Variety (May 1941)

'W'ednesday, May 14, 1941 BADIO 23 LOCAL RADIO LACKS PUNCH I Further Analysis of FCCs Position Washington, May 13. The radio industry has naturally spent the past week in a close study of the text given out by the Federal Communications Com- mission. These points of the document are, among nany. others, worth underscoring for significance: Self-Petpetuating Management Principal rock tossed at CBS was an indication'the FCC majority thinks the Paleyi have disproportionate interest in company affairs, consider- ing their actual cash investment and stock holdings. The corporate struc- ture of RCA also drew criticism, with the report noting there is in actu- ality no stockholder control but merely a 'self-perpetuating management.' Question was ):aised whether any stations should 'own* a. network, but the Mutual proprietors were not ultimatumed or blasted as being en'emlei of the people to the degree that RCA and CBS saddle occupants were. Invettment in Plant The majority looked, askance at the physical plants and actual invest- ments of CBS and NB(; and regarded their financial success with an air of extreme disapproval. Noting that by 1941 NBC has gained some degree of control over 20.4% of all outlets and can mobilize half of the nation'i night-time wattage,' the report commented on the 'increasing profit^' since the first 14 months of the enterprise. Top net of $5,834,772 In 1940 was merely shown In a table, with no direct comment. In- reviewing Colum- bia's developmeikt and experiences, the report pointed out the younger tkeln has 14.6% of all U. S. outlets and always has made a profit since 1928, reaching a peak of $7,431,634 in 1940. Mutual, which keeps little of Its aggregate revenues, was'dismissed quickly, with the-report noting it now accounts for 19,3% of all licensed transmitters. Relative Insigniflcanbe of the Columbia and National investment caused raised eyebrows. Together their tangible property Is worth only $9,276,019. ' And In 1938 the combing net operating income topped this. 'Whole in- vestment of the two companies is $13,411,102, so that in a single year they had an operating income equal to 69% of the plant value. National en- joyed a return of 80% and Columbia of 71% on tangible investment Fur- ther implication that these two have a fine get-rich-quick enterprise was contained in the comments on profits. Report noted NBC paid Its parent In 1935-1938 a total of $18,100,000, while throughout lU 12-year life CBS has brought stockholders $13,329,688 in cash plus stock dividends worth $3,543,175. Stations Called Mistreated The bulk of the report deals with the subject of contractual relations between New York and the affiliates. Tone of the whole discussion was that the individual units of the chains are bewildered, mistreated, defense- less .things that want to do right but aren't allowed to. Remarking that exclusivity and time options now are matten of gen- eral policy, the majority engaged in a lengthy survey of the amount of freedom and discretion given the independently-owned afiUlates and con- cluded that CBS and NBC continuously bully the members of their skeins. Privilege of rejecting programs is both limited and uniform, the majority declared. Only a slight choice is given, with the outlets forced to asiumt burden of proving they should reject programs and the network manage- ments in fact insisting papa knows best. Neither NBC nor CBS Ittf Ita outlets substitute local commercial programs, for sponsored web featurai, though local sustaininigs are permitted, the majority complained. On the other hand. Mutual gives the sort of freedom which the reformen think everybody should have. Limitations on discretion of station managers results in actual shifting 'of control over operations to New York, the report said. FCC on Its Own Status The FCC acknowledged that as a body it is not charged with enforcing the Sherman antitrust act but said the^ cannot 'condone' infractions. Tbm . laying the groundwork for the painful reforms and building • backfire against anticipated accusations in court the FCC went far.beyond itt ■tatutory authority. , Conceding that faciUUes are Umited. FCC said the lack of opportuni^ for anyone who wants to enter the buslnesa necessi- tates such governmental solicitude. With the changes of newcomers auto- matically limited, a Federal umpire is more obligated -than ever to compel real, not phony, rivalry, and see that the people now occupying the reser- vation don't put iq> barriers against newcomers who might do a better job. John Royal Doe on Stand For Pre-Trial Quiz By Mike Jacobs' Attorneys John F. Royal, vice-president of the National Broadcasting Co., will be examined before trial In the N. Y. supreme court May 19, in con- nection with an action by NBC against Mike Jacobs' 20th Century Sporting Club, Gillette Safety Razor Oo, and the Mutual Broadcasting System, Inc. Justice Ernest Hammer ordered the examination Wednes- day (7). NBC claims the rights to broad- cast fights from Madison Square Garden, N. Y., and Is suing to protect those rights. The 20th Century Sporting Club, operator of the Gar- den, has given the rights to Mutual, and Gillette is the sponsor. Mass. Slander