Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1958)

GOVERNMENT continued WITS AND WITNESSES The press and spectators had several light moments during last week's House hearings into the Miami ch. 10 grant, hut these three instances brought the loudest guffaws: When Rep. Harris dismissed Col. katzentine Thursday, the disgruntled ch. 10 applicant was told to be available again for future testimony. Counsel Paul Porter replied his client would be happy to appear again but asked for "as much advance notice as possible so Mr. Katzentine can make a reservation with Eastern Airlines.'* (Chairman Harris agreed this was a reasonable request under the circumstances.) The next witness, Perrine Palmer, was asked if he Hew to Washington via National or Eastern Airlines. "I came up on Northeast but am wondering if it's safe to return to Miami on my National reservation," was the answer. Later during his testimony. Mr. Palmer was asked by Rep. Flynt if it is expensive to live in Miami. "We'll make you a special rate.'" Mr. Palmer offered. The congressman's ready reply: "I don't think I am in a position to accept." able for him." Mr. Whiteside told the committee. Rep. Wolverton chastised the law partners for attempting to hire Mr. Whiteside merely because he happened to be a friend of Comr. Mack. He said the evidence of this method, which this law firm considered proper, was "distressing and surprising." Congress must stop this practice, he emphasized, and ensure that representation before agencies is as "ethical" as that before courts. Col. Katzentine began IVz days of testimony before the subcommittee last Wednesday morning, with much of his testimony repetitious because of questions by the subcommittee. Recounting the contents of his affidavit, he said that in the early fall of 1955 (soon after the examiner's initial decision), he received a call from a "trusted friend" (later identified as Alfred Barton, director of the Miami Surf Club) who said WKAT was going to lose ch. 10 and that Col. Moore was engineering the National application. Mr. Barton got this information, Col. Katzentine said, from Mr. and Mrs. Dean Murphy, who in turn, had talked to friends of G. T. Baker, president of National Airlines. (Mr. and Mrs. Murphy immediately denied Col. Katzentine's statement that they were the source of the information. "Katzentine's statement is not true, and we shall gladly so testify," they wired Rep. Harris.) The WKAT owner said a friend (unidentified) later called "some powerful Republicans [also unnamed] in Washington" who claimed Mr. Katzentine did not have a chance because he is a Democrat and that the channel was going to National. On the advice of Sen. Smathers, Mr. Katzentine testified, he asked Mr. Palmer to find out how "Richie Mack stood." Mr. Katzentine stated Mr. Palmer told him that Mr. Whiteside had the Mack vote "pledged" to National. (This claim later was refuted by Mr. Palmer, which led to what Rep. Harris described as a "serious" discrepancy in their testimony.) The witness said Mr. Whiteside never directly admitted he had Comr. Mack "pledged" but later agreed to rescind the "pledge." Col. Katzentine also described two trips to Washington by himself and Mr. Palmer to see Comr. Mack. He said the com missioner never was asked to vote for WKAT but only to consider the merits of the case and "do what was right." Jerry Carter, chairman of the Florida Railroad and Public Utilities Commission (a position held by Comr. Mack before he was appointed to the FCC), accompanied them on one of the Washington trips and wrote letters on behalf of Col. Katzentine. According to Mr. Katzentine, Comr. Mack said he was "over a barrel" but that he (Mack) would go to Miami to try and get released from his pledge. Later, the witness stated, Mr. Whiteside said he was going to release Comr. Mack "but I didn't believe him." The witness was asked often about his Washington trips to see Comr. Mack and repeatedly asserted that he merely wanted the commissioner to vote on the merits and did not inquire if his (Mack's) vote was committed. After much prodding by the subcommittee, Mr. Katzentine admitted he had talked to Sens. Holland, Smathers, Kefauver and Magnuson about the ch. 10 case. He went to see Sen. Magnuson, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, on a private yacht moored at Miami Beach, he said. Asked if the senators helped his cause. Mr. 'TOO BAD'— HST On arriving in Washington last week, former President Harry S. Truman said it is "too bad" the House probe of regulatory agencies had been "knocked in the head" because "the job needs to be done." He said the Republican phrase that there is a "mess in Washington" has "come home to roost" in referring to the current FCC hearings. President Truman said if "they had left Moulder [Rep. Morgan (D-Mo.). resigned chairman of the investigations] alone he would have done a good job." During the subcommittee fight over its chief counsel, President Truman sent Rep. Moulder a wire of encouragement. Katzentine replied: "It don't look like they did." Col. Katzentine was asked if he sought aid from Downey Rice, a former FBI agent. The WKAT owner denied that he did, although two letters were read into the record indicating Mr. Rice took an active part on behalf of Mr. Katzentine. One of the letters was to Sen. Alexander Wiley (RWis.) and the second to Daniel P. Sullivan, director of the Greater Miami Crime Commission, an organization which Mr. Katzentine helped to found. The Rice-Sullivan letter dated Oct. 13, 1955. related a conference with Mr. Porter concerning intervention by Vice President Nixon and stated, in part: "It was generally agreed that the place to 'cry wolf was as high up in the circle of Eisenhower associates as possible. ... I agreed that Nixon was the right man but thought we might get the story more satisfactorily through Bob King, Nixon's administrative assistant. . . . "At the outset, we knew that the problem had to be presented carefully. It had to be strong enough to make Nixon do something and yet we didn't want to bring about a reaction anywhere which would mitigate against Frank [Katzentine] if Baker [National president] was knocked out. . . . Obviously they cannot afford to risk exposure by Democrats of an 'influence' deal. . . . He [King] understood that Frank was not only a Democrat, but even worse, a "Kefauver Democrat. . . ." "My guess, and it is only a guess, is that Nixon will simply telephone to his friend, Bob Lee [FCC commissioner], and tell him that there was some loaded rumors afloat and that Lee would do well to carefully consider any action being taken by the Commission with an eye to the probability that, if said action was questionable, prompt, unfavorable publicity would be expected. . . . "As a loose end, we have the . . . Wiley lead. At the moment 1 feel so happy and confident about the Nixon arrangement that I would recommend forgetting Wiley. Action by Nixon compared with action by Wiley would be like comparing an atomic cannon with a pop gun." Comr. Lee, who was present at the time the letter was read, laughed out loud when reference was made to his "friendship" with Vice President Nixon. He denied that "his friend" had called relating to the ch. 10 case. A third Rice letter, this one to Sen. Kefauver on behalf of the Katzentine application, strongly indicated that Col. Moore was "pulling strings" for National. Several other letters written to influential officials on behalf of Katzentine were also entered into the record and Mr. Katzentine denied he requested that any of them be written. He did admit to a hope the various senators could do something about the situation but denied any wrongdoing or exertion of "pressures." He said the senators were contacted because it was "common knowledge" National was going to get the grant and he wanted them to know about the situation. It was brought out that in July 1951 (when Mr. Katzentine had a pre-freeze application on file), Mr. Mack wrote the FCC on behalf of Col. Katzentine. At that time, Mr. Page 46 February 24. 1958 Broadcasting