Variety (March 1944)

80 RADIO Wwhesdby. SJbrch 22, 19U Fly s a Great Guy: Wheeler ■■■-\WaSbingtoiv;'March 21. ■ whioh'mlght p o£ the Senate, last-Thursday (IG), : , : ■ / FCe ChMrman, James Li 'Fly was ikicled as '^oiie' pf 4h,e ;able?t :ancJ mobl intelhgent men in public sevyiie today," by Bui ton K. Wheeler, Montana Democrat, and chairman of the Senate Inteistate Commerce Committee. . . .:,-■,,,■'■;,' •>"''■■ '' '■..JTn ..my -p^inipn," ' Whe'elesr, "t'ly is' one of ;the iripst .maligned-; men in ■■p'yibli(i servioe -in the last tew yearsi'. .Ho; has ari,:exceddih8l/C .'djMciilt'Job. %hen 'yijii xome".lO: :-egi:ia::Rg radio wit!-, all the selfish. ::. Wheeler's comrn'ittee ,ititist pass: on''any' radio 1^ bff.ei-ed to: ; tM', Sehfitis,' aftd the' talk 'ind \yheoler: is^iiot; out. to- ''get'' ■.Fly'.for. the benefit of any. broadcast interests. ' , ' '. WBYN'*SendTm Smokes' Show Probed By Cops After GeOard Pinch Arrest las.t week (16) of Samuel Gellard, part owner of WBYN, Brbpfctyri^^cliarged' AvitlV. riinning , a "cigariits.r for - servicemeii" ,. raclcet which allegedly : gypped, ■ pa.triot ic 'business men" out of Sl.flpp a ,\veeki brought station activities imdor, .po- lice, •scrutiny,.'aeooi'ding^ tp'-the. N.; .¥:, .' feilil6tMi<it£*lje3S^0tt^ FCC Has a Bad Day in Congress As Senate Votes Curb on War Work Washin.glon. 'March 21. , Barring'iinexpected llth hour de- velopmeuts, the FCC will begin mak- ing plans shprtly, for; major .cuts. ifi. its Radio Intelligence Division and Foieign Broadcast Intelligence Serv- ,ic e .' ,; ,Niclc3 , will b o epm e ,., ,c£f c .ctiv e- amehdlhenls . to . restore ' the budget cuts; to add SoOO.OOO to ti)e Egure lor R.I.D. and foreign intelligenre, and the restoration of $209,000 which the Senate committee trimmed from the FCC budget for.it.s regular func- t'i.#^ ..The three amendments . wore Gel'ard and tlireo. other men par- ticipating in ownership of the station were questioned at length by police at WBYN's offices before the forme;- w.aS..placed under arrest., and it's known ; authorities reciue.'itcd and were supplied info as to sponsorship' of a proi4ram, aired over ti'.e outlet recently, tabbed "Send 'Em Smokes." Show was on for about seven months at 10 pm on different nights but was withdrawn about four weeks ago. : .■'' ■ ,■>,.■;■.,':' > \. "Send 'E.m Smokes" was telephone participation show paid .for bv sevr eral sponsors with quiz ajjgle where- by listeners could win smokes and sponsors would, m iadditioiii : send cigarets overseas. Inside dope has it -thatHStatio n was ftooded w^th beefs - Dies Jive a Bad Precedent? : 'Yielding.by the H!ue rs'etwork and Jergens. sponsors of Waiter Win- chell, (o the demands of ftcp. Martin Dies that he be allowed rebuttal air lime, raises the question of what future policy will be pin'sr.cci by the webs hi similar circumstances. The industry wants to knov.-. rightly, whether men in key Government and public posts ..''iwi'i'J be able to high-pressuie radio' into like concessions, .simply because they mi.gii; take olVense during discus.-iion of conlrover.sial issues.. .'.'.;',', . When the,BUie Network ,aiid Jergens conceded to Dies' wishes, tliev ■ esU!i>'.;:hcn a dangerous precedcr.r. one ll-.at might ea.sily spread inio .state and local disputes and wind iip b.y. clogging ..the ,airlahe.s v. ijh long-windod'pratpry,'^vh.en'■the . li'stOT^^ js.''.fentitled'; to\'mpi"e.