NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1940)

“Any employer who has been violating the law by fail¬ ing to pa}'^ the minimum wage of 30 cents an hour and at least one and one-half times the worker’s regular rate for work in excess of 42 hours a week, will find the Wage and Hour Division field personnel in our 30 branch offices ready and willing to cooperate with him in coming into compliance with the Law.” LABOR NOTES The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on February 26 held that collective bargaining as required by the Wagner Act entailed the signing of a written agree¬ ment if an agreement is reached (NLRB vs. Art Metals Construction Co.). The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago on January 9 held that the Wagner Act did not require any agreement at all and that whether an agreement, if any, should be written was a subject for bargaining (NLRB vs. Inland Steel). It is generally expected that the New York case will be appealed to the Supreme Court. The cost of living for wage earners and lower-salaried workers decreased 0.6 per cent during the quarter ended last December 15, the Labor Department reports. Chi¬ cago and Milwaukee were the only cities to report slight increases. Further details will be supplied to members upon request. The Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, has upheld the legality of the joint action by the A. f'. of M. and the I. A. T. S. E. (stagehands) to try to force Opera on Tour, Inc., to use “live” instead of recorded music for accompaniment. The court said, in part: “Summing up the situation presented to us. we find that the defendants (unions), in order to secure what they believed to be their economic betterment, are endeavoring to prevent the use of a mechanical contrivance which is in the nature of a labor saving device. This device is used to reproduce an essential element of the plaintiff’s business, viz., music played to accompany plaintiff’s operatic performances. The case is not one where the defendants are trying to force plaintiff to use an additional feature in con¬ nection with their business, which plaintiff has determined it could do without. Plaintiff wishes to have musical accompaniment for its opera. It says it can get along with mechanical music and save the cost of musicians’ salaries. The defendants say that, un¬ less ‘live’ musicians are hired, they will have less chance for work, and, therefore, are endeavoring, by stopping work, to prevent plaintiff’s performances until plaintiff agrees to use a ‘live’ orchestra. “It would seem to us that such conduct on defendants’ part is justified as a legitimate endeavor of labor, even though it results in some injury to plaintiff.’’ Presiding Justice Francis Martin and Justice Edward J. Glennon dissented. An appeal is expected. Engineering COLUMBUS CONFERENCE The third annual Broadcast Engineering Conference which opened February 12 closed at Ohio State Univer¬ sity, Friday, February 23, sending the 250 members of the conference back to their stations throughout the country, with a better and more thorough knowledge of the current engineering problems facing the broadcast¬ ing industry. The subject of greatest interest to the industry at present. Frequency Modulation, occupied more time on the conference agenda than did any other subject. The series of Frequency Modulation conference periods was opened with a general discussion of wide band FM by Major Edwin H. Armstrong, of Columbus University, the inventor of wide band FM, in which he reiterated his statements as to the ability of wide band FM to deliver to the listeners a signal of high fidelity, free of inter¬ ference. Major Armstrong also gave a brief technical ex¬ planation of the operation of FM. Paul deMars, technical director of the Yankee Net¬ work, continued the FM discussions with a review of the Yankee Network experiences with FM. The experiences with FM of the General Electric Company were related by H. P. Thomas and I. R. Weir, of the General Electric Company. Of particular interest was their relation of an experiment performed involving Major Armstrong’s sta¬ tion at Alpine, New Jersey, operating with 30 KW on 42.8 megacycle and the General Electric station at Albany, New York, 117 miles away operating on the same fre¬ quency with a power of 150 watts and both stations trans¬ mitting with Frequency Modulation. It was explained that a test car driven from Albany received the Albany transmission clear of all interferences from Alpine out to a distance of about 27 miles and there a distance of 5 miles long was encountered over which sharp transitions were noted. Beyond this transitional area the Alpine transmission was received free and clear of interference from Albany. Mr. Weir pointed out that in narrowing the FM band down in order to conserve space in the fre¬ quency spectrum the full conservation possibility cannot be realized because in order to keep the distortion in the receiver low, it is necessary that the band width of the receiver be not reduced in the same proportion. For those who did not attend the conference it is suggested that they write to the General Electric Company, Radio and Television Department, Schenectady, New York, and ask for the pamphlet entitled “And Now Frequency Modulation.” Frequency ^Modulation receivers were dis¬ cussed by R. F. Shea of the General Electric Company. The “General Discussion and Question Box” con¬ ducted by Mr. Andrew D. Ring, Assistant Chief Engi 4067 March 1, 1940