Variety (May 1946)

48 RAM* Wednesday, May 1, 1946 Petrfflo Steals Show at NAB Meet As Miller Preps for Fight With AFM Blue Book Continued front page 35 3 James C. Petrillo slole Uic show last week when 150 District- No. 2 (New York and New Jersey) mem-' bers of the National Assn. of •Broad- casters assembled in N! Y. for a Iwo- spertre of an AFM radio, strike is real, and frightening, to at least some network chiefs who admit they couldn't stand a strike for long, But Miller made it clear that he was not taking a back scat, as fur as day meeting. And paradoxically, it | Petrillo was concerned, that he was was Justin Miller himself, as NAB j preparing for a real battle, and that ■ „,,;„wh „„ he expected the entire broadcasting prexy. who threw the spotlight on I indl|sll . y l0 buck . nim up rvKard \ css Petrillo at the very beginning and j ot membership or non-membership kept the American Federation of Musicians chief before the group all the way through. Miller opened the meet at Thurs- day's 125) session by .hailing the j Lea-Vandcnberg anli-Petrillo bill as the industry's first "major legislative victory." And he closed the- last session on Friday (26) with the same theme song,. Perhaps the only thing new he revealed was the fact, al- ready known to insiders, that the AFM would try to ink contracts with advertising, agencies and ad- vertisers, thus side-stepping some ot the provisions of the new Federal law. • But MiLlcT warned that Peliillo's move against the agencies and ad- vertisers did not mean that the AFM chief would not at the same time fight with other weapons too. The NAB prexy warned the broadcasters to watch themselves against being caught off base in any action they might take that would result in Petrillo carrying his fight against the Lea-Vandenborg bill to the U."is. Supreme Court. Furthermore.. Miller admitted, the the NAB. Over and over again. Miller stressed one point: He was«!'building the record" in, the NAB-AFM tussle; so that the NAB would be able to face the public, Congress or the courts with "clean hands." Miller steps in soliciting meetings with Petrillo and seemingly -knuck- ling'under to the AFM chief became clear as maneuvers in ihut process of "building the record." The NAB prexy said he had discovered that the association had never dealt di- rectly with Petrillo before, so that the AFM head could always say that that the industry was "at default" for not having authored that type ot. report, as Siepmann charged, seemed to strike home. Miller's acceptance of Siepmann's "default" thesis, however, indicated no agreement with the Blue Book. The NAB prexy made it clear that he was out there in front, lighting for "freedom of the press and free- dom of the air," and that he would battle the FCC toe-to-toe. session, would not have taken place Miller refused to accept the FCC's pfetjnises for judging programming, but did call for self-discipline by the industry. He dismissed as "non- sense" the idea that there was any difference between freedom of the press and freedom of expression on the radio, insisting that program- ming freedom was the province of the broadcasters and not to be de- cided by a government agency. Perfect Ending But his stand against the Blue Book, applauded wildly by most del- egates and kudosed as the most elo- quent speech he had made at the session, would not have taken place Two Dictatorial Plans for Radio Seen Readied by Arg. President the industry was ignoring him. De- if Siepmann had not been there. BUI LOS SHOWS WITH — THE SENSE OF SELL the katz Agency termined' to change the approach Miller was apparently willing to go to any lengths to show he had tried to bring about peace. There was no doiibl. by the time Mi|ler got through tracing his ac- tivities on the AFM front, that he had the confidence of the NAB members in the manner in which lie has tackled the labor problem. Mem- bers felt their case was in very capable hands, and that Miller was using a combination technique of sweet reasonableness with an atomic bomb showing in his back pocket. But whether the bomb—which is genuine, industry-wide unity—is po- tent or a dud, that was something the members, were not clear about. Miller' own indication that net chiefs fear a strike showed that the trade has not yet achieved a real "united front." '.. But Miller is trying. His committee for attempting to settle the AFM problems peacefully com- prises, as he pointed out. members and non-members of NAB. smali markets as well as big ones, net- works as well as affiliates and in- dies. If the District-.2 members did not leave the meeting free ot AFM fears, they left .it encouraged by. Miller's manner of "building the record." When the session was over, a res- olution challenging the FCC's "un- warranted authority" in issuing the Blue Book was passed unanimously. The vote was routine. No one was expected, to'oppose it. and,.no one did. There were a couple of other resolutions, one complimenting Mil-, ler on his first six months of NAB leadership, the other calling for sup- port of BMI. Mike Hanna. of Itha- ca, manager of WHCU. was-elected 2d district director. And the shindig was over. Montevideo, April 23. Tension is acute not in Buenos Aires only, but in the whole River Platte zone, now that an ostensibly free election has legalized Col.' Peron as head of the Argentine stale. He is not expected to pull his punches and many institutions, and industries are flexing themselves to lake the blows. Before taking over officially, how- ever, the Peron seems to be pre- pared to allow the outgoing regime to do the house-cleaning for him, muzzling any opposition in advance, so that all can be plaiu sailing for him. First step in this direction been aimed at democracy-loving Uruguay, where Peron's opponents could always take refuge by clandes- tine escapes across the huge river when oppression became too great. When Argentine - outlets or the Ar- gentine, press was under too great pressure, the Uruguayan outlets were available for the opposition to bark back at the Colonel and tell Argentines the truth of what went in their own country. At one time the Uruguayan newscasts with Ar- gentine news had quite as many list-' eners in Argentine as in Uruguay, and U. S. advertisers were quick to jump to the commercial possibilities of the Montevideo stations under those circumstances. Now the Argentine Government has hit out by denouncing the 11-year old Radio Communications Treaty blueprints are being talked about, one calling for outright expropria- tion, and the other for the state tak- ing a share in combination with private ownership. The all-out nationalization scheme is said to have been fathered by Os. car Lomuto, former Press and Prop, agunda chief. Under this plan only three outlets, would remain.to cover j the city of Buenos Aires, apart from the official government station and the Municipal aircr. Mundo, Rades find Belgrano would continue to operate under state ownership, w|iile the remaining 11 stations, would be sent to the interior provinces which has ; haven't yet got outlets. The three big webs would continue, to take in commercial advertising with, a min- imum charge of 50 cenlavos (about 8 cents). per word of commercial text. Boosters ot this scheme overlook one important point, i.e.. the unwilling- ness of sponsors, national or foreign, to spend their coin on government dominated nets. The alterative scheme, fathered by a German-surnamed ex-announcer, ousted from an agency job for Axis activities, provides for mixed gov- ernment and private ownership o( all radio outlets. The slato would acquire 51% of shares in the three big webs, and appoint a controller in each to govern a mixed administra- tive board, which would also include a rep each for the authors', com- posers' and actors' guilds. LEAVITT'S RADIO SETUP Harrisburg, April 30. Samuel Leavilt, formerly associ- ated with WKBO here, has an- nounced plans for establishing and operating a broadcasting station in Shamokin. Leavitt, who will be veepee and general manager, has announced an initial capitalization of $50,000. to be increased to $90,000, provided the FCC issues a license permitting a 5,000-watt transmitter. New. corpor- ation to be known as Radio Anthra- cite. DRG Plans Jane Ballot Hollywood, April 30. Special election of officers and council will be held by Radio Direc- tors Guild in June. In December, 1945, incumbents accepted their posi- tions oh agreement that,it.would be for six months only as an assist in gelling new organization going. Nominating committee has been named to come up" with candidates to replace. Paul Franklin, proxy; True Boardman, v.p.; Robert Dwan, secretary; Thomas Frecbairne-Smith, treasurer, plus the council of six. CHI BANK RENEWS SYMPK i Chicago, April 30. One of radio's most expensive local shows, the Chicago Symphony 'Orchestra, sponsored by Chicago i Title arid Trust Co.. was renewed' ilast week through the Biggie Levin 'office, for the 1946-47 season. Pro- grams, to run 43 weeks, will begin next Sept. 4, for airing from WCFL on Wednesday riights. Weekly package cost is estimated at around $5,000. Ft, Wayne.—Joseph T. Faulkner. Ji\, ex-Army, ,has joined WGL here as an account exec. The principal reason ror the undul- ating, high quality of music on WKY during the pail ten yean it the man Who directs it — Allan Clark — whoto previous musical background included making arrangement! for Phil Harris,. Andro Kbstelanoti, Gut Arnheim and many others. Inside Stuff-Radio Group of topflight Broadway legiters are donating their falcnls to a series of seven transcribed dramas produced in behalf of the United Jewi.