NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1945)

Mr. Avery, who has served as NAB Director of Broad¬ cast Advertising from October 1, 1942, until the fifteenth of this month, has opened offices in New York (565 Fifth Avenue) and in Chicago to conduct his station relations enterprise. His service to NAB has been noteworthy. The industry is extremely fortunate in being able to bring Mr. Pelleg-rin back as his successor. MUZAK ABANDONS SUBSCRIPTION RADIO The Federal Communications Commission on September 20 received the following letter from Mr. William Benton, Subscription Radio, Inc., dated September 14, 1945, fol¬ lowing his appointment as Assistant Secretary of State: “Dear Mr. Porter: “My appointment as Assistant Secretary of States forces upon me and my associates the necessity of abandoning our present plans for the development of Subscription Radio. Mr. Joseph L. Weiner, our legal counsel, had been working for some time on an application for three radio frequencies in New York City. This application was complete and ready for submission. A Board of Directors’ meeting had been called for September 7, to approve the application, and our plans were to submit it to the FCC within the next week. “We have spent much time and effort on developing a programming schedule for the third wave band. Apart from the time of myself and Messrs. Hutchins and Ruml, who are the other directors of Subscription Radio, and apart from the considerable amount of time and effort of other executives connected with the Muzak Corporation and the Encyclopaedia Britannica — these two companies have incurred substantial out-of-pocket expenditures in their investigation and study of Subscription Radio. Of course, the interest of the Muzak Corporation, of which I and my family are the owners of the common stock, goes back for several years to the experimental license granted in 1941. “However, the plans for the future revolved to a major extent around my personal background in the broadcasting business and in education, and around my personal faith in the potential opportunity for Subscription Radio. With¬ out my active participation it seems to the other directors and their advisors and associates unwise and unsound to launch the venture. Furthermore, my official duties will require close cooperation with all media of communication and I feel that neither I nor corporations which I control should enter into such a new venture in broadcasting. “I feel that I owe this explanation to you and to your associates in view of the courteous and extended considera¬ tion which you have given to this matter. Very sincerely yours, / s/ Wm. Benton. Mr. Paul A. Porter, Chairman Federal Communications Commission Washington, D. C.” OPA ACTS ON PARTS PRICES The Office of Price Administration on Tuesdav (18) authorized the manufacturers of radio parts except tubes to make delivery of original equipment parts to radio set manufacturers at prices that may be adjusted upward later when final reconversion pricing factors now under study are determined. The adjustable pricing may be used only for parts sold for installation as original equipment in radio sets. Manu¬ facturers, in order to use adjustable pricing, must file with OPA a list of the prices they actually used in March, 1942, in sales of similar original equipment. Radio parts prices for replacement in the repair sets are not affected by the action and can continue to be the highest prices individual sellers charged during March, 1942. The adjustable pricing order, according to OPA, is being issued to facilitate production and delivery of parts to radio set makers and permits set manufacturers to go ahead with output of new sets. CORRECTION OF FM RULES In NAB Information Bulletin— FCC Rules, Vol. 13, No. 4, issued last week, there was an omission in the release received from FCC. On page 8 as part of 3.287 the following additional paragraphs should be added: (d) In the case of variety show programs, baseball game broadcasts, or similar pro¬ grams of longer duration than 30 minutes, the identification announcement shall be made within 5 minutes of the hour and of the times specified in subdivision (2) of para¬ graph (a) of this section. (e) In the case of all other programs the identification announcement shall be made within 2 minutes of the hour and of the times specified in subdivision (2) of paragraph (a) of this section. (f) In making the identification announce¬ ment the call letters shall be given only on the channel of the station identified thereby. CO-ORDINATION OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS EXPLORED On Friday (14) a meeting of the heads of the publicity departments of several of the agencies of Government, and including representatives from the disbanded Office of War Information, met in Washington to explore the pos¬ sibilities of setting up some plan whereby clearance of Government messages to radio stations and other media may be continued. There are some 40 agencies of Government which have been clearing material on the local allocations plan through OWI. To handle these local allocations 13 District offices had been maintained. These were discontinued on the fifteenth. Both the Government officials, as well as representatives of the radio industry, recognize the desirability of creating some means whereby announcements concerning Govern¬ ment campaigns may be classified in accordance with their importance. A Committee was appointed to work out the details of a plan. NAB participated and will cooperate actively with the representatives of the Government agencies. NABET STRIKE ENDS The strike by the members of the National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians (NABET) (see NAB Reports, page 401) lasted for some twenty-five hours when negotiations with the National Broadcasting Com¬ pany and the American Broadcasting Company were re¬ sumed, with the technicians returning to their posts. An interesting reaction to this strike was an editorial published by the New York Sun on Thursday (13). The editorial follows: “When two of the major broadcasting chains were hit last night by a sudden strike of studio engineers and tech¬ nicians, those seeking to tune in familiar programs were aware of the stoppage. It was not just something they read about, a walkout in a distant city, but someth! ug which, if it inflicted no great hardship," at least directly hit them. (Continued on next page ) September 21, 1945-415