Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1953)

SEEK FCC APPROVAL FOR WLAW SALE APPLICATION for approval of the sale of 50-kw WLAW Boston (on 680 kc) from Hildreth & Rogers Co. to General Teleradio Inc. for $475,000 [Closed Circuit, B»T, April 6] was filed with FCC last week. As part of the purchase, FCC approval was also sought for the sale of the facilities of General Teleradio-owned 31 -year-old WNAC Boston (5 kw on 1260 kc) to Vic Diehm Associates Inc. for $120,000. Mr. Diehm and his partners own WAZL-AM-FM-TV Hazleton, Pa.; WIDE Biddeford, Me., and hold the controlling interest in WHOL Altoona, Pa. Application indicated that General Teleradio, owned 90% by General Tire & Rubber Co. and 10% by R. H. Macy & Co., will retain the WNAC call letters for the 680 kc facility and continue to use present studios. Pennsylvania group will take over 1260 kc transmitter and present studios of WLAW in Hotel Radford in Boston, and intend to change call letters, it was explained. Purchase of ABC-affiliated WLAW by General Teleradio had to be contingent on the sale of WNAC facilities because of the FCC's duopoly rule which forbids the same licensee from owning more than one station of the same class in the same city. Sale Includes FM Acquisition of WLAW by General Teleradio also includes WLAW-FM. This license will be surrendered, the application declared, since General Teleradio already owns WNACFM. Balance sheet as of Feb. 28, 1953, showed that WLAW had total current assets of $126,187.86, of which $71,873.47 was in cash. Total current liabilities as of that date were $52,566.69. Surplus was $250,157.41. WLAW license is owned by Irving E. Rogers, who also is owner of the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle and Tribune. Originally, WLAW was a Lawrence-Lowell, Mass., station, but it was moved to Boston a few years ago. General Teleradio, which owns the Yankee and Don Lee networks and WOR-AM-FM-TV New York, and is the principal owner of MBS, showed total current assets as of March 31, 1953, of $4,294,692, of which $1,116,524 was in cash. Total current liabilities were $3,231,647. Surplus of $2,511,208 was indicated. Long term debt totaled $4,126,000. Yankee Network Division comprises key MBS-affiliated WNAC-AM-FM-TV Boston, WONS Hartford, WEAN Providence and WGTR (FM) Worcester. Don Lee Network Division includes KHJ-AM-FM-TV Los Angeles, KFRC San Francisco and KGB San Diego. Overlap problem between prospective 50-kw WNAC on 680 kc and 5-kw WEAN on 790 kc was considered insignificant, according to the transfer application. Engineering estimates showed that there would be primary daytime duplication of 143,165 persons (3.96% of the total population served), and nighttime duplication of 48,800 people (1.56% of the total served) between the two General Teleradio-owned stations. Vic Diehm Associates was organized in the last few weeks to take over the 1260 kc facilities of the present WNAC. It comprises the same principals who own WAZL, WIDE and control WHOL. They are, in addition to Mr. Diehm, Hilda Deisroth, E. H. Witney, George CONELRAD panel is discussed by KFI Los Angeles' co-chief engineers H. L. Blatterman (I) and Curtis Mason, who are responsible for its development from original specifications by the FCC. KFI held open house during the NARTB convention to explain how the installation functions. M. Chiswell and Kathryn Kahler. All own 24.75% except Miss Kahler who owns 1%. WLAW is a TV applicant for vhf Ch. 5, competing with two other applicants for that channel. It is presumed that it will be dismissed. CAA Cuts Regional Offices In Commerce Budget Cut REALIGNMENT of regional offices of the Civil Aeronautics Adm. is being made following Dept. of Commerce budget cuts, affecting the Air Space Subcommittee procedure involving radio-TV tower sites. The four regional offices will be located at Kansas City, Fort Worth, Los Angeles and New York. Regional CAA officers preside at hearings on proposed tower sites, with rulings subject to final decision by the Washington Air Space Subcommittee. This air space group comes under the Air Coordinating Committee, created by Presidential order. Its function is to promote aviation safety. Thus far the coordinating group's budget has not been cut. The Washington Air Space Subcommittee includes voting members from the Army, Navy, Air Force, CAA, Treasury, FCC and Civil Aeronautics Board. FCC's representative is not permitted to vote, under FCC order, on matters affecting its regulations. FCC Commissioner George E. Sterling has advocated revision of the tower procedure on the ground broadcasters and telecasters are affected by advisory rulings approved by strictly aeronautical interests [B*T, March 16]. To Present Color TV Papers PAPERS on the prospects and problems of color television are to be presented tonight (Monday) at a meeting of the Washington, D. C, section of the Institute of Radio Engineers. Papers will be presented by Arthur B. Loughren, vice president in charge of research, and Charles J. Hirsch, chief engineer of the research division, both of Hazeltine Electronic Corp. Members of FCC and its staff have been invited to attend. Meeting will be held in the auditorium of the Potomac Electric Power Co. PROMOTION TO AID CONELRAD'S START RADIO defense plan — Conelrad (control of electromagnetic radiation) — goes into effect this Friday. In support, the Civil Defense Administration is planning a nationwide promotion campaign to tell people about it. The system permits standard radio to remain operating during an emergency while preventing enemy bombers or guided missiles from "homing" on broadcast radiations. Script kits for all AM, FM and TV stations are on their way from Washington, D. C. They are of various lengths. Transcriptions being sent are 20-second and one-minute in length. One side of the disc features a "neutral" announcer while the other highlights a network commentator. Also being included are leaflets on Conelrad which stations can distribute for the laymen. Flip cards are being prepared for TV stations and also 20-second and one-minute films. Other ideas yet to be put into effect: Stickers for radio sets giving the Conelrad frequencies (640 and 1240 kc); exhibits on the East and West Coasts for the public, and mention of the frequencies in newspaper program logs. Some manufacturers are considering marking of radio sets at the 640 and 1240 frequencies. FM and TV stations are being urged to promote Conelrad and are being told they are not promoting standard radio as against their media but providing public service. NARTB during its convention a fortnight ago adopted a resolution to fully support Conelrad, for which the broadcasting industry has provided $2 million of its own funds to provide facilities. FTC Probes Alleged Advertising Violations THE FTC is investigating "five or six" complaints that food processors, manufacturers or marketers might be violating the RobinsonPatman Act by extending benefits to some of their customers to the detriment of others in co-op radio and television advertising. An FTC staff member said the possible violations were "primarily on television." The complaints are about a month old, he said, and some were sent to branch FTC offices for investigation "a week or ten days ago." The possible violations involve Sec. 2 (d) and (e) of the Act. In the first instance the manufacturer subsidized a local program sponsored by a distributor who advertised the manufacturers' products, while not extending the same benefits to other distributors. Under Sec. 2 (e), in nationwide programs sponsored by the manufacturer, local commercials in conjunction with the program benefited the local distributor to the detriment of other distributors. The Act requires advertising allowances be furnished to customers on a proportionately equal basis. 'Operation Stampede' WATCH out for "Operation Stampede"! That's the warning from Federal Civil Defense Administrator Val Peterson. He told the Economic Club of New York April 28 that an enemy could conceivably fake radio broadcasts causing "workers leaving their machines, gathering up their families in panic and heading for the hills." Page 60 • May 11, 1953 Broadcasting • Telecasting