Broadcasting (Apr - June 1960)

CBS registers stock plan for employes CBS Inc. has registered 72,000 shares of common stock with the Securities & Exchange Commission to be offered under its Employes’ Stock Purchase Plan. Under the plan all eligible employes purchase shares through payroll deductions of 3%, 4% or 5%. For each five shares bought, CBS gives one additional share. It also gives an additional share or shares to each employe who participates in the plan throughout consecutive three-year periods and purchases the minimum number of shares (15) in the first period. The statement says all salary or executive grade employes with the exception of officers or directors of the company or those holding stock options are eligible. This includes news correspondents. Clerical, warehouse, shipping or manufacturing personnel are eligible if employed by Columbia Record Div., the record club, the sales or distributing arms of Columbia Records. Also eligible are employes at Terre Haute, Ind., Bush Terminal, New York or Santa Barbara, Calif. The rights under the plan are not transferable or assignable. William S. Paley, CBS board chairman is listed as the only stockholder known to have more than 10% of the outstanding shares. He owns 132,130 shares listed as beneficial and 747,448 shares listed under record and beneficial. NLRB upholds WJIM National Labor Relations Board in an intermediate report May 13 held that WJIM-TV Lansing, Mich., had not discriminated against an employe, Lloyd H. Garten, because of purported union activity, dismissing a complaint by National Assn, of Broadcasting Employes & Technicians. However it found unfair labor practices by the employer in complaints involving three other employes, Frank Imburg (ex-employe), Miles Baskett and Robert H. Gurganious. The board directed an election at WKAQ-AM-TV San Juan, Puerto Rico on petition of Association Puertorriquena de Artistas, a union. The bargaining unit would include all performing and non-performing employes comprising engineering and program departments. WNEW strike settled The announcers’ strike against WNEW New York ended on May 14 when a compromise was reached on the issue of “job security.” The announcers struck on May 9 Sealed envelope Good wishes can come in strange forms. KICY Nome, Alaska, has been broadcasting on a program-test basis since April 17 and has received appreciative letters from some 50 villages in western Alaska. Station Manager Art Zylstra acknowledged the greetings on the air, noting that some were on parcel paper or old receipts. He commented the station was glad to hear from listeners no matter what material they wrote on. The next mail brought a post card written on a piece of dried sealskin. KICY is the first standard broadcast station in its. area and claims its signal reaches almost 500 miles inward. It operates on 850 kc with 5 kw, and is operated by Artie Broadcasting Co., associated with the World Missions for the Evangelical Covenant Church of America. (Broadcasting, May 16) after management refused to meet demands that any performer dismissed by the station be kept on the air in his regular period for an eight-week period following his discharge. Though settlement was not announced it was reported that the compromise reached provides that the station will retain a dismissed announcer for four weeks after his discharge. But WNEW has the right to select the time slot in which he will work. The agreement also provides for arbitration on dismissals. It increases the minimum guarantee for announcers from $300 to $350 weekly. ■ Media reports Aided the blind ■ Citations bearing the signature of Helen Keller, counselor to the American Foundation for the Blind Inc., N.Y., were awarded last Wednesday (May 18) to several radio and tv stations for their efforts in the past year to promote a more realistic attitude toward blindness. Dr. Gregor Ziemer, director of public education for the foundation, made presentations to the following: WOI-TV Ames, Iowa; WNBQ (TV) Chicago; WEBR Buffalo, N.Y.; KDKD Clinton, Mo., and the McLendon stations (for the support given by KLIF Dallas and KABL San Francisco). Scholarship fund ■ South Carolina Broadcasters Assn, has established a scholarship fund and will accept applications through July 1. The recipient (male or female) must be a resident of that state who has completed the first year or more in a recognized South Carolina college or is planning a degree in business administration or broadcasting. A “C” average or better is a prerequisite. The fund will be renewed for three years or more for the same student provided he continues to meet the requirements. Applications or additional information can be obtained from John Davenport, Box 2365, Greenville, S.C. Employment agency ■ Help Assoc., Rapid City, S.D., has been formed as a “clearing house” for employes and management in the community cable tv industry. The agency announces that new cable systems and those planned for wired pay tv will be able to draw experienced key personnel through its services and that employes who wish to stay and advance in that industry can be introduced to country-wide openings. Broadcast placement ■ Walker Employment Agency, Minneapolis, has created a new department for placement of broadcast personnel in an eight-state area consisting of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Jimmy Valentine, veteran Twin Cities broadcaster, will manage the department, which will place announcers, salesmen, directors, engineers and copywriters in both radio and tv. The agency announces that the Minnesota Broadcasters’ Assn, has authorized Walker to be its official clearing house. Switches to CBS ■ WEAV Plattsburgh, N.Y., joins CBS Radio as an affiliate in June. Station has been an ABC affiliate since 1936. When 'selling is easy' ■ Radio Advertising Bureau, N.Y., last week released an 18-page report on radio’s success in stimulating summer sales for a variety of retailers. Titled “Summertime . . . And the Selling Is Easy — If You Use Radio,” the presentation contains capsule case histories of more than 50 radio advertisers. Examples include an Omaha appliance dealer who sold 100 air-conditioners on the Fourth of July holiday, using only radio to promote the event. In another instance, an auto dealer tied in his radio schedule to June graduations and sold 54 used cars, reducing his inventory by $40,000. A friend in need Collins Radio, Cedar Rapids, came to the rescue of KBIZ Ottumwa, both Iowa, when a flash flood inundated the station’s transmitter building, forcing it off the air. Collins supplied a 50-foot mobile trailer, housing complete transmitting facilities. KBIZ was off the air one day and then was able to perform 24-hour service broadcasting emergency flood information. 66 (THE MEDIA) BROADCASTING, May 23, 1960