Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

c DECEMBER 12, 1960 Congress HOUSE TV COVERAGE SOUGHT: Emboldened by President-elect Kennedy’s tentative plan to open White House news conferences to live TV (Vol. 16:49 p3), NAB set out last week to break down another Washington barrier to TV & radio newsmen — House rules for committee hearings. Meeting in Washington, NAB’s Freedom of Information Committee headed by Frank P. Fogarty (Meredith Stations) urged that the House line up with the Senate by relaxing long-standing bans against cameras & microphones in hearing rooms. The NAB group said it “deems House committee hearings to be fully as important & newsworthy as those hearings in the Senate which have been covered routinely for years by the broadcasting industry.” It proposed that “this coverage would be handled on a ‘pool’ basis, where necessary because of space limitations, as is the present coverage of Senate committees and special & joint sessions of the 2 houses of Congress.” NAB will have to overcome formidable opposition before it crashes House gates, however. Speaker Rayburn (D-Tex.), a strict traditionalist in the conduct of House affairs, always has been adamant against any photographs or recordings while committees are in session. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s press secy. Pierre Salinger told the Women’s National Press Club in Washington that the President-elect will make his decision on news conference formats before his inauguration Jan. 20. Salinger reiterated that there’s “a possibility” that live broadcasts of conferences will be okayed — perhaps every 5 or 6 weeks, scheduled for 6 or 7 p.m., but he emphasized again that the innovation still was in a “discussion stage,” that “we want to look at all the recommendations & come up with a plan.” Asked at the Press Club meeting whether there will be a Great Debate series on TV again in 1964, Kennedy’s press aide said the question “will have to be studied” at the White House. NAB’s TV vp Charles H. Tower told the Washington Kiwanis Club 3 days later, however, that neither the White House nor the networks will decide whether Presidential candidates will appear together on TV during the next campaign. Scorning talk by Kennedy advisors that an incumbent president shouldn’t “condescend to debate with a mere candidate,” Tower said: “the decision will rest, as indeed it should, with the American people.” Tower was supported by another resolution adopted by the NAB Freedom of Information Committee. It said that during the 1960 campaign, the broadcasting industry had fully demonstrated the ability of TV & radio to handle politics without the equal-time restrictions of the Communications Act. The next step in Congress, the Committee said, should be outright repeal of Sec. 315. Better men are needed in federal regulatory agencies, Chmn. Carroll (D-Colo.) of the Senate Judiciary Administrative Practice & Procedure Subcommittee reiterated last week. Appearing on CBS Radio’s Capital Cloakroom, Carroll said this conclusion was buttressed by testimony at his hearings on perennial problems of govt, commissions & boards (Vol. 16:49 p2). The need for higher-caliber personnel in the agencies had been stressed at the hearings by President-elect Kennedy’s expert James M. Landis, whose pre-inauguration report is due Dec. 15. Equal-time “watchdog” hearings may be held .some time after Christmas, chief counsel Creekmore Fath of the Senate Commerce Freedom of Communications Subcommittee told us last week. He said a decision will be made by the 3-man Subcommittee following the scheduled return Dec. 20 of Sen. McGee (D-Wyo.) from an inspection trip to the Congo. Meanwhile, Fath & Chmn. Yarborough (DTex.), who since the election had been unable to get together with McGee and the 3rd Subcommittee member — Sen. Scott (R-Pa.) — dug through piles of Sec. 315 complaints reported by TV & radio stations (Vol. 16:47 pll). The Subcommittee’s formal report to the Senate on how broadcasters conducted themselves politically during the campaign is due by Jan. 30. A separate report from FCC on the same subject, based on station replies to Sec. 315 questionnaires due Dec. 5 (Vol. 16:49 p6), will be submitted to Senate & House Commerce Committees by March 1. As the deadline for replies passed, some stations still were unheard from, and others hadn’t filled out questionnaires adequately, we were told at FCC. Commission letters to laggards, warning them to respond, will be mailed this week. Election contest between Rep. Moulder (D-Mo.) of the Commerce Committee and Baptist minister Robert Bartel, who apparently lost by a slim margin of absentee ballots (Vol. 16:47 p6), may be carried to the House itself. Republican Bartel said he’ll file a formal protest with the House if Mo. Secy, of State Robert Crawford accepts the absentee votes & certifies the election of Moulder, who was the first Legislative Oversight Subcommittee chairman. Iron Curtain breakthrough has been achieved by the Voice of America in 2 programs broadcast by Radio Moscow under terms of the U.S.-USSR cultural exchange agreement. USIA reported that Soviet listeners heard a taped concert by the Yale U. Russian Chorus Nov. 26 and descriptions of displays at Washington’s National Gallery & Smithsonian Institution Dec. 2. Other VOA tapes in Soviet hands: a performance of “My Fair Lady,” a narrative of a Washington-N.Y. automobile trip. Technology TV satellite sweepstakes’ latest entry is Hughes Aircraft Co. At an American Rocket Society meeting in Washington last week, that company’s engineers demonstrated a small unit — about the size of a hatbox — which they said could do the job for about $15 million, including launching, further development, ground installations, etc. The device is designed to hover over the equator at about 22,000 miles. Hughes doesn’t plan to finance the project; it is seeking backing of govt, or commercial interests. Meanwhile, Bell Telephone Labs’ Dr. John R. Pierce predicted that a TV satellite will be orbited in 2 years. Reviewing research that led to AT&T’s application to FCC to be first in space with an industry owned-&-operated system (Vol. 16:43 pi). Pierce told the Chicago Economic Club that many problems are unsolved yet. Among them: radiation interference, frequency assignments, ownership of facilities. But he was confident his 2-year deadline would be met. Foreign TV came to Southern Rhodesia last month, featuring mainly U.S. film shows. The first African TV station south of the Equator is owned by the govt.’s Federal Bcstg. Corp., with programming supplied by privately-owned Rhodesia TV Ltd., which sells spot announcements only.