NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1934)

The National Association of Broadcasters NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING ..... WASHINGTON, D. C. PHILIP G. LOUCKS, Managing Director NAB REPORTS ★ NRA * M * ★ Vol. 2 No. 6 FEB. 3, 1934 Copyright, 1934, Tho National Assoolation of Broadcasters PRESIDENT ORDERS BROADCAST SURVEY President Roosevelt has requested Secretary of Commerce Roper to appoint a committee to make a survey and report of radio broadcasting in connection with the administration’s proposal to determine a definite policy with respect to communications of all kinds. The personnel of the committee, which will differ from the committee which recently completed a survey of the com¬ munications field, will be announced within a week or ten days. It is expected that the broadcast survey will take about six weeks to complete and will be undertaken as soon as the committee is named. The Interdepartmental Committee on Communications filed its report with the President recently and the report was transmitted to Congress. Senator Clarence C. Dill, chairman of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, had the first report printed as a government document for the use of members of his Committee. After the broadcast report is completed the two documents will be used as a basis for the drafting of legislature upon which hear¬ ings will be held in either the Senate or House or both. Because the report will be used as a basis for legislation, the broadcast survey is looked upon with great importance by the broadcast industry. DILL FAVORS COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Radio broadcasting should be left in private hands and Congress should follow the rules laid down by the Supreme Court of the United States in formulating new legislation, Senator Clarence C. Dill, chairman of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, told the International Radio Committee at its annual meeting in Washington this week. He went on record as favoring the crea¬ tion of a Communications Commission and declared that he believed this step should be taken before the propriety of telephone and telegraph mergers should be considered. Future allocations should make provision for educational broad¬ casting, he said, expressing the opinion that this service should be placed in the high frequencies. School broadcasting is not popular in the broadcast band, he said. During the course of his talk Senator Dill several times referred to the future of radio and gave it as his opinion that full develop¬ ment has not yet been reached in any branch of the art. The high standing of radio in the United States, said Senator Dill, is due in large part to the fact that it has been in private hands and not governmental. Senator Dill spoke of many phases of the radio question with special emphasis on legislation particularly as applied to radio communication. He referred to Supreme Court rulings on radio questions and expressed the opinion, in regard to legislation, that in future law making the Congress should leave the radio law principles as they are. The United States Supreme Court, he said, has decided that Congress has the power to regulate radio and has laid down the fact that there is no vested right in a radio frequency. In view of court rulings, said Senator Dill, “Congress in its future law making on this subject should not disturb the basic principles of the radio law.” Senator Dill devoted part of his talk to the subject of the recent so-called Roper Interdepartmental Communications Committee re¬ port and characterized it as “an excellent review — a fine contribu¬ tion.” The committee did a fine job, he said, but did not keep clearly in view the future development of radio. The Senator dealt at some length with the general communica¬ tion situation especially with regard to the international problem and expressed himself strongly as opposed to the organization of any international communications monopoly at this time. He pointed out very clearly, however, in this connection, that this does not mean that he is against legislation for a general Com¬ munications Commission. The Commission should come first, he said, make a study of such a merger and report on it before any legislation is enacted allowing it. The legislature, he said, “should assist and compel radio development.” Others who spoke at the meeting were Dr. C. M. Jolliffe, chief engineer of the Federal Radio Commission, who talked on the recent Mexican Radio Conference; Judge S. C. Bland, chairman of the House Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio and Fisheries; and Judge Eugene 0. Sykes, chairman of the Radio Commission. Senator Wallace H. White, Jr., of Maine, was elected president of the American Section for the coming year. Other officers elected include: John W. Guider, vice president; Howard S. LeRoy, treasurer; Paul M. Segal, secretary. Members of the Executive Council: William R. Vallance, chairman; A. L. Ashby, Thad H. Brown, J. H. Dellinger, F. P. Guthrie, and Henry A. Bellows. F. R. C. FROWNS ON LIQUOR ADS The long awaited announcement from the Federal Radio Com¬ mission on the subject of liquor advertising was forthcoming on February 2. The announcement follows: “The Federal Radio Commission calls renewed attention of broadcasters and advertisers to that Section of the Radio Act of 1927 which provides that stations are licensed only when their operation will serve public interest, convenience and necessity, and asks the intelligent cooperation of both groups in so far as liquor advertising is concerned. “Although the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States has been repealed by the 21st and so far as the Federal Government is concerned there is no liquor prohibition, it is well known that millions of listeners throughout the United States do not use intoxicating liquors and many children of both users and non-users are part of the listening public. The Com¬ mission asks the broadcasters and advertisers to bear this in mind. “The Commission will designate for hearing the renewal appli¬ cations of all stations unmindful of the foregoing and they will be required to make a showing that their continued operation will serve public interest, convenience and necessity.” The announcement is not to be construed as a regulation. It is simply an expression of the Commission’s attitude that liquor advertising, in some cases, might be against the public interest. Apparently the Commission took into consideration the fact that some states have not as yet passed statutes legalizing the sale of hard liquor within their respective borders while other states have enacted liberal statutes. The Commission also undoubtedly considered that the advertising of hard liquors might be so broad¬ cast as to encourage the illegal sale of liquor to minors. The repeal of the Reed amendment to the federal liquor laws removes any federal limitation upon liquor advertising of any kind and the Commission is without specific authority under the law to promulgate a formal regulation on the subject. The Commission’s statement is construed to relate only to hard liquors rather than beer and table wines. RATE CARD DEADLINE FEBRUARY 15 The Code Authority for the Radio Broadcasting Industry has fixed February 15 as the deadline for the submission of rate cards in compliance with Article VII, Section 1, paragraph (a) of the code. The Code Authority has ruled that each station must supply three cards. Stations which have failed to send in cards should do so immediately as failure will result in being reported to the NRA. • Page 287 ■