NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

The National Association of Broadcasters NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING . * . * . WASHINGTON, D. C. PHILIP G. LOUCKS, Managing Director NAB REPORTS * C**yriobt 1933. The Nttienal Association of Broadcasters ★ ★ Vol. 1 No. 52 DEC. 30, 1933 ON THE WAY! As the curtain falls on 1933 the radio broadcasting busi¬ ness is sharing with all other businesses the benefits flowing from general economic recovery. The past year has subjected the American plan of broad¬ casting to the severest of tests. That it has survived is additional proof of the soundness of the system of privately operated broadcasting stations. Broadcasters look forward to 1934 with optimism. Busi¬ ness will increase. Commercial practices will improve. As a consequence, programs will reach a new high standard. The record of the NAB during the past year speaks for itself. A review would serve no useful purpose. But the advent of 1934 focuses attention upon many important prob¬ lems which are on their way to solution. While substantial progress has been made, only the closest cooperation among all NAB members will bring quick and effective solution. The Officers and Directors of the NAB are convinced that the same spirit of cooperation which made 1933 a banner year in NAB history will be forthcoming in 1934. To every member of the NAB the official family of the Association extends its best wishes for a Happy and Pros¬ perous New Year. DILL WOULD ABOLISH F. R. C. Senator Dill, of Washington, chairman of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, which has jurisdiction over radio legis¬ lation in the upper house, has definitely stated that if no action is taken at this new session of Congress on a Communications Commission, he will introduce a simple bill, and push it for imme¬ diate action, which would put radio activities back into the De¬ partment of Commerce, with a Director of Radio, and an Appeal Board to consist of three members, which would be an appellate body only. Suggestions of this kind, it may be remembered, were made last spring shortly before the special session adjourned and it was thought for a long time that President Roosevelt would carry out this idea through an executive order. Senator Dill has stated that he has no radio bills prepared for introduction at the opening of the session but he has this plan definitely in mind if nothing else is done with radio at the new session. The present Radio Commission, said Senator Dill, has no “initia¬ tive” and “it will have to do something or be wiped out.” “It ought to do something to improve radio instead of sitting back like a machine,” he said. “With all the growing protests against advertising methods, it does nothing. It seems to have no conception of its duty to remedy the situation. It makes no new allocations that are possible as a result of new developments in directional broadcasting and other advanced methods of broad¬ casting. “It should restrict the abuses of the right to advertise,” Senator Dill continued. “Censorship is one thing, but the kind of adver¬ tising is another. If the advertising is not what the public wants, it is not in the public interest.” CONGRESS CONVENES WEDNESDAY Congress will convene on Wednesday, January 3. The new session will be the second session of the Seventy-Third Congress, and inasmuch as it is another session of the same Congress, all of the radio bills pending when Congress adjourned in the spring are still pending. Of surpassing interest to the broadcasters of the country will be the action taken by the President on the report he recently received from the Interdepartmental Communications Committee, of which Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of Commerce, was chairman, and which suggested certain solutions to communication problems. Everyone is only guessing now as to what will be done about this report or whether the Congress will be called upon to take up general radio reorganization or not. This depends entirely upon the President’s attitude on this subject. Following is a list of the bills now on the Senate and House calendars from the last session of Congress dealing exclusively with radio: In the Senate S. Res. 29 — Senate Committee on Rules. Introduced by Senator Dill of Washington, and providing for broadcasting from the Senator Chamber. In the House H. R. 1735 — Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio and Fish¬ eries. Introduced by Representative Bland of Virginia, providing for general amendments to the present radio law. H. R. 3760 — Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Introduced by Representative Rayburn of Texas, providing for the establishment of the Federal Communications and Power Commission. H. Con. Res. 1 — House Committee on Rules. Introduced by Representative Fulmer of South Carolina, providing for a study of radio broadcasting in the United States and other countries. H. Res. 19 — House Committee on Rules. Introduced by Repre¬ sentative McFadden of Pennsylvania, providing for an investiga¬ tion of the NBC and Columbia Broadcasting System. H. Res. 181 — House Committee on Rules. Introduced by Rep¬ resentative Ellzey of Mississippi, providing for an investigation of the Federal Radio Commission. LIQUOR BILL PASSES WASHINGTON HOUSE The House of the Washington Legislature this week adopted a bill memorializing the Congress of the United States to prohibit liquor advertising by radio. RECOMMENDS AGAINST MORE POWER TO WMBG Station WMBG, Richmond, Va., applied to the Radio Commis¬ sion for an increase in its daytime power from 100 to 250 watts. It also requested the deletion of Station WPHR, Petersburg, Va., to make possible the granting of its application. WPHR asked license renewal. In Report No. 533 this week George H. Hill (e) recommended that the application for increased power of WMBG be denied and that the application for license renewal of Station WPHR be granted. The Examiner found that while WMBG renders a good and meritorious service, “it is not shown that the benefit derived to this area would warrant the curtailment of the service rendered to the Petersburg area by Station WPHR. He found that the granting of the application without deleting WPHR would cause interference. HUDDLESTON WOULD REGULATE RATES Representative Huddleston of Alabama intends to introduce a bill during the early part of the new session of Congress, he has announced, which is intended to regulate radio broadcasting as a public utility. • Page 265 •