Variety (Jun 1947)

Wednesday, June 25, 1947 Pft&IETY 31 D C. In<fc. in Unusual Bid, Calls On FTC to Halt 'Unfair' Competition Washington, June 24. In what is thought to be the first instance of its kind in radio history, indie WWDC called on the Federal Trade Commission here last week to halt the "unfair methods of com- nptition" of two suburban radio sta- Cs Specifically, WWDC was burned at horse-racing shows car- ried by WGAY, daytimer m Silver Soring, Md„ and a money-give-away stint aired throughout the day by* WARL, another daytimer in Arling- ton, Va. Should the FTC decide to accept iurisdiction over the piograms, a precedent may be set for future gov- ' ernment action wherever stations think their competitors are getting away with something to their own detriment. The WWDC brief acknowledges, in effect, that race shows and lottery-type broadcasts are audience-pullers and anticipates that as the competition gets tougher in broadcasting, stations will tend to lower program standards. A few "cease and desist" orders, on cer- tain types of shows, it was argued, would tend to clean up unfair com- petitive practices throughout the country. Gimmick is that WWDC earlier carried similar programs on racing results and a telephone quiz show but amended its formats to suit the FCC and win a hard-fought FM per- mit. Commission questioned "public interest" of the WWDC four-hour daily racing stint wlfen the station was bidding for an •FM franchise. The WWDC complaint, filed by the. law firm of Pierson .& Ball, specified a show called "The Sports Circus" on WGAY, sponsored by the Kennedy Floor & Tile Co. The complaint said the show gives racing info on almost all U. S. tracks, in- cluding track conditions, scratches and prices paid. The% indie added that this info is'used for illegal i purposes by bookies in paying off bets and by others who work the numbers racket ' here. Winning numbers are determined on basis of WGAY race results and prices paid, it was alleged.. Both off-the-track betting and the numbers lottery are illegal in D. C% Virginia and Mary- land. No Jurisdiction? WGAY counsel Leonard Marks reported he. will file answer to the WWDC complaint this week alleging FTC has no jurisdiction in the case. Marks said the WGAY program was cleared with the Maryland state's attorney general and the local police soon after it took to the ether. WWDC pointed out it used to broadcast prices paid at the tracks but stopped when the metropolitan police told the station what uses the information was' put to. WWDC's grievance against WARL, Arlington, hits a show entitled "Dol- lars for' Answers." sponsored by "Zlotnick the Furrier," which is dubbed a clear lottery in violation of local statutes and the Communi cations Act of 1934. (FCC, it was learned, has already written the sta- tion, for info on what appeared to be a lottery show.) "Dollars for Answers" is a five minute segue carried every half- hour on WARL between 8:30 a.m. and signoff at sunset. A question and answer is read over the air and •telephone number dialed to get the correct response. WWDC points out there is no skill involved and answers are at hand if listeners have *ept tuned to the Arlington station. It was pointed out that in several Past cases, FTC has held use of lot- teries to promote sale of goods and services is clearly illegal. The FCC act also outlaws such shows, once « is proven they involve only Fletcher Wiley in Bowout Of Pitt Setup at WCAE Pittsburgh, June 24. Fletcher Wiley has bowed out of his Pittsburgh setup over WCAE after giving the thing a year's fling. Usual Wiley format was used here, with a Sunrise Salute for an hour in the early morning and half hour in the afternoon under the label of the Housewives Protective League. Lat- ter session was cut to 15 minutes several weeks ago to make time ,room for Paul Whiteman's disk show. Wiley's man here was Gordon Hall, from the Coast. Whether he'll remain with the organization or not hasn't been decided. Former WCAE announcer Wiley picked up for his stable, John Trent, is cur- rently pinch-hitting for Galen Drake on WJZ in New York. Trent was in Boston for nearly a year but Wiley closed that market when it, like Pittsburgh, failed to develop for him. Corpus Christ!