Variety (Sep 1946)

42 RADIO Wednesday, September 25, I945 UJS. Invites Wwld to Radio Powwow To Bring 1932 Madrid Treaty to Date Washington, Sept. 24. ♦ Tl\e United States, ■ through the International Telecommunications Bureau in Switzerland, last week issued invitations for a world radio conference, to open April 15, 1947; in or near Washington. . The mew conference is necessary to bring up to date the old Madrid Convention of 1932, which still gov- erns international use of radio. Use of shortwave channels and a host of other new radio services which have sprung up in hitherto unused ranges of the spectrum will be discussed at the parley. The State Dept. issued the invi- tation as the White House tardily an- nounced names of the official U. S. delegation, which left Wa.shington yesterday (Monday) to attend a special five-power radio parley in Moscow, opening September 28. The Moscow meeting is a pre- liminary one at which no binding agreements will be made. Francis Colt de Wolf, head of the State Dept. Telecommunications Division, headed a delegation of 14 Govern- ment experts and seven aides. Other parties to the five-power meet aire Great Britain, France and China> WOLL WITHDRAWS AS PETRILLO PROSECUTOR Chicago, Sept. 24. Withdrawal of U. S. attorney J. Albei?t WoU from prosecution of James G. Petrillo, American Federa- tion of: Musicians prez, was an- nounced here by Woll on his return from Washington, D. C, where he had gone to ask that his office be, relieved of handling the case and that a special assistant attorney, general be assigned instead. Woll gave no reason for his with- drawal from the case, in which Petrillo is charged in a criminal in- formation with violation of the Lee Act prohibiting a union from forc- ing radio stations to hire "unneeded" musicians. However, it's pointed out that WoU's father.-Matthew Woll. is a veepee of the American Federa- tion of Labor, in which Petrillo holds a similar office. Move to have Woll withdraw was instigated by Dr. Joseph E. Maddy, director of the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Mich., who was re- cently expelled from AFM. "T^i'ZSSnL Blue Book a Red Herring to Miller As NAB IWy Waves Rotarian Hag Forecasts Follow Rams Chicago, Sept. 24. Deal lined up for Tom Harmon to predict the most important football results of the weeic this season is an unusual one in the electrical tran- scription field, inasmuch as Harmon isn't exactly in a position to be ob- jective in his prognostications. He's very much in the swing of the game itself as a result of his quarterback position with the Los Angeles Rams. Recording equipment will be lugged around the country, follow- ing the Rams, and platters will be flown back to Criterion Radio Pro- ductions, Chi, which owns the paclc- age, to be shipped out to stations from here. Among sponsors lined up in various markets are Kay Daumit (men's^toiletries) and Clipper Craft Clot4'>es. It's for Thursday or Friday nights, depending on availabilities, for 13 weeks starting this week. cm EADIO CLUB ELECTS Chicago, Sept. 24. Chi's Radio Management Glub elected new officers at a meeting last week. Officers are Holman Faust, prez; Mark Smith, veepee; Kay Kennely, secretary, and Ken- neth Shepard, treasurer. Outgoing officers Were named trustees. Wesley Nunn, ad manager of Standard Oil, addressed the group on future plans of Chi's Ftederated Advertisers. NEW BLOOD GETS FCC LICENSE PREFERENCE Washington, Sept. 24. FCC followed its usual pattern of preferring a radio newcomer to a company with other radio news- paper holdings when it ended a bit- ter three-way contest here last week (20) and awarded a standard station permit to the Star Broadcasting Co. of Geneva, N. Y, At the same time, the commission turned down the competing bids • of the Finger Lakes Broadcasting Co. of Geneva, and the Seneca Broadcasting Co. of Roches- ter, for the same facilities. Decision, FCC said, was based on fact that Geneva had greater need than Rochester for radio service. And as between the Geneva appli- cants, the Star Co. had no other radio holdings, and its directors were local people who would active- ly participate in management of the station. Gordon Brown, principal in Finger Lakes, already operates WSAY, Rochester,' and planned to spend only two days a week in Geneva, if he got okay for a second station there. The highly - controversial fcc Blue Book is just a sucker-Hst for the Reds, said Justin • Miller, presi. dent of the National Assn. of Broadi casters, in a speech before the N. Rotary Club last week, (19). called it "a rich source of material for the unscrupulous and unwary" who are interested in de,stroying the free radio which onlv f4<X€fitcutec e* Th« YANKEE NETWORK'S 'PoUMCcOim THE YANKEE NETWORK, inc. Member of Ihe Muhia/Sroadeashng S/sfem n MOOKUHE MEHUE. lOSTON IS. MASUCHUSEm lUimMtMi iMiMiii k| Eowuo mm \ eo^ inc. Americans enjoy. In a speech devoted mostly to ad ministrative law. Miller stated that the Communist Party wants to take 9yer free institutions in America as did Hitler in Germany, and ttiat: the present cFiticisms vented against radio (as the Blue Book) played into totalitarian .hands. Just as it was the fashion a generation ago to make fun of Rotary, he said, so is It fashionable today to berate radio. Claiming that the FCC is arrogat. iiig powers to itself not given it by Congress, Miller wont on to say: All in One Boat "Radi», press, and motion pic^. tures are in the same boat. :If the government can control one, it can control all. Its powers under the Constitution , are no greater with respect to radio broadcasting than with respect to any . other medium of communication. The proponents of the Blue Book use the argument of scarcity. But if radio channels are scarce, so is new.spririt and raw film, And the fact is that radio channels are becoming much less scarce, what with FM and Pulse Modulation—a fact which is seri- ously embarrassing the advocates of the Blue Book philosophy. Further- more, if radio can be censored by FCC, . then facsimile broadcasting can be censored. And FX is noth- ing other than a radio-transmitted newspaper. "The Blue Book is only one of many criticisms currently directed against radio. A woman called me recently and complained that people on the radio were saying 'vetran' rather than 'veteran.' She wanted to invoke the power of the appro- priate Government agency to cure what she considered an egregious error, Of course she was in good faith. _ But she didn't realize that in trying to correct so trivial'and inconsequential a thing as a slight mispronounciation she was willing to invoke and acquiesce in the ex- ercise of power that could be the' end of free radio, free communica- tion, free government, "But, consciously or unconsciously, such criticisms of radio as the Blue Book do tend to obfuscate people like the good woman who didn't like to hear 'veteran' mispronounced. If such confusion becomes suffici- ently widespread, the way will have been paved for the government to take radio over—and to take the press and motion pictures over. "And that, I submit, is the Com- munistic technique." 'Quiz-Down' Moppet Show ' Wins School Board OKs; Resumes in Chicago Ciiicago, Sept. 24;^ ■ ■ a "Quiz-Down," moppet show in i which kids of average intelligence . j answer queries supplied by iisteners, and OK'd by teachers of Chi public and parochial schools, will be re- sumed Oct 5 over WLS. The package, backed by the Chi Daily Times and WLS, has enjoyed fine success here, and is making ;| other cities cognizant of show's PO" ••] tentialities. Newspaper-station com-. i;j bo sponsorship of this package has. extended to Detroit, also in its sec- • ond year of production, St. Louis. ; Pittsburgh, San Diego, Miami, Kala- mazoo, Mich., and Zanesville, Ohio. Original idea for show was the,, • brainchild of Carol Moody, who in- , troduced package in Ithaca, N. Y. ■ Idea spread to Chi, where WLS and ,. Daily Times took a flier and ended jv up with a golden egg. j ' Student, quiz teams are composed [,. of six members eaeh, and participa- u ting team^ijRplying rtiost correct an- ', swers are presented pen and pencil. sets. Success of program is seen by fait that local educational boards are singing praises of program for what it does in developing study among youngsters interested in being on tlie^ Saturday package. U