Variety (Aug 1940)

Wcflnesda^ry August 7* 1940 RADMi 21 Stanley Hubbard's station, KSTP, St. Paul, has a mad on ag^iirist.yARiEitY^;:/^ It's also news, so VarietV reports the fact. .. It happens; that VARiiifY's^ H^^^ reporter, L^s Rees, niade/a routine xall on KSXP last Friday/ He called to gather some news, if any. He got lu) new.' Instead he got a tirade ■.froin:'-St^ih'-s'chieif/aMe;\;,:y ^^■■■-'' '■r:^ ' The point of the tirade at KSTP was just this: 'How datre VaRIKTY sell its. advertisiug to ASC/VP £or tlie pUrpOse of ■ al- lo\ving.that organi^tion to. present .jts case ?' By a bit of irony the next evening (Saturday), there was on all' networks, and doubtlessly on KSTP, a special radio program devoted to free S' Freedom is a: beautiful thing. Stkn. .Like your freedom; to accept advertising on KSTP. But ficcdom is fOr everybody, Stan, or it isn't freedom^ AVe .sell V.\rikt y space to aiiybody who will buy it. It is plainly marked as advertising, the rates; .are matters, of public knowledge! Just like at;KSTP,: Stan. ■■ Because this is a free country, you can think and fiay wliat you like, aboiit Varii2Ty, Stan. VVe've alw ays spoken well; of you, Stan, and "we're willing to put; this whole .thing down to your being tired. That little alYair. witli the Musicians U^^ a conflict of rival concepts of freC'dcmi; that.almost involved the; wliole industry in; an AFM strike, may have upset you. • y Variety reporters should stay a:way from KSTP,. Stan? Not print, news of your new contracts and yachts and stuff, Stari ? As you say, 3tan. - /.\.' '-''' '^^^ trahey^His Points on .. . . • San Francisco, Aug. 6. American Society of Composers, Authors and. -Publishers., and the broadcasters' of Montana' and Wash- ington State have arived at a peace- ful settlement of the court and leg- islative battles that has been raging between: these two factions for the past six ■ years- As leader of the Montana group,. Ed Craney, of -KGIR, Butte, has agreed to signature an ASQAP license, while. Kenneth Davis, Washington State lawyer and sparkplug ini the anti-ASCAP drive in that state, likewise arrived in San Francisco . Sunday (4) to put the fin- ishing touches to a peace pact for ; the Washington station group that succeeded in outlawing ASCAP in Washington. It's the. biggest coup that ASCAP has effected in years and news of the event as it .circu- lated .among. th6 delegates gathering for the. Naticihal AssoQiatioo. of Broadcasters convention, at the St. Francis hotel caused considerable comment. While the general outline of the settlements was arriyed at in Chi-. : cago last vfeek, there are lots of de- tails, both legal and business me- chanics, that have yet, to be worked out. John G. Paine, ASCAP general ■ manager, is how in San Francisco to, go over, these with Craney, Davis and ASCAP's western rep, Richard Powers.. •;■'•' It. is understood .that the settle- .liient as far as. .Montaha^is cdnderi'ie^^ provides for the wiping out of all criminal and civil suits ■ brought against ASCAP and itsofficials and members, whilie ini Washington the attorney general is slated to approve a cofasent degree declaring the local anti-ASCAP, law uriconstitutip.nal;' About the ;ofily Washington';station operator , that, hasn't agreed to tiia move is Birt E.; Fisher; of KOMO and KJR. ■ _ Craney expresed himself as. feol- ;ing that he had scored a •.complete: victoi7 in that ASCAP has agreed. : to • adhere '■ ; to' its plan to ■ h?ve the ;cleacance provisions of the n;,ew ASCAP contract apply at the source. Craney Said', that he had always made this angle the keystone of his battles with ASCAP and that he will resume his fight if ASCAP abandnns its drive to enter into license agree- ments directly with.the networks for network programs. ASCAP has also asured ; Craivay that it will work along with hfm on another; idea in involving perform- ance fees which lias been agitating the. Montana .broadcasters for years. It's the matter of charging for music on a per . piece basis. ASCAP spokes- men will in the near future join Car- ney in his home town to map out and inaugurate an • experimental 'plan along tH.is line. .He has ..been in- formed that the Society is, equally interested in finding put hbw a plan of this sort would operate: and that every coperation will be given him in the experiment. LaFENDRICH SPONSORS WLW'S 'SMOKE DREAMS' '. • Chicago, Aug. 6. . LaFendi'lch cigars will be back on the NBC-red . web of 10 outlets starting Sept. 29 and. running each Sunday at; 11:30 p.m. Again it will ■be the 'Smoke Dreams' show and will originate in WLW, Cihcirinati. Rbs Metzger, of the local Ruth- rauff & Ryan agency, handled the negotiations. ' ■:.■;'.;■•.' URGE MEXICAN VISIT Cmilio Ascarra^a Suggests San An- tonio for Next N.A.B. . ; '•: ; San Francisco, Aug. 6. San Francisco is rating high in • estimation of N;A.B. delegates. ! Pleasant weather, lots to see, places i to go, and much of it' different, has .' made- the broadcasters feel benign. Pittsburgh, put 'on ' strong pitch lor next year's convention by proc- ess of distribiiting 'Pittsburgh ] stog- :glci?. .;,■■••.;■;.■ ■. .. ;■.:•■ i; ■ Emilio: A.scan-aga suggested; that I next-meet be held in San Antonio so . briiadcasters; could visit .Mexico C I where A.scarr'aga; operates XEW and . XEQ. /;-^:;'.:.... . "■ : San Frkiicisco ^Convention of Broaidcasterf FigKts Shy of H e a: r i n g Spokesman of ; Bc^forinance Society : .; •GOT 'EM LICKED* j Westmghouse on 99 ; :. ^ Coverage: .of : Raymortd .Paige's ;'Musical A.mericaria • network ;.show ' was increased to 99. stations with the I bi-oaddast last (Tuesday) night oyer ' the NBC ' red and blue networks. W.BLK. Clarksburg. West Virginia, and WGKJ, Charleston^' were the |'ncw.;stations added. Sponsored by. Weslinghouse. By BEN BODEC San Francisco,-Aug. 6. ASCAP is playing its i8t"h .^a^^ retur'i). engagement, by / popular de- mand, . as the. favorite 'villain' of; thie ; National: Association pf Broadcasters;' It was ASCAP that /alarmed the pioneer radioites.into fotthing ;a trade group, in 1922, an.d every.year since then: theViliain* .has never failed to elicit the .same response. This year ' it's more so because this: year ttiere's not only a heaVy to hiss but; a hi^ro,: BMI, to cheer) "■ ■;• .-Vr .!:/V'. : Because of the fouij hour differ- ential and Variety; press time in/ New; Yqirk on Tuesday : the convention's ultimate actiohs cannot be. reported as abconiplished. facts.. But it's not hard to .guessi: This; convention was organized froni the beginning for a united .front . the ASCAP issue. Nothing else counted. And one by one :evety.;is.sue that has threatened that united front: has been; smartly disposed of; / Ihciudinj;: an incipient .wave of critibism against a couple., of the N.A.B, leaders; ;. When Earle C/ Anthony, ' Lbs j Angeles broadcaster/ and others sug-/ gested that perhaps John G. Paine should, be ; heard,/as suggested by ASCAP, the suggestion Was stepped on fast; 'It would only confuse the' issue and the . delegates, was the view; of, the BMI party. It/ would moreover have been ; inconsistent with Neville. Miller's staternent; 'we've got th<;m licked, if -we stick together.' Paine is ASCAP's general manager. Millar's reference / to ; telegram . Ascap addressed . to- N.A.B.-. member-: ship asking for opportunity to pre- sent its story cariie: at tail end of .his prepared ' report. He opened ' 'with the remark that broaidcasters. could tell how the wind ■was- blowing by: latest AScap activity. .; Ascap, as Miller put it, has . crossed the conti- nent pleading with broadcasters wrhen last year Gene Buck 'refused to have.anything to do with N.A.B. CQpyright committee.' / Miller waxed sarcastic abbut. what h6 described as altruistic inferences of the Ascapi telegram adding. that despite Ascap overtures BMI would continue and the Ascap monoipolistic position: '>vould ■ be; pernnanently isolved. .. ; /'-., ■ -V. ■;.'