Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16: No. 1 11 FCC Warns on Controversies: Metropolitan Bcstg. Co. has won FCC approval of 3 station sales but it also received a warning for its handling of “controversial issues.” And by implication, the Commission served notice to the industry that it is strongly resuscitating its policy covering controversial programs. It isn’t enough, the Commission said, for a station to accede to demands for opportunities to dispute positions taken by others in broadcasts; the station must actually seek out & present such opposing views, whether anyone requests time to present them or not. The Commission approved Metropolitan’s purchase of KOVRTV (Ch. 13) Stockton, WTVH (Ch. 19) Peoria and WIP & WIP-FM Philadelphia, Comr. Bartley dissenting. Accompanying the actions was a letter, to which Chmn. Doerfer dissented, chastising Metropolitan for its handling of 2 labor programs. The first was the Kohler strike case (Vol. 14:16 p6 et seq.). WTTG Washington had made kines of a Senate hearing, and the National Assn, of Manufacturers distributed them gratis to a number of stations. WTTG didn’t identify the donor, and many stations telecast the kines without announcing the source. After a complaint by AFL-CIO, the Commission warned the stations that their failure to seek out the source was “a serious matter.” Last week, the Commission told Metropolitan its failure to inform the stations was “a serious omission.” The 2nd case involved the Aug. 25, 1959 telecast on WTTG & WNEW-TV N.Y. of Special Report on Labor Corruption, an interview by Matthew Warren of 2 senators. The program, FCC said, “lent support to the advisability of the Congress enacting one labor bill as against the other.” AFL-CIO complained about it. FCC noted that AFL-CIO representatives were given a private viewing of the program before it was telecast but that no request was made for an opportunity to present opposing views. Nevertheless, the Commission said, the stations had the duty of presenting opposing views anyway. Therefore, it concluded: “It is expected that in the future operations of all of your stations you will be guided by the views which we have set forth above. The material before the Commission is being associated with the files on said stations for such consideration as their future operations may warrant.” Three applications for new TV stations were filed with the FCC last week: For Ch. 12, Lamar, Colo., by Televents Inc., same group which filed for Gallup, N.M. recently; for Ch. 9 Wausau, Wis., by local group headed by W. A. Baumgardt, which also operates a CATV system there; for Ch. 18, Ogden, Utah, by the Weber County school district. Total now on file is 113 (19 uhf). WTMA-TV (Ch. 4) Charleston, S.C., which had fall target, has been delayed by lack of steel for construction, according to Pres. Charles Smith. It will be an ABC-TV affiliate. New board member & stockholder is Douglas L. Manship, pres.-gen. mgr. of WBRZ Baton Rouge (WJBO). Facility changes: WSPD-TV (Ch. 13) Toledo, 0. began using new 1039-ft. tower in Oregon, 0. Nov. 22. WVUE (Ch. 13) New Orleans boosted power Oct. 21 to 250-kw using directional antenna. WKYT (Ch. 27) Lexington, Ky., boosted power Dec. 8 to 215 kw. KALB-TV (Ch. 5) Alexandria, La. went to 100 kw. Dec. 9. Address of George P. Adair Engineering Co., Washington consulting engineers, should be corrected on page 362 of the TV Factbook No. 29 to read: 1610 Eye St. N.W. Public Plea for Uhf: The case for uhf was recently presented in an unusual series of folksy nighttime telecasts by Springfield (Mass.) TV Bcstg. Corp. Pres. William L. Putnam (WWLP Springfield, WRLP Greenfield, WWOR Worcester). His 4-part plea traced the development, trials and tribulations of uhf, blasted vhf operators who oppose it, scolded FCC for dragging its uhf feet, and told listeners they were TV-starved with vhf. “There are today a total of 430 commercial stations operating on the 12 old channels [vhf] throughout the U.S.,” Putnam declared. “There are 70 of the new channels [uhf], yet there are only 74 stations operating on these channels because of the economic problems [described previously]. These 70 new channels if fully utilized would allow a local TV service in countless communities.” Putnam explained to his viewers that he is able to operate 2 well-equipped, well-programmed uhf stations profitably on a rate card of $700. “Now if we can run 2 stations with all the high quality & expensive local & live programming that we do on a rate card of $700, then it shouldn’t be too difficult for anyone else to do the same kind of thing on one station ... It is possible to operate a TV station happily & successfully at a $700 figure . . . In Boston there are 3 commercial TV stations wdth a combined time charge of $8,400,” he noted. “If you divide this figure by $700 you come up with income for 12 stations. This means that within the area which those 3 Boston stations are able to cover with their present high power & consequent strong earnings there are 9 unbuilt TV stations & 9 communities that have no support for their United Funds, hospital drives and other local charities, and 9 communities which have no local [TV] service.” Putnam closed his serialized uhf plea with a recommendation: “There lies waiting such a simple solution that it is almost childlike. Why cannot the federal govt, require all TV broadcasters now using one of the old channels [vhf] to switch over to one of the new channels [uhf] of which there are 6 times as many available ? Then all these problems would gradually disappear and you the public would get all . . . local . . . service you deserve.” Site-move of KSWO-TV (Ch. 7) Lawton, Okla. was approved by FCC as it made effective immediately the initial decision recommending dismissal of the “economic injury” protest filed by KFDX-TV (Ch. 3) Wichita Falls (Vol. 15:48 p7). KSWO-TV is moving from 4 miles east of Lawton to a point 32 miles from Lawton & 24 miles from Wichita Falls. It is also increasing its power from 9.12 kw to 316 kw, height from 540 ft. to 1,050 ft. Radio KJBS San Francisco has been sold in a leaseoption deal aggregating $1,125,000 over an 8-year period, by Dolph-Pettey interests to a group headed by West Coast consultant W. R. Twining and including: L. Ray Rhodes, vp & San Francisco mgr. of Paul Raymer Co.; Gil Paltridge, ex-mgr. of KROW Oakland & KGO San Francisco; A. J. Krisik, owner of KNGS Hanford & KFIV Modesto; Ted Wolf, KFIV vp; Washington management consultant William T. Stubblefield. Control of WLOF-TV (Ch. 9) Orlando is now in the hands of Joseph L. Brechner, FCC approving his $350,000 purchase of John W. Kluge’s 24.67% to add to his 17% (Vol. 15:42 plO). KCPX-TV Salt Lake City, recently acquired by Columbia Pictures (Vol. 15:50 p6) has installed & placed into operation 2 Ampex recorders.