took any part in any action to discredit you; that he felt you had been unjustly accused, and that he was hoping in his heart that you would obtain a complete vindication." Mr. Lupis denied making any such avowal, saying that he had refused to commit himself to Mr. Luotto and that Mr. Lang's report was "incorrect." Questioned by Mr. Garey about Stefano Luotto's broadcast on WHOM last May, Mr. Lupis said he had told Mr. Lang that Mr. Luotto had been accused of being a Fascist in an article in La Parola and was then suing that paper for libel, and advised against allowing him to go on the air until the suit had been decided. Cox Denies Lupis Permission to Speak He insisted that the Dante Alie:hieri Society of Chicago, of which Stefano Luotto had been vice-president, is a branch of "the most powerful Fascist organization in the world." Mr. Garey read the following excerpt from an editorial "Divide and Conquer" appearing in the August, 1942, issue of Mr. Lupis paper, II Monda: "We remember that Al Capone — his name again comes spontaneously to the pen, talking about pro-Fascist people — was put safely away by an indirect measure, because of an income tax matter. Why not use similar indirect measures in order to oust the 'neutral Italian-Americans' from their 'wait and see'' work?" Pointing out that on Aug. 25, 1942, Sidney Spear, FCC attorney, who has since resigned, had described to Robert K. Richards of the Office of Censorship, the "extralegal" manner in which Mr. Spear and Mr. Falk had cooperated to put off the air people Mr. Falk suspected of "doing some funny business," Mr. Garey asked Mr. Lupis if his editorial might not have suggested this plan of indirect attack to these Government employes. Mr. Lupis denied suggesting or approving the Falk-Spear activities, declaring that by "indirect" he did not mean "illegal" and pointing out that the proceedings against Al Capone had been legal. Excused, Mr. Lupis asked to make a statement, but Mr. Garey said that was not necessary and Chairman Cox concurred. Hartley Recalls Call From David Arnold B. Hartley, program director of WOV, New York, took the stand in the afternoon session. He started by relating a telephone call that he had received from Nathan David before the Committee Screamer AIR RAID sirens failed to sound the other day in Pittsburgh N. Y., but a wide awake control engineer did his part in "alerting" the community. It had been planned to coordinate local precautions and part of the city fathers' plan was to have WMFF broadcast the signals sounded at the OCD posts. Faces were red when nothing but silence issued from the sirens. But not for long. Opening the control room mike, our engineer turned on the small electric siren used for a "calling all cars" announcement of a local auto dealer. Now it's a regular feature of raid test programs. hearings, saying that David in that telephone conversation recalled a conference that David, Spingarn and Hartley had held in Washington. Hartley denied Counsel Garey's charge that David had called to influence Hartley's impending testimony before the Committee. Hartley described a visit he made to Washington in October 1942 to determine why WGES, Chicago, was operating under a temporary license and why the FCC had refrained from granting a permanent one. After conversing with the station's attorneys, Porter & Haley, and immediately after meeting with Spingarn and David, Hartley wrote a letter to his employer, Gene Dyer, relating the results of his Washington conversations. FCC Releases Report Attributed to Hartley The letter, read into the record by Garey, stated that if "the Dyers wanted to sleep nights they would get Luotto and his assistants, Conti and Alfedi, off the air". The latter is out of radio while Conti is still purchaser of time on WGES but is not permitted to broadcast. The letter quoted Spingarn as stating there were two technical irregularities which could be the basis for holding up a license renewal besides the station vulnerability on the Luotto matter. Hartley wrote that Luotto's name* with the FCC is "black as sin". The license of the station was "stuck" in a newly-created FCC department, the War Problems Division. Hartley testified that when he returned to Chicago after his Washington conversations, Conti and Luotto were immediately removed from the air and shortly thereafter WGES was granted permanent license. When Counsel Garey asked Hartley about an FCC release which quoted Hartley as stating Luotto was pro-Fascist, Hartley said the only information that he conveyed was that Luotto refused to use OWI insertions in his newscasts. Hartley testified that in various private matters with the Luottos and with Gene Dyer and with Ralph Weil of WOV, he was not responsible in any way for any of Luotto's difficulties. At that point Judge Cox interjected an off-therecord statement that he was convinced "Hartley was a decent young fellow who would not knowingly harm anyone". At the conclusion of the day's testimony the FCC released a supposedly confidential report that Hartley had given to Arnold Becker, FCC Chicago attorney, about Stefano Luotto. On the stand, Hartley had testified that the report was given to Becker and that some time thereafter Hilda Shea called Hartley long distance from Washington and told him that "she had made a few changes in his statement and polished it up and that she was sending a copy to the Office of Censorship". Hartley testified that he had never authorized Mrs. Shea to change or revise his statement. At that point Nathan David jumped to his feet and asked Judge Cox for permission to read into the record both the original and revised statement to point up the fundamental similarity of the two. This was refused and Mr. David's request was stricken from the record. Hartley's four-page confidential statement, copies of which the FCC distributed to the press, related the content of some of Luotto's broadcasts and some of his general political attitudes. The statement was said to be circumstantially incriminating. It states that Luotto is "intellectually convinced of Fascism", and has obviously studied it and arrived at its essence. Hartley told of a war service program idea which he suggested to Lee Falk that the OWI prepare. The program was a counter-propaganda newscast refuting item by item Axis propaganda shortwaved the previous day. Hartley stated that WOV received four copies of the program and that three were airmailed to three other Bulova stations and so far as he knew WGES in Chicago and a station in San Francisco. He denied he demanded exclusivity of the program for WOV or that the exclusive aspects of the program was ever discussed with Falk. At the con Page 58 • August 23, 1943 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising