Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1942)

10 Motion Picture Daily Wednesday, February 25, 1942 Broadcasting Expansion Not Halted by War Washington, Feb. 24. — It is not the intention of the Federal Communications Commission entirely to halt the expansion of broadcasting for the duration of the war, the FCC made clear in a ruling here today. Setting restrictions on new transmitter construction or changes in existing equipment, the commission said that at the present time "it is not clear that the expansion of broadcasting should be entirely eliminated for the duration of the war." Authorizations for new stations or changes in existing transmitters hereafter will be issued only where it can be shown that any construction contemplated will not involve the use of critical materials, or the new or improved facilities will provide primary coverage for areas now receiving no primary service, the FCC ruled. Clarify DCB Action The policy is designed to clarify announcements of the Defense Communications Board halting new construction, and it was announced that not only will all applications hereafter considered have to meet those primary requirements but that all outstanding authorizations subject to any further action by the FCC will be reviewed. For the best war effort, the commission said, it is important that facilities be adequate, and the commission, the Defense Board and the War Production Board "are in agreement that so far as possible, every part of the country should receive a good radio service. We have not yet reached that goal," the commission commented. Bar Time Extension It was also announced in connection with the new ruling that no extensions of time for completion of changes will be granted unless the application meets the specified requirements or began construction before issuance of the order and has available all critical materials and equipment necessary for completion. Donald M. Nelson, head of the War Production Board, announced that the FCC policies had been adopted by his organization and that future applications for priorities for new stations or equipment would be considered from that standpoint. Organize Company For Mexican Station Mexico City, Feb. 24. — Members of three of Mexico's best known and richest families have organized a company here for the establishment of commercial radio station XEOY, which they expect to start during March. The station is now being tested for initial service at 10,000 watts, a power that later will be increased. Antonio Limantour, Carlos Iturbe and Francisco Braniff are organizers of the radio company. Off the Antenna P RESENTATION of the Radio Executives Club's award for the outstanding program of 1941 will be made at the luncheon meeting, March 18. Programs nominated include "America's Town Meeting of the Air," "University of Chicago Round Table," "Information, Please," "Ford Symphony Hour," "American Forum of the Air," "Vox Pop," "People's Platform" and "Cavalcade of America." Paul F. Lazarfeld, director of the Office of Radio Research at Columbia University, will be guest speaker at the weekly session today. • • • Purely Personal: Warner Hall, formerly with IVOR, has been named sales service supervisor for WJZ and will be a member of the Blue national spot sales staff. He replaces Willard Butler who joined E'rwin WaSey .../.£. "Dinty" Doyle, former radio columnist of the "JournalAmerican," has joined the CBS publicity staff. . . . Gerald M. Mayer, NBC short-wave publicity editor, returned yesterday after a one-zveek vacation in Canada. . . . CowardMcCann will publish Paul Schubert's "Sea Power in Conflict" Friday. . . . Walter R. Broum-, NBC engineer, has joined the Navy as a lieutenant, senior grade. . . . Jimmy Bridges, WSB, Atlanta, special events man, has been promoted to assistant production manager, Hubert Batey has been promoted to continuity director and Al Flanagan to studio production manager. Edgar Kobak, Blue executive vice-president, has accepted the post of campaign vice-president in charge of public relations for the Greater New York Fund. Kobak has played a leading part in these drives for the past four years. • • • Following the trend of television stations to concentrate on defense education, W6XAO, the Don Lee Hollywood outlet, will start Saturday with film programs depicting various phases of civilian activities. Live demonstrations will follow the pattern set by NBC, which was witnessed by Harry R. Lubcke during his recent trip East. • • • Alfred H. Morton, president of the National Concert and Artists Corp., has announced formation of a Lecture and Special Attractions Division under the direction of Phyllis Moir. Among the lecturers will be H. V. Kaltenbom, Leslie Howard, Ruth Draper, Helen Hiett, William C. Hillman, John B. Kennedy, Graham McNwmee, Eddie Dowling, Sam Cuff, Ely Culbertson, MaiMai Sse, Alexander Drier, Don Goddard and Baukhage, it was stated. • • • KDKA, Pittsburgh, plans to have its FM affiliate, W75P, on the air about March 15, it was said yesterday. The FM transmitter has been installed in the same building which houses the KDKA