Variety (Jul 1946)

28 ■AMO Weduesday, July 3, 1946 Tappy' ODanid Hillbilly Tecbnique Urged on PAC to Get Out die Vote Washington, July 2. Students at the National Citizens' Political Action Committee four-day school here last week got an ear— and an eyeful—on latest gimmicks in use of Alms, radio and music to get out the votes in upcoming politi- cal, campaigns. Over 100 enrol lees at last Thurs- day'^ session on radio were urged to "take a page from, Senator 'Pappy' Lee O'Daniel" (D„ Tex.) and make the most effective use. of radio by sandwiching political propaganda between "some, good old-fashioned hillbilly music." Wherever possible. PAC'ers were urged to place political spot an- nouncements before' or after top hooperating network shows. ' '•Rights to the Ait;" FCC rules on political broadcasts, and steps unions and others should take in event sta- tions refuse time or censor scripts were spelled out by Allen Saylor. Radio Director for the CIO's United Auto Workers. Station managers, Saylor said, may violate the radio act by refusing to make time avail- able for discussion of important con- troversial issues, by censoring pro- I grams, by discriminating in schedul- ing broadcasts at unfavorable listen- ing hours or by permitting only one .side of a controversy to be heard. Where any of these steps are taken against bona fide requests for radio , time, Saylor advised PAC'ers to dis- I cuss the matter with the No: 1 man I at the station and have the entire 'matter down in writing. Locals | should then wire the national PAC of any difficulties. If station pcr- | sists, protests should then be wired i to the owners of the station, the FCC ■ and to the Chairman and'members | of the Senate and House Interstate : Commerce Committees. Last step, ; Saylor said, is to petition the FCC for an immediate hearing on the complaint.. Use of fact-Alms to get PAC's story across was detailed to students at a Thursday night session by such experts as Pare Lorentz and Tom Brandon, of Brandon Films. Representatives of union-minded Stage for Action, Inc. and Peoples Songs, Inc. took the platform Friday night for special tutoring in politi- cal use of drama and music in pull- ing out the votes. KTHT's 'Radio Rally' Washington, July 2. Heated scramble ■ for radio time by candidates in Texas state primaries July 27 is being handled in unique fashion by Roy Hofheinz, licensee of KTHT, Houston. Holhcinz has set aside a two-hour slot from 8 to 10 p.m. each Saturday for next four weeks, during which time . all candidates for stale jobs arc giv- en free time to discuss cam- paign issues. Program called "Radio Rally'' sets up forum- type handling of issues and of- fers time to all candidates on •, first-come, first-served basis. Sonja Henie on Watt Wax; Benefits Bulova Hollywood, July 2. Series pf quarter-hour transcrip- tions have been made by Sonja Henie for sponsorship by the Lilli Ann Co., femme 'ippurcl manufac- turers. Proceeds from deal will be given to the Bulova School for I Watchmaking, new deal for partially disabled veterans. I The platters will be released this I month to approximately 300 sta- tions. They feature beauty, style and household chatter, along with plugs for the skater's 1947 version of "Hol- lywood Ice Revue." Jack Rourke produces. Deal was handled by Mulcahy and Ginsberg. Dozen B'casters Band Together On Mex (Clear-Channel) Standoff Vs. FCC BENTON IN CLEAR ON DX OPERATION Washington, July 2. The House Saturday (29) accepted the full $10,284,000 appropriation for Benton's information and cultural program, assuring Benton of suffi- cient funds to continue his overseas DX broadcasts as well , as the. "re- mainder of his program including motion pictures. Bentons fund has had stormy sail- ing. Originally he asked for about $25,000,000 for cultural and inform- ational work.' The Bureau of the Budget shaved this to $19,284,000. A dozen Washington, July 2. it.genious broadcasters have banded together to push for a breakdown of the FCC's rules which require U. S. licensees operating 0 n Mexican clear-channels to sign off the air at sundown. The group, all-daytime-only sta- tions. operating on Mexican clears will file joint petition with the Commission and argue that it is to the United States' interest to write into the next North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement the right of such stations to operate I around-the-clock. j According to counsel Leonard H. Marks, the group