Radio mirror (Nov 1936-Apr 1937)

RACKETEERS in radio? Scores of them, elusive, scheming racketeers, constantly on the alert to snare the unsuspecting penny or dime or five-dollar bill. They lurk in the obscure local station, among the clients of established broadcasting studios; in "radio dramatic and music schools." They are here today and gone tomorrow, to reappear in some new place and under a new guise. They know all the dodges, and they use them all. They defraud you, the listener, of your time and your money. They victimize inexperienced youngsters who are trying to get a start on the air. They cheat merchants who are taking their first experimental flier in air advertising. It's time for radio to clean house. But if the job is to be done right, and done now, you, the listening audience, must help. The Federal Communications Commission at Washington has the power to license stations or remove them from the air, and it also has trained investigators who do what they can to smoke out cases of fraud, but these investigators cannot be everywhere and hear every program sent out on the air. Even the station officials themselves, no matter how well-intentioned they may be, often cannot keep their kilocycles entirely free of fraud, because they do not realize that fraud is being practiced. When you've read this article you'll know about the slick rackets that are carried on over the air. You'll recognize them on your own loudspeaker. If you are trying to carve a radio career for yourself, you'll be forewarned against some of the ways unscrupulous promoters have of getting your money from you. And if you are a business man who has never advertised on the air, but would like to, you'll be more apt to spot the kind of radio salesman to keep away from. Whether you are a listener, an aspiring performer, or a prospective advertiser, you can render a great service to the future of radio by reporting instances of fraud either to the editor of this magazine or to the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D. C. Suppose, first of all, you want to be a radio star, and are willing to work desperately hard for your big chance. This ambition of yours makes you a prize target for the smooth-talking gentlemen who are adept at getting other people's money. Their most common trick is to send you to a "broadcasting school." Now, not all schools for teaching you microphone technique are fakes — but enough of them are to make it worth your while to investigate be 14 fore you invest your money in hopes of an air career. Perhaps the racketeer first inserts an advertisement in a local newspaper: "Talent wanted for sponsored radio program. Experience unnecessary." You go to the station, take an audition, and are then told that you have talent but need more training. The man in charge of auditions hands you a card to such and such a school — in some cases it's just across the hall from the studio — and practically promises you employment after you've taken a few months' course. At the school itself the same line of polite palaver is handed out to you, you enroll and pay your tuition fee, and the school and thq man at the studio split the proceeds. The prize racket in connection with schools, however, is that which came to light out on the West Coast. Schools were calling themselves the "Chautauqua Broadcasting Studios," or the "Natural Broadcasting Class," and using microphones with the letters CBS and NBC on them. A pupil of one of these schools, for a few dollars, was given a couple of voice tests, a sample recording of his voice, and a glossy picture showing him at a "CBS" or an "NBC" mike. Then, if he was that kind of person, he could take his picture to the program manager of some station and pretend he really had worked on network programs. Not that anyone ever benefitted from such a procedure except the fake schools — it didn't take program mana