Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

were limited by specific provisions of the Communications Act (aliens, lottery laws, etc.). Mr. Connolly emphasized that the multiple ownership rules were inconsistent with Sec. 309 (b) of the Communications Act, which requires that a hearing must be held before an application can be denied. He stated that there was no objection to the Commission having a policy regarding maximum ownership, but the FCC cannot refuse an application on those grounds. He also stressed that there was no justification for the numbers which the Commission had chosen as the upper limit on ownership. KIVA (TV) Protests Grant Of Yuma, Ariz., Ch. 13 GRANT of ch. 13 Yuma, Ariz., to WratherAlvarez Broadcasting Inc. (KFMB-AM-TV San Diego) was protested last week by ch. 11 KIVA (TV) there. The disputed grant was made without hearing by the FCC Jan. 25 [B»T, Jan. 30]. KIVA claimed that the Yuma market cannot support two tv stations and included a report by tv consultant Howard S. Frazier supporting that claim. Wrather-Alvarez' expected revenue from its proposed station is unrealistic, KIVA said, pointing to its own accumulated deficit of $221,850 in 2Vi years of operation. KIVA stated that it had pioneered in tv in the Yuma area at "tremendous financial sacrifice" and was only just beginning to see the financial "break-even point." Also unrealistic, KIVA declared, were programming proposals advanced by Wrather-Alvarez,— "concoctions evolved in daydreams on Hollywood Blvd. and Madison Ave." Although Wrather-Alvarez has proposed a "grandiose" schedule of local live programming concentrating on local interests, KIVA said that it conducted an investigation and failed to turn up "even one person" in Yuma with whom anyone from Wrather-Alvarez has discussed programming. FCC Deletes Three Uhfs CONSTRUCTION PERMITS for three uhf stations were cancelled by the FCC last week because the stations failed to prosecute their applications. Only one of the trio, ch. 48 WKAB-TV Mobile, Ala., ever got on the air, although it later suspended operation. The other stations being cancelled, ch. 32 WPGT (TV) Clearwater, Fla., and ch. 61 WCBC-TV Anderson, Ind., received their grants on Dec. 2, 1954, and Feb. 2, 1955, respectively. WKAB-TV commenced operation in late 1952, but suspended in the summer of 1954. At one time, George A. Mayoral reported he -was considering purchasing WKAB-TV for use as a satellite of his ch. 20 WJMR-TV New Orleans. Lee Vote Switch Challenged PROPRIETY of FCC Comr. Robert E. Lee switching his vote in the Fresno, Calif., ch. 12 grant to KFRE that city was questioned by ch. 47 KJEO (TV) Fresno in U. S. Court of Appeals in Washington Thursday. The uhf station asked the court panel for a stay order pending outcome of its appeal against the ch. 12 grant. Two weeks ago, a request for stay by KARM Fresno, the unsuccessful applicant, was denied by the same court [B»T, Feb. 27]. The KJEO argument was heard by Circuit Judges Henry W. Edgerton, George Thomas Washington and Charles Fahy. FCC Assistant General Counsel Richard A. Solomon argued against the stay, as did KFRE attorney Harold D. Cohen. KJEO attorney was Joseph Brenner. TRADE ASSNS. TELEPROMPTER SERVICES DISCUSSED AT SEMINAR N. Y. Radio & Television Executives Society's weekly session addressed by TelePrompTer executives who outline three services being offered. THREE-POINT program of the TelePrompTer Corp., designed to speed up communications between various elements within the television field and simultaneously improve efficiency and reduce costs, was described last week by company executives at a meeting in New York of the Radio & Television Executives Society's timebuying and selling seminar. Demonstration of equipment and services that TelePrompTer is offering or will offer to clients was held during the meeting. Irving B. Kahn, TelePrompTer president, touched briefly upon the three general facilities that the company is extending to the industry: the TelePrompTer cueing and prompting service, the proposed TelePrompTer program communications network and the national spot package TelePrompTer service. Mr. Kahn said that about 100 tv stations, covering more than 80% of U. S. television homes, now have TelePrompTer cueing and prompting equipment, and about a dozen stations use the spot package service. He said the program communications network service has not been made available to the industry up to now. Mr. Kahn explained that the program communications network, using leased wires, would interconnect tv stations, networks, program sources, station representatives and agencies. He said the system will be demonstrated at the NARTB convention this year. The FCC told TelePrompTer Corp. late last year that this proposed network would constitute a communications common carrier operation. Though no mention was made at the seminar, B«T learned that TelePrompTer has made certain revisions in the system and hopes to put it into operation sometime this year. Hubert J. Schlafly, TelePrompTer vice president in charge of engineering, explained that the proposed program communications network would have switching centers in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas. He stressed one particular feature envisioned in the system, namely an attachment to a typewriter that produces a punch-tape that will be relayed via teletype from sender to a receiver. He said a punch-tape provides message security, economy in labor as one typing chore is required and storage of information for re-transmission. The mechanics of the National Spot Package TelePrompTer service were described by Bill Treynor, manager of station sales, and Herbert Hobler, vice president in charge of sales. Under this service, stations which subscribe to the cueing and prompting service, are sent commercial information to be read by local personalities. Messrs. Hobler and Treynor said the service would enable national spot advertisers to use more local-level live commercials, with the assurance the copy will be followed at their direction. This service, they said, is designed to permit the advertiser to maintain control over the copy. NARTB Code Review Board Courts Tv Film Producers FILM producers and distributors have been invited by the NARTB Television Code Review Board to comment on a proposal to give them an affiliate-type membership in the code. The affiliate membership idea was approved by the piiffii 25,000 SQUARE MILES of heavily populated rich farmlands and industrial communities in Illinois and ' 'Attenuators/ Equalizers and Filters" by Dr.George K. 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I Send me: "Attenuators, Equalizers & Filters" ^ | I | □ Hard Binding ($4.00) □ Paper-Bound ($2.75) | I Name . . , ,-. i I " V > i I Address. . . 1 g (priced slightly higher outside U. S. A.) Broadcasting • Telecasting March 5, 1956 • Page 87