Broadcasting (Jan - Jun 1944)

The Only BLUE Network Station Serving the 28th * u. s. Metropolitan District WFMJ Youngstown, O. * J. Walter Thompson Research Dept. PORTLAND, OREGON *KEY TO THE GREAT WEST* 5,000 Watts 620 Kilocycles NBC RED NETWORK Represented Nationally by EDWARD PETRY A CO., Inc. It is not the amount of noise you make that counts in radio. It's what you say and how well you put it over that matters. There are more powerful stations than CHNS in Canada but none with better equipment. For Rates: Apply Station Director CHNS • Lord Nelson Hotel Halifax, Nova Scotia or Joe Weed, New York City recommendations of the industry on all pertinent technical matters. In detail, Dr. Baker described the 13-panel structure of RTPB and the manner in which the board is supported. The three types of panels under RTPB are concerned with (1) spectrum analysis, (2) frequency allocation, (3) very high frequency broadcasting. Their work is interrelated, he pointed out. Dr. Baker didn't feel that there will be a "technical revolution" in radio as a result of advancements due to the war. It will be some time before the full implication of these advances will be evident, he said, and "a long time before the impact of this new knowledge will cause a technical revolution, if ever." "I am of the opinion that we must weigh, and weigh carefully, our responsibilities in the post-war economy, particularly with respect to employment. I think that it is possible to fully exploit all worthwhile technical advances and at the same time fulfill our postwar obligations." Pumphrey Emphasizes FM Listener Interest Results of a four-city survey to discover what the owners of PM sets think of FM, now that they have had a chance to try it, were reported by Preston H. Pumphrey, radio director, Maxon Inc., New York. Questionnaires were sent to 2,857 fans by WGYN New York, WCAU-FM Philadelphia, WENA Detroit and WMFM Milwaukee, and 936 replies were received, a return that shows FM listeners "tremendously interested in the medium," Mr. Pumphrey stated. In each city, he said, the dominant answer to question "What prompted you to buy your FM set," was superior tonal quality, given by 37.8% of those answering. On a national basis, static suppression came second, with 19%, but, he said, "national figures can be misleading. In New York, 32.6% gave static suppression as a reason for buying FM; in Philadelphia it was 9% ; in Milwaukee 7.1% and in Detroit 5.6%. Apparently there are more defective neon signs in New York than in most other parts of the country." Superior programming on FM stations was listed by 36.2% as an important reason for buying FM sets in Philadelphia. In Milwaukee 16.3% gave this reason, but in New York only 2.7% and in Detroit only 5.6% mentioned superior programming. Affirmative responses to the statement, "I bought FM because I wanted the newest in radio," were given by 4.6% in New York and 7.5% in Philadelphia, but in Milwaukee the percentage jumped to 26.1 and in Detroit to 34.7, leading Mr. Pumphrey to wonder whether "keeping up with the Joneses is a more deeply engrained habit in Detroit and Milwaukee than it is in New York and Philadelphia." To the 23% who answered "no"' SUCCESSORS to the post vacated recently by Edwin K. Cohan, former CBS director of general engineering, are Henry Grossman (1), network operations engineer, and William B. Lodge, who will handle CBS's general engineering design and developmental activities [Broadcasting, Jan. 24]. when asked if FM had lived up to their expectations, reasons for the disappointment in New York and Philadelphia were about 54% with FM reproduction and 46% with FM programs, with the situation reversed in the midwestern cities. In terms of the total sample, slightly less than 15% of all FM set owners said that reception was unsatisfactory, Mr. Pumphrey reported, adding that of 16 makes reported on, all but three showed uniformly satisfactory results. Amount of listening varies from city to city, in almost direct proportion to the number of FM stations in each community, he said. Asked what programs they liked best, "their vote was overwhelmingly for musical programs, probably due to the fact that the programs on FM are overwhelmingly musical," he asserted. "Much of the dissatisfaction also was expressed in connection with these same programs; dissatisfaction due to imperfect and worn records whose defects were more easily recognizable on FM transmission than they might have been on a standard broadcasting station." Boutwell Sees FM As Education Aid Concluding speaker on the first day's program, William D. Boutwell, director of Information and Research Services, U. S. Office of Education, stated: "Education sees in FM an opportunity to extend and amplify the present services commercial stations render education on the regular broadcast band." He reported that more than 25 school systems or colleges have submitted applications for FM stations or are preparing them, that 15 state departments of education have asked the Office of Education for plans showing how education radio channels can be used to bring programs to every school in these states, that more than 50 state universities and land grant colleges have named committees to study FM opportunities and that 30 existing college and school board owned stations already have developed practical patterns of educational broadcasting. Commissioner of Education J. W. Studebaker, Mr. Boutwell said, has New CBS Show PILLSBURY FLOUR MILLS Co., Minneapolis, is scheduled to start Grand Central Station on CBS Saturday, 10-10:30 a.m. in late February, subject to time clearance on CBS stations, according to the New York office of McCann-Erickson, agency in charge. Featuring human interest dramas centering around New York's Grand Central Station, the program has been sponsored successively bv Lambert Pharmacal Co. on CBS for Listerine from 1937-1940, and by Lever Bros, on NBC-Blue for Listerine 1940-1942. Since its last network program Clara, Lu, and Em, discontinued on CBS in 1942, Pillsbury has been using spot radio. KFEL Denver has celebrated its 22d year of continuous operation. Although on the air under temporary authority since 1922, KFEL was granted its first license Jan. 4, 1923. requested the FCC to increase the educational FM band to provide three times the number of 200-kc channels currently available, that this increased educational band be adjacent to the commercial FM band, that regional and statewide allocation bands be formulated as a guide for assigning frequencies to educational station applicants; that 10 relay transmission frequencies be given to education to aid the exchange of programs among educational stations operating on a statewide network basis, and that at least two television channels be reserved for educational use. NO EVEN ON SATURDAY NIGHT! t be practically No 8uh, tre »«* ^ reception smelly, so tar concerned. in Bath (Kentucky)^ ^ tucky "towns ,v*o dUere xitory.Allvrecl^ ^ i9 the Lou^e ^ the whichwecover e BC8ta. stronger sig»al« ^% ap tion onthe a.r. j of value, Pa«»tly Perusers keep our because advert wa9hed availability P*ac rullWauttocluub 3Ss£ WIBW T'EVto pek5 a Page 62 • January 31, 1944 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising