Radio: Hot Seat

On the surface, at least, Andrew Russell (“Drew”) Pearson and Robert Sharon (“Bob”) Allen were a team again. A few months ago the two Merry-Go-Roundmen were not speaking, but last week they joined to ask FCC to jerk a radio license from Hearst and give it to them. Neither would discuss their old feud or their new venture. Said redheaded, cavalry-cussing Colonel Allen: “Allen’s relations with Pearson are strictly Allen’s business . . . and he won’t talk.”

The Pearson & Allen petition put FCC on a hot seat it had warmed for others. Last spring, FCC’s now famous “Blue Book” (TIME, March 18) threatened to revoke broadcasting licenses of stations that preferred commercials to programs. As a glaring example, it cited Hearst’s Baltimore station, WBAL, which once broadcast 507 spot commercials in a single week. That is the station Drew and Bob want.

Pearson & Allen will fight Hearst in the open when they air their radio plans in an Oct. 1 hearing. Whatever the outcome, FCC will suffer. If Hearst wins, the Blue Book threat will lose its starch; if Hearst loses, FCC will be accused of knuckling under to Washington’s gossip boys. Said Pearson’s & Allen’s attorney: there is so much interest already in the hearing that “they’re selling tickets.”