transmitter and a temporary antenna pole has been installed. Helen Replogle has been named production director for the station. Estimate 61,365,000 Heard FDR Speech (Continued from page 1) the speech with a 30-minute lesson in geography and also televised prepared maps while the talk was in progress. In addition, pictures of President Roosevelt and the White House were televised during the speech. In Boston, the short wave station, WRUL, placed translations in 22_ languages on the air, after the President had completed his address. Mutual arranged that studio audiences present when the President began his talk receive war maps through the cooperation of Richfield Oil Co., which distributes those maps as a premium offer over the network. The same maps were made available to patrons at the Embassy Newsreel Theatre here. WEVD at 10 o'clock last night rebroadcast the speech in full for those unable to hear it Monday. RCA Horn Is of Wood A new 12-cell high frequency horn for use in theatre sound reproducing systems has been developed by RCA Photophone. By substituting wood for the steel formerly used to make the unit, metal is saved for defense purposes and the efficiency of the horn in not impaired, according to the company. To Query Landis on OCD Actor Aides Washington, Feb. 24. — Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia today requested Director Dean Landis of the Office of Civilian Defense to appear before the Joint Committee on Reduction of Nonessential Federal Expenditures Friday to explain the employment by the OCD of "actors, baseball players, football coaches" and others whose qualifications "do not always appear directly connected with national defense." Byrd charged that the OCD has set up eight branches with 30 sections and "gives the appearance of a highly complicated, costly organization, little of which actually goes to real defense." Academy Plans New Training Film Series Hollywood, Feb. 24. — The Academy Research Council has begun preparations for a series of training films for the War Department, it has been announced by Lieut. Col. Darryl F. Zanuck, chairman. A number of prominent Hollywood writers, who have pledged their services, will prepare the scripts in Washington under the direction of Lieut. Col. Richard T. Schlosberg and Major Frank Capra. Jerome Chodorov, S. K. Lauren. Ted Paramore and John Sanford have already left for the capital. Should Know Better Ottawa, Feb. 24 J T. Col. Rene P. Landry, JLi secretary of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, was fined $3 and $2 costs in Magistrates Court here yesterday for not having a radio license. Time Sales Exceed ■ CBS Cancellation^ CBS time sales have exceeded cancellations by 105 minutes since Jan. 1, a survey revealed yesterday. Despite priorities and conversion of plants from consumer to war manufacture, the network has sold a total of 5)4 hours of sponsored time over the network against four total hours of cancellations. Of the new time sold, 2}4 hours have been sold to new clients for the network; \Y\ hours have been sold to sponsors returning to the network, and sponsors on CBS have increased the time used by V/2 additional hours. New accounts have included Celanese Corp. of America, General Electric and United Fruit Co. Returning sponsors are B. T. Babbitt, Inc., and Quaker Oats Co. The latter company will return to CBS March 4, after an absence of more than 12 years, with "That Brewster Boy." William Wrigley, Jr., Co. and Procter & Gamble have increased their air time by 20 minutes and one hour, respectively. General Foods, which previously sponsored "We, the People" on behalf of Sanka Coffee has dropped the show for "Duffy's Tavern" which had previously been canceled by Magazine Repeating Razor Co. because of priorities on steel. Delay Plea to Extend Stay on Rule of FCC Network officials indicated yesterday that application to the U. S. Supreme Court for an extension of the stay against enforcement of the FCC rules while an appeal is pending probably will not be made until next week.t It was pointed out that the originali stipulation for a stay provided that the rules were not to be enforced un-i til 10 days after a copy of the order; of the court was served. Up to a late hour yesterday, no; copy of the court's order had been served, thus making the stay effective for at least 10 days from today. At both CBS and NBC it was stated that no cancellations of network contracts had been received as a result of the U. S. Statutory Court's rulinglast week that the networks would have to await an actual revocation of a station's license before bringing suit to set aside the FCC rules. However, it was pointed out that such cancellations may be received later this week, when station officials have had an opportunity to study the decision. IndpVs Inspection Law Recommended Indianapolis, Feb. 24.— The Boarc of Public Safety today recommendec the proposed film inspection ordinance and will ask the City Council to adopl it at the Council's next meeting March 2. The proposal is an upshoi of the recent dispute between the loca film exchange union and exchanges.