\\'v) kr \VA1\Ao, 1° 9I thia 9d444e JOLLY JOE KELLEY PAN AMERICAN SLO 'N' EZY CORWIN RIDDELL HE "JAM PANTRY" FOUR PICTURE PAGES CAMERA CONTEST SONG OF THE MONTH and scores of other interest- ing stories and pictures left: Lost John, star cf the WSB Crossroad Frolics THE ONLY MAGAZINE PUBLISHED EXCLU- SIVELY FOR RURAL LISTENERS Vol, 2, No. 2 Ten Cents M A R C H 1 9 3 9 posed radio talk. He is well within his rights to close his facilities to any speaker who refuses to 1939 MARCH 1939 submit it. He is well within his rights to refuse to SUN MON broadcast a speech plainly calculated or likely to TUE WED THU FRI SAT stir up religious prejudice and strife. Such action is merely an act of good stewardship, I 2 3 4 distinctly in the public interest, and is not an abridg- IO ment of the right of free speech. The situation 5 6 7 8 9 II parallels the example once given by the late Justice 16 17 18 Oliver Wendell Holmes of the United States Su- 12 13 14 15 preme Court, where he declared that free speech did not give a man the right to yell "fire" in a crowded 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 theatre. 31 The responsibility to accept or to reject broadcast 26 27 28 29 30 material is one placed squarely on the shoulders of the American broadcaster. It is up to him to evalu- ate what is and what is not in the public interest. MOON'S PHASES: Full Moon, Mar. 5th; Last Quarter, This responsibility the American people have dele- 12th; New Moon, 20th; First Quarter, 28th. gated to him in his license to operate a radio station. HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS: No major holidays or fes- The National Association of Broadcasters will de- vals in March. fend his right to discharge that responsibility. BIRTHSTONE: Bloodstone, symbol of courage and truth- fulness. This Month's Story Harvest "ABUSE OF FREE SPEECH" STORIES PAGE By NEVILLE MILLER Found: One Lost Boyhood 3 President, National Association of Broadcasters By Margaret Joslyn Radio Broadcast Revels in Romance of the RADIO has become a new force of tremendous -5 power and influence in our life. It must be Rails 4 not subjected By Jack Harris used in the public interest and Ezy to irresponsible abuse. Slo 'n' Start Weakly Bull -A -Ton 6 The problem which we confront today By Dick Jordan particular Who Was Lady X" 7 is that of preserving the precious right of freedom of speech. However, the same Constitution which By Walter Zahrt guaranteed us freedom of speech, also guaranteed In Radioland with the Shutins 9 other rights, such as freedom of religion, and in By Ernest Rogers protecting one right we must not violate other rights. Former Coal Miner Wins Fame 11 The right of free speech is a right which extends By Harold Halpern to every American citizen. It is a right which He Soared to Radio Heights but Never Had broadcasters interpret as one requiring that equal an Audition 19 opportunity be available for the expression of honest By Edythe Dixon divergence of opinion. But in administering this Bob Ripley Meets the Mayor of Hell 20-21 responsibility, we must also be cognizant of the fact By Martin Rackin that radio by its very nature reaches all classes of RURAL RADIO ROUND-UP our fellow citizens, regardless of race, religion or conviction, and that there is no obligation to broad- Four Picture Pages 14 -17 cast a speech which plays on religious bigotry, which stirs up religious or racial prejudice or hatred. ARTICLES Such a speech is an abuse of the privilege of free The Jam Pantry 8 speech and unworthy of American radio. By William Jolesch It must also be recognized that broadcasters are Shining Up to Rusty 10 responsible under the law of our land for anything Out of the Storm to You 10 that may be said over their facilities which is libel- By Al Sisson ous or slanderous. In a number of instances suits The Radio and Religion 18 have been filed and judgments have been rendered By Dr. Frederick R. Reissig against broadcasters in favor of the aggrieved, New Radio Series Glorifies Democracy 18 where libel or slander was proved. These decisions Radio's Meaning Told in Prize- Winning Letters 26 have placed the responsibility for libel or slander squarely upon the broadcaster. DEPARTMENTS No obligation of free speech or of public service Editorials 12 could justify broadcasters in allowing this great new Cartoon 13 social force to