Broadcasting (Oct - Dec 1945)

RMA Discounts CIO Hold-back Claim Authorizes Parts Delivery; Union Sees Wallace By RUFUS CRATER tEPLYING to union charges that iroduction and delivery of goods ire being deliberately held back by ■lectrical manufacturers, Radio Manufacturers Assn. spokesmen I leclared last week they had no E vidence of any such hold-back and jj lid not believe the union's charges. Hi RMA officials ascribed the delay j'n delivery of radios primarily to JOPA pricing delays, noting that ajjnited Electrical, Radio and Mahine Workers (CIO), which made Situations Wanted (Cont'd) xperience announcer, production, promotion, copywriting, sales. Promoted, lirected Summer Theater. Present portion, costume jewelry salesman. Present earnings $8000. Wife intricate part if working program, but wants no oficial status. Wife finished pianist, or;anist, vocalist, choral, glee club diXBector. Experienced producing Little Theater Guild Amateur Radio Plays, -kxecutive experience merchandising b kimall wear, jewelry, cosmetics. Perlifr.-nanency rather than spring board. 'Sales job wanted with good station. ":deas to sell. Ability to sell them. Know fears in radio. 30 years old, married nan. Make an offer. Box 612, BROAD+3ASTING. Commercial man of twenty-five. Experience network affiliates. Desires pernanent position station or agency. References. Box 610, BROADCASTING. Newscaster — Seeking permanent news Derth in major market. 14 years experimce in well known stations. Also, AFN md BBC. Honorable discharge. Family nan. Experienced stage, radio production. Best references. Box 609, BROADCASTING. Wanted to Buy Wanted — Field intensity meter — will jay top price. Box 586, BROADCASTING. Drder letters for products advertised m your station may be worth thousands if dollars to your clients, and liberal jommissions to you. We are confidenial, exclusive agents for mass buyers >f mail order names. For full particulars :ontact — Mr. Buhl, S. D. Cates Company, 1930 Irving Park Road, Chicago 13, :illnols. Wanted — New or used recorder for 16 nch discs, state make, type and conation. Box 611, BROADCASTING. For Sale "or sale— RCA 250-D 250 watt transmitter. Purchased new 1939, used two years. iMs been kept in standby service. Best !50 watt ever made by RCA in S. C. Jfty. Box 604, BROADCASTING. itVo Radiotone Transcription turn;ables, slightly used, $250.00. WNEX, Mkcon, Georgia. Cjr Sale — new Presto 6-N recorder with iflcroscope and extra feedscrew also tfied Presto 85 -E amp. Box 546, BROADCASTING. 'or Sale — Presto Model Y recorder complete with extra 75-A recording turniSbble. Immediate delivery. Box 605, 3ROADCASTING. : Radiotone Transcription Turntables, lew equipment, $390.00, WSSV, Petersburg, Virginia. Considering sale full time regional sta,lon, national network, low frequency. i sponsible principals only. Box 608, f. tOADCASTING. anted to rent, wire laying plow, urntly needed. Station WSPA, SpartanIfirg, 8. C. Miscellaneous the charges, had in its own statement put some of the blame on OPA slowness. They said set makers could not have started deliveries until late November, when first OPA set prices were issued, because of OPA regulations prohibiting the manufacturer from shipping sets before he received OPA prices-. Rushing by Plane Meanwhile, OPA late Friday announced that parts manufacturers may deliver under old orders until Jan. 15 at ceiling prices in effect prior to Dec. 3, 1946. Move was to expedite parts delivery to set makers, said OPA. Now manufacturers are rushing sets by airplane in an effort to catch some of the Christmas market, the RMA spokesmen declared. They said they doubted, however, that the manufacturers would be able to catch much of the holiday trade. A UE-CIO delegation, putting into effect a resolution adopted last month by union representatives from 76 cities [Broadcasting, Nov. 19], met with Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace last Tuesday to present their charges and demand "immediate investigation of the electrical industry." The meeting with Secretary Wallace preceded by two days a strike vote conducted by UE-CIO among its estimated 200,000 members in General Electric Co., Westinghouse Electric Corp., and General Motors (Electrical Division) in plants throughout the U. S. First returns late Friday indicated overwhelming support for a strike. Union officials previously agreed no strike would be called in 1945 [Broadcasting, Dec. 10], explaining "the time for a strike, if it comes, is when such action aids UE rather than the companies." In the conference with Secretary Wallace, Albert J. Fitzgerald, UECIO general president, said delay in delivery of electrical goods could not be fastened on the union because UE-CIO "has not had strikes in the electrical industry." UE-CIO Charges UE-CIO contended "the electrical industry has engaged in a deliberate hold-back of radios, washing machines, refrigerators and other appliances from the Christmas trade" because "for every dollar of profit from products sold during 1945, manufacturers will make four times as much in 1946 because of the repeal of the excess profits tax." "In addition," Mr. Fitzgerald said, "because of their campaign to abolish OPA price ceilings, electrical manufacturers are holding back their products now, hoping to reap huge profits later." RMA contended it is apparent that although manufacturers may be in a position to