>h Appeal campaign for the relief and rehabilitation of European refugees. The series, entitled "The! Gates ot Hope," is to be distributed to local sta- tions throughout the country. Ralph Bellamy will be heard in "The Only Answer"; Ruth Hussey in "House In the Desert"; Mady Christians in "Some Day I'll Tell You"; Louis Calhern in "The Hand Stretched Out"; Oscar Karlweis in "Friendship Harvest"; Charlotte Holland, radio actress, in "The Link": and Quentin Reynolds in a roundup commentary on'the meaning of UJA campaign entitled "The Coming of Tomorrow." Charles Schenck directed the scries. nked with Uruguay in 1935 ratified at the Rio de Janeiro radio conven- tion of 1937. The Argentine move is based on "the continuance ot attacks of an offensive nature against Argen- tina made by the Uruguayan sta- tions." Argentina has also an- nounced probable denunciation ot the tourist treaty with Uruguay. As the tourist trade from Argentina is one of economically. poor Uruguay's chief industries, both measures show that Peron is getting set to gang up on the small neighbor, using eco- nomic pressure to muzzle any facili- ties Uruguayans might still be dis- posed to grant Argentine exiles who oppose the Colonel. The Uruguayan government coun- tered denunciation of the Radio- Communications Treaty with a dig' nifled statement to the effect that most of the anti-Argentine broad casts had been eliminated, since the Argentine election results demon- strated the will of the Argentine people and that, the government has no legal means of silencing the of- fending outlets. Some believe that (renunciation ot this treaty is only a preliminary step pointing to nationalization, of the radio system as soon as the Peron administration takes over. By denouncing the Treaty. Argenlina ! will disregard wave-length allocations and prevent any effective coverage ot Argentine listening by any outlet in Uruguay designed to reach a dis- satisfied Argentine audience. This theme of nationalization is one on which the Argentine radio industry is harping incessantly in the past weeks. Two nationalization KQV PITTSBURGH Pillsburghers are still finding H plenty tough to get radio breaks in their own home town. Dozens of them have had to : go elsewhere to make good. In most cases, it seems to be a complete inability to recognize talent. Recent example was .when a Smoky City gal, who has achieved quite a rep on the nitery belts as a singer, decided she wanted to spend the summer at home. So she went to a major studio there; told them nothing of what she had done and asked, for-an audition. At the end of it. girl was told by the program director that she needed'singing lessons and to come back after she had taken some. Gal has only played some of the top spots in the country, and is now at one of Manhattan's biggest East Side cafes. Chi-ABC Continued from pate 47 FOR Is New York still radio's hub? New policies evolved by. Bob Reynolds, manager of KMPC, Hollywood, are something of a testament. He readily admits he got his notions while east on recent trip—and principally from "smart" operation of Bernice Judis, of WNEW. For next year KMPC Will concentrate.on expansion and improvement of news broadcasts and musical programs, with every effort being directed toward those two. features. Station will steer clear of special e.vehls unless of top-caliber, and unless station can give it first class handling. No attempt at maintaining a regular schedule of events is contemplated. Ear catchers wilt be exactly what name implies—special events. Augmenting exploitation planned by Cinema Century Productions. NBC wilt get behind nlmization of "One Man's Family." A big advertising and exploitation campaign is -planned by the network to hypo the indie production of its vet serial. Radio system is believed to have never before taken paid .space to promote ,3 motion picture, but is understood to be going all out on "Family."- which they operate, providing for cooperative use of the 890kc bund between WENR, net outlet and Prairie Farmer owned. WLS. When WLS uses the band. ABC programs come in over WCFL. With WCFL already fulltime and owning a network affiliation, it would appear-that the scales lean away from WJJD, which could still be waiting for fulltime approval long after the WCFL 50,000 wattage had been approved. However, the latter station is owned by the Chi- cago Federation of Labor, which might not be too happy Over strong affiliation with a management group as large as ABC. Toward this end. both outlets have been busy programming more live talent than they ever had before. WCFL has added four new live shows and a plallcr symphony, the last sustaining, with ffnneye to serv- ing this area more effectively. At the same time. WJJD has added a | couple of its own and has knocked ; off use of race results. Although i no one at either station openly ad- mits that his. outfit , is. looking for affiliation, no denial. is mae'e—and any discussion is accompanied by meaningful grins. Looks like the race is on.- L0UREY PACKING CO. CHEW M NEW YORK OFFICE H 475 Fifth Ammw Jj ■111.- LOU CLAYTON VNITKIt RKXAI.I. UUVU •'•>• Frkuiy—i-IIS—JO p.»>. '»* T