Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1953)

day, or a buildup from previous requests? H — No. We have had many requests over the past. Now we are trying it and will see what happens. Q — Would there be any way in the future of letting those that cover the press conference know it, so that they can use direct quotes? H — We will never tell you in advance. Q — When you said you would never tell us in advance, you mean in advance of the news conference? H— That's right. Q — I thought you meant in advance of releasing it, just like this time? H — No, what I am saying is we will not say that, for instance, if we are holding a press conference tomorrow, we will not say today that this conference is going to be released in its entirety. Q — Would you be able to say it, say, immediately after the news conference? H — Almost immediately after, I think. Q — Do you anticipate, in pursuance of this policy a little further, I believe that you were quoted in some speech, months ago, whether accurately or not, that there might be a televised conference before the end of the year [B»T, Nov. 2] ? H — There might be anything. The White House on a number of occasions has made available two or three-minute excerpts of Presidential news conferences. These are dubbed from a taped recording made by the Signal Corps. In the old State Dept. Bldg. Indian Treaty Room, where President Truman moved the conferences a couple of years ago, over a dozen mikes are placed strategically to catch the voices of the President and the 200 reporters. These mikes are placed strategically to catch the voices address system. Each conference is dubbed to a disc for permanent filing in the archives. Sgt. Mynard Rutherford, of the Signal Corps detachment at the White House, is in charge of the recording apparatus. When decision was made to supply the text to networks, Sgt. Rutherford fed the conference through the White House board to NBC which in turn made it available to all other networks. Excerpts of the conference were carried on radio and tv newscasts after 6 p.m. Wednesday. CBS was first to carry a full half-hour version, starting at 10 p.m., with the other radio networks following at later intervals. Ray Scherer, NBC White House correspondent, described the conference release Wednesday as "a significant milestone" in American broadcasting and Presidential relations with the public. "You at home can now have a sense of participation in the news conferences," Mr. Scherer said. Earl Godwin, also NBC, said in a Thursday broadcast that such a presentation could only happen in America. Live Pickups Doubtful Despite the intent of the White House to make the fullest possible use of radio and television, the chance of live pickups remains doubtful because of the danger of incidents or comments embarrasing to the President, the Administration or the government. There is concern, too, lest an inadvertent remark be unfortunately worded. An incident at an autumn Presidential conference still is vividly recalled in Washington as an example of the hazards involved in live pickups. At that time Raymond P. Brandt, veteran St. Louis Post-Dispatch correspondent, told the President in plain words that he, and some other newsmen, resented the fact that appointment of Gov. Earl Warren, of California, to be Chief Justice of the U. S., had ap parently been "leaked" to a few reporters whose publications he hinted were favorable to the Administration. This incident pointed out the dangers inherent in live pickups unless a suitable formula can be found. Mr. Hagerty has said on a number of occasions that the White House is considering various types of radio and tv programming in an effort to keep the public informed about what is going on in Washington and the world, and what the government is doing or proposes to do about these problems. ANSWERS REFUSED AT RED HEARING Composer-musical director Jerry Fielding and TWA's Joan LaCour refuse to answer questions on Communist Party membership at House subcommittee hearing in Los Angeles. QUESTIONS on purported membership in Communist Party brought refusals to answer last week from Jerry Fielding, composer and musical director of NBC-AM-TV's You Bet Your Life, and Joan LaCour, executive secretary of Television Writers of America, at a closed hearing last week by a subcommittee of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. The questions were put by Reps. Donald L. Jackson (R-Calif.) and Clyde Doyle (D-Calif.) at the Los Angeles hearing. Mr. Fielding denied being a member of the Communist Party "at • » -*» -*» -*» -*» i KMID-TV ! IS NOW ON THE A I R j I IN AMERICA'S MIRACLE MARKET! With KMID-TV you reach America's carriage trade in coveralls . . . one of the richest markets on earth. EFFECTIVE BUYING POWER: $6,464.00 per family ($1,378.00 above the national average) — 73,500 well-fed families to pull from. Such phenomenal figures are made possible by the world's greatest resource — oil! Not the most people in any one TV market, to be sure. But certainly among the best paid, and — as the figures bear out — the most ready, willing and able to spend! Want further proof? Send today for 12-page illustrated booklet or contact the nearest office of O. L. Taylor Company. KMID-TV IS EXCLUSIVE TELEVISION Midland, Texas P. O. Box 2758 Telephone 2-7321 NBC • ABC • DuMONT Odessa, Texas P. O. Box 133 Telephone 7-7321 General Manager Sid Grayson National Representatives O. L. Taylor Co. Page 50 • December 21, 1953 Broadcasting • Telecasting