profit by delay, actually production was impossible until late November. OPA Regulation 599, they noted, prohibits shipment of sets until OPA prices have been issued, and requires the manufacturer to affix retail price tags. They pointed out that OPA's first parts prices were issued two months after V-J Day; that another month or six weeks were required before individual adjustment were secured ; that the formula for pricing sets was not received until Oct. 30, and that the first set prices were issued the week of Nov. 23. "Therefore," they declared, "radio set makers could not start delivery until the latter part of November." Fact that manufacturers, now that production is possible, are "rushing sets by airplane" for the Christmas trade was seen as evidence of industry's desire to get sets to the public as quickly as possible. Senators Absent UE-CIO said union employes of Westinghouse, GE, GM, and RCA comprised the delegation which met with Secretary Wallace. Sens. James E. Murray (D.-Mont.) and James M. Mead (D.-N.Y.) were listed in a union release as attending the meeting, but authorities later reported the Senators were unable to be present. Sens. Mead and Murray head the committees which UE-CIO asked to be assigned to the requested investigation— the Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program and the Senate Education and Labor Committees, respectively. UE President Fitzgerald, reporting on surveys he asserted the union made in several cities, said results "prove beyond the question of a doubt that tens of thousands of radios, refrigerators, electric irons and other electrical appliances could have been placed on the market prior to Christmas." He said "in numerous instances companies are producing fairly rapidly and are, in many cases, storing their products rather than placing them on the market." But in most cases, he declared, "the appliance manufacturers have deliberately held back production, falsely blaming shortage of parts to 'labor trouble' or conversion difficulties." Gifts for McNeill CHRISTMAS RUSH is on for Don McNeill of American's Breakfast Club as postmen stagger in with big sacks of gifts from thousands of fans. Accumulation thus far includes books, pens, glassware, money clips, cigarette lighters, pastry, ducks, turtles, and a threepiece zoot-suit. Articles of value are being turned over to charity and relief organizations. New TV Recording Machine Discussed American Television Society Hears Report From Cuff TELEVISION programming on both coasts was discussed by four authorities at a monthly meeting of the American Television Society Dec. 13 at the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel, New York. Development of a new, and as yet unnamed, machine to record, visually and audibly, television programs, was reported by Samuel H. Cuff, general manager of DuMont station, WABD New York. Machine records on a 16 mm film. One use for it which Mr. Cuff envisions is reproduction of programs for widespread distribution throughout the country. Lessons Learned Bob Emery, president of Television Producers Assn. and television director of WOR New York, summed up lessons he had learned from the Brownstone Theater productions. Big problem, he said, is to find a cast which knows both radio and stage acting. "If you've got good writers and material, you don't need complicated camera work," he said. Mr. Landsberg spoke of the necessity of holding television audiences' attention for long periods, a technique made possible by coordinated programming. The problem of injecting commercials into television programs was discussed by Paul Mowrey, director of television for American Broadcasting Co. ROADCASTING • Telecasting Benson & Rixon Names BENSON & RIXON Co., Chicago clothier, has placed advertising account with Sydney S. -Lovitt Co., Chicago. Radio is said to be considered. A. A. Porter Resigns ARTHUR A. PORTER has resigned as managing director of Canadian Institute of Public Opinion, a Gallup subsidiary, to head research department of Leo Burnett Co., Chicago agency. Howard Joins Browne FRANCIS HOWARD, formerly of Merrill Kremer Inc., Memphis, and previously with sales promotion department of American in New York, has joined the copy department of the Burton Browne Advertising Agency, Chicago. New on WBBM TWO new public service programs have been added on WBBM Chicago. "Your Chicago" returned Dec. 15 3:30-3:45 p.m., presented in cooperation with Chicago Park District. "Wake Uo and Live" dramatizing problems of Chicago needy, is aired with cooperation of 200 social agencies. Pontius Returns DON PONTIUS, member of Mutual Chicago sales staff until entering service in 1943, has returned as successor to Charles Goodman in MBS Chicago co-op sales. Goodman shifts to west coast office. Joins Lovitt Co. JAMES M. STEINMAN, owner of "I Want a Home" show broadcast for short time on WCFL Chicago, has joined Sydney S. Lovitt Co., Chicago agency. Vet Tie-in WBT Charlotte daily newspaper column ad appearing in the Charlotte Observer will be tied in with a weekly 15minute program entitled "Veterans Available" as part of the station's drive to aid veteran employment. British Music SERIES of recorded musical programs entitled "English Music Hall," designed to give Americans vivid cross-section of British dance music and specialties, starts on WNEW New York, 6-6:30 p.m. on Dec. 23. December 17, 1945 • Page 99