Mr. VAN DEERLIN. Of course, it was not the business of the agency, a commercial agency handling an account on a commercial basis, to go out and grub for free time, so to speak. But you were in some correspondence with a couple of these licensees. Mr. Ward Quaal had a chain of correspondence with N. W. Ayer which I should like to include for the record. Mr. REATH. It came into my department. Mr. VAN DEERLIN. This is from Mr. Quaal to Mr. Smith, in which he says: While we appreciate the order in the amount of approximately $50,000, Mr. Coverly-Smith, I have advised our people not to accept it because WGN Radio as well as WGN Television has always given time for such messages free of charge and we will continue to do so as long as I am steward of these previous properties. The same is true of our stations in Duluth (KDAL and KDAL-TV) and Denver (KWGN Television). For example, WGN Television broadcast a total of eight (8) public service announcements for Armed Forces recruiting in December, 1970. Mr. Coverly-Smith, please be assured that we will schedule spot announcements for recruitment purposes just as we carry messages for other public service entities, including the Navy and the Air Force. I suggest that you write or call Mr. Gene Filip to make the appropriate arrangements. I will include that for the record. (The letters referred to follow:) MR. JOHN COVERLY-SMITH, WGN CONTINENTAL BROADCASTING Co., Broadcast Supervisor, N. W. Ayer & Sons, Inc., DEAR MR. COVERLY-SMITH: This is in reference to the sales order regarding the campaign by the United States Army to recruit volunteers to achieve an all-volunteer force by 1973. While we appreciate the order on the amount of approximately $50,000, Mr. Coverly-Smith, I have advised our people not to accept it because WGN Radio as well as WGN Television has always given time for such messages free of charge and we will continue to do so as long as I am steward of these precious properties. The same is true of our stations in Duluth (KDAL and KDAL-TV) and Denver (KWGN Television). For example, WGN Television broadcast a total of eight (8) public service announcements for Armed Forces recruiting in December, 1970. Mr. Coverly-Smith, please be assured that we will schedule spot announcements for recruitment purposes just as we carry messages for other public service entities, including the Navy and the Air Force. I suggest that you write or call Mr. Gene Filip to make the appropriate arrangements. All good wishes, Mr. Coverly-Smith, and I trust you understand our position. Very sincerely, WARD L. QUAAL. N. W. AYER & SON, INC., Philadelphia, Pa., February 24, 1971. MR. WARD L. QUAAL, WGN Broadcasting Co. Chicago, Ill. DEAR MR. QUAAL: Thank you for your letter of February 15 outlining the position of WGN Broadcasting Co. with regard to the U.S. Army paid broadcast test. We understand your decision to continue to classify our client as a public service advertiser. However, so you may fully understand our problem, let me spend a moment highlighting the events that have led the Army to undertake this test. The problem today, is that the number of young men volunteering for the Army has declined. Besides an unpopular involvement of U.S. forces in South East Asia, the new lottery draft system has removed the "fear" of the draft from large numbers of eligible men 17-21. Both have had a depressing effect on enlistments. N. W. Ayer's assignment is to reverse the current enlistment trend as the first step toward determining the feasibility of an all volunteer Army (or zero draft if you will). We respect the difficulty of the assignment. In spite of the fine cooperation of WGN and hundreds of other broadcasters around the country in airing Army commercials on a public service basis the total "pressure" of the advertising, including the paid print effort is not meeting current enlistment goals. For this reason we as professionals would be remiss in not suggesting the testing of the full power of broadcast media on a sharply controlled and scheduled basis. I'm sure you would agree that to achieve maximum effectiveness in broadcast requires the purchase of time. This is what the test is all about. We appreciate your offer to continue to air Army commercials on a public service basis during our paid test. It will help our overall effort. I will see that our production people furnish the new commercials that we will be using starting March 1, 1971, to your stations as quickly as possible. In this connection to give us and our client an indication of the total exposure given by your stations, it will be helpful to have monthly reports sent covering the number of spots by time period during March, April and May. Thanking you again for your letter and best regards. I remain, Yours truly, JOHN F. COVERLEY-SMITH. WGN CONTINENTAL BROADCASTING Co., MR. JOHN F. COVERLEY-SMITH, DEAR MR. COVERLEY-SMITH: Thank you for your good letter in regard to my comments on our policy position on the paid broadcast "test" of the recruiting service of the United States Army. Certainly we respect your efforts in this regard, Mr. Coverley-Smith, and we understand the professional intent involved, but we cannot alter our policy to accept these spots on anything but a public service basis. We are very happy indeed to supply you with a statement each month on the number of spots and their position in our schedule for March, April and May. Such reports will be furnished to you by Mr. Eugene Filip, Manager of Public Affairs, WGN and WGN Television, Chicago. With kindest personal regards and my gratitude for your understanding. Very sincerely, WARD L. QUAAL. Mr. VAN DEERLIN. Also I have had personal correspondence with Mr. Quaal and Mr. Donald McGannon of Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., Inc. I will include these letters for the record as well. In his letter addressed to me, Mr. McGannon says: We were contacted by the Advertising Agency in this matter and, in turn, were asked to submit availabilities for announcements covering the subject area. It had long been policy that announcements concerning public service issues, and this includes certain public informational activities of government at all levels, should be handled on a non-payment public service basis. We follow this approach in the presentation of religious programming and also in the presentation of controversial issues. As a consequence, we declined the schedule for the reason stated and indicated to the agency that we would carry an adequate number of recruitment announcements for the Army but on a no-charge public service basis. This is a new element now introduced by Mr. McGannon's letter about which I would like to question you. He says: A new and additional element of this program which subsequently developed, but was not controlling in our decision, was the fact that the agency indicated that it did not plan to purchase time on our three all-news radio stations in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia because they did not want these announcements to be in proximity to casualty reports. (The letters referred to follow :) GROUP W, WESTINGHOUSE BROADCASTING CO., INC., HON. LIONEL VAN DEERLIN, Member of Congress, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN VAN DEERLIN: I have received correspondence from your office and have had a telephone conversation with your Administrative Assistant concerning H. Con. Res. 215 and especially concerning the recent undertaking by the United States Army to purchase time on radio and television stations for recruitment purposes. We were contacted by the Advertising Agency in this matter and, in turn, were asked to submit availabilities for announcements covering the subject area. It had long been our policy that announcements concerning public service issues, and this includes certain public informational activities of government at all levels, should be handled on a non-payment public service basis. We follow this approach in the presentation of religious programming and also in the presentation of controversial issues. As a consequence, we declined the schedule for the reason stated and indicated to the Agency that we would carry an adequate number of recruitment announcements for the Army but on a no-charge public service basis. A new and additional element of this program which subsequently developed but was not controlling in our decision, was the fact that the Agency indicated that it did not plan to purchase time on our three all-news radio stations in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia because they did not want these announcements to be in proximity to casualty reports. A similar condition was placed on the purchase of time on our standard format radio stations requiring a 15 minute separation from any news broadcast in presenting the recruitment announcements. We also had a concern that an imbalance would be created if one of the services had a substantially larger campaign than the other three because of the availability of a budget. Our public service announcements will be the same for all 4 services in frequency and placement. I regret that I could not present these views to you and the Committee in person but a commitment to be out of town on both hearing days, undertaken several weeks ago, prevented this. If I or our company can be of any further help to you in this connection, please advise. Kindest regards. DONALD H. MCGANNON, President and Chairman of the Board. HON. LIONEL VAN DEERLIN, WGN CONTINENTAL BROADCASTING Co.. MY DEAR MR. VAN DEERLIN: In recent weeks you and I have had an opportunity to discuss by phone and through the mails, the policy decision of WGN Continental in regard to the Army recruitment spots. Mr. Van Deerlin, our policy in refusing commercial acceptance of same is really nothing new in the way of a business posture at our company, but rather an extension of a theme of operations which are of long standing. Mr. Van Deerlin, we are licensed to serve the public and, indeed, everything we do comes within the general "framework" of that rather vague phrase mentioned in Section 303 and thirteen other times in the Communications Act of 1934 as amended. I refer to "the public interest, convenience and necessity." It would seem to me, Mr. Van Deerlin, as one who loves his country, that one of our responsibilities is to keep America "strong" and that means from "within" and "without" and that includes military preparedness and all that is associated with it. Therefore, I just can not see the propriety of taking dollars from the taxpayers to recruit men to wear the uniform of our beloved land. I am enclosing herewith, my exchange with Mr. John Coverly-Smith of the N. W. Ayer agency, Philadelphia. Kindly note that in refusing to accept these recruitment spots on a commercial basis I offer to present them in the public interest, free of charge. Not only have I kept this promise but I have seen to it that my people, at each of our broadcasting properties, have given prominent position throughout the broadcast schedule to these Army recruitment messages. Also, we will report to Mr. Coverly-Smith on a monthly basis as to the frequency and the position of these spots in behalf of the U.S. Army. Finally, let me say, as the president of several prominent broadcasting companies, that if the efforts of the U.S. Army are to be emulated by other ele |