Radio Station WCIL

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 7, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 1302 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of RADIO STATION WCIL, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 1217 , A. F. L.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 14-RC--813.-Decided November 7, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Milton O.
Talent, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in cofinection- with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit:
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all engineer operators
employed at the Employer's transmitter station at Carbondale, Illi-
nois. The Employer contends that the unit should be expanded to
include engineer announcers and the engineer salesman.
The Employer operates a small radio station with call letters WCIL.
It has a total of 14 employees. Of these, 3 engineer operators and
an engineer supervisor are located at the transmitter station, 11/2
miles from the broadcasting studio in Carbondale, Illinois, where 5
engineer announcers work. In Murphysboro, Illinois, about 8 miles
from Carbondale, the Employer has a "remote" studio that is operated
entirely by an engineer salesman.
The engineer operators keep the transmitter and program logs for
both the AM and FM transmitters, iiiake adjustments on the AM
86 N. L . R. B., No. 145.
1302
RADIO STATION WCIL 1303
transmitter so as to maintain the prescribed antenna current, and
regulate the voltage and radio frequency current in connection with
the FM transmitter. They all have first class licenses issued by the
Federal Communications Commission. They work under the super-
vision of the engineer supervisor.
The engineer announcers, who are not licensed radio operators, work
in the dual capacity of announcers and operators of the console-as
they broadcast, they control the microphone and turntables, and the
volume of sound. While on duty, the engineer announcers are con-
stantly in direct communication with the transmitter station for pur-
poses of technical coordination. They work under the supervision of
the Employer's managing partner.
The engineer operators and engineer announcers have the same
working conditions, vacation, and other benefits. Both groups are
hourly paid, but because the transmitter is 11/z miles from the studio,
the engineer operators are paid 5 cents an hour more than the engineer
announcers. Despite the physical separation of the transmitter station
from the main studio, the record is clear that the engineer operators
and the engineer announcers operate as a small, closely knit group with
common interests and conditions of employment. We believe, there-
fore, that this group should not be divided for purposes of collective
bargaining at this small station. For the foregoing reasons, we find
that the appropriate unit should include all the Employer's engineer
operators and engineer announcers.,'
The engineer salesman who works in and around Murphysboro,
spends 90 percent of his time selling advertising, and 10 percent
announcing "remotes" and handling the technical equipment in that
connection. As his interests are thus clearly distinct from those of the
employees in the unit herein found appropriate, we shall exclude him
from the unit.
Accordingly, we find that all engineer operators and engineer an-
nouncers at the Employer's transmitter station and studio in Carbon-
dale, Illinois, excluding the engineer salesman and supervisors as
defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
1 Matter of Associated Electronic Enterprises , Inc., 80 N. L. R. B. 295 ; Matter of Western
Gateway Broadcasting Corporation, 77 N. L. R. B. 49.
1304 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1217,
A. F. L.