Bill Boston, May 13. Slander on the radio will be pun- ishable by Imprisonment up to two •nd one-half years, via a bill ap- proved by the committee on consti- tutional law. Document now goes to the senate tor ratification. Edgar duest Subs For Heatter.on 'People* Chicago, May 18. Edgar Guest, newspaper and ether poet, goes on the 'We the People" show for four weeks starting June 4. Replaces Gabriel Heatter. Set through Biggie Levin office here, it is understood Guest may stay longer than the original four-week contract period. Guest is doubling from hi* duties here thrice weekly over NBC lor the Land O'Lakes show. Will, fill in the Wednesday show from N. Y. but fly into Chi for the TOursday and Friday shots. GIRL AS TIME BUYER Mary DonUvey Vpped at Erwin Wasey—Oifaets Draft Mary Dunlavey has been made time biiyer for Erwin, Wasey & Co,, replacing John Schultz, who has been Inducted into the army. Agen- cy apparently has so many young fellows in the radio department who are eligible for a similar call that It decided to give the Job to some one on the distaff side. Schultz makes the eight** employee to be called for army service, and there are more in the agenoy tenta- tively lagged. • IS Til Apparent Drying Up of Local Station Showman- ship Seen as Home Town- ers Depend Altogether on News, Sports and Phono- graph^ Records NO INITIATIVE Scarcity of established sustaining programs on local stations may cause the'Milton Blow advertising agency to <change the basis of a spot radio campzign which it figured on pre- senting to Hills Bros, for Dromedary Dates. Outlde of news, sports and home-economy participating pro- grams (most of which were already sold),cbout 80% of the Class A and B stations approached by the agency through their station reps .either didn't have a sustaining show with a following or couldn't produce worthwhile material that could be used to build a program. These sta- tlons In . general had gotten away from home town Initiative and ex- cept for the formula sports, news or phonograph record program to ' be found on almost any outlet they had nothing. The original query put out by Blow was for five quarter-hour pro- grams ,a week on a daytime schedule with the sort of program that would appeal strictly to women. Agency found that in practically all im- portant spots this across-the-board arrangement as far as sustainers were concerned had become a rarity and the reps 'themselves reported that their stations couldn't supply the agency's order even if It were willing to take five different day- time ^owB,' each having been esteb- llahed tor any length of time on the station. PliiDy Still Thinks Giyeaways PnOiite Validity of Sar?eys Philadelphia, May 13. Controversy anent the 'polluted stream' In Philly's coincidental ra- dio surveys, allegedly caused by giveaway programs on a couple of stations, broke out anew last Thurs- day (7). Scene of the latest squab- ble was a luncheon at the BeUevue- Stratford given by C. E. Hooper, head of C. E. Hooper, Inc., stu-vey service.' Hooper had Invited the heads of all Phllly outlets to try to sell them on subscribing to his ser- brought up by Joseph Connelly, pro. motion director of WCAU. He told Hooper that telephone surveys had lost all their value In this city be- cause listeners were faking answers, naming the stations feafuring cash and merchandise gimmicks, whether they were listening or not. Hooper replied that this objection could be overcome by making the phone surveyor 'ask the callee to Identify the program and sponsor before tabulating the call as bona fide. Connolly replied that even this method would be fallacious since persons have become 'giveaway con- scious' and Would give false replies in the hopes of 'getting something for nothing.' Another objection to the value of a phone survey, raised at the meeting, was the fact that only 42% of the people in the city have telephones in their homes. FCC Reforms Create Disturbing New Factors for Station Reps Quiz Kid Clifton Fadiman in a lecture' date months ago at Cincinnati was closely questioned from the audience concerning the modus operandi of the Cooperative An- alysis of Broadcasting and the implications of the rating of 'In- formation, Please.' Fadiman still doesn't know that the questions originated .with executives of Procter It Gamble and the Ralph H. Jones agency who were In the audi- ence. AFL MAY ENTER SOUND EFFECTS DISPUTE vice in this-territory. The "polluted stream' charge "^aaJilvely minor objective. TTiere Is ap- Intemational 'Alllbnce of Theatri- cal Stage Employees (Stagehands' unldn) demand for jurisdiction' over radio sound effects men will ^prob- ably be carried to the forthcoming meeting of the American Federation of. Labor's executive committee. Stagehands have not applied to. the offer by the American Federation of Radio Artists, which now represent! the men, to let them decide the Is- sue for themselves in an election un- der supervision of the American Ar- bitration Assn. There is consideu.ble speculation in union circle's about what action the AFL executive committee may take if the staggjiands bring the mat- ter before that body. AFL heads could hardly assign the Jurisdiction to the (tagehandfl