KABC, KFJ2P

KABC, KFJZ

Blond, bulky Elliott Roosevelt has been the most criticized of all Franklin Roosevelt's children. He was the first divorced, first to work for Hearst. He has twice been named in Congressional discussions of aviation scandals. And he has whisked from high-paid job to high-paid job with an ease accountable only by his birth. All of which has earned him a fairly general repute as a "problem child." Certainly Elliott Roosevelt's career is a prime example of a problem which very few men have to face--how to live a normal life when your father is President. Last week, having spent five years trying to solve the problem by working for others, 26-year-old Elliott squared off on another tack and prepared to go into business for himself.

Having been routed from the advertising business by the surpassing eagerness of industries to become his clients, and from the aviation industry by the clamor which attended several deals attributed to him, Son Roosevelt has lately been more or less quietly employed as vice-president of Hearst Radio, Inc. in charge of its four southwest stations in Texas and Oklahoma. In addition he is president of Hearst-owned KTSA Broadcasting Co. in San Antonio. Reputedly drawing down $10,000 a year, he has lived in Fort Worth, home town of his present wife, the onetime Ruth Googins. Last June, as quietly as possible, Mrs. Ruth Googins Roosevelt contracted in her own name to buy the dinky loo-watt Station KFJZ at Fort Worth. Last month, Elliott himself drove unheralded to San Antonio, sipped a highball, autographed a legal document and thereby contracted in his own name to buy another 100-watter, (250 watts in the daytime) Station KABC at San Antonio. Both deals are subject to approval. by the Federal Radio Communications Commission which last week held its hearing on Station KFJZ.

It is usual for a lawyer to appear at such hearings, but last week Elliott popped up in Washington in his wife's behalf before F.C.C. Examiner George Hill. Since the transfer of the station from R. S. Bishop, its present owner, was unopposed, the hearing lasted but a couple of hours. Radioman Roosevelt testified that the purchase price was $57,000, $12,500 of which had been placed in escrow, the rest payable when the F.C.C. makes its decision; that KFJZ was being bought by his wife, but that under Texas law husband and wife share jointly in estate and income; that Ruth Googins Roosevelt is worth $99,500; that he has an income "in excess of $20,000"; that his wife planned to spend $60,000 making KFJZ one of the finest small stations in the U. S. in the next three years. Asked after the hearing how he thought he would fare, Radioman Roosevelt avowed: "All right, I guess. But then maybe not. My name's Roosevelt and the commission may decide to make an example of me."

No hearing is yet scheduled to approve the purchase of KABC for $55,000, but when and if the F.C.C. does approve both deals, the two stations will presumably be taken over by the Frontier Broadcasting Co. which was incorporated for $10,000 last month by Mr. & Mrs. Roosevelt and an experienced broadcasting man named Harry Alexander Hutchinson. "Hutch," an extremely reticent Arkansan of 38, lanky, suave, slick-haired, has been in the radio business for 14 years, most recently with Hearst Radio, Inc. He will be general manager of the, new chain.

Hundred-watt stations are penny-antes in the gigantic game of radio, and opinion was divided last week whether Elliott can make much money from them. KABC, for example, is housed in an unimpressive seven-room suite, plays many phonograph records, has only one specialty--night baseball broadcasting. It has made a little money. As for KFJZ, Elliott last week told the F.C.C. that his wife knows everyone in Fort Worth and that the station's business is already increasing in anticipation of her ownership.

More interesting to Texans last week was the question of whether Hearst, is involved in the deals. Elliott Roosevelt is continuing in his berth at Hearst Radio, Inc., and local radiomen in Fort Worth and San Antonio last week freely declared they thought he was merely acting as a front for William Randolph Hearst. According to Elliott's friends, however, the move represents an attempt to free himself from the exploitation of his name which has attended his other business ventures. Asked to clarify the matter last week, Radioman Roosevelt stiffly announced: "The Frontier Broadcasting Co. is being wholly financed by Mr. & Mrs. Elliott Roosevelt. . . . Further plans . . . will be announced as they develop. ..."

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