NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1943)

COLUMBIA PICTURES LAUDS RADIO ADVERTISING RESULTS An eight-week radio campaign for Columbia Pictures’ production of “The More the Merrier” on a budget of $100,000 was considered a prime factor by the picture company for the picture’s rolling up of larger first week grosses than any other photoplay produced by that studio. Variety reported the above in its June 30 issue. CBS AFFILIATES KNOCK ‘HITCH-HIKE’ ANNOUNCEMENTS The following resolution was adopted at the First Dis¬ trict CBS Affiliates’ Meeting at the Hotel Statler, Boston, June 23, 1943: WHEREAS the so-called hitch-hike and cow-catcher announcements presently used on network programs tend to lower the standards of good broadcasting, and, WHEREAS, such announcements are considered to be a violation of the responsibility placed upon radio station licensees to operate in the “public interest, convenience and necessity,” and, WHEREAS, the use of such announcements was per¬ mitted without consent of their affiliates. Now, therefore, be it resolved, that Franklin Doolittle, 1st District Representative of the CBS Advisory Commit¬ tee, is instructed to convey to the proper officials of the Columbia Broadcasting System a request that immediate steps be taken to eliminate from network programs the use of hitch-hike, cow-catcher or other similar announce¬ ments as soon as may be practicable. KFXJ RENDERS NOTABLE PUBLIC SERVICE (Released by NAB News Bureau) (The following account of the part Radio Station KFXJ and its manager, Rex Howell, played in the recent Grand Junction, Colorado, explosion story is passed on for your information and use as you see fit.) At 2:00 A.M. Monday, June 28, two carloads of muni¬ tions caught fire in the Grand Junction, Colorado, railroad yards, touching off a series of explosions lasting more than two hours. Shrapnel and shells rained over a wide area. City residents, unaware of the cause and taking fire equipment sirens as an air-raid alarm, were thrown into state of near panic. Police and the Offices of Civilian Defense headquarters were swamped with telephone calls and the telephone company reported a hopeless jam within a few minutes. Rex Howell, manager of the city’s radio station, KFXJ, warmed up his transmitter, contacted the military authori¬ ties and obtained permission to broadcast complete story of explosion and to afford facilities to police to explain the situation to the people. Repeated explanations and bulletins were broadcast urging the people to remain under shelter and not to tele¬ phone unnecessarily. Within a few minutes after the first broadcasts the telephone company reported a 75 per cent drop in traffic. Throughout the day and evening the station continued to air bulletins warning people to say away from danger areas and cautioned people against picking up unexploded shells for souvenirs, and advised listeners to report loca¬ tions of all shells they found. Military authorities and police in the area have pub¬ licly cited Howell and his station for outstanding public service. A note of interest is that United Press scored a clean beat on the story — KFXJ is a UP client. NLRB ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON INDIVIDUAL PAY RAISES The National War Labor Board this week answered some of the questions that have arisen about individual pay increases under General Order 31 (NAB Reports, p. 282). The text of the clarifying order: In order to dispose of any doubts with respect to the intent of General Order No. 31, the National War Labor Board states as follows: (1) Job classification rates or rate ranges presuppose more than mere descriptive titles of positions. The job classification must be clearly defined and described as to content. When different skills and responsibilities are necessary, there must be different job classifications bear¬ ing their own rates or rate ranges. A mere descriptive job title and a poorly defined or extremely wide rate range is not a job classification rate range. (2) Job classification rates of rate ranaes must have been in existence properly on May 31, 1943. They must be those which were in existence prior to October 3, 1942, or those resulting from permitted adjustments subsequent to that date, or rates set for new jobs under either the former or the revised General Order No. 6. Improper adjustments of rates for job classifications or for individ¬ ual employees are not a basis for determining a job classification rate or rate range. (3) Where proper job classification rate ranges existed on May 31, 1943, but no plan, as defined in Subparagraphs 1, 2, or 3 of Section I-A-l-b, individual adjustments may be made within and between the job classification rate ranges in accordance with Subparagraph 4 without Board approval. But an employer may not substitute for an existing plan (as defined in subparagraphs 1, 2, or 3 of Section I-A-l-b) any new plan (including a plan embody¬ ing the methods set forth in Subparagraph 4 of Section I-A-l-b) without first obtaining Board approval. (4) In adopting a plan of making individual adjust¬ ment in accordance with the criteria set worth in Subparagraph 4 of Section I-A-l-b, an employer may not use both merit increases and automatic length-of-service in¬ creases for individual adjustments with respect to a given job classification. This does not preclude Board approval of any plant which provides for both merit and automatic length-of-service adjustments. (5) Modifications of existing plans of making individ¬ ual adjustments (including apprentice or trainee pro¬ grams) require Board approval. (6) Where no proper job classification rates or rate ranges existed on May 31, 1943, individual adjustments may not be made without Board approval until a schedule, as defined, is approved by the Board. OVERCHARGING ON BATTERIES BELIEVED NOT TOO WIDESPREAD An AP story dated June 29, quotes OP A as reporting the receipt of “complaints that farmers in various sections are being charged $10 to $14 for farm radio battery packs which normally retailed for $5 to $7.” OPA asked farmers to report any overcharge to their nearest rationing board. Because most farm radio battery packs are sold by well established dealers, well known throughout their commu¬ nity, or are obtained from the mail older houses, NAB be¬ lieves that the “black market” instances are not numerous. However, OPA is probably justified in issuing such a statement to guard purchasers against the possibility of overcharge. Any buyers who are asked to pay more than the ceiling price should certainly follow OPA’s advice and report the fact to their nearest rationing board. WBT GRADUATES 20 WOMEN Grant Carey, WBT engineer-instructor, reports that more than twenty women have graduated from his classes July 2, 1943 — 295