Broadcasting (Oct - Dec 1950)

Record Details:

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ONE HIGHLIGHT of radio for the year 1936 was the clear channel and superpower hearings which began Oct. 5. Left photo: The majority of FCC members attended, although the issues were decided by the Broadcast Division (center three). L to r: Thad H. Brown, Anning S. Prall, Judge E. O. Sykes, Norman S. Case, Dr. Irvin Stewart. At right are Paul D. P. Spearman, regional group counsel; I. Z. Buckwalter, Mason-Dixon Group; Martin Campbell, WFAA Dallas; Herbert L. Pettey, WHN New York; Benedict Gimbel Jr., WIP Philadelphia; Edwin W. Craig, WSM Nashville; Louis G. Caldwell, clear channel group counsel. 1936 (Continued from page 9i) ence to his newspaper background. This new friendliness toward radio also was reflected at the spring convention of the American Newspaper Publishers Assn., whose radio committee rejected the plea of its chairman to put pressure on INS and UP to stop selling news to radio stations and extend PressRadio Bureau for another year. The committee objection to news "commingled with advertising" carried little weight for the vast majority of the 500 stations buying news from the press associations or from Transradio Press, which during the year inaugurated its fifth leased wire to serve its nearly 300 station subscribers, were broadcasting news under sponsorship. Expectations of a final definition of the extent of a newspaper's or press association's property rights in its news died when the Supreme Court, for technical reasons, disclaimed jurisdiction in the suit of AP against KVOS Bellingham, Wash., for alleged "pirating" of news. The New York State Supreme Court, however, established a precedent when it ruled that the use of person's name in a newscast, even if sponsored, is no violation of the Civil Rights Act. President Roosevelt on June 5 signed a bill repealing the Davis Amendment which had required the assignment of stations in accord ance with state and regional quotas, killing what for eight years had been the most controversial provision of radio law and paving the way for a general readjustment of allocation policies. FCC promptly called a general allocations hearing for October and postponed until after the hearing any consideration of the applications of 10 stations for the superpower operation with 500 kw similar to that experimentally granted to WLW Cincinnati. Commenting on the hearing, which ran for 13 working days with 45 witnesses putting more than half a million words into the record, Broadcasting noted that apparently "the term 'allocation' is a misnomer. The hearings very largely resolved themselves into a controversy over superpower and all it implies, rather than over any far reaching revamping of the broadcast band." Economic and social factors seemed more important than engineering considerations as arguments pro and con raised questions as to whether the installation and operating costs of superpower stations might not exceed any reason able hopes of advertising income and as to the effects of 30 such stations on regional and local station operations. One unpredicted result of the hearing was a $100,000 suit filed against Broadcasting by FCC Comr. George H. Payne. The suit arose from editorial comment on Comr. Payne's vigorous cross-examination of Powel Crosley, operator of WLW, about that station's programming and commercial activities. Broadcasting considered this not germaine to the hearing, and the performance of a Commissioner "who has evidently forgotten not only his function of public office, but, judging from the short temper of his remarks, also the behavior of a gentleman." (The suit subsequently was withdrawn without trial). In May the FCC had promulgated new rules and regulations for all radio services outside the standard broadcast band, which became effective with minor changes after a June hearing at which Prof. E. H. Armstrong demonstrated his new system of broadcasting by frequency modulation. He was as signed a license to experiment in the 86.5 me and 111 mc bands. High-frequency broadcasting was assigned to frequencies between 26 mc and 42 mc and those over 86 mc, TV getting the 42-56 mc and 60-86 mc bands plus any frequencies over 110 mc, with 400-401 mc resei-ved for amateurs. All these services, including international and relay, were given one-year licenses, twice as long as those available to standard broadcasters who continued to urge that they be licensed for the full threeyear period sanctioned by the Communications Act. Daily television program service was inaugurated in England by the BBC in November, one day's transmission utilizing the Baird system of 225 lines and 25 frames, the next with the 405-line 25-frame system developed by Electric & Musical Industries, to determine which would provide the better service. In Germany the first TV wire circuit was demonstrated to the public at viewing centers along the 186-mile Berlin-Leipzig route. Don Lee Demonstrat'es Cathode Ray Video Don Lee in June gave the first U. S. public demonstration of cathode ray television, showing a 300-line 24-frame system developed by the network's TV director, Harry R. Lubcke. Don Lee subsequently started weekly picture broadcasts synchronized with sound on KHJ Los Angeles. Philco Corp. demonstrated its 345-line 30-frame system two months later. In November, as part of the NBC anniversary festivities, RCA unveiled its video system, 343 lines and 30 frames. The music copyright situation provided one of radio's major headaches of 1936. ASCAP refused to reduce its license fees when Warner Bros, withdrew the tunes of its five music companies from the society's jurisdiction on Jan. 1 and began issuing its own licenses and filing infringement suits against non-licensed broadcasters. Feelings ran high between station operators who resented the preferential licenses ASCAP gave the netwoi-ks, and network executives who charged that the strategy of James Baldwin, NAB managing director who Mr. Baldwin had been unsuccessful in his attempts to win a per-program license plan from ASCAP, had merely served to in(Continued on page 98) 'Covers the State Like the Sunshine In California . . . they listen where they live! 8 stations of the Don Lee Broadcasting System . . . in the 8 densely populated trading areas . . . ])r(v vide absolute coverage of the State of California with its more than 5,000,000 listeners. I,' 16 of all the radio sets in the United States are within local distance of these stations. When planning radio in California, let this powerful network deliver your message, economically and effectively, throughout this tremendously wealthy and responsive State. For coverage maps, rates, etc., wire or write . . . DON LEE BROADCASTING SYSTEM 7lh « Bi«c Sb., Lot Anjalo 1000 V«n Nan Ave., S«n FianciKO The Califomia Unit of The Columbia Broadcartlng Syslcn BROADCASTING • May 1, 1932 Page 96 • October 16, 1950 BROADCASTING • Telecasting: