Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

GOVERNMENT continued tary of Defense. He is the sixth secretary since the office was established under the armed services unification act of 1947. After the swearing-in ceremony, President Eisenhower greeted him, saying, "Welcome to the Cabinet. You are now a bureaucrat." FTC Rolaids Hearing Snags On Admissibility of Survey The government's case against American Chicle Co.'s Rolaids tv commercials [Government, May 20, Oct. 7] bogged down last week around introduction as evidence of a government survey of general practitioners. The Federal Trade Commission survey was admitted in the false advertising hearings, but American Chicle has filed an interlocutory appeal challenging its competency as evidence. The survey was based on questionaires sent to a representative group of doctors in connection with the government position that Rolaids tv commercials falsely imply medical representation. The respondent contends that the survey was not carried out according to instructions of an FTC statistician. After a three day skirmish about the survey, the government Thursday began to call witnesses to testify on technical points in the Rolaids copy. The FTC has charged Rolaids with falsely disparaging competitors by claiming Rolaids to be "twice as effective" as competing products. Williamson Named Chief Clerk Of House Commerce Committee W. E. (Ed) Williamson, Democratic mayor of Magnolia, Ark., has been appointed chief clerk of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, replacing Elton J. Layton, a Republican who served 36 years in the post. Mr. Williamson will assume his post Nov. 1. Rep. Oren Harris (D-Ark.), chairman of the committee, announced Mr. Williamson's appointment during a speech delivered in Magnolia. Messrs. Harris and Williamson are close personal friends and were roommates while attending Henderson State Teachers College, Arkadelphia, Ark. In addition to his mayor's post, Mr. Williamson is manager of a Magnolia chair factory. He also has served as district governor of Lions International, has taught school and for three terms (six years) was clerk and ex-officio recorder of the circuit and chancellery courts of Columbia County, Ark. Bender Denies Current Red Tie William Bender, vice president of the broadcast department of the American Communications Assn., was one of five subpoenaed witnesses who appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee in a one-day hearing last Wednesday in Washington. The ACA represents approximately 100 employes, mostly technicians, of seven radio stations in New York and Philadelphia. The union was expelled from the CIO in 1950 after allegations the former was dominated by communists. Mr. Bender swore that he is not a member of the Communist Party but pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked if he had ever been a member. He also declined to say whether he had ever attended a communist training school but denied he had received instruction in sabotage. Justice Dept. Warns FCC It Will Oppose AT&T Plan The Justice Department's antitrust division last week reminded the FCC that Justice will oppose current attempts by the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. to enter the field of private radio mobile communications. AT&T still is seeking FCC approval of a lease-tariff-plan to offer certain two-way radio equipment. To win the Commission's favor, it must qualify for Title 2 of the Communications Act which governs common carriers. As such, AT&T would be a regulated monopoly, and according to some officials, conceivably might escape future charges of antitrust violations. The Justice Department regards the firm's wish to do business in mobile communications as one that will threaten competition in that young industry, and possibly violate the Sherman Antitrust Act. It also believes that AT&T would then be challenging a January 1956 court decree in which the company was barred from doing business under those federal regulations which are without provision for antitrust measures [Government, Sept. 23.] FCC Turns Down Brenner Bid A three-year-old request to allow uhf stations to transmit aural signals with a fixed picture has been denied by the FCC. "To help compensate for the cost of many hours of otherwise unproductive transmission," Joseph Brenner in April 1954 asked the Commission to permit uhf stations to transmit sponsored music together with fixed images. In denying the request, the Commission stated that the "use of a tv station merely as an aural or quasi-tv station would not serve the public interest." Present rules prohibit, with certain exceptions, tv stations from making aural transmissions unless the aural and visual signals comprise an integral part of a program or announcement and have a substantial relationship with each other. Broadcast Bureau Gets New Power The FCC has extended the authority of the chief of its Broadcast Bureau to remove construction permits from those failing to comply with Commission rules. The bureau chief may declare the permits forfeited if station is not built within the time authorized, or within such further time as the Commission may have allowed, or if an application for extension has not been filed in a timely manner. MEN Amazing discovery for time buyers in important Fresno and San Joaquin Valley market is that #1 station (KJEO-TV, Fresno) takes all strain, pain, hurry, worry out of buying yet consistently does job best. Consult with your Branham man for further details. We guarantee you'll save energy . . . get more for your money on KJEO-TV Fresno. ACT TODAY! Page 70 • October 14, 1957 Broadcasting