Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1952)

5 All this excludes radio, also still quite profitable, though treated only passingly in article. WTMJ-TV gross and net are running well ahead of WTMJ-AM. WTMJ-TV's capital investment was $630,000, minus land and original building — broken down as follows: operating equipment (cameras, projectors, etc.), $595,500 ; truck & auto, $11,000; office equipment & appliances, $2500; shop equipment, $3500; building equipment, improvements (addition), $197,500; land improvements, $6000; original 300-ft. tower, $14,000. Future commitments include 1000-ft. tower, $292,000; antenna, $90,000; diplexer, $16,000; transmitter, $146,000; provision for color, $100,000; emergencies, $10,000 — for total of $654,000. fFor value of WTMJ-TV equipment at current prices, and for item on Walter Damm's building economy methods, see below.] FORTUNE article on WTMJ-TV contains many anecdotes about “obstreperous, cantankerous, bull-headed, rambunctious” Walter Damm, his “unlovable money-saving foibles” and his hard bargaining with networks — but it contains one paragraph particularly worth repeating to those contemplating new construction. It relates some of the economies and efficiencies he practiced in building his $834,000 Radio City, out 3 miles from downtown Milwaukee (where there’s plenty of room to expand and to park, and it’s quiet) : “Radio City is not only a good studio-and-office building but a monument to Damm’s passion for efficiency and economy. The halls, for instance, are walled in glazed tile, reminding some of a swimming pool, others of a squared-off Holland Tunnel. The practical fact is that they will never need painting and can be cleaned with a damp cloth. In the locker rooms, locker tops are slanted so that nothing can be left on them to accumulate dirt that will require removal. The space between locker bottoms and floor has been sealed off for the same reason. The building has no telephone switchboard because it is cheaper to rent part use of the one at the Journal. The building is heated in sections so fuel won’t be wasted to warm rooms not in use. At 5:30 each afternoon the temperature automatically drops, so that those who stay late push a button to keep their offices habitable. There is a special room with temperature-and-humidity control for storing musical instruments. This is good for the instruments, and it saves timing time, which is paid for by the station.” SEN. JOHNSON rips so vigorously into Sen. Benton’s bill to establish a national TV-radio advisory board (Vol. 7:22,33,36,41), in Variety’s Jan. 2 anniversary issue, that bill’s chances of getting through Johnson’s Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee during comingsession of Congress appear to be reduced to nil. “No matter how glowing or appealing it may appear at first flush,” Sen. Johnson writes, “the Board suggested for the radio and TV field, stripped of its glitter, becomes a sort of snooperduper Monday-morning-quarterback society to be superimposed upon the FCC and the radio and TV industry. “In spite of the assurances that the Boaid would be purely advisory, how would the Commission dare to ignore its recommendations? How long would such a Board be satisfied to remain merely advisory? . . . Would a licensee, in order to ‘play it safe,’ feel compelled to submit his program in advance to the Board? And why not? This, I submit, is gross Government interference! This, I submit, is Federal censorship! The FCC is able, and has sufficient authority, to clear up what gross deficiencies currently prevail . . . “In the final analysis all the Government crackdowns, TV Gadgets Come High WTMJ-TV Equipment at Current Prices (Reproduced from January Fortune; see story, pages 4-5.) VIDEO 8 camera chains (4 studio chains @ $15,300 ea., 4 field chains @ $15,700 ea.) $124 000 Tripods, tilt heads, camera pedestals 8^700 Zoomar lens and additional lenses lo’ooo $142 700 3 synchronizing generators (2 field @ $5,200 ea„ 1 studio @ $4,600) 15,000 Associated control, monitor and synchronizing distribution system 30,000 1 master control equipment 25^000 2 film camera chains @ 10,935 ea _ 21,870 70’000 2 projectors @ $4,750 ea 9,500 1 balop projector ______ 4^000 Miscellaneous film-room equipment, multiplexers and pedestals 1,500 36,870 Mobile unit with power control 13,100 3 relay pickup transmitters @ $12,300 ea. 36,900 AUDIO 50 microphones @ $100 ea 5,000 2 microphone booms @ $2,050 ea 4,100 5 consoles @ $1,800 ea 9,000 6 turntables @ $650 ea 3,900 Other monitoring and recording equipment 3,900 25,900 5-kw transmitter and operating console_ 84,750 Auxiliary and monitoring equipment— 9,750 Side band filter 8,300 Three-element antenna and diplexer 15,000 Transm. lines, dummy load, air dehydrator 10,200 128,000 300-foot tower (including installation, lighting equipment, and painting) 42,000 Test and analytical equipment 25,000 Total $520,470 or restrictive laws or regulations that can be concocted or contrived by the FCC, or Congress, will not be sufficient to assure the type of programming that will satisfy all groups, and at the same time provide the incentive for the development of this art to the unlimited horizons which exist. “I firmly believe that [NARTB’s TV Code] offers a realistic and workable medium for adjusting whatever deficiencies may develop. Personally, I like it the way it is even if the industry’s lawyers are throwing rocks at it . . . I have the utmost faith that the majority of broadcasters are built of solid stuff, and I know they will either correct bad programs through a code or make way for wiser and more prudent men. One cannot legislate honesty. One cannot legislate character or quality. TV deserves the opportunity of expanding without Governmental interference. The American people are entitled to enjoy freedom of expression at its best and the freedom of expression is at its best in radio and TV.” When Sen. Benton first described bill to Johnson’s committee (Vol. 7:22), Sen. Johnson commented that Board might be “of tremendous value to the country” if it wererTt given censorship powers.