Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1954)

Plan Test Case of Wis. Ruling Against 'Banko' TEST CASE will be made shortly by William Stanley Productions, Rockford, 111., in connection with the Wisconsin Attorney General's opinion that the firm's television bingo game, "Banko," violates the state's lottery laws. The opinion claims that the program as constituted and carried in La Crosse on WKBT (TV) is illegal, according to William Laven, co-owner along with Stanley Levy of the package. Mr. Laven told B*T he would make a test case of the opinion, which he said had the effect of stopping the show per se under Wisconsin laws. He declined to specify what action he would take. At the same time, Mr. Laven told B»T he planned to confer this past Friday with authorities regarding a similar opinion issued in Springfield, 111. Constitutionality of "Banko" under Illinois laws was questioned there by Atty. Gen. Castle in response to an inquiry from a State's Attorney in Sangamon County. The game was subsequently dropped by WICS (TV) Springfield pending discussions [B*T, At Deadline, Nov. 29]. Mr. Laven said his program has been sold in seven markets and feels it is "perfectly within the laws," even though applications vary in different counties in different states. He said that before the series went on television, he had "cleared" with the FCC as to its legality within Federal regulations. He also cited the U. S. Supreme Court decision covering giveaway shows. The program debuted on WTVO (TV) Rockford last September and contracts have been negotiated for airing "Banko" on WOC-TV Davenport and KWWL-TV Waterloo, both Iowa, WMTV (TV) Madison and WKBT (TV) La Crosse, in Wisconsin, among others. Florence Semi-Satellite Sought by KELO-TV APPLICATION for a semi-satellite tv station on ch. 3 at Florence, S. D., was filed with the FCC last week. Applicant is The Hills Broadcasting Co., wholly-owned subsidiary of Mid-Continent Broadcasting Co., owner of KELO-AM-TV Sioux Falls, S. D. The Hills Broadcasting is former permittee of ch. 7 KTLV (TV) at Rapid City, S. D. This permit was surrendered last September. The Hills Broadcasting proposes to build the semi-satellite ch. 3 station at Florence, 14.8 miles from Watertown, S. D., where that channel has been assigned. The proposed station will cover the cities of Huron, Aberdeen and Watertown, the application disclosed. The proposed semi-satellite will operate in much the same manner as the presently operating ch. 1 1 KELO-TV. Mid-Continent Broadcasting, is equally owned by President N. L. Bentson, Vice President Edmond R. Rubin, and Secretary-Treasurer Joseph L. Floyd. Tupelo, Rapid City Tvs Granted by Commission GRANTS for two new tv stations at Tupelo, Miss., and Rapid City, S. D., were issued by the Commission last week. • At Tupelo, a new tv station on ch. 9 was granted to Tupelo Citizens Tv Co. to operate with an effective radiated power of 26.9 kw visual, 13.5 kw aural and with antenna height 370 ft. above average terrain. Tupelo Citizens is composed of a general partnership including Frank K. Spain (35%), director of engineering at WHEN-TV Syracuse and former NBC tv development engineer, and loseph G. Petit, NBC tv development engineer.' • At Rapid City, grant of the ch. 3 facility there went to Black Hills Broadcasting Co. of Rapid City to operate on effective radiated power of 1.4 kw visual and 0.8 kw aural, and with an antenna height above average terrain of 260 ft. Black Hills Broadcasting is owned by Helen S. Duhamel, stockholder of KOTA Rapid City. Meanwhile, the FCC denied the application of KTVR (TV) Hot Springs, Ark., to replace its expired construction permit. The ch. 9 station sought delay in the construction in order to attract new local capital to join in the tv venture. The Commission did not believe this was sufficient reason. Paramount Discloses Foreign Tv Holdings PARAMOUNT PICTURES Corp., owner of KTLA (TV) Los Angeles and of 27% of Allen B. DuMont Labs Inc. (WABD [TV] New York, WTTG [TV] Washington and WDTV [TV] Pittsburgh) also has an interest in two tv stations in Canada and several in Morocco, it was revealed by Paul Raibourn, Paramount Pictures' television executive, last week. Sale of WDTV to Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. awaits FCC approval (see page 68). Mr. Raibourn, testifying in the Boston ch. 5 hearing in Washington, in response to crossexamination said that Paramount owned 51% of Famous Players Canadian Corp., which held partial interests in the two Canadian tv stations. The stations were not identified. He also said that Paramount Pictures has a "small interest" in a corporation which has an interest in "tv stations" in Morocco. And, Mr. Raibourn said, Paramount Pictures owns 64% of International Telemeter Corp., which has developed a subscription television system, and a 50% interest in Chromatic Television Labs. The other 50% in Chromatic, Mr. Raibourn said, was held by Gaither & Co. — consisting of Rolland Gaither, president of the Ford Foundation, and Ernest Lawrence, inventor of the Lawrence color tube. FCC Rescinds Memphis Am To Consider Oxford Bid FCC last week rescinded its grant of a fortnight ago to Tri-State Broadcasting Service for a new daytime am station on 1430 kc with 1 kw at Memphis, Tenn., because of the competing application filed by Ole Miss Broadcasting Co. for the same facility at Oxford, Miss. Tri-State had filed its original application in February 1953 for 730 kc. This was amended to specify 1430 kc. Ole Miss had originally submitted its bid in July and October of 1954, but the FCC returned the applications. Ole Miss' bid for the 1430 kc facility was accepted by the FCC in November of this year. Fla. Citrus Comm., Too . . . USE of WFCC call combination for a new radio station at Haines City, Fla., by KWK Inc. was turned down by FCC because of the connotation with the initials of the Commission. KWK Inc., operator of KWK St. Louis, wanted the Haines City call to symbolize "Florida Coast to Coast." No alternative call has been assigned for the new station, to operate 10 kw day on 540 kc. CONELRAD KITS SENT OUT; PUBLIC APATHY CITED Radio and tv stations get programming materials as FCDA points to recent Politz survey which found only 4% of households knew of emergency dial settings on receivers. KITS to further acquaint the public with the Conelrad program are being distributed to radio and television broadcasters, the Federal Civil Defense Administration has announced. FCDA also has released detailed results of a survey on Conelrad, a part of the Alfred Politz Research Inc. national study released in September [B«T, Sept. 27]. The study, based on interviews of 11,020 households and validated by Advertising Research Foundation, found that not many people are familiar with Conelrad (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation). Some 17.7% of the households interviewed had heard of special plans for use of radio for civil defense purposes in an emergency, while 82.3% had not. Only 4% knew of the 640 and 1240 kc dial settings, to which broadcasters would switch to air emergency CD messages while at the same time avoiding the danger of "homing" by enemy bombers on radio frequencies. Some 8.3% had heard of Conelrad or partly understood the plans, while 5.4% (all included in the 17.7% figure) had no particular knowledge of the plans. The Politz study, made in May 1954, showed 94.7% of U. S. households have either auto or home radio sets in working order, but 94.1% of the total homes 'had no dial marked with the 640-1240 kc CD settings. The Conelrad kits contain printed spot announcements for radio and tv and scripts for two films FCDA expects to release in about a month — one 10 minutes and the other one minute. The kits also contain FCC material on the authorization and activities of Conelrad. Two five-minute radio scripts are included. The 10-minute film script, for which FCDA expects to have film clips ready for distribution to tv outlets in about a month, dramatizes the story of the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, concluding that Honolulu radio stations inadvertently led enemy bombers to the target — something which might not have happened had an effective Conelrad system been in use. The film then reviews the devastation of an atomic attack and the need for Conelrad. Territorial Class Ms i PROPOSAL to allow secondary Class II stations in the U. S. territories to operate unlimited time on American clear channels was made final by FCC last week over protests by Clear Channel Broadcasting System and NBC. Effective Jan. 10, the new policy was initiated a year ago to allow stations in the territories to have the same rights as Class II foreign stations which in many cases are even closer to the continental U. S. [B»T, Nov. 30, 1953]. Such new stations may not deliver over 5 microvolts per meter groundwave day or .night or 25 microvolts per meter 10% of the time skywave at night at any point within the continental U. S. Page 80 • December 13, 1954 Broadcasting • Telecasting