Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1958)

PWMM BROADCASTING THE BUSINESSWEEKLY OF TELEVISION AND RADIO Vol. 54, No. 9 MARCH 3, 1958 NOT GUILTY, WONT QUIT, SAYS MACK • Denies he sold vote on ch. 10, other wrongdoing; Whiteside does, too • Testimony reveals insurance firm "gift" has WPST-TV (ch. 10) tie-in • National's Baker appears before House unit this week; others to return FCC Comr. Richard A. Mack Thursday took full advantage of his first appearance before the House Legislative Oversight Subcommittee to deny categorically that he sold his vote in the Miami ch. 10 decision to National Airlines, or that he had been guilty of any other wrongdoings in office. He also made it very clear that he intends to remain on the Commission despite increasingly louder cries for his dismissal. "Why, of course not," Comr. Mack replied when asked by a reporter if he planned to resign. He also denied that anyone within the Administration has asked him to resign. Comr. Mack followed his fellow Floridian and close personal friend, Thurman A. Whiteside, to the stand. Mr. Whiteside spent three days (and is due to return today [Monday]) telling the subcommittee about his financial dealings with Comr. Mack and the role he played in the ch. 10 case. Mr. Whiteside unfolded a confusing and voluminous financial story. It included "gifts" by Mr. Whiteside to Comr. Mack THURMAN A. WHITESIDE (left), Miami attorney faced three days of intensive grilling last week by the Legislative Oversight Subcommittee on the role he allegedly played in the ch. 10 Miami grant to National Airlines. Richard Hunt assisted the witness as legal counsel. of one-sixth of an insurance agency (Stembler-Shelden) which insures National's ch. 10 WPST-TV and ch. 7 WCKT (TV), both Miami, and 100% of a second firm, Andar Inc. Both companies have provided a handsome if clouded (to the subcommittee) financial return to Comr. Mack. Both witnesses vigorously denied there was anything wrong or underhanded concerning the loans Mr. Whiteside has tendered to Comr. Mack over several years. Repayment generally has come through monies received by Comr. Mack through his "participation ownership" in the two Miami companies, both testified. With few exceptions, members of the subcommittee felt Mr. Whiteside's testimony left much to be desired. There were thinlyveiled charges he had violated criminal sections of U. S. statutes. One member said Mr. Whiteside's testimony more than proved the title "fixer" aptly fits him [Lead Story, Feb. 17], as charged by fired subcommittee counsel Dr. Bernard Schwartz. Comr. Mack was on the stand again Friday morning and is due to return Wednesday. Witnesses also scheduled to testify this week are Mr. Whiteside and Col. A. Frank Katzentine (a losing applicant in the ch. 10 proceedings) today (Monday). They will be followed later in the week by George T. Baker, president of National Airlines, and National attorney Alexander Hardy. Mr. Katzentine, in IVi days of testimony two weeks ago [Government, Feb. 24], charged that Mr. Whiteside exerted illegal pressures on Comr. Mack regarding the Miami case. The ch. 10 hearings of the subcommittee, established to determine if six regulatory agencies were administering the laws as Congress intended, now have been in progress two full weeks. And the subcommittee readily admits the end is nowhere in sight. Rep. Oren Harris (D-Ark.) is chairman of the subcommittee and its parent arm, the House Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee. Other members include Democrats John Bell Williams (Miss.), John J. Flynt (Ga.), Peter F. Mack (111.), Morgan Moulder (Mo.) (former chairman who resigned in protest to the firing of Dr. Schwartz) and John E. Moss (Calif.); Republicans Joseph P. O'Hara (Minn.), John W. Heselton (Mass.), Robert Hale (Me.), John B. Bennett (Mich.) and Charles A. Wolverton (N. J.). WHITESIDE TESTIMONY Last Monday, Mr. Whiteside began three days of grueling testimony before the congressmen, many of whom were antagonistic toward the witness at times. And late Wednesday, when he was excused from the witness stand "temporarily," he was heard to remark under his breath (and with his back turned to the chair): ". . . This is no investigation — this is an inquisition." The witness thoroughly confused the subcommittee and spectators throughout his testimony with explanations of how the loans to Comr. Mack were recorded on his (Whiteside's) books, proof of repayment of the loans and Comr. Mack's participation in the COMR. RICHARD A. MACK (right), made his long-awaited appearance Thursday before the House subcommittee investigating charges his vote in the Miami ch. 10 grant was pledged to National Airlines. Furnishing legal advice to the commissioner is counsel William Porter, Broadcasting March 3, 1958 • Page 27