Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct - Dec 1951)

editorial n% Where Credit Is Due ANOTHER SESSION of Congress is about to end. In toting up the radio tallies, the records show that while an unprecedented number of bills and resolutions dealing with the broadcast media were introduced, not a single piece of legislation adversely affecting their welfare was passed. The same goes for beneficial legislation, such as the McFarland Bill to reform FCC procedures which appears stymied in the House for the fourth time. The legislative record, then, must be regarded as favorable. Beyond that, broadcasters are more respected on Capitol Hill than was the case in several past sessions. There's greater sympathy for their problems. Credit must go to those who operated on the Washington front during the session. The new command at the NARTB was of immeasurable help. Ralph Hardy, who now works full time as the legislative contact for NARTB, has figured importantly. He talked as a practical broadcaster (having been associated with KSL Salt Lake City before joing NARTB two years ago). There has been excellent coordination with other broadcasters in Washington, and with a group of vigilantes who, at their own expense, converged on Washington when their talents were needed. And while credit is being handed out, the network vice presidents on the scene shouldn't be overlooked. In order of seniority in Washington radio they are: F. M. (Scoop) Russell, on the firing line for NBC since 1929; Earl H. Gammons, the ubiquitous CBS vice president since 1942 and Robert H. Hinckley, ABC's stalwart since 1946, but whose distinguished Washington background began in the thirties when he served the late President Roosevelt in many high executive capacities. None knows better than these men, however, that the legislative task (call it lobbying if you will) is a continuing one, in which all broadcasters should participate. There can be no oar-resting during the recess — particularly in an election year. The locale is simply transferred from Capitol Hill to the grass-roots habitats of the legislators. Every Congressman, every Senator must be inculcated with the truth about such iniquitous proposals as the Benton censorship bill, the O'Mahoney onslaughts against government use of radio commercially while paid newspaper space is bought, and against the continuing flood of legislative proposals that would inundate radio's free charter. Back in Business THE GOVERNMENT'S suit against the National Football League and the not unrelated decision of the major baseball leagues to eliminate restrictions against broadcasting come as welcome news. They may encourage the abandonment by all major sports of the artificial and arbitrary rules limiting the granting of broadcasting rights. Like most broadcasters, this publication has always argued that broadcasting arrangements should be managed no differently from any other business transaction in which sports enterprises engage. Let every team make its best bargain with radio and television without the encumbrance of phony league rules. It's the sporting as well as businesslike thing to do. On the Firing Line RADIO has been tapped so often for donations to protective movements and causes, all based on the rate card, that such propositions these days — if they do not fall on deaf ears — meet with understandable resistance. There is one such proposal — for one time the highest half-hour rate from every broadcaster— made at the 14th NARTB district meeting in the fastness of the Rockies — that has laudable emotion and, to us, great merit. The funds would be earmarked for Radio Free Europe and for the purchase of a transmitter. George Cory, KUBC Montrose, Col., who saw his resolution passed by acclamation, wants free American radio to play its part in freeing "the minds of the people behind the Iron Curtain." The NARTB board will have to authorize the trade association to become the repository for such a fund. We hope it does. No Easy Job FROM ALL INDICATIONS the meeting of television members of the NARTB this Friday in Chicago may not be among the most harmonious on record, since their purpose is to consider the adoption of standards of selfdiscipline somewhat more rigorous than some have been practicing. Harmonious or not, the meeting must not end without positive action — unless telecasters wish to deliver their futures to the likes of Senator Benton and his proposed governmentsponsored censorship board. We have not had access to the full text that will be submitted to the membership, but we have been told enough about it to cause us to believe that Robert D. Swezey's committee has done a uniquely competent job in assembling it. It contains measures that are stiffer than those in any other broadcasting code. Among other innovations, it prescribes penalties for violations, a provision that alone elevates it measurably above the NAB radio code which was adopted in 1948 and, theoretically at least, is still in existence. It also requires administration by a board of review, and here, we think, is its strongest element. We suggest that the NARTB TV members give their most serious consideration to establishing this board as more than a mere review body. The board should act as a spokesman agency for television when questions about program standards are raised. It should maintain a complete and timely reservoir of information about what is on the air, in short be a central authority on television programming and commercial practices. The only question we reserve as to the proposed code cannot be answered until its details have been disclosed. That is the question of whether it is so stringently composed as to discourage artistry. Codes can too easily be written with such strictures that they lead to mediocrity, particularly if a penalty system exists. The creative mind can be so unfortunately distracted by worrying over trifling prohibitions in an unsound code that it turns hopelessly to routine production, a consequence of which is the inevitable deterioration of the medium. Whatever is done in Chicago must be done well, for there the moral standards of television will be established. The code that emerges must be stiff enough to banish smut and discourage such offensive material as over-commercialism but flexible enough to let the artist thrive. It won't be an easy job. f • our respects to: EDWARD ANDERSON WHEELER DURING the summer months, Ed Wheeler is careful to remain seated behind a big desk at WEAW (FM) Evanston, 111., while talking to VIPs about the sales and program virtues of FM. Visitors are surprised enough at his age (he'll be 29 Oct. 24) and bedrock knowledge of the industry, but would probably be thrown completely off stride if they discovered he frequently wears tennis shorts at work. Many a balmy day he skips out during lunch time for a fast game and only adds a white shirt and striped tie for work. An accomplished FM broadcaster as well as athlete, Ed Wheeler has been a leading proponent of FM since 1945. He has put WEAW (FM) Evanston on the air and operates WOKZAM-FM Alton, 111. North Shore Broadcasting Co. of which he is president, three years ago introduced experimental multiplex facsimile reportedly for the first time beyond the banks of the Hudson. The company pioneered also in store broadcasts and has a winning daily-double on WEAW in music programming to 154 Jewel stores through Consumer Aid Inc. and 54 I.G.A. supermarkets in the Chicago metropolitan area as half-owner of Store Broadcasting. Mr. Wheeler went to Washington in 1945 to apply for an AM station in Evanston, the rich, North Shore Chicago suburb with a lot of business and buying power but then with no radio station. He switched from AM to FM for two reasons: (1) "The first people I met there were Leonard Marks and Everett Dillard, which is enough said," and (2) "I found out shortly there was no AM channel available in Evanston at that time." His initial exposure to broadcasting occurred when he was an engineering student at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where he announced, without pay, for KPPC, a 100 w spare-time church station. Visits to broadcast operations in Washington state owned by a friend's father also netted him knowledge. A native of Washington state, Edward Anderson Wheeler was born in Tacoma on Oct. 24, 1922. He moved to Pasadena when he was 10, but revisited Tacoma frequently because his parents had extensive real estate interests there. He learned the pattern of the business ("I was a lousy rent collector") between terms at Shawnigan, a prep school in British Columbia and Cal Tech. He transferred to Stanford U., getting a B.A. (Continued on page 60) Page 56 • October 15, 1951 BROADCASTING • Telecasting