NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

ASKS RCA LICENSES BE CANCELLED C. Wood Arthur, a resident of this city, has filed a petition ask¬ ing for a mandamus by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia directing that the Federal Radio Commission cancel radio licenses, broadcasting and short wave, granted to the Radio Corporation of America and its subsidiaries. In this connection the name of Mr. Arthur does not appear in the latest edition of the telephone directory and also it is stated at the Commission that it has received from time to time several “fan” letters from him. It is alleged in the papers filed in the Court that the Federal Court of Delaware found R. C. A. guilty of a practice that tended to a monopoly and that in spite of this the Commission has re¬ newed licenses which Mr. Arthur contends is not in accord with the Radio Act. PETTEY ON INSPECTION TRIP Herbert L. Pettey, new secretary of the Radio Commission, left here this week for an inspection trip in the west. It is possible that he will join Commissioner Lafount later. He will return on August 9. STAY ORDERS GRANTED This week the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia granted stay orders against the Radio Commission in three appeals, including WOQ, Kansas City, Mo., WHAS and WLAP, Louisville, Ky. In the WOQ case that station appealed and asked for a stay order against the Commission because it gave KFH, Wichita, Kans., its frequency of 1300 kilocycles. Station WHAS appealed and asked for a stay order because of the action of the Commission in granting Station KFIW permis¬ sion to move from Hopkinsville to Louisville, Ky., without having notified WHAS of the action in time to attend the hearing. WLAP appealed because it had asked for the facilities of KFIW and also because the Commission granted the station permission to move to Louisville, where WLAP is also located. The Court granted stay orders in all three cases. RADIO COMMISSION TELEPHONES The telephone numbers of the Radio Commission have again been changed at their new offices. The Commission can now be reached by calling District 1654-1655-1656-1657-1658-1659 or 1660. PROGRAM COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS Following are the more important recommendations of the Pro¬ gram Committee which recently met in Chicago with Ed. L. Bill, presiding. Those who attended were: Frederic Willis, John Elwood, Miss Judith Waller, John Henry and the Managing Director. The Committee recommended that the National Association of Broadcasters should set up in its offices in Washington a routine for the voluntary exchange of program material of either a com¬ mercial or sustaining nature and that an outline of such material should be published in the reports of the Association. It was understood between the members of the Committee that the ma¬ terial exchanged might either be on a free or a paid basis depend¬ ing upon the will and attitude of the owners. It was also recognized by the Committee that any individual station might consult the Program Service Department of the National Association of Broadcasters on any problems that might arise relative to program policies and material. The Program Committee recommended to the Managing Direc¬ tor that an investigation be made of the problems of records and recordings and that the Association obtain if possible a complete list of the record makers, the different types of records available and their prices, and a list of the sound-effect manufacturers and their available material. They also recommended that when this investigation was completed the material be made available to all members of the Association. The Committee recommended to the Managing Director that a list of program suggestions be compiled which would show the member stations how they could perform a greater public service in the fields of religion, health, education, public affairs, public works, charity, etc. The Committee recommended to the Managing Director that the Association investigate the cost of compiling and distributing a catalogue of music that is now in the public domain. It was suggested that if the cost were not too great the work should be undertaken and the compilation distributed at a nominal charge to the members of the Association. It was recommended by the Program Committee to the Manag¬ ing Director that the Program Service Department should cooperate with the various departments of the government to the end that any programs which the government departments wished to have distributed should be distributed through the Association. ACTION AGAINST DELINQUENT MEMBERS Formal expulsion proceedings will be instituted next week against a half dozen NAB members who have failed to pay dues in accord¬ ance with the provisions of the By-Laws. RECORD LISTS FOR RICORDI SUBLICENSEES Members of the National Association of Broadcasters have re¬ ceived from the Radio Program Foundation a list of the RCA-Victor records whose public performance “on the air” is covered by the Ricordi sublicenses now being issued to broadcasting stations by the Foundation. This compilation has given added impetus to the issuance of these licenses and broadcasters everywhere are now presenting this famous music to their listeners. Application blanks for Ricordi sublicenses have been sent to all member stations. If they have been lost or mislaid, new blanks may be had upon request to Oswald F. Schuette, President, Radio Program Foundation, National Press Building, Washington, D. C. Non-member stations may also receive such blanks upon request, but their fees for sublicenses are double those for member stations in the same classification LICENSEES GET MUSIC DISCOUNT Under the provisions of the contract by which the Radio Pro¬ gram Foundation acquired the American “air rights” to the Ricordi, all broadcasting stations who hold sublicenses from the Foundation are entitled to purchase the music published by G. Ricordi & Co. of Milan at a discount of 60 per cent from the American retail price. This music may be purchased from the New York office of the Ricordi organization, 12 West 45th Street. Requests for cata¬ logues of these compositions should be sent to Dr. Renato Tasselli, the American representative of Ricordi, at that address. QUOTA FIGURES AS OF JUNE 30 According to a recent release of the Federal Radio Commission (No. 8828), radio broadcasting facilities, in terms of quota units, were distributed among the states and zones as follows: FIRST ZONE Total ± Quota due State Due Assign. ± Units ± % N. Y . . 35.07 37.95 + 2.88 + 8 Mass . . 11.84 10.46 — 1.38 — 12 N. J . . 11.26 11.63 + 0.37 + 3 Md . . 4.55 4.20 — 0.35 — 8 Conn . . 4.48 3.60 — 0.88 — 20 P. R . . 4.30 0.50 — 3.80 — 88 Maine . . 2.22 2.24 + 0.02 + 1 R. I . . 1.91 1.40 — 0.51 — 27 D. C . . 1.35 1.30 — 0.05 — 4 N. H . . 1.29 0.92 — 0.37 — 29 Vt . . 1.00 0.62 — 0.38 — 38 Del . . 0.67 0.62 — 0.05 — 7 V. I . . 0.06 — 0.06 —100 Total . . 80.00 SECOND 75.44 ZONE — 4.56 — 6 Pa . . 27.63 20.12 — 7.51 — 27 Ohio . . 19.07 19.29 + 0.22 + 1 Mich . . 13.89 10.63 — 3.26 — 23 Ky . . 7.50 8.50 + 1.00 + 13 Va . . 6.95 9.50 + 2.55 + 37 W. Va . . 4.96 5.61 + 0.65 + 13 Total . . 80.00 THIRD 73.65 ZONE — 6.35 — 8 Tex . . 16.22 23.12 + 6.90 + 43 N. Car . . 8.82 9.75 + 0.93 + 11 Ga . . 8.10 8.15 + 0.05 + 1 Ala . . 7.37 6.42 — 0.95 — 13 Tenn . . 7.29 12.80 + 5.51 + 76 Okla . . 6.67 8.44 + 1.77 + 27 La . . 5.85 8.39 + 2.54 + 43 Miss . . 5.60 3.55 — 2.05 — 37 Ark . . 5.16 5.30 + 0.14 + 3 S. Car . . 4.83 2.00 — 2.83 — 59 Fla . . 4.09 8.45 + 4.36 + 107 Total . . 80.00 96.37 + 16.37 + 20 Page 91