Broadcasting (Jan - Mar 1950)

J^ditotial How Big Is Radio? NOW THAT estimated net time sales of U. S. radio for 1949 have been added up ($429 million for AM broadcasting), small, carping cries may be expected to be heard protesting that radio is: (1) the Eden of profit-mongers, (2) big business and hence monopolistic, (3) both. Such are the recurring laments of the bureaucrats and do-good economists, and the only notewoi-thy characteristic of all of them is that they are untrue. According to this publication's estimates, the total time sales of AM radio — national network, regional network, national and regional non-network, and local — amounted to $428,990,000 in 1949. Now $428,990,000 is a lot of money, viewed in a lump. But no one corporation or group in the business of broadcasting got its hands, even momentarily, on more than a fraction of that sum. And no corporation or group kept as profits more than an infinitesimal fraction of the fraction. It is interesting to compare the sales of the entire AM broadcasting field with the profits of a single corporation in another field. General Motors, for instance. In 1948, the latest year for which GM has issued a financial report, the consolidated net income of the corporation and its subsidiaries was $440,447,724. That is $11 million more than the total sales of radio. For 1949 U. S. Steel Corp. has just reported profits of $165,958,806 or bigger than the sales of the four national radio networks and regional and miscellaneous networks combined, bigger than national and regional non-network sales, and exceeded only by the $182 million of local sales made by some 2,000 stations. To our knowledge there has been no recent interest, even by the most avid anti-big business elements of the government, in questioning the legality of either the General Motors or U. S. Steel operations, a fact we are pleased to observe. This being so, the cries against broadcasting bigness ought to be small indeed, too small certainly to be heard above the winds of Capitol Hill or over the bleats of the bureaucrats who are disposed to regard a radio license as a key to the mint. HAROLD TUCKER WEBSTER, one of the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate's veteran cartoonists, has for years been using as one of his regular topics "The Unseen Audience." Through his facile pen he has taken some murderous digs at radio and radio listeners. In one of his latest on this subject Mr. Webster, perhaps unwittingly, went a long way toward making amends. His picture showed Mr. Average Man answering a coincidental poll. Mr. A. M. says: "I'm listening to the nagging backache show. My wife is upstairs listening to a toothpaste show. My son is in his room listening to a breakfast food show. My daughter is tuned to a hair tonic show. Our cook is listening to a beauty lotion show. Our dog is stone deaf and is sleeping peacefully." Sounds as though there'd be little time left for cartoon-reading by any member of Mr. W's typical family. Free-Time Philanthropy DETERMINATION of a growing number of broadcasters to quit playing ready philanthropist to causes which unashamedly beg time from radio while willingly paying their way in other advertising media is a natural consequence of a long and sorry history of abuse of the public service responsibility of broadcasting. Because it operates at the whim of government license, radio, more than any other medium, is susceptible to organized pressure. It is no secret that among organizations with a view to propound, the belief is widely held that they have but to phone a radio station, mutter darkly of letters to the FCC and forthwith be accorded — free, of course — the 7 to 8 p.m. period of Sunday evening to bespeak their cause. It does not seem to strike such organizations as inconsistent that, coincident with their demands for free time from radio, they may be buying space from magazines or newspapers at regular rates. Undeniably however such practice is not only inconsistent but discriminatory. The revolt of many broadcasters against further charity to the Army, at least during the first half of this year, cannot come as a surprise to any lucid mind. The wonder is that the reaction did not set in long ago. We do not suggest that the announcement by Grant Adv., the Army's new agency, that radio will be given a considerable share of the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 was inspired by the recent protests of broadcasters. We doubt, however, that radio's share was at all endangered by the protests. The record of broadcasting in providing support for good causes is unmatched by that of any other medium. The industry's reputation in this regard will be improved — not impaired — if broadcasters insist upon their inclusion in campaigns like the Army's as participants, not dupes. Brake on Progress IF UNCLE SAM really doesn't want to see television grow too fast — and the charge has been made — the new TV excise tax proposed by Treasury Secretary Snyder [BROADCASTING, Feb. 6] provides an excellent way of slowing this dynamic industry. It's strange — or is it? — that this government spokesman should send the House Ways & Means Committee an eloquent argument about the way excise taxes are hurting business and the need for lower rates. Then in the same message that so forcefully explains why cuts are necessary. Secretary Snyder calls for a new 10 Vc tax on television sets. If excise taxes are crippling important segments of the American economy, why then are they suddenly suggested for the industry that highest government officials predicted would lead post-war socio-economic dvelopment? Unfoitunately it's the smaller companies and the small-income people who would be most seriously affected by this proposed TV set tax. Manufacturers have brought prices within reach of the average family by production ingenuity and intense competition. Now they would be facing a high — 10% — tax that promises to slow down this employment-producing post-war phenomenon in American progress. All this comes at a time when FCC's drawnout freeze prevents normal development of an industry whose growth will assure an even greater volume of corporate tax receipts. Sounds as though tax-wise Uncle Sam is income foolish. GEORGE FRANCIS ISAAC 100K FOR the man who fashioned WCFL . Chicago into a major contender for the midwest advertising dollar and you inevitably wind up with George Francis Isaac. During the past year and a half under his tenure as commercial manager, WCFL, now with 50 kw, has rapidly extended its influence over and beyond the four-state area covered by its signal. Day and night, wherever he may be, Mr. Issac argues quietly that WCFL is "the midwest's best radio buy." And with rates less than one-third those of Chicago's four other fulltime 50 kw stations, WCFL makes sense to dozens of Chicago and New York buyers. If its revenues of the past year continue to mount, the nation's first and only AM labor station may well join the nation's top stations in programs and facilities. Every penny poured into its coffers since it was founded in 1926 has been ploughed back into operations. This policy is now paying off in a dominant schedule of sportscasts, sparkling local programs, network shows, and a tight workmanlike operation. This is good sales ammunition for Mr. Isaac, who invites clients to come get on the bandwagon while costs ai-e low. Equipment-wise, the station already boasts one of the finest transmitters known to radio engineering, and its studios and executive offices, high in the American Furniture Mart on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive are ultra-modern. When William A. Lee became head of the Chicago Federation of Labor in 1946, a new and colorful figure entered radio. Long famous in labor and civic circles as president of Chi^ cago's blue ribbon Bakery Drivers' Union and trustee of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, he soon asserted his astute business leadership at WCFL. He looked for a new sales manager and found Mr. Isaac, a 20-year veteran in radio, within his own organization. Mr. Isaac's experience as commercial manager of WGN Chicago and with advertising agencies, as well as his success at WCFL, made his selection a natural. George Isaac has been a salesman since his boyhood days in Mankato, Kan., where he was born Nov. 12, 1902. He worked both as a newspaper delivery boy and behind the counter of a grocery store. At Mankato High School, where he played a fast game of basketball in addition to his part-time employment, he won a scholarship to Northwestern U. This free tuition helped, but hardly paid expenses at college, so Mr. Isaac became interested in the business end of Northwestern's (Continued on page i2) Page 40 • February 13, 1950 BROADCASTING • Telecasting