<diversified ■ ■entcrtainnicntr .It might very well be that Dies' brcadcu.-t (or. part of .the "Ba.sin .Street''' pi'OgraiTiV'Wi thc'c.ui e-aU,: ..The trade sijs,-: . ''After afl, WjnBiieJl.''s;.a tough guy .to follow!'.'.-. ' • ■.•:-;. ' ." ■.■'■' Winchell-Dies Squabble Continued from iiagc I Dies Committee on unAmerlcan ac- I'ivities 'is's'tied ; s'iibpoefias for Mark Woods, Blue prexy. and, scripts and ttahscriptions;! of Wir.clieli's broad- casts over the.' past • two years. No oilicial summons for the' coluhnnist to ^ appear before t!;e. conim.ittee' was' issued, however, despite repealed rc- quesls bv Wioehcll that he be called and allowed to meet his a<il\cisaiies audience on the . lotion - salesman's regular 9 o'clock Sunday ni.'Oit i5-:': minu'.e sio;. Web, after confevi-4;>.;; ■ with sponsor and agency,, messaged:: Dies he could spiel tor a quailoi- hour ri.ght after Winchell- witf; ar.- nounccnient bcii'.g marie on forir.er's pro.uram that t:ie solon would bo. heard immediately following Sigftpff; ■' ,Jerge:'.s i.s' donating the time to.' July 1. beginning of the next fiscal ^year,', ,, ■• !■■,,':.: ' '■. ''■■". ■■.}.'^^■ The Senate yesterday (20) beat down a series of three amendments aimed at restoring budgetary , cuts, apprOvingva budget for the agency- more than $2,000,000 under the aitiount requested. Of the total slashes, $1,800,000 came from the RI.D. and foreign intelligence. -■ •■ . Spearheading the futile fight .to aave the agency's budget was Sen*, •tor James W. Mead, who offered offered one by one and defeated in order. One of the stronge.'t .speeches Sen- ator Robert M. I.aFollette over made was offeied ia a futile effort to giant the ageney'3 budget request, La- FoUette inaisted thene was no dupli- cation between the war work of the FCC and the armed forces. He warned that if the FCC were crip- pled financially, various other gov- ernment agencies would suffer as a result. from "winileis" who failed to receiv-e their prizes, -with squawks; being especially numerous just !u>-;-.)re pro- gram left the air. ' Accoiding to District Attoiney Ho- gart, the racket woiked by Gellard was directed from oflices of the Overseas Cigaret Service, 226 W. 42d street, N. "y,, from which telephone solicitors called prospects, Charges of grand larceny and con- spiracy were lodged against the part owner of WBNY. on equal terms. Blasts from Winchell and the con- grcssmen with respect to imaWunity- applying:to remarks from the House floor l>y the legislalors and the fail- ure of radio to supply opponents of Winchell with suitable network time foi them to offer their aigumcnts have enlivened the controversy: lor months Chance for Dies to earbepd for millions 'caiue,' after' his request to the Blue web that he be allowed to broadcast to Wincbeir.< regular Variety Citations: 1943 iShowmanagemeiit Review ♦♦♦t44♦♦♦♦♦♦ ^ ♦♦♦♦♦tt« MM « ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦4»» f »t-»t ^ »t»t MM ♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦»t^ league OV^^^^^"^- ^ ^^v^aievev^^ ^ 50,000 v'^^^^'- ted to 5od taste- Every week we're busy at KTUC with broadcasts for the Air Corps, County Agricultural Department, County and City Schools, and various committees of the Victory drive. Thes6 are regit' larly scheduled programs of intense local interest. HThere are special events, too; every time anything of local interest