strike at the harmony of the nation. School Lunches, a Daily Problem 22 In a country of many races and many religions By Marion Marshall amicably dwelling together, broadcasts inciting Song of the Month, "Sleepy Mississippi Moon" 23 racial and religious hatred are an evil not to be By Louisiana Lou tolerated. In these troubled times throughout the Camera Contest 24 world, there is a great need for national unity. R.F.D. -The Readers' Mailbox 25 And in the hearts of the vast majority of our people Fashion Page 27 I believe there is a great yearning for unity. Program Schedules 28 The responsibility for the content of programs Over the Cracker Barrel 29 rests upon the broadcaster; to determine what is Strictly Personal 30 in the public interest requires the exercise of an in- By George Hay formed and mature judgment. He is well within Family Gossip 31 his rights to demand an advance copy of any pro- By Peggy Stewart .,,,,; VOL. 2, NO. 2 MARCH, 1939 Found: One Lost Boyhood Joe Kelly missed a lot as a boy, but he's making up for it now in a big way By MARGARET JOSLYN MANY years ago, so the story was to be billed as the Irish nightin- goes, a little boy spent all his gale. spare time standing in front As a child, Joe never had time to of a department store win- play like other children. He was too dow, his nose flattened against the busy earning his own way and helping glass, gazing passionately at a red his mother. toy train. During all his boyhood, Joe was the The little boy thought about the breadwinner, serious, self-sufficient, train at night, prayed for it in church, with no time to play. The vaudevil- and wished for it on white horses, lians were kind to him, but they first robins and lost hairpins. His treated him like a grown -up. He sym- parents said he could buy the train pathized with the xylophone player if he saved enough money for it out of when his wife nagged him and com- his paper route earnings after paying forted the acrobats when the laundry "JOLLY JOE" KELLY, WLS for his shoes and school books, but shrank their tights. He never had A great favorite with children, Jolly somehow, Joe is shown Just as he was trying there was never any money time to read about tin woodmen or get dog to bark into a mike. left over; the years passed, and pretty talking rabbits; and he'd barely poke to a soon he was too old for a red toy his nose into the land of make -believe train. He grew up to be one of the before he'd be yanked out of it again his program, Joe recaptures all the richest bankers in the United States, by a curtain call. fun that passed him by when he was but naturally he never bought himself Sometimes, before his matinees, he a grave little boy bearing the responsi- a toy train, because that would be stood on the corner by the schoolhouse bility of family finances. silly. But always, even when he was and watched the shrieking, laughing "Call it the law of compensation," sixty, the sight of one filled him with children pouring home to their noon says Joe. the deepest unhappiness and anger. dinners. Joe thought it would be pret- Life has returned to me what I The moral of this story, it is said, ty fine to sit down before a red checked missed many times over," he adds. is what you lose in your childhood, tablecloth in a big cheerful kitchen at In all the thousands of homes I drop you lose forever. mealtime - instead o f restaurant in on over the air, I kind of feel like But Jolly Joe says "NO." Jolly counters. He thought it would be fun, one of the family." Joe, who, with his Pet Pals Club has too, to walk between a mother and a Joe is married and has one son, delighted youngsters for many years father on a Sunday afternoon. How= Junior, who has high hopes of becom- over Radio Station WLS, has found ever, even at that early age he didn't ing a sports announcer. His father as a grown -up what he lost as a child. indulge in any self -pity, he just says the boy is good, too. Every morning, from 7:45-8:00, he thought family life would be fun - Joe has been with Station WLS for re- discovers his boyhood. that's all. the past seven years, and has acted as Thirty years ago, when he was a Funny papers on the living room Jolly Joe on the Coco Wheats pro- very small boy, he went out into the floor while Sunday dinner simmered gram. sponsored by Little Crow Mill- world to make his fame and fortune.