Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

GOING Swimsuit styling by Catalina More top-name shows are noiv on Ch. 27— to make WKOW-TV's new local film lineup the biggest and brightest in Madison market historyl Every-week favorites like HENNESSEY, starring Jackie Cooper . . . BIOGRAPHY with Mike Wallace . . . TRAILS WEST, brand new to the Madison market. And right across the board, Monday thru Friday, GROUCH O MARX . . . ART LINKLETTER'S PEOPLE ARE FUNNY . . . ADVENTURES IN PARADISE . . . THE REBEL . . . THE RIFLEMAN, with Chuck Connors. And an exciting new format for WKOW-TV's legions of late evening viewers. THE NEW BREED . . . 87TH PRECINCT ... and the starstudded DICK POWELL THEATRE. For participations in these strong local shows — and adjacencies to ABC-TV's exciting new network lineup — now's the time to switch your pitch to WKOW-TV. Why don't you get going on 27? mm Madison, Wis. TONY MOE, Vice-Pres. & Gen. Mgr. Ben Hovel, Gen. Sales Mgr. Larry Bentson, Pres. Joe Floyd, Vice-Pres. represented by Adam Young A fi^/y*I*y*J station broadcaster "Hippocratic Oath." Secondly, he said, the code could continue on its present course of the minimum self-regulation necessary as a defense against the pressures of the public and the government. The latter, he said, is almost wholly defensive — "or to provide a very goodlooking suit to dress up in for public appearances." This is all that many broadcasters want, Governor Collins pointed out. "We must face this squarely: Many in our ranks, including some very good broadcasters, sincerely feel that the best code is the one that looks like the most but actually is the least; one that will provide the least possible impingement upon their rights to do whatever they please without hindrance from any source outside their own individual organization." Broadcasters must make their codes the "champion of the public interest," Governor Collins said later. The "mantle" of protector of the public must be taken away from the government and placed with the broadcasters, who know how to meet the requirements of their audiences better than anyone, he said. The public, he stressed, does not know or understand the dedication of most stations to serve and the codes should be used as a means of giving assurances both as to intentions and actual performances. The NAB president planned to make essentially the same appeal last Friday to the radio code board. No Agreement ■ Mr. Pabst said the TV code board had neither approved nor rejected the president's statement. He said little was known about what Governor Collins has in mind and that the board had hoped for a more welldefined plan for the future. "If you did not expect more, you were not disappointed," he said. Mr. Pabst said the board has not rejected any of the three code approaches presented by the president and is open to all other suggestions. A clear plan will have to wait for the January meeting, at which time he expressed the hope that a new director will be on the job. "Our next meeting will be a real working session," he promised. Notably missing from any detailed discussions at the TV code meeting was ( 1 ) the FCC's rulemaking to set a limit on commercial time with comments due last week (see page 56) and (2) Governor Collins' plans for a December meeting to discuss the problems of TV advertising. On the latter, Mr. Pabst said he did not feel this necessarily comes under the subjects with which the TV code board is concerned. The board last week heard a presentation by Gerald Corwin of Showbiz Inc., producer of a proposed TV program Your Daily Horoscope. Mr. Corwin is seeking code approval for the show on astrology and his attorney said that he had received permission from the code authority to submit additional information. All members of the TV code board were present at last Monday's meeting, as well as code authority executives from the Washington, New York and Hollywood offices. Board members, in addition to Mr. Pabst, are Roger W. Clipp, Triangle Stations; Robert W. Ferguson, wtrf-tv Wheeling, W. Va.; Ernest Lee Jahncke, NBC-TV; Douglas L. Manship, wbrz(tv) Baton Rouge, La.; Joseph H. Ream, CBS-TV; Lawrence H. Rogers II, Taft Broadcasting Co.; Alfred R. Schneider, ABC-TV; and George B. Storer, Storer Broadcasting Co. Defective towers will be replaced The discovery of defects in a batch of steel used in three television towers has delayed the air dates of two of the stations and created the need for replacement of a third tower already in use. The stations are wghp(tv) High Point, N. C, and kend-tv Fargo, N. D., both under construction, and wibw-tv Topeka, Kan., which shifted to a new tower Aug. 30. The steel was supplied by Bethlehem Steel Co. for fabrication and erection by Kline Iron & Steel Co., Columbia, S. C. A Kline workman discovered "internal deviations" in the steel when the Fargo tower, destined to be 2,063 feet high, was at the half-way point of assembly of its sections on the ground. Kline conducted tests on the High Point tower, which was nearing completion, and on the Topeka tower, which was already in use, and found the same imperfections. All three towers had been fabricated from the same Bethlehem production lot. Kline and Bethlehem have agreed to make good. The replacement tower at wghp(tv) High Point has been topped out, and the channel 8 station expects to be on the air by Nov. 15. Its original target date was Oct. 15. As of last week the tower of kend-tv Fargo was one-fourth of the way, up and the station hopes to be in business on channel 1 1 in December. For wibw-tv Topeka, Kline will construct another tower alongside the 1,249foot structure from which the station has been operating since Aug. 30. The duplication of towers will avoid interruption in the station's service. Thad M. Sandstrom, general manager of wibw-tv, said Kline, in acting promptly "to correct fully the problems arising through no fault of their own," had confirmed "the confidence we expressed in this firm's integrity when we originally placed the order for our tower." 70 (THE MEDIA) BROADCASTING, October 7, 19S3