NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

prises and will not operate to discriminate against them and will tend to effectuate the policy of Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act. Accordingly, I hereby recommend the approval of the Code of Fair Competition for the Radio Broadcasting Industry. Respectfully submitted, Sol A. Rosenblatt, Deputy Administrator. INDUSTRIAL ADVISOR’S REPORT INDUSTRY: Radio Broadcasting ADVISOR: James W. Baldwin DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: Sol A. Rosenblatt HEARING HELD: September 27, 1933 COMMENTS ON HEARING: The Industry was represented at the hearing by the National Association of Broadcasters, the only Trade Organization in the Industry. Its membership today numbers 275 stations and em¬ braces all classes of broadcasting stations licensed by the Govern¬ ment. These member stations do approximately 83 per cent of all the broadcasting business. Further, its membership is repre¬ sentative of all sections of the country. The statistical position of the Industry is reflected in a paper submitted to the National Recovery Administration by the Na¬ tional Association of Broadcasters and titled “The Economics of American Broadcasting.” This paper is based upon data con¬ tained in — Commercial Radio Advertising — Senate Document 137. A Decade of Radio Advertising — Herman S. Hettinger. Annual Reports of the Federal Radio Commission. The Work of the Federal Radio Commission — Brookings In¬ stitute. Current information from network companies and individual stations. The data supplied in respect of wages, hours and employment are based upon information supplied by the two national network companies and by a sample of 154 individual stations from whom information was collected as of the week ended July 29, 1933. These stations comprise 25.5 per cent of the entire number of stations in the country. Of the total questionnaires, 54.5 per cent came from members of the National Association of Broadcasters and 45.5 per cent from non-member stations. The data thus sup¬ plied are not satisfactory in that they fail to show accurately the number of hours worked in the industry. COMMENTS ON CODE: The labor provisions contained in the Code are in themselves satisfactory. (See “Other Comments.”) The immediate effect of these will be to increase existing payrolls at the estimated rate of $1,328,000 per year. RADIO OPERATORS AND CONTROL MEN. One point which caused considerable controversy concerned the hours of labor for radio operators and control men (Article III, Paragraph 2, sub-paragraph d). The question was whether these men should work 40 hours per week or 48 hours per week. These men attend the transmitter and control panels. Persons desiring to operate transmitters must prove their qualifications for such work by written examinations conducted by the Federal Radio Commission and are licensed by the Government as are navigators of vessels. The general practice in the Industry is to hire only licensed opera¬ tors for attending both the transmitter and the control panels. The broadcast day has been defined by the Federal Radio Com¬ mission to mean that period of time between 6 a. m. and 12 mid¬ night (Rule 87). In a great many cases the practice, prior to the President’s Reemployment Agreement, has been to allow operators to work as many as seventy hours and more per week. The following factors are considered as justifying the provision in this Code for 48 hours per week, pending investigation by the Code Authority and report thereon to the Administration (Article VI, Paragraph 4) , of the hours of labor, wages, and working condi¬ tions of broadcast technicians and the relation thereof to general conditions within the Industry: 1. The President’s Reemployment Agreement already has re¬ sulted in a substantial reduction in the number of hours worked. 2. Reliable information that the work is neither hazardous nor fatiguing and that working conditions are excellent. 3. The existence of contracts between Union operators and sta¬ tion owners calling for a 48-hour week. ■ Page 4. The absence of any general unemployment among persons licensed to operate broadcast stations. Official advices from the Federal Radio Commission, dated September 18, 1933, show there are 7,103 men licensed to operate broadcasting stations; that 4,730 of these hold licenses valid for the opera¬ tion of commercial ship, land and experimental stations of which there are 4,559. Statistics furnished by the National Association of Broadcasters show 2,100 men are employed within the Broadcasting Industry as operators and control men. This would leave 5,003 men for employment by 3,960 licensed stations. Many of these stations, of course, must employ more than one operator. For example, a first-class ship license, of which there are about 250, carries an obligation to carry two operators. Allowing 2,100 as employed by the Broadcasting Industry, 500 by ships carrying first-class licenses and only one operator for the remaining 3,710 stations, the difference would be only 793. Further, the demands of the Department of Commerce on this class of operators amounts to about 450 which leaves but 343 men for which to account. MUSICIANS. The Code does not fix hours and wages for musi¬ cians. This is because the representative of the American Federa¬ tion of Musicians regarded the conditions in different parts of the country to be at such a variance as to make it virtually impossible to treat the subject without injury to existing agreements. At his request, and agreeably to the Industry, the Code has been made to provide (Article V, Paragraph 7): Nothing herein contained shall be construed to apply to em¬ ployees whose rates of wages, hours and/or weekly full time wages are established by labor agreement, understandings or practices now in force, where such minimum rates of pay are higher and the maximum number of hours per week are lower than those set forth herein above. RADIO ARTISTS AND PERFORMERS. At the public hearing and in subsequent conferences strong representations were made on behalf of radio artists and performers. Chief among these were those made by the representative of the Actors Equity Association. This representative urged the adoption of provisions which, among other things, would, (a) establish minimum fees for each perform¬ ance, (b) provide different fees for different classes of stations, (c) prevent a performer from doubling, (d) fix fees for “extras,” (e) prevent the participation by a studio employee in, for example, a “mob hurrah,” (f) prevent free auditions, (g) regulate rehearsals, (h) prevent voluntary service, etc. The best information available indicates that the employment of professional artists and performers, within the broadcasting In¬ dustry, is confined to a few large stations, and companies engaged in network broadcasting. Further, it is not established that the Actors Equity Association represents any fair proportion of those artists and performers employed in this Industry. Again, the Association failed to support a single claim of abuse. All of their complaints were very general in character, and unsupported by facts. There is not available any qualitative data upon which a final decision in these matters can be made. Moreover, it will require considerable time to collect such data. For these reasons the Code has been made to provide (Article VI, Paragraph 3) that the Code Authority shall investigate the hours of labor and the wages of radio artists and performers and make a report thereon to the Administrator. PHONOGRAPH RECORDS. A representative of the AmericanBrunswick Record Corporation proposed that the Code contain the following provision: “It shall be an unfair practice and a violation of this Code for any broadcaster or network to broadcast records without the prior written consent of the manufacturer of such records.” A like request was made by the RCA-Victor Company. A full discussion of this question, like others involved herein, would require more space than appears to be justified. I consider it sufficient to point out here, (1) that this matter involves important questions of law; (2) that if injury is done any interested party, he has a remedy in a court of law, and (3) by admission of the AmericanBrunswick representative, they seek to have the National Recovery Administration furnish a kind of relief “which would be highly difficult to accomplish in the courts of law, if it could be done” (R. 158, 159). ADVERTISING OF DRUGS AND MEDICINES. The Execu¬ tive Secretary of the American Home Economics Association pro¬ posed that, “No broadcaster or network shall knowingly permit the broadcasting of any false representations regarding goods or services or any representations which may by ambiguity or inference mis¬ lead the hearer regarding the value of such goods or services.” 238 ■