—Bill McRae has been named new program director for KEYS here,-coming here from KRIC, Beaumont, where he was former special events and sports editor. Radio Sits on Hizzoner's Doorstep While Transit Strike Holds in St. Loo St. Louis, June 24. Radio gabbers, news editors and engineers from three of the four major stations, KSD, KMOX and KXOK, are cluttering up the ante- room of Mayor Alois Kaufmann's of- fice at city hall while hizzoner is trying to bring about a settlement o'' a transit strike that has tied up all surface electric street cars and buses. The strike, called unexpectedly at 5 a.m. Friday (13), is causing great inconvenience to downtown workers and business generally and close ob- servers believe it will be a long one. Radio men were on the job when the 3,500 employees of the Public Service Co. turned in all-night vehicles and refused to take out those destined for daylight operation. During the first day of the strike news of the, walkout was broadcast every few minutes. Then the radio stations moved mikes, etc., to the anteroom, where lines were placed several years ago to carry fireside talks by hizzoner and other messages. Tuesday (17) Harold Grams and Frank Eschen grabbed hizzoner, the president of the Public Service Co. and head of •the streetcar men's union for an air interview and the other stations rushed up their mikes and horned in for the same purpose. Radio personnel arrive at city hall before the conference starts, and re- main until the meetings break up. Every time someone emerges from BBC Song Ping 'Racket' Raises Ugly Head Again; Cooper Prepping Attack London, Jimel7. BBC bribery war is about to flare up again, and once more it will be Wing Commander Goeffrey Cooper, M.P., leading the attack. Cooper told Variety that evi- dence he has received shows that despite the official anti-bribery in- quiry recently held, "rackets are back to normal now at Broadcasting House." So this racket busting Member of Parliament is preparing a new busting campaign. Part of this new offensive will be a booklet exposing as far as it legally dares, complete details of all Broad- casting House rackets. This expose the mayor's boardroom he is urged to make a statement over the air. The persistence of the radio men finally resulted in the conferees designating Hizzoner as the spokes- man. The meetings have lasted from 9 a.m. until after midnight and the radio men are getting a good work- out. Ray Dady, station manager at KWK, said his station has not sent gabbers, etc., to the anteroom when the other stations did as he knew the strike would be a prolonged one. However, he said, KWK will carry the news of the settlement as soon as any other station. booklet will go very much further than any evidence previously put forward by Cooper. It's already known that the solu- tion to -song plugging is still evad- ing the BBC committee of three top ■executives who have been trying to evolve a plug-proof system. They've . investigated confidential records go- ing back to the early days of BBC. , These show that every anti-plug i measure ever attended has only i driven it further underground. BBC investigators are even taking verbatib reports of conversations between artists, producers and song pluggers in bars and clubs in the shadow of Broadcasting House. The investigators are also probing people who are managing to slip advertising slogans through the close net of BBC censorship. To all these investigations, Cooper simply- says: "They won't bring the solution to the plug system. I have offered my answer and it's a simple one. Make each music publisher pay a fee to BBC each year on the basis of the number of songs he pub- lishes. This fee will entitle him to BBC-made musical arrangements and guaranteed proportion of time on the air." But say the publishers: "That's not the answer and we'd like to meet the person who really has an abso- lutely fair solution to plugging. Just show us this miracle man." Filial Approval Near On .'C&j^jJtate BroadcastAssn Hollywood, June 24. southern California Broadcasters Assn. has approved formation oi t-a ifornia State Broadcasters Assn. activities of the former. Northern California Broadcasters win vote on State Assn. at monthly meeting of NAB in 15th district, vote will be merely a perfunctory matter as the plan has already been approved by Northern airers. Nine directors will be selected; 0m the South - four fr »m the | «orth and one Jrom the Gentra i district of California. Couple of weeks ago David Sornoff, in a letter to The New York Times, noted that our Sunday radio page was 25 year* old. Frankly, we had missed it. We were too busy improving our weekday radio page with a new department, "The News of Radio." How well this already has clicked, Variety reported in its issue of June 11th. In covering radio, as well as everything else that interests alert and informed people, The New York Times is not only a pioneer, but a pioneer who stays away out front at the head of the procession. A limTtelTS^^hTbf spacFTs available on our weekday radio page for program and station advertising. You'll probably want to talk to us about it. With summer replacement programs beginning to reach out for audiences, what better time then now to reach out for one of the most important audiences in America? "All the New« That's Fit to Print" 229 Weil 43rd Street, New York t* tArJawanna 4-1000