Evening star., 1941-01-19
Rv IRA WOLFERT.

NEW YORK. Jan. 18 tNAN Al
Although this is we'll celebrated as
a day Of rapid communications,
this exception may now be NOTED:
A costly war has been fought for
Is expensive DAYS now; decision
has been made and a great victory
Won; but no one knows who has won
yet. and no one is able to find out.
Both sides. the radio companies
and the professional song writer's
and their publishers. it might be
made clear. are fighting with mer-
Cenary troops for merCenary rea-
sons. They have headquarters here
within a stones throw of each other,
perhaps not entirely by coincidence.
and the stones they throw are land
ing right on the public ear.
Which Side Won?
If the public is continuing to
listen to it's radio as in the past, in
diCatlng that it does not miss the
work Of the professional song writer's
seriously enough to turn a dial. then
the radio COMPANIES have won. If
the public has turned the dial or
even turned its radio off. then the
American Society of Composers, Au-
thors and Publishers has won
LARGE sums are being expended
to probe the public and make it
weld its secret. The information
thus far obtained is inconclusive
A S c. A P. summons forth a
number Of small radio stations which
have signed up with it and they all
declare their business is booming
A neutral'S thought on that is. no
doubt if is. Advertisers naturally
would believe the public would turn
70 the stations brOadcaSting profess
siOnal music instead of those trying
to get along on music in the public
domain and music written by anna
teurs and semi-pros The adver-
.tiseTs will believe this until the
contrary is proved
A. S. c. A P also cites the spread
ing popularity OF little jingle:
Little Jack HOrner sat in avsorner
his radio tuned up high He listened
agh9st and turned it off fast and
said. What a bad B NJ. l."
B. M l. it might be explained. Is
Broadcast Music. Inc. the music
publishing and licensing firm set up
by the radio companies to find music
for its performers TO perform. Final
II. A. S. c. A. P. points to radios own
Fred Allen who finally managed to
get uttered over the radios own air
a dittv to the effect that lot of
radio listeners who have been tuning
in on swing arrangements OF old
music whose copyright has expired
and therefore those now in the pub
lie domain must be suffering from
domain poison.
RroadcaSters Make Survey.
The radio companies information
is on a par with that of a. S. c. A(P.
They report a complete absence of
public uprOar over the banishment
of professional popular music from
all the big-timC programs. A survey
Of 125 of their own radio stations
has disclosed to them, they say. that
pllIt 10 lJl OltSj Ndllo llCtNO DtNII
CeIved to date-SOmething that can
be regarded with astonishment since
there are 200 song writers in A. S.
c. A. P. all of whom have families
and friends. and. i'll many cases,
employees within reach Of telephones.
Then the National Association of
BroadcasterS points to survey
made by c. F. Hooper. Inc, dis
closing that the number of listen
erS attracted by about a dozen pop
ular programs had increased by be-
tween 4 and 40 per cent after
abandoning A. S. c. A P. music
in favor of the work of amateurs.
The survey covered the nights of
January 2. 3 and 4 and Mr.. Hoop
er said, 1T provides a scientifically
accurate answer, exploding the con-
tention of A. S. c. A. P. officials that
the audience of listeners had de-
creased in size" However, Mr..
HOOper with partisan zeal neglectS