Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1953)

STATIONS NewNBSTV Theory DON'T put your TV or FM tower on top of the highest mountain. Put it down on the plain — but make sure there's a "knife-edge" mountain ridge nearby. That theory, which if proved may overturn accepted practices in vhf broadcast engineering, was submitted by the National Bureau of Standards last week. High mountain top ridges may actually become aids for reducing both transmission loss and tropospheric fading, instead of being a disadvantage, the NBS report stated. NBS reported a considerable increase in signal strength received should result when a large knife-edge obstacle is located at the midpoint of the vhf transmission path. According to the theory the signal is built up by a four-way combination of reflection, diffraction and atmospheric refraction. Height of the obstruction must be greater than the elevation of the common horizon, NBS said. HEART ATTACK FATAL TO W. B. McGILL WBAP-TV Orders Gear For Boost to 100 kw WBAP-TV Fort Worth officials said last week the Ch. 5 station has ordered from RCA Victor a new super-power TV transmitter capable of both color and black-and-white transmission, in anticipation of FCC approval of its request for a boost to maximum 100 kw effective radiated power. A 1,11 3-ft. tower will be erected to place a six-bay antenna 1,749 feet above sea level near WBAP-TV's present antenna site, spokesmen said. They said signals will go out over 30 counties surrounding Fort Worth. A brick and steel transmitter building with 4,000 square feet of floor space will be built at the tower base for installation of the transmitter next winter, officials said, adding that the Air Space Committee in Washington has approved the tower. Congressman Wingate Lucas, who long has opposed erection of flight-hazard structures between Fort Worth and Dallas, has hailed the Air Space group's approval of the tower, which is outside city limits and out of air traffic zones, WBAP-TV officials said,. The sudden death of 'Mac' McGill, electronics shocked the broadcasti death was coronary occlusion. FINAL tribute to William Byron McGill, 54, advertising manager of Westinghouse Radio Stations Inc., was paid Wednesday as leaders of the electronics world participated in funeral services held at Atlantic City. Sudden death of Mr. McGill the evening of Sept. 6 shocked broadcasting and manufacturing circles since there had been no indication of ill health. Death was due to coronary occlusion. Mrs. McGill found him dead in their Atlantic City apartment just before sundown. She had not been in the same room at the time. Within minutes the Atlantic City rescue squad, adjoining the apartment building, was applying oxygen but without avail. Mr. McGill's final week had been entirely normal, with the first four days spent at WRS' Washington headquarters. He had been active as usual, and quite according to pattern he was happiest with several phone calls stacked up and a desk loaded with work. Among projects he was working on was a promotion program for dedication of a new 50 kw transmitter at WOWO Fort Wayne, scheduled late in the year. He spent Friday, Sept. 4, at KWY Philadelphia on company business, driving in mid-afternoon to his Atlantic City apartment. Services were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Jeffers & Keats funeral parlor, Atlantic City, with internment at Laurel Memorial Park, Pomona, N. J. For a decade Mr. McGill had maintained his principal residence in the Atlantic City area, with an apartment in Philadelphia when WRS headquarters were in that city, and one at 1235 13th St., Washington, D. C. after headquarters were transferred to the nation's capital. "Mac" McGill was known throughout the industry for his artistic works, his hobbies, his promotional skill and an easy-going personality that had won him vast numbers of friends. His widow, Mrs. Lois Miller McGill, is known to many broadcasters. She is official organist at Convention Hall, Atlantic City, and played for the 1947 NAB convention held in prominent figure in radio-TV and ng world last week. Cause of Only p combination of stations can cover Georgians major markets. WAGA WMAZ WTOC MACON 10,000 w 940 kc CBS Radio SAVANNAH 5000 w 1290 kc CBS Radio The Georgia Trio represented individually and as a group by The KATZ AGENCY, INC. NEW YORK CHICAGO DETROIT ATLANTA OALUS KANSAS CITY LOS ANGELES SAN FRANCISCO Mr. McGUI that auditorium. Surviving besides Mrs. McGill is his mother, Mrs. Laura Jane McGill, and a brother Edward, both of Masontown, Pa., near Pittsburgh. William Byron McGill was born Oct. 9, 1898, at Masontown. He completed his schooling at the School of Fine Arts, Carnegie Tech. From school he went to the classified advertising department of the Pittsburgh Post. His Post career was slightly interrupted by induction into the Army Nov. 11, 1918 — a one-hour tour of duty that ended when the screaching of sirens announced that an armistice had been signed with Germany. From 1920 to 1926 he served in the theatrical I art and advertising studio of George S. Sherman, Pittsburgh, leaving to establish Franklin Press, a business venture that was, most of all, an artistic success since it included a day spent with Fred Goudy, noted type designer, at his Village Type Foundry in Marlborough, N. Y. He formed Neon Signal Devices Inc. in 1928 to market traffic signs, a venture that was highly successful until 1932 when the national depression cut both traffic and highway marking to a minimum. Returning to design and mechanical displays, he worked for U. S. Steel, Armstrong Cork, Pittsburgh Plate Glass and many other leading industrial firms. In this activity KDKA Pittsburgh, pioneer Westinghouse station, went to him for special promotions and later induced him to join the organization in the sales promotion office. At KDKA he quickly attracted attention in broadcasting circles with his unusual and artistic promotional campaigns. On the side he indulged in a half-dozen or more hobbies including art works that decorate many Pittsburgh offices. In 1939 he married Lois Miller, a leading Pittsburgh musician. He had met her at KDKA where she gave musical performances for a number of years. The McGills moved to Philadelphia in 1943 with his promotion to the post of WRS advertising manager. They quickly became enamored of the area around Atlantic City and joined in a long-range home-building project some miles west of the resort. Recently Mr. McGill ruefully recalled that the house he had erected with his own hands over a seven-year period had been razed in two days by a wrecking crew Page 74 • September 14, 1953 Broadcasting • Telecasting