Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1953)

Information Funds THE SENATE last week restored $20 million of the $27.6 million cut made by the House in the International Information Administration appropriation. The IIA was scheduled to become the U. S. Information Agency, effective last Saturday. Voice of America is operated by the agency. A joint Senate-House conference was set for last Friday. The $20 million addition, if approved, would bring the total information fund to $70 million. The Administration had been disturbed by the House action [B«T, July 27]. the station in 1938. Seven years later he succeeded Mr. McCosker in the presidency. Mr. Streibert served as a member of the boards of NARTB and BMI and was a director of BAB. Other information developments: • Outgoing head of IIA, Dr. Robert L. Johnson, named a committee of religious leaders to help the program to stress the importance of spiritual values in the U. S. • The Senate refused to give the USIA chief Theodore C. Streibert Named to top information post absolute hire-and-fire authority over all employes of the new agency. Sens. Homer Ferguson (R-Mich. ) and Bourke B. Hickenlooper (R-Iowa) argued its necessity in order to let the new director remove what they called "misfits" and "incompetents." Hoover Commission Membership Appointed MEMBERSHIP of the new Commission or Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government (Hoover Commission) [B*T, July 27] has been named. White House appointees: Herbert Hoover; James A. Farley, former Democratic National Committee Chairman; Attorney General Herbert Brownell; Arthur S. Flemming, Olfice of Defense Mobilization director. Senate appointees: Sens. Homer Ferguson (RMich.) and John L. McClellan (D-Ark.); S. C. Hollister, dean, Engineering College, Cornell U.; Robert G. Storey, president, American Bar Assn. and dean. Southern Methodist U. law school. House appointees: Reps. Clarence J. Brown (ROhio) and Chet Holifield (D-Calif.); Joseph P. Kennedy, Boston financier and former U. S. Ambassador to Great Britain; Sidney A. Mitchell, New York banker. BRICKER NEW SENATE COMMERCE CHIEF Ohioan takes over the Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee chairmanship left by the late Sen. Tobey. He states the group will keep a close watch on educational TV. SEN. JOHN W. BRICKER (R-Ohio) took over officially last Wednesday as the new chairman of the radio-influential Senate Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee. He succeeds Sen. Charles W. Tobey (R-N. H.) who died July 24 after suffering a coronary thrombosis [At Deadline, July 27]. According to Sen. Bricker, the committee will maintain a close watch on educational TV. Speaking of the educators. Sen. Bricker, who has long advocated that FCC provide ample channel reservations for them, told B*T: "I want them to get what they deserve. I do not want channels reserved for them to get away." The key Senate post went to Sen. Bricker by seniority. First in line was Sen. Homer E. Capehart (R-Ind. ). Sen. Capehart declined it, preferring to retain his chairmanship of the Senate Banking & Currency Committee. Sen. Bricker commented that the communications field is one in which he has long been interested, and recalled his service in regulatory matters. That experience dates back to his three years on the Ohio Public Utilities Commission. From there. Sen. Bricker, a Columbus, Ohio, lawyer, became the state's attorney general, serving two terms. Political History Sen. Bricker was governor of Ohio for three terms and the Republican candidate for Vice President in 1944 when New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey unsuccessfully bid for Presidency. . The Ohioan was elected to the Senate in 1946 and has held the seat since. He is not up for re-election until November 1958. The death of Sen. Tobey leaves a GOP vacancy on the committee (normal composition: eight Republicans, seven Democrats). Sen. Edwin C. Johnson (D-Colo.) is the ranking Democrat. Speculation that the Senate might change from Republican to Democratic control because of Sen. Robert A. Taft's (R-Ohio) death last Friday was dispelled to an extent by Sen. Wayne Morse (Ind.-Ore.). Sen. Morse said he would vote with the GOP thereby not taking advantage of any parliamentary emergency to defeat the will of the people as expressed at the ballot-box last fall. With an Ohio vacancy. Gov. Frank J. Lausche would be expected to name a Democrat to succeed Sen. Taft. This would give a lineup of 48 Democrats, 47 Republicans and Sen. Morse, an Independent. Should Sen. Morse vote with the GOP, it would leave it up to Vice President Nixon to break the resulting tie and retain Republican control. But with such a precarious lineup, control still could shift in the interval between adjournment and convening of the second session in Sen. John W. Bricker Succeeds Sen. Tobey as Commerce head January, should there be a further toll of any GOP Senator from a state governed by a Democratic chief executive. Sen. Johnson would resume the chairmanship of the Commerce committee if Senate control turned Democratic. Sen. Bricker had hardly time to get used to his new committee responsibility. As he took over the reins. Congress was in the annual legislative crush for adjournment. Relentless Pace REGARDLESS of how soon or how late the 83d Congress adjourns its first session, the legislative pace last week was relentless. B*T this week again has assembled on the next few pages reports of legislation and actions of interest to the radio-TV industry and related fields. HINSHAW ASKS PROBE OF SUBSCRIPTION TV REP. CARL HINSHAW (R-Calif.) wants the House Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee to explore the entire field of subscription television. That is what he told B*T last week. The Congressman also denied that there was any outside interest which prompted him to introduce a bill on subscription TV that has stirred considerable interest in the broadcast industry. The Hinshaw bill (HR 6431) would make subscription TV and theatre TV common carriers. It would do so by amending the Communications Act [B*T, July 27]. The Congressman reiterated what he had said a fortnight ago: His purpose is to redefine broadcasting so as to eliminate any confusion that the public can be charged for receiving a broadcast program. At the same time, it was learned that Rep. Oren Harris (D-Ark.) also expects to plug next year for an exploration of subscription TV. Both Congressmen are members of the House Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee. Rep. Hinshaw believes that if a fee is to be collected for receipt of a program transmitted over the airwaves then the amount of the charge must be set by FCC. Asked whether it was his intention that subscription TV would be sent on broadcast or a common carrier frequency. Rep. Hinshaw said that was for the FCC or Congress to decide. "The bill," he said, "is my own idea." Reason why it was introduced so late in the session? He just got around to offering it. Page 50 • August 3, 1953 Broadcasting • Telecasting