■' - At meeting today. (Tuesday) operating heads; of BMI, Sydney Kaye, Merritt Tompkins and; Carl HaverHh sketched the progress- made by their organization. They ex plained types of copyright and/non^ cbpyright members BMI has been accumulating and thanked broad- casters for* support : received. Also; presented at ; meeting was' the new BMI licensing'plari .calling f^ scale from to/2Ms% with latter depending on- statiqn or networks hot billings in-1939.; Top percentage ap^ plibs to total;/ revenues of. $100,000 and upward. NBC • and Columbia .will in addition to paying for their managed ind operated stations on foregoing basis contribute ; Vi %■■ on net\york, business minus cAmmission and /frequencyj.^ discpuhts. . Ne\v: plah would go ill effect at .expiration of present' BMI contract in April, 1941. .Kaye figures this TV/ill, yield about $1,500,000./ ' Newspaper stations, in. this instance wpuld; have to accept the-saimft,rnntra.ct as others. \ ■..;^-'.-; ; San Francisco, Augr 6. The National Associat^^^^ of Broadcasters'' board , ot directors on , Sunday (4) voted to recommend adoption by th^ convention proper of a unit-type system of recording radio business trends. "Hiis will be substantially sinailar to the, method :6riginated and published for gome-. :. time by VAniETx. ■ ;;;:; • :^ / / }■ /. ; Statisticians, hope to get 250' statioiis included and to:'launch the project in month or So... ■ • ■:. ':.";■' . '■ /.' ASCjyPFo^^ sors; SCRIPPS FETES TRAMMELL The Jack Benny Switch to yVXYZ I>iss6lves,.in - Social. Amenities ' ; San Francisco,- Aug.. 6. ; Bill Scripps, .of WWJ," Detroit, tossed / ■ surpiri'se dinner for NileS Trammel Monday night /at the. St. 1 Francis. r/ Guesfeies lirtiitied to red , web affiUai:as.; .,■/•.:;.■/■• . Occasion signalized /complete har;^ mbny / between Scripps and. Tram-/ mell after the episode of ; NBC di- verting General Foods to WXYL, Detroit, because of WWJ's baseball committmerits.' General Foods was piqued :at -secbhd^ary. treatment f or ho less ' personage / than; Jack Benny and Tranimell. . had to ap-! pease iaccount;/ ; , :;; . ;/ ■;;, '■■ G. W. Johnstone to N Y. Washington, Aug; 6. G. W. Johnstone, radio director of the :Derhocratic National Corrimittee; transfers his- actiyities to, New. York on .Aug. l2 ;for the/duration of the campaign. . 'r,. ... / \ . . ; His secretary, Mrs.' Evelyn "Wilson, will also move to the Biltrhofe head- quarters, of the Dernocrats in /N. Y. ;■ BMI licensees vi^erie alsd informed they siiould start to wean'; their pro- grams from /Ascap m.usic/.righi away so by Decertiber their music reper- toire will consist-ekclu'sJvely of. BMl and / public . domain .;material;. . Net- works/are slated to set pace by do- ing same thing with theiir sustaining programs. Through new BMI contract, .NBC and Columbia for first time recog- nize Pfiricipie of paying for music at the source, something Ascap likewise is seeking to; introduce in :its;/hew licensing agreement. Interestitig sidelight ori the ASCAP-Ji;A.B, controversy that it is being fought out more fiercely in the San Francisco- newspapers thatf. on theijlodr of. the convention. There have. been columns about it since broadcasters started gathering, : Saturday. Besides reports on: subject from convention floor the dailies have carried interviews ; with spokesmen of both carnps particularly Niles Tramrnell, y. Neville ' Miller and John G. ■ ■ Poine. San Francisco Chronicle, Tues- day (6), curried front page in- . terview with Paine to which was appended, Chronicle reporter's observation :'BFt has built a powerful - political m a c fi in e rhdng. delegates to force the broadcasting, industry into / con- certed dctipn and push ASCAP' out of picture or force it to dc- .'