Broadcasting (Oct - Dec 1949)

LOBBY PROBE Hilmer May Head Group SELECTION of Lucien Hilmer, Washington attorney, to head the new House Select Lobbying Committee, was strongly indicated last week by spokesmen for Rep. Frank Buchanan (D-Pa.), chairman of the investigating committee. Spokesmen confirmed that Mr. Hilmer probably will be named to direct the probe of lobbying activities of government agencies and private organizations [Closed Circuit, Nov. 14]. No other attorney is under consideration for the job, they said. Rep. Buchanan, who returns to Washington this week, is expected to announce Mr. Kilmer's appointment shortly. Mr. Hilmer, a member of Hilmer & Davis, Washington law firm, has had wide experience in government and radio practice. He served with FCC from 1940 to 1942, most of the time as assistant general counsel. His successor at the Commission was Rosel Hyde, now FCC Commissioner. Mr. Hilmer entered government service in 1936, serving until 1940 as assistant counsel and later associate counsel to the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee. From 1942 to 1945 he supervised economic planning for the Board of Economic Warfare. The House Committee will undertake the probe when Congress reconvenes in January after its stalf determines the fields to be explored. Investigation is expected {to cover failure of private and public agency personnel to register as lobbyists and conformity of present registrants with the Lobbying Act. [Broadcasting, Oct. 3, 10, 17]. D~F-S New Quarters DANCER-FitzgeraldSample, New York, presently located at 247 Park Ave., has signed a lease to occupy three floors, approximately 40,000 square feet in the 347 Madison Ave. Bldg. Air Features Inc., and the Betty Crocker Office, both now in 247 Park, also will move to the new quarters. New offices will be air-conditioned and rebuilt to house the advertising agency. They are expected to be ready sometime in the spring. ~ ATTENTION AM FM & TV STATIONS 1 LONDON LIBRARY SERVICE features FULL FREQUENCY RANGE RECORDING I This exclusive recording process reproduces ' every sound audible to the normal ear and guarantees the finest in recorded music. THE COST...ONLY $30 PER MONTH For further details: LONDON LIBRARY SERVICE a division of THE LONDON GRAMOPHONE CORP. 16 W. 22 Street • New York 10, N.Y. KTUR'S SPIRIT OnS Pioneer Radioman Is Outlet's First Sponsor PRESENT as KTUR Turlock, Calif., switch is thrown are (I to r): H. A. McMillen, station manager; Cecil Lynch, consultant; Emile J. Rome, Raytheon's San Francisco sales engineer; Mr. Sanders (hand on switch); Maxon B. Sayre, chief engineer, and Carl Pendergraft, assistant engineer. Shown in inset, Mr. Sanders (r) as a young man sits at transmitter with another station operator, Emile Portal. * * >i> DURING the building of KTUR Turlock, Calif., which went on the air last month, station officials were approached by a prominent local resident with a request to be the station's first sponsor. Reason for the request dates back to 1913. At that time, the same man, then in his late teens, participated in the earliest transmission of voice and music by radio. Transmission occurred regularly between the National Wireless Telephone Co. in the Garden City Bank Bldg. in San Jose and a similar station in San Francisco. One of the operators was C. K. Sanders, now the Turlock Cadillac-Oldsmobile dealer. Mr. Sanders realized his wish to be a sponsor and also was the first to push the switch when KTUR went on the air Oct. 7. It was his first close contact with commercial radio since he retired from the field following service in the Navy. After serving in the Navy Signal Corps during the first World War, Mr. Sanders retired from radio until a year ago when he acquainted himself with vacuum tubes, crystal oscillators, Class B modulators and similar modern terms, and was issued amateur license W6DVS. KTUR operates fulltime on 1390 kc, with 1 kw, and is licensed to the Turlock Broadcasting Corp. KNUZ VOTE BROADCASTING • Telecasting Ordered by Labor Board NATIONAL Labor Relations Board has ordered a vote among studio, transmitter and combination studio-transmitter engineers at KNUZ Houston, 250 w independent station, as to whether IBEW Local 716 shall represent them in collective bargaining negotiations. NLRB specified the customary 30 day deadline on the election. The board's finding said that, contrary to the contention of the licensee, Veteran's Broadcasting Co., KNUZ is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the NLRB Act. A three member panel has been designated by the board to handle the case. Other board findings: KNUZ obtains transcriptions from outside Texas at an annual cost of $3,240; pays royalties to ASCAP and two similar out-state organizations for use of copyright material; grossed $87,328 in revenue in 1948, of which about 4% accrued from sales of advertising to agencies outside of Texas. WTAC REQUEST For NLRB Rehearing Denied REQUEST by Trendle-Campbell Broadcasting Corp., licensee of WTAC Flint, Mich., for oral argument and rehearing on inclusion of certain station technical personnel in NABET representation has been denied by the National Labor Relations Board. In a second supplemental decision issued Friday, NLRB made "clear" that NABET is certified to represent engineers and technicians supervised by the chief engineer but not employes whose principal function is announcing, though they may work in the studio control room. NLRB previously had ruled out intervention by AFRA, bargaining agent for the announcers, which reported it was unable to bargain collectively with WTAC because of the uncertainty of technical jurisdiction over announcers-engineers [Broadcasting, Nov. 21]. NABET was designated as representative for the engineers and technicians. KSON San Diego, 250 w station, has joined Southern California Broadcasters Assn. as 44th member. WIS CEREMONIES Mark New Bldg. Opening DEDICATION of WIS AM FM Columbia, S. C, new studio and office building was held the weekend of Nov. 19-20. Doors were thrown open to the public and Sunday afternoon NBC's Radio City Playhouse starring Jan Miner, was originated in the new studios. That evening, George Hicks presented from WIS his U. S. Steel messages to NBC's Theatre Guild on the Air audience. Producer Director Harry W. Junkin offered "Deception" in the Playhouse origination, with Miss Miner supported by a cast of Columbians. Saturday night, Niles Trammell, NBC chairman of the board, was guest of honor at a dedicatory program and dinner attended by radio executives and advertisers. Also heard on the program were Miss Miner, Messrs. Junkin and Hicks, and Jay Jostyn, star of Mr. District Attorney. Other NBC stars, such as Bob Hope, Everett Mitchell, Hugh Conover and Claudia Morgan, saluted the station on special broadcasts aired during Sunday. Studio tours continued through last week, WIS reported. CERTIFICATE of achievement from Dayton Chamber of Commerce awarded WING Dayton, Ohio, for its public service program. This Is Dayton. DO YOU WANT TO DOUBLE MR. BOTTLER'S SALES! IMMEDIATELY! The copyrighte"d SILVER DOLLAR MAN program has done even better than this for me and my friends who have used it. I have been urged to make the Silver Dollar Man program available on a protected market basis to other bottlers because It puts soft drinks at the point of consumption ... in the refrigerator . . . where the bottlers must have them. Eighteen years of bottler sales experience is wrapped up in the packaged Silver Dollar Man program. It's a natural. It's a positive business builder. It's the thing Mr. Bottler is looking for! The base program rate is $25,001 Write or wire for complete details now! First Come! First Served! R. A. "BOB" PERROTT Sales Promotion Counselor BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA Telephone 1024 November 28, 1949 Page 73