Broadcasting (Oct - Dec 1950)

public informed of the Nazi conquest of Austria in March, the networks all broadcasting the speech of Adolf Hitler from Vienna on March 15, that of Benito Mussolini the following day and Secretary of State Cordell Hvill's statement of the United States position on the 17th, in addition to numerous eyewitness accounts from Central Europe. With this preliminary experience, the networks were ready in September when the German troops marched into Czechoslovakia. From the Sept. 10 address of President Benes pledging to maintain his country's independence at all costs right through to the final agreement at Munich on Sept. 29, European reporting became the main concern of the networks, which kept the public at their radios day and night for the latest developments for war or peace. Throughout the month radio was first with the news direct from the scene, right up to the final signing of the pact. The full text was broadcast by NBC 17 minutes after it was released, 46 minutes ahead of any other report to the United States. CBS won plaudits for its round-ups of comment on each major development from the world's capitals and H. V. Kaltenborn, whose crisp analyses of the news and what it meant were broadcast a dozen times a day, became in a month the possessor of the best known voice in the country, with the possible exception of the President. Approximately $50,000 in rebates to sponsors for cancelled programs were included in the overall network costs of some $175,000 for its crisis coverage. Hurricane Hifs New York, New England In the midst of those critical days of September 1938, a tropical hurricane swept upward along the coast from New York through New England, pushing over transmitter towers and throwing out power supplies so thoroughly that scarcely a station along its path escaped unscratched and many were put off the air for hours or even days. All those that could stay on or get back on immediately threw all their facilities into the task of rescue, relief and news reporting. Television moved ahead during 1938 with NBC staging almost continuous demonstrations for interested groups all through the spring, with two companies — Allen B. DuMont Labs and National Television Corp. — putting sets on sale, with the FCC granting TV station licenses to DuMont and Zenith, with Paramount Pictures buying a substantial stock interest in DuMont, and with RCA an Mr. Kaltenborn nouncing that it was ready to sell TV transmitters to interested broadcasters (CBS had already bought one and was busily installing it in the Chrysler Tower) . Dr. E. H. Armstrong began building a 50 kw FM station at Alpine, N. J., and Paul F. Godley, consulting engineer, began supervising the construction of another highpower FM station at Paxton, some 45 miles from Boston, for the Yankee Network. AN PA Meet Sees Three Facsimile Systems Three systems of facsimile broadcasting were demonstrated at the ANPA convention — Hogan, Finch and RCA— and W. G. H. Finch was licensed to erect a facsimile-and-sound broadcasting station in New York, using the 1939 THE YEAR 1939 began with the threat of a nationwide strike against broadcasting stations by the American Federation of Radio Artists; it ended with the threat of a nationwide strike against broadcasting stations by the American Federation of Musicians. It was a year in which two new kinds of broadcasting — FM and TV — came out of the laboratory and began demonstrating their ability to provide regular day-in day-out service; a year in which broadcasters got their terms of license extended from six months to a year and were told they would have to take out licenses to use phonograph records; a year in which the FCC adopted a new set of rules for regulating broadcasters and broadcasters adopted a new code of their own. Broadcasters Declare Independence of ASCAP It was a year in which war broke out in Europe and, of much more immediate importance to American broadcasters, 1939 was the year that, at long last, they declared their own independence of ASCAP and began preparing means of backing up that declaration at the end of 1940 when their ASCAP contracts were to expire and musically, they would be on their own. As 1938 ended, a year of negotiations between AFRA and the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies had brought AFRA's submission of a proposed code of terms and conditions for the employment of actors, singers and announcers on commercial network programs. The AAAA promptly proposed terms of its own. AFRA's answer was to send its code to individual agencies to be signed "immediately" or face a strike. A meeting of advertisers sponsoring over 70% of all network commercial shows authorized an new FM system of transmission for its duplex service. Also in 1938 Hearst Radio began divesting itself of stations, at year's end had sales of six of its 10 awaiting FCC approval; Elliott Roosevelt, appointed president of Hearst Radio early in the year, also became president of Texas State Network, 23-station regional chain which affiliated with MBS; Arde Bulova, watch manufacturer, bought WPG Atlantic City, subject to Commission approval, to move to New York and merge with his other stations to make one full-time operation; Gardner Cowles Jr., publisher of the Des Moines Register and Tribune and owner of KSO and KRNT Des Moines and WMT Cedar Rapids, acquired WNAX with FCC approval; NBC appointed A. E. Nelson, former manager of KDKA Pittsburgh, sales manager of the Blue Network, inaugurated a new discount plan for the Blue; CBS and NBC both moved into new Hollywood headquarters; World Broadcasting System in October inauguI'ated World Transcription Network, one station to a city, to sell spot business on a network basis, absorbing mechanical cost and selling as a package, had 54 affiliates at year's end; the FCC set aside the 41-42 mc band for educational use exclusively, issued licenses to the Cleveland and New York boards of education for such stations ; NBC at year's end moved Niles Trammell to New York as executive vice president, Sidney Strotz replacing him as acting manager of the Central Division in Chicago. agency committee to deal with AFRA and, after two all-night sessions, an agreement was reached on what was virtually the original AFRA commercial code. An impasse over the preferential shop clause, which AFRA refused to drop and the agencies insisted neither they nor their clients could accept was averted when the networks agreed to sign the code as producers of the programs, the agencies in turn giving the networks letters agreeing to abide by the code conditions. AFRA then turned its attention to the Pacific Coast, first getting contracts with the major stations and then negotiating with agencies for a regional commercial code, which was signed by NBC and CBS in New York in September, covering network commercial programs for the 11 western states. This regional agreement was made supplementary to the national commercial code and timed to expire on the same date, Feb. 12, 1941. Sustaining network agreements, both national and regional, were completed with NBC, CBS and MBS. Negotiations in Chicago broke down but a strike was averted by AFRA's proposal that the differences be arbitrated. AFRA Announcer Demands Arouse Disputes On the station level, AFRA's demands for extra pay for announcers employed on commercials, starting at $1 for a spot announcement, aroused numerous disputes. When the IRNA committee met with the AFM board early in November to discuss a renewal of their national agreement, expiring Jan. 17, 1940, the union proposed that the $3 million a year which the network affiliated stations were currently spending to employ union musicians should be raised to $4.5 million, with the networks doubling their AFM payrolls at key stations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles from $60,000 to $120,000 a year. Samuel R. Rosenbaum, WFIL Philadelphia, IRNA c h a ir m a n, asked stations for data on their incomes and their expenditures for musicians, but response was meager. Many broadcasters, particularly those in small cities who (Continued on page 116) PERFORMANCE toi/i/ik COST TOWER LIGHTING EQUIPMENT H & P lighting equipment, consistently specified by outstanding radio engineers, is furnished as standard equipment by most leading lower manufacturers. MERCURY CODE FLASHER Only four moving parts which run in lifetime-lubricated ball bearings. No contact points to wear out. Highest quality bronze gears. 3000 watt mercury switch supplied with unit. Speed adjustment, 14 to 52 flashes per minute. Motor separately fused for continuous operation of lights in event of mechanical failure. OTHER H & P PRODUCTS: 300 MM Code Beacons • Photo-Electric Controls • Obstruction lights • Complete light Kits for A-2, A-3, A-4 and A-5 Towers PROMPT SERVICE and DELIVERY Immediate Shipment Out of Stock WRITE OR WIRE FOR CATALOG HUGHEY & PHILLIPS TOWER LIGHTING DIVISION 326 N. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles48, Calif. 60 E. 42nd St. New York 17, N. Y. BROADCASTING • Telecasting October 16, 1950 • Page 115