-cept lower contract rites' :' Story also stated 'ASCAP, ; barred from convention floor, : greeted delegates with Hi-pdge / special . issue of Variety, the stage, screen and radio maga- It contained alt ■ the . Ascap Argumerits and he,i:d out ., an otive branch to the btoad- castets without offering ariy fate. ; reduction.: :^-'/. Sentiment 'arhpng asserhbled b casters ■ .to:ward As,cap,. /w quite inixed.. It the/'ijphventidn did any- thing- it stimulated those always; bit- ter toward A.scap. to ^great.eii'..bitter- riess. it ■was obvious;that the net,- works had been hard ;at. vi/ork stir-^ ring UP crusading spirit ,iarid in no Latest emphasis in the cohtinuihg /; feud between' the radio networks and the Ainerican Society of Com- , posers, authors'and Publishers is ail appeal for the sympathy of the. radio advertiser.' ; ASCAP has; bebome aware thit. the netVirorks" have al- ready gotten in much effective mis- sionary work in; winhirig the; gobdr >yill of the sponsors; Not alone in such/semi-piiblic communications as " , the recent letters of NileS Tram- rnell of NBC and ^aul W. Kesten of CBS but, more importantly, in the daily, business and social contacts betwfeenradio exedutives 'and '■ busi-r ness men sponsoring radio programs the networlc/ point of view has beea smartly put across. / ./ ASCAP opened up last week with a 1 p -page rhiifieographed statement addressed to all radio.;advertisers setting forth the history of the 18- •. year fight on" performance'^ fees. ASCAP is '\veli; a Ware. of its strategic weakness in having /no /direct cOn* / : tacts with the sponsoring gentry. • Beyond ilndeirsfanding thait spon- sors were disposed to be antir ASCAP at the moment, the - Society last week had no clear .idea why. Officials had supposed that the prop- erty Tights, argument 0;f ASCAP would echo .understahdingly/ih tha cprhmercial /mind;/ and. were /.sur-r ... prised that it apparently did.not. Echo Of AFRA? ■:, One . explanation that ASCAP ■ thought madie sense; is that the sponsors who know very little about show business, and car^ less, are . still quietly furious at the defeat given thern'by the American Fedevia- .; tion of Radio Artists. over a year / ago. Somehow AFRA and ASCAP, . sqiind enough alike to the/ radio .ad- / ; vertisers that they ' tend to react • emotionally against the whole . ASCAP idea, -without knowing much / »bout it. : Sponsors have gotten the idea . pretty well .fixed in/thieir minds that- there will be; an increase:, in adver- / tising rates if ASCAP gets its terms after Jan.. 1, 1941. Sponsors are al-: ; ready concerrted by mounting pro- ductions costs and by the high costs of radio stars, a conditibh they them- selves; created through fantastic, bid- ding for the surefire personalities. The business man living in Cam- bridge/or Cincinnati or Minneapoli$ uses .radio as ah advertising medium, and only reluctantly/ concedes that as a result/of sponsorhqod he rhay be. .; in or near show business. The. cost ■ of . network time; and the package cost of big shows , arc sufficiently large to alarm the sponsor to start with so ;that any .liew. 'i^emand,/ : threat, oi: possibility of more 'pro- duction! .expense * uncongenial, -, Which makes quite a sizeable prob- /-. lem in goodwill for ASCAP to splveu sOiall/ number they Jiave found:: a warm .response.But the general at- titude .seemed to be bnfe of .watchfi^l waiting. Average: broadcaster,, par- ticularly; those with network: 'affjlir/ atioh, appeared .id have assumed the position that he will go along with the rest of / the industry for few months. to /see how NBC and Golurti:; bia can solve the situation. ; INlUHlM •Gainesville,. Fla., Aug. 6. Although details of decision ara AoLaaiailablc at the momenta the threW : I 1 Fisderal . jtidgeS; .HutchinsOh, Long- arid Barker, who uheard the case of the Florida law, against ASCAP have ruled that the la'w; is undoristitutionii^U An injunction has been granted and the. law becomes inoperative. ; /;; Frohlich and.; Schwartz, ASCAP counsel at New York, argued the i.ssue here;, in vApril, Law was en- acted in 1937.: ■//.-■;::■;:'—;.;■;