happens around Tucson, KTUC microphones are there, broad- casting on the spot. These are tJie things that make friends of listeners- catering to their local interests, serv- ing local needs. They are the thiiiga. that have built for KTUC a loyal and responsive audience—the reason why KTVC Gets Results! CBS Affifjate ★ ★ ★ 250 Watts on 1400 Kilocycles TUCSON, ARIZONA LEE LITTLE, Manager TO SELL ARIZONA 7Xe ;4*ufaHa TteU&m^ KOY> Phoenix ★ KTOC, Tucson -k KSUN, Bisbee-Lowell «*A«Aa£MENT AFFU.AfEa W,TH ,WLS, T.«E f.A.R.E FAt«E« STArTW. C«rCACO-«Prt«KfED" OT JOHN Dies for what: is thought.to: be lii-st time..Such a: gesture ,,has, been made :■ under lhe.se pi.rticu'.ar circun-;star.ccs> Networks previously have grabbed time from ..sRon.-;ors for political spe'echc's'^d.iking'electiPn campaigns,' but cancellation, clauses then s.egiied,; into picture and no , charge Vfoi- the slots v.-ere.n)aap. ' V-.': ■';■ ;";/':'■ .. '.■■' Won't Censor Dies Talk ... Ihtoresting -.aii.gle.Js, ,tlVSt^th^^^^^ gcns ' .eomp'a ny,, itself ,v ,has' been,-, sub- , j;ected ■ to a'tew vei:bal blasts, on the H6use'";flpdr .'as Winchell 'oppo.iients',, .b.eratcd.'the eps.n)e.ti.cs.ho'ti.se ,f^ .spring the.: tar'get ;.pj. their. • ..attacks. ■ Despite this. Dies- will -be sponsored by Jergens when he delivers his 'pipcd-m address from Washington. S James Andrews, of Lenncn & Milcheir. j Said - an' -ageilcy rep,.:,:pr()b-:. ably himself. 'WQuJd,, tie in Washing-' •tPii, :to-- sit .jii on the: congressman's broadcast, a'.thoug'i no attempt to.: censor or, curb- Dies' .remarksviVduIcl: bo made. Legislator's script, ,bow- c\er, vmU be submitted in advance to Blue- execs lor: review but not censorship. Wmchell's scripts each week aie reviewed by agency and netw'ork "watchdogs" .to. weed: out; ppssible: sources of ^ libel, suits ' with.; occasional stoimy sessions resultios when Winchell and the more oon- ser\ative editois fail to see eye-to- eye on subiects involved. In line with the Winchell vs. Dies- HolViran-Rankin et al. feud, but, not directly connected, are talks on ''Freedora of Speech on the Air" over WMCA, N. Y, this week from Washington. Indie's Washing- tPn correspondent, Richard; Eaton, interviewed Sen. James E. Murray last night (21) and will present Sen. Burton W.' Wheeler; corfluthov of the White-Wheeler communications bill, tomorrow night (Thurs.), ' •tAIJI «. COMPANY Fly Thinks WMCA Right, NAB Wrong On Xtitroversy' Washington, March 21 New policy of station WMCA, N Y, permitting the sale ot time for con- troversial issues and for policies m ■■Which the, station is npt in .agrees,. ment, meets viaim favor here from James L. Fly FCC chairman ''This pohcy, I think," Fly told '"Variety," 'is m general accoid with my own: public statement on the.se - matters. It is an. example of a manr agement willing to undertake the duty, of management..- "So long as that duly is performed in accordance with the principles of free speech, balanced presentation - arid the 'recognitipn of both sides ijf ' a contioversy, the shibboleths about the man with the greatest economic - power controlling the free-speech meehanisms is bound to disappear." WANTED AINNOUNCER, five years or more experience. Perma- nent, not duration position, salary up to $300. Send au- dition disc, small picture and refelrences with first rc- l^y. .. Address Intermountain Broadcasting Corporation Mt i«lM CHr. I'M