Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

BOXSCORE STATUS of tv cases before FCC: AWAITING FINAL DECISION: 13 Bristol, Va.-Tenn., ch. 5; Canton, Ohio, ch. 29; Chattanooga, Tenn., ch. 3; Corpus Christi, Tex., ch. 10; Fresno, Calif., ch. 12; Knoxville, Tenn., ch. 10; Miami, Fla., ch. 7; Miami, Fla., ch. 10; Norfolk-Portsmouth, Va., ch. 10; Omaha, Neb., ch. 7; Peoria, 111., ch. 8; Seattle, Wash., ch. 7; Springfield, 111., ch. 2. AWAITING ORAL ARGUMENT: H Boston, Mass., ch. 5; Charlotte, N. C, ch. 9; Hartford, Conn., ch. 3; Indianapolis, Ind., ch. 13; Jacksonville, Fla., ch. 12; New Orleans, La., ch. 4; Orlando. Fla., ch. 9; Paducah, Ky., ch. 6; Raleigh, N. C, ch. 5; San Antonio, Tex., ch. 12; St. Louis, Mo., ch. 11. AWAITING INITIAL DECISION: 4 Buffalo, N. Y., ch. 7; Hatfield, Ind. (Owensboro, Ky.), ch. 9; McKeesport, Pa. (Pittsburgh), ch. 4; San Francisco-Oakland. Calif., ch. 2. IN HEARING: 11 Beaumont-Port Arthur, Tex., ch. 4; Biloxi, Miss., ch. 13; Caguas, P. R., ch. 11; Cheboygan, Mich., ch. 4; Clovis, N. M., ch. 12; Elmira, N.Y., ch. 18; Mayaguez, P.R., ch. 3; Onondaga-Parma, Mich., ch. 10; Pittsburgh. Pa., ch. 11; Sacramento, Calif., ch. 7; Toledo, Ohio, ch. 11. McConnaughey Sets Talk FCC Chmn. George C. McConnaughey will be a featured speaker at the annual dinner of the Sports Broadcasters Assn. to be held in New York Feb. 3. SBA will present awards to personalities prominent in the field of sports. BARROW'S FCC PROBE TEAM VISITS NBC, CBS FOR 'CRAM' COURSE; ABC, MBS IN PLANS Commission's investigation committee takes two-day preliminary indoctrination course with NBC, CBS executives to find what makes networks tick. The 11 -man group also plans sessions with ABC, Mutual, but dates have not been set. FIRST phase of an intensive cram course in the operation of television and radio networks was completed last Friday by FCC's network investigating committee and its special staff headed by Dean Roscoe L. Barrow. For two days the "class," indoctrinating itself in the fundamentals of networking preliminary to investigating the networks, listened to — and asked questions of — top CBS Inc., CBS Radio and CBS-TV executives in virtually all phases of network operation, then moved on to NBC for a similar two-day indoctrination there. The cram course is slated for completion with similar visits to ABC and Mutual in the near future. Exact dates have not been disclosed. The FCC group included three of the four members who comprise the network investigating committee, four FCC staff executives, and I 1 members of the special investigating staff under Dean Barrow, of the U. of Cincinnati. CBS Inc. President Frank Stanton, Staff Vice President Richard S. Salant. Washington Vice President Ralph Hardy, CBS Radio President Arthur Hull Hayes, and CBS-TV President J. L. Van Volkenburg topped the CBS participants in the meetings, held Tuesday and Wednesday. In the NBC sessions, held Thursday and Friday, that network's group was headed by Board Chairman Sylvester L. (Pati Weaver Jr., President Robert W. Sarnoff, Tv Network Vice President Thomas A. McAvity, and Radio Network Vice President Charles T. Ayres. Dean Barrow and two of his staff members also edged in a brief, previously unscheduled visit at ABC. Making a last-minute appointment, he and Hyman H. Goldin, chief of the FCC Economics Div., Broadcast Bureau, and James B. Sheridan, also of the Economics Div., conferred at ABC late Wednesday afternoon with Ernest Lee Jahncke Jr., vice president and assistant to the president, and Mrs. Geraldine B. Zorbaugh, secretary and general counsel. In the course of the discussions, it was learned, the FCC contingent submitted a list of topics on which ABC was asked to supply information. The list reportedly dealt with two major subjects — programming (why programs are dropped or added, etc.) and affiliation contracts. No "deadline" was set for submission of this material. ABC, which long has emphasized the theme of "parity" with other networks, reportedlyfelt it should be accorded "parity" with CBS and NBC in the matter of FCC "indoctrination visits" too — that it was just as much entitled as the other networks to be heard by the TELEVISION TRANSMITTER DEPARTMENT ALLEN B. DU MONT LABORATORIES, INC., CLIFTON, N. J. Broadcasting • Telecasting January 9, 1956 • Page 61