Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 17, Number 2, DeMotte, Jasper County, 29 November 1946 — RADIO STARS STUDY OFFER OF COMPANIES [ARTICLE]

RADIO STARS STUDY OFFER OF COMPANIES

Theatened Strike fails To Materialize As Attempt Is Made To Negotiate Dispute New York, Nov. 25—Officials of the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFL) who have threatened a strike against the four major radio networks met today to consider a new offer by the broadcasting companies seeking to avert a walk-out. A Reported noon (EST) strike deadline on the four networks passed without a walk-out by AF RA members. But all indications pointed to the fact that preparations had been made for a strike. A union spokesman denied that members, who include such stars as Jack Benny, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, were told to stand by for the reported noon strike call. However, at one New York radio station an AFRA member was told to stand by for a signal at noon, and at another station a strike captain was told to recheck picket lists. Reject Offer Executives of AFRA met briefly with the network heads before noon and rejected the latest coun-ter-offer given to them by the broadcasting companies on Friday. Then AFRA executive members met separately, apparently considering another offer by the companies. The four networks are National Broadcasting company, Columbia Broadcasting system, American Broadcasting company and the Mutual Broadcasting system. An AFRA spokesman said it “is not true that AFRA has scheduled a strike for noon today.” “I cannot deny that a strike date may have been set in the minds of the union executives,” the spokesman said, ‘but no date and hour for a strike has been passed out to union members. “We told the network we would meet them to negotiate today, and we are doing just that. How can we call a strike before we talk to the networkers?” All four networks said they did not know that a strike deadline for noon definitely had been set. In event of a strike, however, all said they would attempt to carry on with administrative personnel. AFRA has 10,000 union members, among them many of the nation’s most prominent singers, actors and announcers. The president of AFRA is Ken Carpenter, NBC announcer who succeeded Lawrence Tibbett who had been president for five years.