Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

FCC Authorizes 11 New Am Outlets GRANTS for 11 new am stations were made last week by the FCC. Construction permits granted were: Talladega, Ala. — Confederate Broadcasting Co., 1580 kc, 1 kw day. Equal principals are: Ned Butler, chief engineer, WTLS Tallassee, Ala., and James Hemphill and W. K. Johnston, announcer and salesman, respectively, of WAPF McComb, Miss. Fort Smith, Ark.— H. Weldon Stamps, 1410 kc, 500 w day. Mr. Stamps is vice presidentgeneral manager of KFSA-AM-FM-TV Fort Smith and holds the same position with KBRS Springdale, Ark., and KHBG Okmulgee, Okla. The Commission ruled Mr. Stamps would have to sever these connections. Madera, Calif. — Mondo Broadcasting Co., 1250 kc, 500 w day. Principals are equal partners: Gene Mondo, 50% owner of beer distributing firm; Robert S. Garrett, commercial manager of KYOS Merced, Calif., and Eugene H. Bell, KYOS program director. The Commission said the KYOS connections must be severed. Hazelhurst, Ga.— A. M. Thomas, 1450 kc, 250 w unlimited. Mr. Thomas owns a television-aDpliance store in Jacksonville, Fla. Toccoa, Ga. — Stephens County Broadcasting Co., 1320 kc, 1 kw day. Among the owners are Roy Gaines, employe of WDUN Gainesville, Ga., and Charles H. Gaines, employe of WLET Toccoa. C. H. Gaines must leave WLET's employ, the Commission stated. Denison, Iowa — Christen P. Andersen, 1580 kc, 500 w day. Mr. Andersen, retired, was formerly an implement dealer. Fort Dodge, Iowa — Fort Dodge Broadcasters, 540 kc, 1 kw day. The principals include minority stockholders President Harold W. Cassill, manager of KTRI Sioux City, Iowa, and Vice President Wyman N. Schnepp, KTRI sales staff member. Henderson, Nev. — Magowan, Jones & Harford, 1280 kc, 5 kw day. The new permittees own KONE Reno, Nev. Muleshoe, Tex.— David W. Ratliff, 1380 kc, 500 w day. Mr. Ratliff owns KDWT Stamford, Tex. Tyler, Tex.— Dana W. Adams, 1330 kc, 500 w day. Mr. Adams has real estate and insurance interests. Fisher, W. Va. — Richard F. Lewis Jr., 690 kc, 500 w day. Mr. Lewis owns WINC, WRFL (FM) Winchester, WFVA Fredericksburg, WSIG Mount Jackson, all Virginia; WHYL Carlisle, WAYZ Waynesboro, both Pennsylvania, and is an applicant for a new am to operate on 1150 kc in Harrisonburg, Va. WSAY Asks Appeals Court To Cite FCC for Contempt REQUEST that the U. S. Court of Appeals cite the FCC for contempt of court in not ordering WHEC-TV and WVET-TV Rochester, N. Y., off the air was filed last week by WSAY Rochester, N. Y. Reciting the chronology of the protest case against the FCC's 1952 grant to the share-time ch. 10 stations, WSAY asked that the appeals court issue a show cause order against the FCC as to why it should not be cited for contempt. Last July the appeals court ruled that Gordon P. Brown (WSAY owner) should have been given a hearing after establishing his standing to protest the ch. 10 grants. Under existing Sec. 309(c) regulations, this meant that the Commission had to order the two-year-old stations off the air. The Rochester television stations appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court to reverse the lower court's ruling. The Supreme Court refused to accept the appeal last December. On Dec. 21, 1955, the clerk of the Court of Appeals forwarded to the FCC the mandate incorporating the court's ruling of last July. This was stamped as received by the FCC Dec. 22, WSAY claimed. This mandate was misfiled, according to FCC sources [B*T, Jan. 16]. WSAY claimed that the FCC deliberately delayed obeying the appeals court order until passage of the Sec. 309(c) amendment [B*T, Jan. 16] which would permit the Commission to use its discretion on whether the two ch. 10 stations must go off the air. These "efforts" were made to "negate" the decision of the court, WSAY said. The motion was filed by WSAY attorneys, Roberts & Mclnnis, Washington. Drys' Perennial Adv. Bill Set for Hearing Feb. 15-16 ELECTION year is here and with it the perennial effort by the drys to ban liquor advertising. The Senate Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee has set a hearing for Feb. 15-16 and the House Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee will follow with a two-day session shortly afterward. Chairman Warren G. Magnuson (D-Wash.) of the Senate group said proponents of the Senate measure (S 923) will testify the first day and opponents the second day, before the full committee. S 923 was introduced during the first session of the 84th Congress by Sen. William Langer (R-N. D.). Chairman Percy Priest (D-Tenn.) of the House group said last week the full committee will hold a two-day hearing about the same time, but after the Senate hearing. He has not set exact dates. He