propose to get ■ FCC okay for fulltinme operation with the ■ ■ provision that they pro- tect the dominant Mexican stations on their channels, to the U.S. border. This can be done by use of diree- j tional antenna system. Ben- The broadcasters, headed by sta- tion -WPIK, Alexandria. Va, will also urge the FCC to push for ac- ceptance of the principle that no country can expect protection for stored the bite and the full amount, signals of its stations beyond its was accepted by a joint House-Sen-1 boundaries. Their argument is that the Commission should revamp i 1 The House then whittled the amount 1 »: down to $10,000,000, although ton warned that would necessitate complete elimination of the broad- casting features. The Senate re- ate conference committee. This I then went to the House which gave its final okay on Saturday. Everything Points To THIS ONE FACT WLW SERVES ITS 4 ThAT WLW it seriously aware of its clear-channel responsi- bility to serve the farmers of its great midwestern area is borne Out by many kinds of evidence. Variety's 1945 oward to WLW "for contributing to the world's breadbasket" js one valued recognition of showman* agement in the farmer's interest. Citation by the Radio Editors' Poll of WLW's farm tervice feature "From The Ground Up" is another strong endorsement. And the approval of the farmers themselves,, expressed in actual listening, clinches it. In the poorest. rural radio months of 1945, August and" September, 1,324,000 rural radio families averaged 400 minutes per week* listening to the Nation's Station . . . 29.1 % of their total listening to all ltdtions heard in the areal Yes.—everything points to the fact that WLW GIVES THE FARMER WHAT HE WANTS TO HEAR I •Wie/«rt Rodio MtK. Auguil-Sepiember 1945 THE NATION'S MOST MERCHANDISE*ABLE STATION its rules to give the U. S. stations a fairer break now, and. then rec- ommend the new policy for interna- tional acceptance at an upcoming conference January, 1947. The Jan- uary confab will set forth proposals for incorporation in a new North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement to go into effect March, 1948. At a special meeting of the day- time-only licensees here yesterday (1) point was made that Mexican clear channel stations are already invading U. S. listening areas. Sta- tion XEX, Mexico City, owned by Mexico's president Avilo Camacho. is on the air with 150 kw—three times the power of any U. S. sta- tion. Camacho, who already broad- casts to a good part of Texas, wants to hike his power to 500' kw, which will bring the Mexican station with- in reach of a good proportion of U.S. radio listeners. Met News Roundup Effected by WEAF Deal with Dailies WEAF. NBC's New York flagship station, has just . effected a tie-in with five.newspaper organizations- Brooklyn Eagle, Newark Star-Ledg- er. Bronx Home News, Long Island Daily Press, news bureau of West-. Chester County daily newspapers— for a new daily series tabbed "Me- tropolitan News Roundup.' Object is to achieve an on-the-spot coverage of metropolitan area news stories parelleling the "World News Round- up" during the war. Tieup with the dailies will involve a permanent installation of radio telephone lines between the various editorial offices and WEAF. with broadcasts from each newspaper to be handled by a specially-assigned newsman. Series has been pactcd tor 52 weeks, with broadcasts to be under supervision of Thomas B. McFaddon. WEAF News and Special Events Director. Daily 15-minule program will be heard Monday through Friday at noon. No starting date set yet. Move to get on-the-spot coverage is seen as answer to WQXR now being fed directly from N. Y. Times editorial office, WLIB getting N. Y. Post coverage, etc. BRYS0N RASH NAMED FOR OEMS RADIO JOB Washington. July 2. The Democratic National Commit- tee Sunday (30) named Bryson Rash. 32-year-old Director of Special Events for WMAL. ABC station here, director of radio publicity. Rash has been granted a leave of absence from WMAL through No- vember to handle radio activities for the 1946 Democratic Congressional campaigns. • In radio since 1925, when he be- gan as a child performer, Rash has- worked with both CBS and NBC be- fore joining up with WMAL. He has also been Presidential announcer for both Roosevelt and Truman, and earlier did announcing for Raymond Gram Swing. In Washington, he did wartime stint as director of the radio committee of the Motion Pic- ture "War Activities Committee.