NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

Tyson, National Advisory Council on Radio in Education; Thomas H. Reed, National Advisory Council on Radio in Education; K. G. Bartlett, WMAC, Syracuse University; C. M. Koon, senior specialist in radio, U. S. Office of Education; Gwendolyn Jenkins, WEAO, Ohio State University; Morse Salisbury, U. S. Depart¬ ment of Agriculture; B. H. Darrow, Ohio School of the Air; Helen Johnson, American School of the Air; Hattie S. Parrott, North Carolina School of the Air; Judith Waller, WMAQ School Broadcasts; Edgar Dale, Ohio State University; Virginia Sander¬ son, Ohio State University; William H. Vogel, Cincinnati Public Schools; and B. O. Skinner, State Director of Education of Ohio. RADIO SHOW SET FOR SEPTEMBER Short-wave broadcasting will be featured at the Electrical and Radio Exposition which will be held at Madison Square Garden on September 22-30, 1933. The show will be held under the sponsor¬ ship of the Electrical Association of New York and will be produced and managed by Madison Square Garden’s Exposition Department. CENSUS DISTRIBUTION REPORTS READY The last of the individual state reports from the census of dis¬ tribution, covering wholesale and retail trade, have just been issued by the Census Bureau. The retail reports contain more than 100 tables showing for each kind of business the number of employees, payroll, stock on hand, net sales, operating expenses, and related data; analyzing the credit business of retail stores; showing whether goods were sold by chain stores or independents; and indicating the volume of sales of each commodity group. The individual state reports on wholesale distribution give a wealth of data on wholesale trade, with valuable information on operating expenses, sales of various commodities, and types of estab¬ lishments operating in this field, in addition to statistics on volume of business, number of establishments, etc. The combined information for the entire United States as gathered in the wholesale and retail distribution censuses was published last month in two summary reports, entitled “Wholesale Distribution — Summary for the United States” and “Retail Distribution — Sum¬ mary for the United States,” available for 20 cents each. “POPULAR MUSIC” MAKES APPEARANCE An eight-page magazine called “Popular Music” made its appear¬ ance in New Orleans, La., on March 10. The two leading articles in the first issue of the new publication deal with the copyright controversy between the National Association of Broadcasters and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Most of the space, however, is devoted to a review of activities of various dance bands and one page carries radio programs. Although the magazine is published in New Orleans, stations in that city are not favored with mention of their programs. The magazine’s publish¬ ing office is 608 Bienville Street, New Orleans ; the publisher is the Popular Music Company ; and the editor is Orin Blackstone. NBC PACIFIC COAST STATIONS DROPPED Stations KPO, San Francisco; KECA, Los Angeles; KEX, Port¬ land; KJR, Seattle; and KGA, Spokane, were dissociated with the National Broadcasting Company, it was reported this week. Duplication of facilities was given as the reason. Stations which will continue to form a Dart of the chain are KGO, San Francisco; KFI, Los Angeles; KGW, Portland; KOMO, Seattle; and KHQ, Spokane. ADVERTISING ETHICS CODE ADVANCED A code of advertising ethics and a standing committee to review cases considered as violating those ethics have resulted from the efforts of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers. The code classifies as dis¬ crediting advertising the following: 1. False statements or misleading exaggerations. 2. Indirect mis¬ representation of a product or service through distortion of details. 3. Statements or suggestions offensive to public decency. 4. State¬ ments tending to undermine an industry by attributing to its prod¬ ucts, generally, faults and weaknesses true only of a few. S. Price claims that are misleading. 6. Pseudo-scientific advertising, includ¬ ing claims insufficiently supported by accepted authority, or that distort the true meaning of a statement made by professional or scientific authority. 7. Testimonials which do not reflect the real choice of a competent witness. AGENCIES STUDY CIRCULATION DATA The American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Asso¬ ciation of National Advertisers are cooperating to the end that newspapers having sound circulation shall be supported. In a letter sent to the membership of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, John Benson, president of the Association, said: “It is natural for circulation to decline under present conditions. Publishers doubtless fear that this may involve lower rates, but they also fear that it may indicate to advertisers and agencies that the paper is slipping. They still believe that buyers are mostly inter¬ ested in volume and will give the business to a rival with a few thousand more, however obtained. “That is what drives them into the hands of circulation getters who, for a price, can put on any additional readers wanted, by forced methods. “It seems to me that we owe it to ourselves and to our clients to encourage publishers to let their circulation find its natural level and to indicate as far as possible that we do not care to have boom¬ time figures maintained by artificial means. Perhaps in the past we have placed undue emphasis on mere quantity and thus become, in a measure, responsible for much of the inflated circulation.” LISTENER FAVORS ADVERTISING Stations throughout the United States receive many thousands of letters expressing their favorable attitude to radio advertising but few find their way into print. Here is a letter received this week by Station WRVA, Richmond, which is typical of others re¬ ceived by all stations: “My personal opinion is that reasonable people expect to have to listen to a certain amount of advertising, if it is not too long, as you cannot broadcast for nothing and under the American sys¬ tem of broadcasting listeners should expect it if the program is worth listening to at all. While newspapers have criticised this feature, still if it were not for their advertising columns they would have to suspend publication. The worst offenders are really some of our high grade magazines. You begin a story and instead of being able to turn to the next page and continue your reading, you have to wade thru a lot of pages of advertising to find a frag¬ ment of the continuation, and repeat the process ad infinitum. There are very few programs on the NBC which I would consider took up too much time in advertising.” HEARING CALENDAR Monday, March 27: Copper Electric Co., Inc., Lowell, Ariz. — Ap¬ plication for C. P. for new station to use 1200 kc., 100 watts, daytime. Tuesday, March 28: Jas. P. Hart, Jas. P. Hart, Jr., & Donald W. Parsons, d/b as Gateway Broadcasting Co., Roanoke, Va. — Application for C. P. for new station to use 1410 kc., 250 watts, sharing with WHIS (facilities of WRBX), and WRBX, Rich¬ mond Development Co., Roanoke, Va. — Application for renewal license. Wednesday, March 29: Oral argument, before the Commission sitting en banc, will be heard on the application for modification of license to use 1380 kc., 1 kw., unlimited time. Thursday, March 30: W. E. Dobbins & Maurice C. Coleman, d/b as Coleman-Dobbins Co., Atlanta, Ga. — Application for C. P. for new station to use 890 kc., 250 watts, 500 watts L. S., unlimited time (facilities of WGST), and Georgia School of Technology, Atlanta, Ga., WGST — Application for renewal license. APPLICATIONS SET FOR HEARING NEW, W. L. Gleeson, Monterey, Calif. — Application for C. P. for new station to operate on 1210 kc., 100 watts, unlimited time. WLB-WGMS, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. — Modification of license to change specified hours to include those of KFMX. KFBK, James McClatchv Co., Sacramento, Calif. — C. P. to move transmitter locally and change frequency and pow’er to 1430 kc. and 500 watts (facilities of KTM and KELW). ■ Page 1 3 ■