NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1941)

Neville Miller, President C. E. Arney, Jr., Assistant to President Edward M. Kirby, Director of Public Relations ; Joseph L. Miller, Director of Labor Relations ; Frank E. Pellegrin, Director of Broadcast Advertising : Paul F. Peter, Director of Research ; Russell P. Place. Counsel; Lynne C. Smeby, Director of Engineering THE CONVENTION (Continued from page 437) the highlights of the largest and most enthusiastic con¬ vention in the XAB’s history, held May 12-15 in St. Louis. By unanimous vote, the convention endorsed a reso¬ lution introduced by Senator White (R-Maine), calling for a Senate investigation of the effect of the new net¬ work rules and asking the FCC to postpone their effective date pending the investigation. {The text of the White resolution will be found on page 437). This vote was taken at a business session following a talk by Mark Ethridge, WHAS, Louisville, Ky., in which he said that the FCC's network order was “founded on a basis of bad temper, impatience and vindictiveness.” Mr. Ethridge announced that he was giving up his presidential commission to review “the status and needs of the in¬ dustry” and urged the delegates to support Senator White’s measure. (The text of Mr. Etheridge’s talk can be found on Page 444. Printed copies are available at the NAB). Endorsement of BMI followed the signing of a new contract between ASCAP and the Mutual Broadcasting System, a factual analysis of which appeared on Page 409 of the NxAB Reports. Stations WOR, WGN and KHJ, Mutual key stations, and WFBR withdrew from the NAB on the ground that the NAB had taken sides in intra¬ industry disputes in both the music copyright and “mo¬ nopoly” matters. The convention was by far the largest in the NAB’s history. iNIore than 1,000 registered, while several hun¬ dred others were present. Following is a day-by-day account of the convention; Monday, May 12 The N.AB Board, 24 to 1, approved Neville Miller’s correspondence with officials of the Mutual Broadcasting System regarding N.\B policy on the “monopoly report” and in the music copyright situation. The board then voted, 24 to 0, to extend Mr. Miller's term of office to July I, 1944. Tuesday, May 13 panel discussion on “national defense” started the convention fireworks. Participants were Major General 438 — May 23, 1941 Robert C. Richardson, public relations director, U. S. army; Commander H. R. Thurber, public relations officer, N. S. navy; director, Office of Government Reports, and James Lawrence Fly, FCC chairman. i\Ir. Mellett spoke off the record; General Richardson’s talk is printed on Page 448; Commander Thurber’s talk is printed on Page 450; Mr. Fly’s talk is printed on Page 442. Mr. Fly dealt at some length with the network rules, charging at one point that “monopolistically controlled sources in the industry ... to divert attention from the fact of monopolistic control in their hands, conjure up insistently the bogeyman of government operation.” At the close of Mr. Fly’s talk, Neville iNIiller asked: “INIay it not also be said that those who favor govern¬ ment operation conjure up the bogeyman of monopoly, to divert attention?” That evening, informed of the withdrawal from the NAB of the three Mutual key stations, Mr. Miller said: We naturally regret the withdrawal of any members from the N.\B. However, we believe that the issues subtly concealed in the Monopoly Report represent a direct challenge to the freedom of radio, and, if not opposed, would be the first of a series of events leading to the destruction of not only the freedom of radio but also the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech. We would be derelict in our duty not only to our members but also to the public if we sat idly by merely to maintain our mem¬ bership. We intend to protect the freedom of radio in opposing all attacks upon it, including those contained in the Monopoly Report, In so doing we believe that we represent the views of an over¬ whelming majority of our industry and of the public. V’ice-President Henry A. Wallace addressed the Tues¬ day luncheon session by remote control from Washington. His speech, dealing with how radio could best serve in National Defense, is printed on Page 446. At its annual convention Tuesday, attended by representatives of approximately 250 independently owned network-affiliated sta¬ tions, IRNA adopted a resolution expressing strong disapproval of the new regulations promulgated by the FCC to regulate network broadcasting. The resolution reads: “Resolved, that in the opinion of the members of Independent Radio Network .Affiliates, Inc., here assembled, the FCC regulations on network broadcasting issued May 2, 1941, will, if carried out in their present form, seriously impair the ability of network affiliates as radio licensees to render the service w'hich the public has been receiving and to which it is entitled, and which has been proclaimed as the finest broadcast service in the world.” The convention also endorser! the resolution introduced this morning in the United State Senate by Senator Wallace H. White, Jr., of Maine, requesting a suspension of the new' network regula¬ tions and an investigation looking toward the drafting of a new radio law. John A. Kennedy, West Virginia Netw'ork; I. R. Lounsberry, WGR-WKBW, Buffalo; Paul W. Morency. WTIC, Hartford; C. W. Myers, KOIN-KALE, Portland, Oreg. ; and W. J. Scripps, WWJ, Detroit, unanimously were reelected for three-year terms as IRNA directors.