NAEB Newsletter (August 1, 1965)

VOL. 30, NO. 8 WASHINGTON, D.C. AUGUST, 1965 NAEB's Samoan ETV Project Draws Attention The Saturday Review for June 19 de¬ voted space to a description of the NAEB Samoa Project. Under the title “Classroom TV Comes To Samoa,” Tom Kaser, educa¬ tion editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, tells of developments on the islands since the first NAEB study team went there in 1961. The article was printed in the Congres¬ sional' Record for June 28, 1965, at the re¬ quest of Senator Frank Church, from Ida¬ ho—native state of Rex Lee, Governor of American Samoa. At its June meeting, the NAEB Board of Directors commended Vernon Bronson, head of the project for NAEB, “for the success- ' ful completion of the first phase of the project to install television as the core of the instructional system in the elementary schools in American Samoa.” NER Plans Nationwide Hookup Plans are afoot for NER member sta¬ tions to broadcast live coverage of the Ger¬ man Parliamentary Elections September 19 via a special transatlantic hookup. This will be the first time educational radio stations around the nation have had such a nation¬ wide connection. Cooperating with NER in the project are Radio Deutsche Welle, Cologne, Germany, Radio New York World Wide in New York City, and Lufthansa. The coverage, approx¬ imately three hours, will feature special re¬ ports, commentaries, and interviews about the election, along with spot reports from contacts in Bonn. Deutsche Welle will also be receiving election results and computer predictions via direct line to the German TV studios located in the Bundestag. USIA Director Appointed Leonard H. Marks has been appointed by President Johnson to replace Carl T. Row¬ an as Director of the USIA. Mr. Marks re¬ cently became a public director of the NAEB and attended the full board meet¬ ings of the NAEB in Columbus. NAEB-ETS Receives Kellogg Grant The ETS Program Service, to facilitate the exchange among ETV stations through¬ out the country of high-quality programs produced by individual stations, will be lo¬ cated at Indiana University. A $344,840 grant to help the service, just received from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, as¬ sures its operation by the fall of 1965. In addition an offer of a generous con¬ tribution of programs and tapes has been received from NET. Last year a grant of $80,000 was made available for the project by the National Home Library Foundation of Washington, D.C. ETV Financing Inadequate, Says NAEB-ETS Report “The financial structure of educational television stations is critical at this time. The urgency is felt by both the licensees and the station managers, and interest is extremely high in moving toward perman¬ ent solutions.” This is one of the conclusions in a new 182-page report issued by NAEB-ETS after seven months of study. The comprehensive report contains analyses of financial state¬ ments of the ninety-five ETV stations on the air at the time of the study—as well as statements, addresses, and recommendations of the project’s kick-off conference in Washington last December. More than two hundred attended the conference, which in¬ cluded representatives of the governing boards of ETV stations as well as station managers. Copies of the report are $2 each, C.O.D. or if payment accompanies order. Send or¬ ders to ETS at the NAEB Washington of¬ fice. Frederick Breitenfeld conducted the proj¬ ect for ETS, under a USOE grant, to try to find ways to improve and stabilize sup¬ port of ETV stations. The group that met in Washington recommended that support be found for additional national program resources and a means for national program exchange among ETV stations. Plans will be announced shortly for es¬ tablishment of the ETS Program Service, to be supported initially by about $500,003 in grants from foundations and other pri¬ vate sources. This is a direct result of the conference recommendation. Among other recommendations were these: appointment of a national commis¬ sion or committee to study ETV and sug¬ gest courses of action for its future devel¬ opment ; and giving immediate encourage¬ ment to plans for further development of regional networks, since regional and na¬ tional interconnection will be vital to the future of the medium. NAEB Files Comments with FCC on CATV The NAEB supported the FCC conclusion that “while CATV systems are capable of making a valuable contribution toward the achievement of expanded television recep¬ tion service, it is of the utmost importance to the over-all public interest that extension of the Table of Assignments by auxiliary distribution means are accomplished on a fair and orderly basis, and that CATV systems and television broadcast facilities have complementary rather than conflicting roles. The distribution of multiple reception services through CATV cannot be permitted to curtail the viability of existing local service or to inhibit the growth of potential service by new broadcast facilities.” The NAEB stated that, while the FCC framed its conclusion primarily concerning com¬ mercial TV stations, it applies equally to the educational TV service. The NAEB comments pointed out the danger that individuals and organizations might be less likely to lend full support to a local ETV station if they could obtain adequate ETV service from CATV. After detailed comments on many other factors involved in the CATV problem, the NAEB statement concluded that ETV sta¬ tions on the whole favor CATV develop¬ ment—but that some form of regulation may be necessary to prevent indiscriminate and unauthorized use of ETV materials to the detriment of local ETV stations. The statement recommended that FCC rules be flexible “to permit local accommodation to CATV in the manner best suited for the particular situation.” The policy statement resulted from exten¬ sive study and several meetings of the ETS CATV committee. 1