Radio: Unto J. Caesar

Seven weeks ago, James Caesar Petrillo, boss of the American Federation of Musicians, warned the U.S. that after July 31, union musicians would make no more records or transcriptions for radio. Two weeks ago he forced NBC to cancel the National High School Orchestra broadcast series, on the grounds that amateurs had no business competing with his professionals (TIME, July 30). Last week it seemed barely possible that the U.S. Government might render unto Caesar Petrillo a small part of what he has long had coming to him—his comeuppance:

> Attorney General Biddle authorized the filing of an injunction suit to break the Petrillo ban on recordings.

> FCC Chairman James Lawrence Fly-called upon Petrillo (and on NBC President Niles Trammell) to explain the ban on the high-school musicians.

> At a press conference, Larry Fly came out solidly against Caesar Petrillo's ban on records, declaring that it "would make it well nigh impossible for the great majority of the small and independent radio stations to operate" and would be "a great impairment to radio broadcasting throughout the country."

Then, when Petrillo told NBC that the union's Grant Park concert in Chicago could not be broadcast this week over one union-offending station in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area, NBC got its back up, didn't broadcast it at all.