Sponsor (Apr-June 1960)

enforcement of Section 317 of the Communication? Act. really baffles me. Is it possible that each time a station plays a phonograph record, an announcement will have to be made that the record was given to the station free by the Acme Distributing Corporation, or the Jones Music Publishing Company, or Sam Fleet, a record exploitation man working independently for Kitty Gurgle, the singer on the record? Is it possible that when a station plays a band from an LP, which it received as a subscriber to a record company LP service, the station will have to announce: "We received this LP at a nominal price as subscribers to the Superb Record Company LP subscription service'"? Or will one blanket pre-show or postshow announcement, as used to be the case with transcribed programs, suffice? No responsible broadcaster could possibly object to strict enforcement of the Communications Act. As a matter of fact most of my broadcaster friends have been hoping for many months that specific clarification of all foggy sections of the Act would be forthcoming. Perhaps Chairman Ford will address the broadcasters at the 3 April Convention and shed light on this and many other matters of far greater importance. Industry leaders, I'm certain, will be hoping that Chairman Ford will find some way of shedding light on his, and the Commission's position on the FCC responsibility in the programing area. Cannot compromise with censorship! On the very evening of the day, Thursday, 10 March. John Doerfer turned in his resignation in Washington, General David Sarnoff, chairman of the board of the Radio Corporation of America, at the 20th Anniversary dinner of the Radio and Television Executives' Society in New York, told the guests that the one error broadcasting could not afford to make was to submit to government censorship of programing. One of the primary demands of the day. said the general, was to resist any direct or disguised censorship, and to defend the freedom of broadcast communications, hard won over a period of many decades. The general said there is no such thing as a "little" censorship. Either you have censorship, said he, or you don't. Veteran broadcaster needed If no new head of the National Association of Broadcasters is appointed by convention time, the conclave will, of course, be rife with speculation as to who Hal Fellows' successor will be. One school of thought, at the moment, is urging that a non-broadcaster person of stature be appointed. Another school is in favor of one of several veteran broadcasters. With all due respect to Hal's predecessor, Judge Justin Miller and his forerunner, Neville Miller, both non-broadcasters, I'm all for having a top broadcaster in the job. Bob Swezey and Joe Ream are two of those who have been suggested, and I believe either would do a tremendous job. The industry would be lucky to get one of them. I'm looking forward to seeing them and the other members of the 14-man group of us who went to Europe in 1945, at our annual reunion. The convention, as I said, will be a grim one, but getting with my old colleagues once again will brighten it somewhat, if only for a few^ hours. And I want to say how happy and proud I am that sponsor is dedicating this convention issue to Hal Fellows. It's one more nice tribute to a fine man. ^ SPONSOR • 2 ATRIL 1960 C-0-M-M-A-N-P-l-NL-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-l-P on all viewing fronts! WREX-TV continues to dominate Rockford and Area Viewing . . . • AT NIGHT 45 of the Top 50 Shows . . . • IN THE DAYTIME All 20 of the Top 20 Shows • TOP WESTERNS 7 of the Top 8 Shows • TOP FAMILY SHOWS 5 of the Top 5 Shows • TOP SPORTS, SYNDICATED FILM, MOVIES, PUBLIC SERVICE. ♦Source ARB Ocf. 25 Nov. 21, 1959 IN FACT ... All Day and All Night! . . . Every Hour of the Week is "Good Time" on . . . WREX-TV WREX?TV n n e 1 ? 3