Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1954)

Prosperous Prospectin' IN THE MOUNTAIN WEST KSL advertisers are digging up new customers every day in the Mountain West! Why? Because the market is booming. Besides the fabulous uranium rush, all business is on the increase. Salt Lake City, hub of this vast market, boasts a per capita income 13% over the national average . . . a "sales performance" 41% higher!* Unearth new prospects — and sell more to your steady customers. Contact your nearest CBS Radio Spot Sales representative, or call Salt Lake City • CBS in the Mountain West •SRDS Consumer Markets, 1954 GOVERNMENT LOSING APPLICANTS PROTEST DECISIONS Ft. Wayne and Sacramento television cases are appealed. In each FCC had reversed its examiners on the grounds of newspaper ownership. RIGHT of the FCC to consider newspaper ownership as a significant factor in deciding comparative tv hearings was questioned by McClatchy Broadcasting Co. last week. McClatchy, loser in the Sacramento ch. 10 hearing to Sacramento Telecasters Inc. [B«T, Oct. 11], filed its appeal in the U. S. Court of Appeals in Washington. At the same time, Anthony Wayne Broadcasting (James V. Fleming and Paul V. McNutt) filed an appeal with the U. S. Court of Appeals against the FCCs grant of Fort Wayne ch. 69 to WANE Fort Wayne [B»T, Oct. 4]. In both cases, the FCC reversed examiners' initial decisions which favored these two applicants. In both cases, the Commission used its principle of diversification as the significant factor in deciding the cases [See "Diversification: Its Case History," B»T, Nov. 1]. In the Fort Wayne case, the association of Messrs. Fleming and McNutt with the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and its joint mechanical, advertising and business operation with the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel — including forced combination rates for national and classified advertising — was considered to be the vital consideration in favoring the other applicant. Messrs. Fleming and McNutt are principal owners of the Journal Gazette. News Interests Halt Grant In the Sacramento decision, the newspaper and broadcast ownership of the McClatchy interests was counted against the applicant to favor the granting of the opposition contestant. The McClatchy interests own and publish the Sacramento Bee, the Fresno Bee and the Modesto Bee. They also own KFBK Sacramento, KMJ-AM-FM-TV Fresno, KERN Bakersfield, KWG Stockton and KBEE <FM) Modesto, all Calif., and KOH Reno, Nev. The successful Fort Wayne applicant, WANE, is associated in ownership with WISH-AM-TV Indianapolis and WHBU Anderson, Ind. The successful Sacramento applicant is principally owned by John H. Schacht, half-owner and general manager of KMOD Modesto, Calif. McClatchy held that the examiner and the FCC had found it superior in many respects, but that the Commission denied it a grant solely on the newspaper ownership issue. It asked the court whether the FCC "can deny an applicant, otherwise superior to its opponent, solely because of ownership of newspapers and broadcasting stations." It also claimed the Commission acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it found that Sacramento Telecasters was better qualified in a number of particulars. Eleanor McClatchy, president of the broadcasting firm, said in an announcement following the FCCs final decision: "Frankly, the Commission's decision is difficult, if not impossible, for us to understand," she said. "On the one hand, the Commission is most flattering in its praise of the past performance of the McClatchy Broadcasting Co. when it says: 'The record is replete with evidence relating to the meritorious service rendered by the McClatchy radio stations.' Then on the other, it arbitrarily denies our tv application Page 58 • November 8, 1954 Broadcasting • Telecasting