NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

The National Association of Broadcasters NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING ***** WASHINGTON, D. C. PHILIP G. LOUCKS, Managing Director NAB REPORTS * * * * Copyright, 1933, The National Association of Broadcasters Vol. 1 No. 9 MAY 6, 1933 RADIO PROGRAM FOUNDATION ELECTS Organization of the Radio Program Foundation was completed at a meeting of the trustees held on Wednesday (May 3) at New York. Alfred J. McCosker, President of the NAB and Managing Director of WOR, Newark, N. J., was elected chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation. Oswald F. Schuette, Director of Copyright Activities of the NAB, was elected President of the Foundation. Joseph C. Hostetler, law partner of Hon. Newton D. Baker, NAB copyright counsel, and a member of the law firm of Baker, Hos¬ tetler, Sidlo and Paterson, Cleveland, Ohio, was elected Secretary. Philip G. Loucks, Managing Director of the NAB, was chosen as Treasurer. The Board of Trustees, headed by Chairman McCosker, will control the policy of the newly formed Foundation, while active management will be in charge of President Schuette. The Foundation was authorized by unanimous vote of the NAB membership at the St. Louis meeting and was incorporated under the terms of a resolution approved by the NAB Board of Directors at its February meeting. Immediately following the February Board meeting application for a charter of incorporation was filed in the State of Delaware and since that time organization plans have gone forward rapidly. The Foundation is a non-profit organization controlled entirely by the broadcasting industry and its formation is considered the most important step yet taken in the solution of the industry’s copyright problems. The charter of the new organization provides sweeping powers for the cultural and scientific advancement of the radio industry, particularly in the field of program development. Through this organization the broadcasters will be enabled to cooperate in the creation of new program material and to acquire compositions and manuscripts particularly adapted for radio use. Among other things, the certificate of incorporation enumerates the following purposes: (a) To promote advancement in the means, methods and forms of sound and visual broadcasting, and to promote and sponsor the selection of meritorious program material, as a means of promoting the cultural arts and of extending the benefits thereof to the public. (b) To these ends, to promote the exchange of information among its members. (c) To encourage and assist scientific experimentation for the improvement of the operation and for the further development of the means of radio communication. (d) To sponsor and acquire deserving productions of composers and authors, and to acquire copyrights therein, or rights or any interest thereunder, and to make application for, buy, sell, assign and license any such copyrights, or interest or rights therein or thereunder, either of the United States or any foreign country. (e) To enter into agreements with authors and composers and to establish means and agencies for fixing, collecting, and accounting for license fees or royalties. (f) To act as a clearing house or representative in agreements between authors, composers, and publishers and the users of their works. (g) To provide a place and means for recording or filing manu¬ scripts written or composed to be used in connection with radio broadcasting, to enable authors and composers to give definite proof of a date of filing. (h) To encourage and promote the use of radio broadcasting for educational purposes. (i) To own stock in, lend money to, or otherwise assist any corporation or corporations organized for the purpose of publishing, distributing or marketing musical compositions, books or other publications, and to finance or assist in the publication and distribu¬ tion of any information relating to radio communication. The charter provides that “all persons, firms, or corporations of the United States and other countries, owning or operating a duly licensed radio station are eligible to membership.” Provision is also made for not more than ten additional “special members’’ to be selected by the Board of Trustees. A series of conferences with copyright owners and representatives of copyright owners, all owning titles not included in the pool of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, were begun by President Schuette in New York immediately following the organization meeting. Within a comparatively short time the Foundation will be functioning under the full powers granted in the charter and with the complete cooperation of all NAB members. President McCosker of the NAB has made it clear that other phases of the controversy growing out of the demands of the American Society will not be subordinated to the work of the Foundation and every detail of the mandate approved by the broadcasters at the St. Louis convention is to be carried out with the greatest possible speed. Almost weekly since the November convention President McCosker and other officials of the NAB charged with carrying into execution the expressed wishes of the broadcasters have been conferring on all phases of the copyright problem, developing a complete program looking to a permanent solution of the music difficulties which would free the industry from the domination of the American Society. TUGWELL CONFERS WITH BROADCASTERS Representatives of broadcasters and newspapers attended the conference at the Department of Agriculture last Saturday (April 29) called by Prof. Rexford G. Tugwell, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, to discuss possible revision of the Federal Food and Drugs Act. The NAB was represented by Philip G. Loucks, managing direc¬ tor; the National Broadcasting Company was represented by Frank M. Russell, vice president, and the Columbia Broadcasting System by Henry A. Bellows, vice president. Newspaper publishers, maga¬ zine publishers, and newspaper editors and members of Mr. Tugwell’s staff also were present. In stating the purpose of the conference, Mr. Tugwell said that the Department did not have in mind censorship of advertising in any form but was seeking information which would enable it to draft a bill which would protect the public against foods and drugs injurious to health. Broadcasters and newspapers expressed sympathy with the pur¬ pose to be achieved through revision of the Food and Drugs Act, but both groups were definitely of the opinion that the media used to advertise injurious products should not be held equally liable with the manufacturer and seller. Both were of the opinion that sole responsibility should rest with the party who makes, ships, advertises and sells the harmful product, in the absence of any conspiracy. Much of the discussion revolved around the practical difficulties which would be encountered if the provisions of the act were to be extended to advertising media. It would be virtually impossible for the owner of a broadcasting station or a newspaper publisher to protect himself against any requirements which might be written into the law, it was pointed out. The suggestion that an advisory council be set up in the Department to aid stations and publishers to protect themselves also involves practical objections. The conference with broadcasters and pubishers followed a series of meetings between officials of the Department and manufacturers