said he has asked proponents of the House bill (HR 4627) to "try to confine themselves to the legal and constitutional questions involved," since other questions were answered at hearings in 1954. He said, however, that he is making no "iron-clad rules" about the phases to be discussed. HR 4627 was introduced during the first session by Rep. Eugene Siler (D-Ky.) Similar bills were heard by both the Senate and House groups in the 83d Congress — the House in March 1954 [B«T, March 31, 1954] and the Senate in June 1954 [B»T, June 28, 1954] — and in past Congresses. Neither of these bills were reported from committee. The Senate committee in 1954 was cooler toward the anti-liquor advertising bill than was the House group, which rebuked the radio-tv and beer and wine industries and asked for a report on activities to curb such advertising. NARTB made such a report to the House group Jan. 1, 1955, indicating that beer and wine ads comprise only a small percentage of total advertising time and revenues. KCSR Opposes Dry Adv. Bill KCSR Chadron, Neb., last week went on record against a Senate bill (S 923) which would prohibit advertising of alcoholic beverages on radio and tv and in other advertising media. The station notified its congressional delegation in Washington that, although KCSR carries "very little advertising for anyone connected with alcoholic beverages," the station considers the bill's provisions to be "improper, unfair and discriminatory legislation of the very worst kind," and doubts its constitutionality. EXAMINER RULES AGAINST WJRT (TV) SITE PROTESTS Sharfman says Saginaw, Lansing and Cadillac stations failed to prove that Flint v should be prohibited from moving its tower. THREE Michigan tv stations protesting an FCC grant of a transmitter-site change to WJRT (TV), prospective ch. 12 station for Flint, Mich., failed to meet the required burden of proof on economic injury, misrepresentation and other issues, FCC Hearing Examiner Herbert Sharfman ruled in an initial decision last week. Mr. Sharfman recommended the FCC allow WJRT (WJR Detroit) to proceed with its grant, which had been postponed pending a hearing on protests by ch. 57 WKNX-TV Saginaw, ch. 54 WTOM-TV Lansing and ch. 13 WWTV (TV) Cadillac. WJRT last April had its application approved to change transmitter site from Clarkston (19 miles southeast of Flint, 27 miles from Detroit) to Chesaning (20 miles northwest of Flint, 72 miles from Detroit) with CBS affiliation instead of DuMont, as originally proposed. The three tv stations charged that the new proposals constituted a material change in WJRT's original application, that WJRT "misrepresented and concealed" from the FCC facts regarding its original intentions, and that the new proposals would cause economic injury to the protesting stations. The FCC ordered a hearing on the issues last June [B*T, June 13]. Mr. Sharfman said that the protestants failed to establish that up to the time of its original grant in May 1954, WJRT did not intend to go through with its proposed DuMont affiliation. And although the DuMont Network was still a "going concern" in the summer of 1954, Mr. Sharfman noted, there were portentous signs that an industry-wide observer "could reasonably heed." Mr. Sharfman recognized that WJRT showed considerably less enthusiasm for DuMont after it got the grant, but said there was no proof that its disinterest was not related to DuMont's decline. Mr. Sharfman discounted allegations by the protestants that WJRT's change in transmitter site was planned before the original grant, but was concealed to improve its competitive position. The stations failed to establish that, at the time of the grant, WJRT did not intend to fulfill its representations, Mr. Sharfman stated. The examiner conceded that WJRT's operation would force WKNX-TV off the air and would probably cause WWTV to go under, too. But broadcasting is a competitive business, Mr. Sharfman said, and WJRT has equal rights with the protestants in adopting "measures of survival." The allocations plan was devised with the knowledge that economic forces might thwart a strict adherence to it, Mr. Sharfman said. "The measures of self-protection to which WJRT has resorted, severe though they are," Mr. Sharfman said, ". . . have not passed beyond the point where it could be found that it is not exercising its right of free and fair competition. . . ." B*T Story in 'Record7 SEN. HERBERT H. LEHMAN (D-N. Y.) last week inserted in the Congressional Record the entire text of a story, "Labor Turns to Radio," in the Sept. 19, 1955, issue of B»T. The story deals with labor's use of the radio medium and its success. Page 62 • January 23, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting