March 18, 1975 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 7309 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS TRIBUTE TO GROVER COBB Board of the major trade association of the how, spend out way out of both recession broadcast industry-which speaks for radio and inflation. and television stations large and small-as All of this may appear to be good poli­ HON. KEITH G. SEBELIUS well as for all the major networks? Grover tics for the moment, but it is disastrous OF KANSAS Cobb did just that. He was lured away from Great Bend in economics. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1969 by an offer from the Gannett Company Discussing the proposals now before Monday, March 17, 1975 of Rochester, New York, to manage their the Congress, Patrick Buchanan notes broadcast properties. But soon the NAB beck­ that: Mr. SEBELIUS. Mr. Speaker, a week oned again. The call of service to the broad­ Under the House-enacted bill, 4.6 million ago last Friday, the citizens of Great cast industry was one Grover could not re­ Americans would be dropped from the tax Bend, Kans., and people throughout sist. Off he went to Washington in 1971 where rolls, and reassigned to the expanding army Kansas were saddened to learn of the he became Senior Executive Vice President of citizens who pay nothing in federal in­ passing of Grover Oobb, a man who had of the Naticnal Association of Broadcasters. come taxes for the broad and widening array become a legend in the Kansas broad­ He was the broadcasting industry's chief of social benefits they enjoy. spokesman on Capitol Hill as an advocate of casting industry. free broadcasting. An efficient organizer, he Mr. Buchanan points out that: Grover Cobb's personal life and his was persuasive and effective. If he had been a We have been creating a new class in career in the broadcasting industry were lawyer, he surely would have been another America, a vast constituency of millions with such that he touched the lives of many Perry Mason for he was an excellent debater. no vested interest whatsoever in reducing Kansans. In doing so he not only enjoyed If he had been a preacher, he might well the programs and power of government and the personal friendship and admiration have been a Billy Graham for he had the every incentive to support its continued of everyone who knew him but also was a ability to hold an audience with his speeches. growth. leader in his chosen field and truly set The name Grover Cobb probably doesn't mean much to most WIBW listeners and Congress is now planning, through its an example for others to follow. viewers. But to the men and women at the tax measure, to stifle the initiative of I knew Grover Cobb and like many management level of the broadcast industry, business, industry, and our most produc­ others feel a sense of personal loss by the name is gospel. Grover had a history of tive individuals. This is not the pa.th of his untimely death. In paying tribute to heart attacks. But you couldn't hold him economic recovery. It it, instead, a pre­ this man, Thad M. Sandstrom of WffiW down. In true western Kansas style, he died scription for economic stagnation. Radio and TV, a friend and colleague of with his boots on in Washington Friday Mr. Buchanan, in this connection, his, recently broadcast a "memorial" morning. He was 53. Grover suffered a heart notes that: tribute to Grover. Thad said in accurate attack while attending a meeting with the Chairman of the Federal Communications The 1974 rebates and the 1975 tax reduc­ and eloquent terms what Grover's life Commission discussing deregulation of radio tion proposals for individuals were restruc­ meant to him, to his colleagues, and to broadcasting. Ironically, one of those at the tured completely to favor the lower income the people of Kansas. The memorial meeting was Dick Painter, a broadcaster from groups ... The accent of the legislation was tribute follows: Mankato, Minnesota, who used to work for shifted away from savings and toward con­ WIBW EDITORIAL-TRIBUTE TO GROVER COBB Grover at Great Bend. He was at Grover's sumption. As for the most productive and side when the end began. They'll bury Grover successful of Americans . they were left When I arrived for my first radio job as an out in the cold. announcer at KSAL in Salina in 1943, the Cobb today at Great Bend. Some of the -big­ name Grover Cobb was a legend. Grover had gest names in broadcast management from I wish to share Patrick Buchanan's started as an announcer at KSAL in 1939 across America will be there. The industry is going to miss him. Free broadcasting in thoughtful analysis, "Politics of the while a student at Kansas Wesleyan. He went Great Rebate," as it appeared in the Chi­ off to fight in the war, but the folks still America Will be there. The industry is going talked about Grover Cobb. Later while I to miss him. Free Broadcasting in Ainerica cago Tribune of March 6, 1975, with my managed KSEK at Pittsburgh, Grover was is better today because of the things Grover colleagues and insert it into the REcoRD general manager of KVGB at Great Bend. Cobb stood for and did. at this time : In 1951, Grover Cobb took the lead in [From the Chicago Tribune, Mar. 6, 1975] calling together a group of Kansas radio POLITICS OF THE GREAT REBATE broadcasters to talk about the need to form (By Patrick Buchanan) a state broadcasters association. The rally­ THE POLITICS OF THE GREAT ing cry-broadcasts of KU and K-State foot­ REBATE WASHINGTON.-When the emergency tax re­ ball and basketball games. There was on eco­ duction bill arrives on the Senate Hoar, per­ nomically practical way in 1951 to beam a haps the phrase, welfare reform, can be in­ broadcast from Lawrence or Manhattan to HON. PHILIP M. CRANE serted in the title. For the redistribution of wealth, downward, is what much of this $21.3 the outreaches of Kansas at Pittsburg, Great OF ILLINOIS Bend, Garden City and Colby. Everybody bililon worth of "tax relief" is about. nodded in agreement when someone said we IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Under the House-enacted bill, 4.6 million needed to make Ben Ludy, General Manager Monday, March 17, 1975 Ainericans would be dropped from the tax of WIBW, the first president of the Kansas rolls, and reassigned to that expanding army Association of Radio Broadcasters. But every­ Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, the advo­ of citizens who pay nothing in federal in­ body knew in his heart that the first presi­ cates of the tax reduction bill currently come taxes for the broad and Widening array dent should have been Grover Cobb. He served receiving the support of many, perhaps of social benefits they enjoy. as president later-putting the good of the most, Members of Congress argue that We have been creating a new class in association ahead of personal goals. such a tax reduction will help to "prime America, a vast constituency of millions with Grover loved life. He loved the broadcasting no vested interest whatsoever in reducing the the pump" of the economy. It is their programs and power of government, and business. He loved Kansas. He loved his fam­ thesis that returning approximately ily-his wife, Fan, and seven children-four every incentive to support its continued boys and three girls. He loved sports, too. $21.3 billion in tax relief, while keep­ growth. The political and social ramifications Grover, with his sidekick, Bob Hilgendorf, ing spending rates at least at current of this ongoing process, for the future of this used to travel all over the nation broadcast­ levels-and probably at much higher lev­ Republic, have never really been explored. ing the NCAA Basketball Championships on els-will ease our economic difficulties In the final rewrite of the tax bill in the radio whether KU or K-State played or not. and lift us out of our current dilemma House, it was, quite evidently, the ideology We've always suspected the reason was not of concurrent inflation and recession. of the McGovern Wing of the Democratic so much because Grover thought the folks Party which prevailed. This approach represents a fanciful The "negative income tax,"-a subsidy for in Great Bend needed to hear the NCAA finals economic theory. We can continue, its as it was that he wanted to see the games. the nontaxpaying "working poor"-which the Grover's int.erest in the Kansas broadcast­ advocates argue, to spend far more than President had suggested, was seized upon and ers association led to his election in 1964 we have. causing an artificial increase in expanded. The recommended cut in the cor­ to the Board of the National Association of the money supply, which produces infla- porate tax rate fron1 48 per cent to 42 per tion, while producing a still greater ini­ cent was discarded. Broadcasters. He became Chairman of the The 1974 rebates and the 1975 tax reduc­ Board in 1967. Who would dream that a radio balance through tax rebates, and never tion proposals for individuals were restruc­ broadcaster from a small town of Great Bend, have to worry about the consequences. tured, completely, to favor the lower income Kansas, would rise to be Chairman of the According to this notion, we will, some- groups. The 22 per cent oil depletion allow- 7310 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS March 18, 1975 a.nce was repealed.