A new radio and TV commercials agreement covering the Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Tri-State locals is up and applicable. January 1, 2005 marked a new era in cooperation in the region. Now agencies and producers can use our talented members in spots beyond our Western Pennsylvania market to reach Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana. So get your marketing plans together to sell your talent on a regional basis.

In place of their former diverse local codes, the three locals have developed unified “made-in, played-in” rates and are working to get the last few signatories to sign on. The CPT (Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Tri-state) Code has many features that will serve our current signatory agencies, clients, and producers very well. It also has attractive incentives to convert non-union work. We all know every producer needs AFTRA talent to give their clients the kind of slick professional spots we’re all proud to make here in Pittsburgh. We’re taking away every excuse they might have not to do just that.

In a nutshell, the new code leans on the national code for verbiage and basic rights for members. More importantly it simplifies the usage fees; and, it offers more options for length of usage. Cable rates have been rolled into a percentage upgrade to overall usage further un-complicating rate calculations.

I’m sure everyone will have a question or two (or four). Give us a call or stop by and pick-up the short version of the code. A short online version is available by clicking HERE.

State Senator Jane Orie , R-North Hills, last month introduced AFTRA’s model bill to ban non-compete clauses in employment contracts of broadcast employees. SB442, titled the “Broadcast Industry Free Market Act”, prohibits broadcast employers from requiring post employment covenants that bar their employees from working for any other station in the market for any period of time. Such non-compete clauses are the norm in the industry and often extend up to a year after employment, even if the employee is terminated or laid off.

	State Senator Jane Orie Click for larger image.

In recent years, similar bans on non-competes in broadcasting have passed in seven states and the District of Columbia. California bans non-competes in all industries. One branch of Kentucky’s legislature passed a similar measure in February. Proposals have been introduced, but failed, in other states, including North Carolina, New Jersey, and Maryland.

SB442 has been referred to the Senate Labor and Industry Committee. This month, AFTRA members and supporters from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia traveled to Harrisburg to meet with committee members about the bill.

Longtime AFTRA member Alan Boal made the trip. “I was encouraged by our meeting with Committee Chair Senator Joe Scarnati (R-McKean County),” says Boal. “I believe he’ll move the bill for a vote in the near future and it has bi-partisan support.”

Senate committee members from the Pittsburgh region include Democrats Jim Ferlo, Sean Logan, and Rich Kasunic. All support the bill and would appreciate hearing from AFTRA members. (See box at right.)

Broadcast managers have already expressed their displeasure about the bill to Orie and no doubt will attempt to kill the bill.

Click here for printable version of the bill.  

Carnegie Mellon University and AFTRA Pittsburgh have signed a one-production deal under the AFTRA/PBS Agreement for two half-hour television projects. The Work of Fifty Men by Lynne Kuemmel will be filmed at WQED studios and Something About Chance by Mary Unser will be shot on location in Pittsburgh. Gregory Lehane directs both pieces. The pieces will air on WQED.

	On the set of “The Work of Fifty Men” with actors Laurie Klatcher, Don Wadsworth, Andrew Gehling, and Demetrius Gross. Click for larger image.

Milan Stitt, head of CMU School of Drama’s dramatic writing program, landed two grants from the Sloan Foundation, who fund projects based on science and technology. A blue ribbon panel chose four scripts out of ten written by MFA playwrights, then Sloan chose the top two. The panelists were Shirley Saldamarco, professor of television production at CMU; John Wells, a CMU alumnus who is the Executive Producer of ER, The West Wing and Third Watch; Susan Dansby, a CMU alumna who writes for As the World Turns; and Chris Fennimore, director of programming at WQED.

Participants include twenty professional actors, some of whom are already AFTRA members. Barbara and Cletus Anderson, two drama faculty who have worked with Pittsburgh director George Romero, are designing the projects. Ed Linder of Linder’s Fine Furniture in McKees Rocks and Corporate Accommodations at the Waterfront have graciously donated resources for the shoot. Saldamarco smiles and says, “I’m always amazed at what you can get just because you ask.”

Saldamarco aimed for a union production from the beginning. She looked at her budget, researched AFTRA rates and called John Haer, Executive Director of the local. Saldamarco is very satisfied with the collaboration. “AFTRA was fantastic. There’s a misconception that it’s a ‘them’ and ‘us’ kind of situation, and it absolutely is not. The union works hard to protect their members, but they also understand the guidelines that are put on me as a producer.”

Saldamarco expects that the majority of CMU students involved in acting, technical work, and administration of the production may eventually join the variety of guilds and unions that are available for entertainment professionals. “This is an excellent opportunity for them to understand how [the union] works.”

Saldamarco loves the collaboration and cooperation inherent in the project. She notes that Pittsburgh suffers from a lack of production that was once plentiful. “This project connects AFTRA and two major Pittsburgh entities : CMU and WQED. We fully expect to continue to acquire grants to do even more,” she explains. “I think this relationship works well for everybody. There’s no reason not to continue.” Haer says that CMU has self-interest in this relationship because of its mission to provide the best learning experience for its students. “It's great that faculty like Shirley embrace that mission and go the extra mile to make it real.”

He points out that AFTRA members benefit by having more opportunity for union work and benefits. Also, student performers get a taste of work under union terms and conditions. Everybody gets at least minimum scale.

“AFTRA is for all performers on recorded media--young and old, veterans and future stars,”

In the summer of 2002, Crystal Manich was an intern at AFTRA Pittsburgh. She graduates this year from CMU’s Masters in Arts Management Program.

Ed King and his wife Wendy created a nightly radio program that was a Pittsburgh institution for almost 21 years. It was KDKA radio’s “Party Line”; a pioneer of the talk show concept. Because technology at the time did not allow callers to be heard on the air, they were heard only by the hosts, who masterfully summarized the listeners’ questions and comments. Subjects ranged from the latest fads and films to literary classics, world history and everything else under the sun.

	Ed and Wendy King Click for larger image.

Ed devised clever quizzes for the listeners with the most popular one call the “Party Pretzel”. The mood of the program was warm and polite without the contentious outbursts and insults of today’s talk radio, but Ed and Wendy’s expertise created some really fascinating radio entertainment.

Ed, a dedicated AFTRAn who served two terms as president and years on the board, was a guiding force in the local. He initiated the local’s highly successful awards dinners, which brought AFTRA members and management and agency people together socially. He also was a delegate to national conventions.

A native of La Crosse, WI, King spent World War II in the Army Air Corps. One of his assignments led to his parachuting into Manchuria on a top-secret intelligence mission. After working in radio in Winston-Salem, NC and at Westinghouse’s WOWO, Fort Wayne, IN, in 1946 Ed moved to the company’s pioneer Pittsburgh station KDKA as a producer and writer. After going on the air with “Party Line” in 1951, he continued his writing duties, turning out documentaries and historical radio dramas which were transcribed for national syndication.

Ed was a true intellectual and voracious reader with what seemed to be total recall of everything he ever read or saw. He was a history buff and had a terrific memory for dates, names, numbers and even sports statistics, yet he communicated his vast knowledge over the air in an unpretentious style, using everyday language that anyone could understand.

His wife Wendy, a native of Ada, Ohio, became co-host of “Party Line” by accident. Ed had started out hosting the program alone, but one night Wendy accompanied him to the station. As she sat in the studio with him during the broadcast, he asked her to comment on some of the callers’ questions. Listeners liked her responses so much that she was made a permanent co-host. “Party Line” continued, as one of Pittsburgh’s most popular radio programs for close to 21 years, until Ed King’s untimely death in 1971 at the age of 50.