against the wishes of the sound effects men, as that would be a clear violation of their right to choose their own bargaining agent However, the AFL heads might try to accomplish the same thing by threatening AFRA with charter revocation unless the per- former union gives up the disputed Jurisdiction. ' That appears to be an outside prospect, as AFRA's charter Is from the Associated Actors & Artistes of America, which is In turn chartered by the AFL. Thus the AFL would have to reVoke the charters of all actor unions to achieve the compara W. G. Massey Turns Tank Wichita, Kas., May 13. William G. Massey, newscaster for radio station KANS, who came to the U. S. A. from Manchester, Eng., in 1930, has passed his final natu- ralization exam. Massey was at WGN, Chicago, as stand-in announcer for Captain Heme. He has been with KANS several months. parently little chance that the stage-' hands could persuade the American Federation of Musicians to unite with them . against AFRA, as the tooters' outflt~is already involved in an unexpectedly tough scrap - with AFRA's tiny affiliate; the American Guild of Musical Artista, and ob- viously doesn't . want any added jurisdictional complications at the moment. (AFRA's annual ball, held Friday (9) night at the Waldorf-Astoria ho- tel, N. Y., drew an estimated gross of between K200 and $5,000.. Net proceeds will probably come to around $2,000 or $2,500, which wUl be divided among the British War Relief Society's American Theatre Wing, the Greek and Chinese War Relief societies and the union's own sick and benefit fund. About 1,500 persons attended the affair, with en- tertainment supplied by numerous radio, stage and picture names. The national franscriptlon code, previously scheduled to become ef- fective May'l, is now slated to be- come' operative tomorrow (ThiUrs- •day). Reason for the postponement was the delay of some of the out- of-town transcription producers in receiving and signing the pact. AtK>ut 270 different companies are slg- naturlne the code. The Federal Communication Com- mission's demand for drastic changes in network-affiliated station relations seems to have had a particularly de- pressing effect on most of the star tlon reps. They are worried by the possibility that it will require an entirely new approach to selling the stations they represent and some of them have indicated a doubt whether they are prepared to meet the prob- lems which the new type of selling would offer. Some of the reps admit that they have been riding on the skirts of network commercial schedules. In- stead of doing creative selling Jby the way of programs developed by the stations, they have been engaged for the. past several years in the prac- tice of taking orders for time around popular network commercials. ^If the FCCs order against .net- work-affiliate exclusivity becomes ef- fective and the matter of putting to- gether a commercial hookup becomes subject to open competition among stations in the same market the reps might then be faced with the task of having to sell against the networka themselves. They would also .be de- prived of those, comparatively easy- to-sell niches around network-pro- ^am clicks in no small measure and to make up^for this loss they, would have to go'In for Intensive selling of .locally-built programs. All this would. It Is pointed out, require a far more intimate knowledge of each station's story than the average rep can lay claim to now. Stations may have to look at the rep picture In an entirely different light, while the reps themselves may find that to do the best job by a Sta- tion they must be equipped with as thorough a knowledge of the sta- tion's weak as well as strong sides and administrative angles, such as the AFRA code, the muslclana' em- ployment agreement and copyright clearance, as the particular station's commercial manager. Coffo Food—Piping Hot-Latest Twist h Product Sampling San Antonio, May 13. - KTSA here has originated a new way of doling out samples of a spon- sor's product—It gives 'em away piping hot. Jadt Mltehell, conductor of ' man-ln-the-street broadcasts, hands, out hot sandwldies,. hot tameles, chile, and other products of the Gebhert Chile Powder Co., dur- ing three broadcasts a week. Shows are aired during lunch hour, too. Coffo Coffee St Louis, May 13. Cuffo coffee Is served at breakfast time during KWK's a.m. 'Radio Almanac' program which features pop, dance, and novelty music. Listeners who contribute something to the progran}, a poem, a fave disc, etc., are Invited to the kaffeeklatch. The femmes get a cake. It's a sta- tion promotion stunt . Radio's Hinrder' Reward Hollywood, May 13. ' For the first time in Coast radio ' history, a station is offering a re- ward for information leading to the apprehension of a killer. KFI-KECA Is giving $250 reward for a clue leading to the arrest of a wanted local murderer. /■ Heretofore, search for killers has been an exclusive newspaper stunt KYW TRIES EEUTEE'S Philadelphia, May 13. KYW is experimenting with s Reuter's news agency ticker in ita- newsroom. If the British syndicate's service proves okay, the station will boast three big time news services — Associated Press, United Press, and Reuter's.