Evening star., 1931-12-20
APPEAL DISMISSAL
ENDS R. CA. ACTION
Withdrawal of Petition by
Milwaukee Journal
Clears Case.

~ UT Of clear sky the appeal
which threw into litigation the
validity of more than 1,400
" radio station licenses covering
the whole field Of radio, held
by subsidiaries of the Radio Corpora
ton Of America, has been withdrawn
by the Milwaukee Journal, operating
Station WTMJ, Milwaukee. Wis.
Elisha Hanson, counsel for the sta
tion, ON Thursday filed into the Court
of Appeals Of the District, sitting as a
sort Of super-Federal Radio Commis-
sion, motion to quash this important
case. At the same time he had dis
missed second appeal Of WTMJ, filed
December S, on the decision of the Fed
eral Radio Commission in the high
power case, in which the station was
denied an exclusive channel and also
the maximum power OF $4,000 watts.
Filed July IA.
The first appeal was filed July IA by
Hanson at the eleventh hour on the
commissions decision absolving the r.
C. A. of infraction Of the antimonopoly
provisions of the radio law. 1t placed
before the court the question of the
validity of the commissions action in
continuing licenses held by the National
BroadcaSting Co., r. C. A. Communica
tions, Inc; Radiomarine Corporation Of
America and r. c. A.-Victor Co. These
companies cover the fields of broad
casting, television, transoceanic code
comm unication, ship-to-shore commu-
nication and general radio experimental
and research operation.
Thus by the dismissal Of this appeal
the commissions decision giving the
r. C. A. a clean bill OF health in the
case that rocked the foundation of the
radio industry becomes unquestioned.
Hanson had contended that the COM
mission was commanded by the express
terms Of the radio law, notably section
13, to refuse the renewal of the licenses
held by R. c. A. subsidiaries, because
the r. c. A. had been held by the Fed
eral courts to have violated the Clayton
antitrust law in the old vacuum tube
litigation. The commission, however,
held that the courts Judgment was not
such as to require 1t to refuse to renew
these l,400 licenses.
Shifts Proposed.
WTMJ was an applicant for the
cl.aluel occupied by Stations WENR
and WIS, both in Chicago. The former
station is operated by N. B. c. and the
latter has working arrangement with
tllc lclWUIh. w MI COllGtIlOtQ LII lIS
appeal that it should be assigned this
870-kilocycle clear channel, in view of
the court ruling in the vacuum tube
case. 1t argued that the commission
ignored the requirement of the law in
renewing the license Of WENR, along
with all other R. c. A. stations While
1t was interested only in the 870-kilo-
cycle channel, the appeal automatically
raised the question of validity of all
the licenses held by R. c. A. subsidi-
aries
The commission by a to 2 vote June
"a vindicated the r. c. A. of violation
OF section l3 in the tube case, renewing
the licenses Of the r. C. A. stations
which for the preceding two months
had been in jeopardy. The case grew
out of the determination by the Federal
courts that the R. c. A. by formerly
having required receiving set manufac-
turers using r. c. A. patents initially
to equip their sets with R. C. A. tubes
had tended toward the creation of
tube monopoly. Section l3 of the radio
law prescribes that any company finally
adJudged guilty Of violation of the anti
monopoly laws shall be denied radio
licenses, but the commission held that
the provision did not apply in this case.
Copyright. l93l)