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. 17 JUNE 24, 1933 NAB SECTION MEETINGS ALL SET Meetings of the Engineering and Commercial Sections of the NAB are scheduled for next week. The Engineering Section will convene at 9:30 a. m. on Monday, June 26, at the Hotel Sherman, Chicago, Ill., and the Commercial Section will meet at 9:30 a. m. on Tuesday, June 27, at the Civic Auditorium, Grand Rapids, Mich. A meeting of the Program Committee will be held in Chicago on Wednesday. RICORDI LICENSES AVAILABLE TO NAB As the cooperative organization of the National Association of Broadcasters, the Radio Program Foundation has acquired the American “air rights” to the 123,000 compositions which make up the world famous catalogue of G. Ricordi & Company of Milan. Under the contract negotiated by Oswald F. Schuette, president of the Foundation, the latter has the right to grant sublicenses to all broadcasting stations in the United States. Such sublicenses are now available under terms which will be sent to all members in a few days. American radio listeners, therefore, are at last to hear broadcasts of “Madam Butterfly,” “Tosca,” “La Boheme,” and other Puccini operas as well as the masterpieces of other great composers, whose works have been kept off the air by the past refusal of the Ricordi firm, owners of these copyrights, to make this music generally available for broadcasting purposes. The announcement that this music may now be included in radio programs makes the Radio Program Foundation an important factor in the musical world. It is, at the same time, a decisive victory for the broad¬ casters in their conflict with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, for it marks the first step in a constructive solution of that problem. Without weakening the aggressive de¬ mands of the industry for protection against ASCAP’s arbitrary exactions, the fact that the Foundation has obtained the Ricordi catalogue as the initial step in the creation of an independent pool of radio music guarantees to American listeners that the Founda¬ tion will obtain for them the finest music available in the world. To musicians everywhere the Ricordi catalogue needs no adver¬ tisement. The announcement that these works are now available for radio purposes should go far toward creating a new atmos¬ phere in American programs. Although Ricordi & Co. was organized 125 years ago in Milan, Italy, it has by no means limited its operations to the Italian field of music but has numbered in its lists of composers the great masters of all countries. The lists of writers whose music figures in its catalogue comprises a veritable “Who’s Who in Music.” In the field of opera alone, the Ricordi catalogue enumerates works of such great composers as Beethoven, Bellini, Bizet, Boito, Casavola, Catalani, Cimarosa, Donaudy, Donizetti, Flotow, Franchetti, Glinka, Gluck, Goldmark, Gomes, Gounod, Halevv, "Herold, Malipiero, Marinuzzi, Mascagni, Mascheroni, Massenet, Meyerbeer, Montemezzi, Mozart, Pergolossi, Penchielli, Puccini, Rossini, Rubin¬ stein, Spontini, Stradella, Verdi, Wagner and Weber. In symphonic and chamber music, the catalogue lists, among others, such modem composers as Alaleona, Alfano, Casella, Castelnuovo, Tedesco, De Sabata, Lualdi, Malipiero, Mancinelli, Martucci, Molinari, Montemezzi, Panizza, Perose, Pick-Magiagalli, Pizzetti, Respighi, Santoliquido, Tommasini, Toni, Tosti, Veretti, Vittadini and Zandonai. The catalogue also includes one of the largest selections of band and dance music in the world and thousands of other instrumental and vocal selections compiled from the masters of all countries. MORE INDEPENDENT MUSIC The Bernard-Scheib Music Company, 1658 Broadway, New York, has sent broadcasting stations copies of its latest issue “LET’S BEND AN ELBOW,” and has notified the Radio Pro¬ gram Foundation that it may be used freely for broadcasting purposes. TECHNICAL ADVISERS APPOINTED The United States Delegates to the Central and North American Radio Conference will leave Washington about July 4 for Mexico City. James W. Baldwin will represent the NAB and will leave for Mexico City in a few days. The State Department this week announced the list of technical radio advisers to the delegates for the United States for the North American Radio Conference to begin at Mexico City, Mexico, on July 10. The technical advisers include: Dr. Charles B. Jolliffe, Chief Engineer, Federal Radio Commission; Dr. Irvin Stewart, Department of State; Mr. E. K. Jett, Chief, Commercial Com¬ munications Section of the Engineering Division, Federal Radio Commission; Mr. Andrew D. Ring, Assistant Chief, Broadcast Section, Federal Radio Commission; Mr. Gerald C. Gross, Chief, International Relations Section, Federal Radio Commission. RADIO APPEAL DISMISSED The Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia this week dismissed the appeal of Station KWEA, Shreveport, La., on motion of both the applicant and the Radio Commission. The Commission granted Station WJBO permission to move from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. KWEA filed an appeal with the Court against the Commission’s decision on the ground that at the time the Commission granted this permission it (KWEA) had an application pending to move to Baton Rouge also. COMMISSION NAMES TWO ATTORNEYS The Federal Radio Commission announced today the appoint¬ ment of John Weslev Weeks, of Decatur, Georgia, and Milus A. Nisbet, of Fayetteville, Tennessee, as members of its legal division. Mr. Weeks is now Judge of the Juvenile Court of DeKalb County, Georgia. Mr. Nisbet was formerly Secretary to Senator Kenneth McKellar of Tennessee, and is now employed as treasurer and credit manager by the Murray Rubber Company of Trenton, N. J. Both of these attorneys come to the Commission highly recom¬ mended for their legal ability and industry. They are to take office July 1, and will fill the vacancies made by the resignation of Chief Examiner Ellis A. Yost and Examiner Elmer W. Pratt and the promotion of Ralph L. Walker and George H. Hill as examiners. TEN COMMISSION EMPLOYEES DISMISSED The Federal Radio Commission announced today that it was forced to dismiss five employees at its headquarters here, and five in the “field,” due to reduced appropriations for the fiscal year 1934. These “separations” were found absolutely necessary because the 1934 appropriation for the Commission was reduced $140,000 by the Budget Bureau which was approved by Congress, compared with the 1933 appropriation. Because of their faithful service the Commission was loath to dismiss any of the employees but it was found to be absolutely necessary in order to balance its budget. Action by the Commis¬ sion was delayed until final passage of the Independent Offices Appropriation Bill so the Commission could act in accordance with the law. To show its interest in the welfare of the employees who were victims of unfortunate circumstances, the Commission is sending the list of “separated” employees to the personnel officers of the newly organized bureaus and commissions set up under recent acts • Page 73 •