Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1952)

;4 ^%ue ;4^muAC'U^n<f Ston^ For Folks Who Like Dogs (under-dogs, that is) and en|0^ happ^ endings . . . AN amazing thing has happened in Lorain, a prosperous industrial city of 52,000 people in Northern Ohio. Merchants may now spend their advertising dollars where they choose. The butcher, the baker, all businessmen can now advertise on both the radio and in the newspaper with no fear of being forced to cancel their radio contracts to retain their newspaper advertising. "But what's amazing about that?" you ask. This. Until a year ago — or to he more precise, January 5, 1951 — no merchant had this freedom in Lorain. If he advertised on the Elyria-Lorain radio stations, WEOL and WEOL-FM, his contract for advertising in the only Lorain newspaper, the Journal, was summarily terminated. If he cancelled his radio contract, he was again acceptable to the advertising columns of the Journal. There were some merchants who were unable to swallow this un-American concept. These few stubborn men believed that the disposition of their advertising money was a choice reserved for themselves. These merchants refused to be coerced. They spent their advertising money on WEOL. Of course, their advertising in the Journal was refused. But it's pleasant to report that they suffered no calamitous setbacks in the operation of their businesses. They prospered, in fact, proving again that people enjoy listening to the radio, have confidence in radio advertising and buy the goods radio advertises. Well, that's how the situation stood. If you advertised exclusively in the Journal, you were okay. Split your appropriation to include WEOL and you were out of the paper. It might have gone on like that. It has, in some places, for a long time. But the President of WEOL, Roy W. Ammel, feels pretty strongly about individual liberties, including his own, and our American system of freedom of enterprise. It was his firm conviction that the actions of the Lorain Journal were monopolistic and in violation of the Sherman Act. Mr. Ammel asked the assistance of the Department of Justice. After full investigation, the Department charged the Journal and its officers with violation of the Sherman Act in Cleveland District Federal Court. On January 5, 1951, Judge Emerich B. Freed published his decree finding the Lorain Journal and its officers guilty of the charge and enjoining them from further monopolistic action. The Journal appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court. On Tuesday, December 11, 1951 the Supreme Court handed down its momentous verdict, sustaining Judge Freed's decision by the unanimous vote of 7-0. So it is that Lorain merchants can now spend their advertising money wherever they choose, for whatever they choose. We're happy about it at WEOL, of course. Operating under such a handicap for several years has meant frequent recourse to the red ink. But in spite of the Journal's campaign we've kept our transmitters on the air. And thanks to a grand, loyal staff and the world's most patient stockholders, we've continued to serve a continually growing audience with the best of broadcasting service. Yes, we're happy that things are looking up for us. But far more important than our immediate prosperity, we believe, is the vital precedent that has been set by this case; a precedent that reaffirms the freedoms that have brought greatness to our nation and established America as the shining hope of the world. 930 WFOL and WEOL-FM IKW RC day and nipt The Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting Compan;^^ Roy W. Ammel Maurice J. Condon President General Manager BROADCASTING • Telecasting January 7, 1952 • Page 31