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1/3/45
WHEELER FAVORS NEW RADIO LAW; MAY CHANGE COMMITTEES
Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D), of Montana, Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Committee which handles all radio legisla¬ tion in the Senate, came into the headlines the past week in two ways (1) he proposed that the new Congress get busy and pass an up-to-date radio law, and (2) it was reported that Senator Wheeler, more or less a thorn in the side of the Administration foreign policy might resign as Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Committee to accept a place on the ‘Senate Foreign Relations Committee which will assume greater importance in connection with the peace treaties following the war.
Always active in foreign affairs discussions. Senator Wneeler has just revealed the fact that when the Senate convenes today (Wednesday), he will introduce a resolution incorporating his own ideas for world peace.
If Senator Wheeler were to resign from the Interstate Commerce Committee, the next in line for Chairmen would be Senators Barkley and Wagner, neither of whom would probably take it but the next high man on the Totem Pole, Senator Edwin C. Johnson, of Colorado, might. Other majority members of the Committee are Hill of Alabama, Stewart of Tennessee, Tunnell of Delaware and McFarland of Arizona.
Senator Wheeler, who soonsored a broad regulatory bill which never came to a vote in the last Congress, said several factors were involved in passage of new radio legislation. He included such matters as licenses for clear channel stations, the growth of tele¬ vision, resale of broadcasting licenses, applications for super-power licenses, and assurances that both sides of any question would get equal airing.
The claim for clear channel licenses on the theory of serv¬ ing rural areas was unjustified, the Senator said. It gave the licensee an advantage over other metropolitan stations without com¬ mensurate service to rural regions, he added, and at present left about a third of the country without satisfactory daytime service.
He also opposed super-power licenses.
On the question of television growth, Senator Wheeler said tnat if licenses were issued on a first come, first served basis as was the case in early days of standard broadcasting, it would result in a concentration of such licenses in metropolitan centers to the disadvantage of outlying regions.
"It seems to me that we should be studying right now the issuance of television wave lengths on a geographical basis for allocations", he asserted.
Senator Wheeler said he believed the Federal Communications Commission already had authority to pass on re-sale of licenses. FCC has taken a contrary position. One of the evils which arise from
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