Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

6 JANUARY 11, 1960 covering 537 local TV & radio stations in 31 states & D.C. (excluding N.Y., Chicago, Los Angeles network centers) showed “502 stations do not employ a single live musician.” Morton J. Simon, associate gen. counsel of Advertising Federation of America, deplored “guilt-by-association psychology” which sees “an entire industry condemned for the deceits or moral derelictions of a tiny fraction of people in the industry.” Listing specific AFA recommendations, he called for: (1) No new legislation. (2) No censorship. (3) Legal controls of advertising limited to claims which are “false, misleading, deceptive or unfair.” (4) Retention by FTC of “primary govt, responsibility” for policing ads. (5) Preparation of an FTC guide on “legally improper” TV commercials. (6) FCC-FTC liaison. (7) “Poor taste” self -policing by TV & ad industries. (8) FCC disciplinary procedures “as in the past” if the “FTC-industry program proves insufficient.” (9) Consumer education. Cecil Woodland, gen. mgr. of radio WEJL Scranton, Pa., w'ho also is pres, of the Pa. Assn, of Bcstrs. and a member of NAB’s Radio Good Practice Committee, suggested that one station criterion at license-renewal time should be “whether or not a station subscribes and adheres to NAB’s voluntary rules.” He said that subscribing to the Code meant that “a pledge of creditable operation has been made & sworn to.” He also suggested that: (1) Announcers might be licensed by FCC to “provide restraints on the small number of irresponsible air personalities who float from station to station.” (2) FCC require licenserenewal statements by stations of steps taken to keep personnel in line. (3) FCC institute a “probation” renewal period for stations whose “operation has been of doubtful calibre.” (4) The license period be extended from 3 to 5 years to give FCC’s staff more time to study performance. 'A Jukebox with a Bulletin Board’ Morris S. Novik, N.Y. radio consultant, said that since the advent of TV, much music-&-news radio has become little more than “a jukebox with a bulletin board [which] is inimical to the public interest.” He said it was time for FCC to spell out “in some systematized fashion all of the factors that constitute good programming” — and then “let the broadcaster know when he is living up to his obligations and when he is not.” He also said the radio music-&news format “prohibits talk program of any kind,” so that in 1960 the country faces “a virtual blackout of political broadcasts on radio.” He recommended that FCC: (1) “Require that all broadcasting stations make time available, at regular commercial rates, to qualified candidates for a month prior to election day and for a week prior to local or state primaries.” (2) “Conduct a public inquiry” on political broadcast practices. Burton Lane, pres, of the American Guild of Authors & Composers (largely ASCAP members), used the FCC hearing to mount another attack on broadcaster-supported BMI, ASCAP’s competitor. “The BMI operation is The Big Payola,” Lane assured the Commission. He said the “aggregate take of disc jockeys is infinitesimal compared to the $10-million yearly slush fund which the broadcasters have used to promote the music they control.” His remedy for this situation: “No license should be renewed nor . . . granted to any station which has an interest in BMI in the form of stock ownership or otherwise.” He followed up by filing a formal FCC petition (also signed by composer James McHugh & writer Ogden Nash) asking that licenses of 557 radio stations not be renewed unless they withdrew from BMI. (Outside the hearing room, BMI promptly issued a retort that “Mr. Lane knowingly distorts the facts.” His testimony, said BMI, was “a I’epetition of misstatements which have already been made [and] part of a campaign to restore monopoly in the field of performing rights to AGAC’s own members.” Lane picked up his anti-BMI cudgels again at a hotel press conference, however. His theme: “The true story of music payola involves the owners & operators of networks & stations [and] broadcasters’ improper use of their licenses to manipulate & degrade the taste of our public.” AGAC supporters who joined Lane at the press conference included composer Arthur Schwartz, actress Helen Hayes, playwright Howard Lindsay, composer Virgil Thompson, songwriter Otto Harbach). ‘Advertiser, Go Home’ Philip Cortney, Coty Inc. pres., expanded a theme he has developed in speeches since the quiz scandals broke: “Advertisers should take their hands off TV programs.” He “urgently” recommended that FCC give thought to a Communications Act amendment “which would specifically make it illegal & punishable by law for any advertiser to exercise control over programs.” He suggested other “means of defending the public interest,” too: (1) “The creation of a national advisory board on radio & TV.” (2) “Pay-TV network. It is worth trying.” (3) A “subsidized & endowed” TV network operated for “public service,” not profit. Tom Chauncey, pres, of KOOL-TV & KOOL Phoenix and KOLD-TV & KOLD Tucson and of the Ariz. Bcstg. Assn., warned: “The day this Commission begins to destroy free programming on TV networks or stations will be the day that America’s free enterprise system begins to die.” He maintained that the public retains “complete faith” in TV, that broadcasters are “conscious of their responsibility,” that a “false picture” of broadcasting had been created by quiz disclosures. “It’s not as bad as all that,” he said, “although nobody in broadcasting condones the rigging of quiz shows or anything else.” Marianne B. Campbell, gen. mgr. of radio WJEH Gallipolis, 0., presented a 12-page statement reviewing her station’s history and its programming & ad policies, in which she said “we take great pride.” In view of WJEH’s operations, she said “additional laws & restricting controls are not necessary.” Concluded she: “It would seem an impossible task to try to regulate from Washington, D.C. the needs & requirements of our area. We feel we operate completely in the community interest . . .” This week’s witnesses, as scheduled by FCC at last week’s end, when the list for Jan. 15 hadn’t been set yet: Jan. 11 — Peoples Bcstg. Corp.; ASCAP, Pres. Stanley Adams; Good Music Bcstrs., Pres. Theodore Jones; NABET Pres. George W. Smith; AFTRA, exec. secy. Donald Conaway. Jan. 12 — Springfield TV Bcstg. Corp., Pres. William L. Putnam; Storer Bcstg. Co., vp-secy. John E, McCoy; Fund for the Republic, Frank Kelly. FCC’s 25th annual report is a really excellent reference volume, useful for both novice & veteran broadcasters and those in associated industries. Compiled under the supervision of information chief George Gillingham, the 191-page book features digests of Commission actions in all fields, including a special chapter on litigation & legislation. In addition, there are histories of communications and of govt, regulation, a chronology of major events since 1934, a description of the Commission’s World War II activities, much statistical information. The document has a silver-colored cover, permitted by special dispensation of Congress’s Joint Committee on Printing. It’s available for 65<} from the Govt. Printing Office, Washington 26, D.C.