Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1956)

FCC REPORTED NOW READY TO PROCEED IN 10-YEAR-OLD CLEAR CHANNEL CASE Commission stand, said based on ground that 1946 evidence and testimony are now out of date, probably will be taken this Wednesday (Oct. 31), will enable action in KOB Albuquerque, N. M., case. A MAJOR move .in the 10-year-old clear channel proceeding is imminent, B»T learned last week. On the one hand, it was understood, the FCC has decided to cancel the long drawn out proceeding on the ground that the evidence and testimony — taken during hearings held in 1 946 — are out of date. On the other hand there is known to be a strong segment within the Commission eager for some action which would permit a final decision to be issued in the decade-old controversy. The action, probably to be taken this Wednesday at the regular FCC meeting, has become necessary, according to reports, in order for the Commission to do something in the KOB Albuquerque, N. M., case. The FCC is under a court directive to resolve the 15-year-old KOB situation. KOB has been operating on Class 1-A clear channel 770 kc under temporary authority since 1941. Officially, KOB is assigned to 1030 kc. WABC New York is the Class 1-A station on 770 kc; WBZ Boston is the Class 1-B station on 1030 kc. By resolving the clear channel case, the FCC believes it then will be able to move KOB to a permanent position in the radio spectrum. Word that some action was imminent in the clear channel case brought an immediate reaction from the Clear Channel Broadcasting Service, an organization of 14 clear channel stations. Scheduled was a meeting of the group in Chicago for today (Monday). The clear channel proceeding was instituted in February 1945. It resulted from a number of problems which began to plague the FCC even before World War II. Among these were the question of super-power, the substantial number of applications seeking the sharing of clear channels, and the looming North American Regional Broadcast Agreement negotiations. The principle .of clear channels was established in the 1920's and has been continued with changes to the present. In order to bring radio service to people living in the sparsely-populated rural areas, it was agreed to maintain certain frequencies as clear channels, with only a single station operating on them at night. In am broadcasting, nighttime skywave reflections cause signals to travel vast dis tances. It is through this means that service was brought to millions of citizens living in the wide open areas of the United States. There is no skywave propagation during the day. This permits many stations to be assigned to the same channel in daylight hours without interference to each other. The U. S. has 24 Class 1-A and 21 Class 1-B clear channel frequencies. There are 24 Class 1-A outlets operating as the sole facility on these frequencies at night, and 35 Class 1-B stations. The Class 1-B stations— there are usually two on each such frequency at night— protect each other to the .5 millivolt per meter 50% skywave contour. This protection is also afforded all the clear channel outlets by Class II, unlimited time stations on clear channels. In 1945, WLW Cincinnati (on 700 kc) was operating experimentally with 750 kw radiated power and its signal was being received virtually throughout the United States. However, in 1938 the U. S. Senate passed a resolution expressing the sentiment that maximum power for radio stations in the United States be limited to 50 kw. This was done at the behest of a group of west ern senators, led by then Sen. Burton K. Wheeler (D-Mont.). In 1948, then Sen. Edwin C. Johnson (DColo.) introduced a bill to limit am radio power to 50 kw and to duplicate stations on the clear channels. The Senate Commerce Committee, of which Sen. Johnson was senior minority member, held hearings on this bill but no legislation resulted. In the official notice of proposed rulemaking, issued by the FCC in 1945, the Commission stated: "There are still large areas in the nation which receive no radio service at all during daytime hours and no primary radio service at night." Since the hearings in 1946 were based on the then existing standard broadcasting status, and since there has been a radical change in that area of broadcasting in the past 10 years (there are 3,000 radio outlets today compared to fewer than 1,000 in 1 946, with population centers significantly changed), there has been for the past few years a substantial opinion at the FCC which maintained that the documents and testimony in the clear channel hearing were outmoded. This group has held that the clear channel proceeding should be dismissed and that a new clear channel case should be inaugurated. Another segment within the Commission feels that all that is necessary is for the FCC to reopen the record, call for comments to update the voluminous data and issue a final decision. The 1946 hearings were held in January, April and July of that year. The transcript comprises 6,700 pages of testimony and contains also more than 400 separate exhibits. Among these is an exhibit detailing the signal intensities and coverage of all of the almost 1,000 am radio stations in operation at that time. In June 1947, the daytime skywave prob THESE ARE THE 45 CLEAR CHANNEL OUTLETS THE unduplicated Class 1-A clear channel stations are the following: KFI Los Angeles (640 kc), WSM Nashville (650 kc), WRCA New York (660 kc), WMAQ Chicago (670 kc), WLW Cincinnati (700 kc), WGN Chicago (720 kc), WSB Atlanta (750 kc), WJR Detroit (760 kc). WABC New York (770 kc), WBBM Chicago (780 kc), WFAA Dallas and WBAP Fort Worth (820 kc), WCCO Minneapolis (830 kc), WHAS Louisville (840 kc), WWL New Orleans (870 kc). Also WCBS New York (880 kc), WLS Chicago (890 kc), KDKA Pittsburgh ,( 1 020 kc ) , WHO Des Moines ( 1 040 kc ) , KYW Cleveland (1100 kc), KMOX St. Louis (1120 kc), KSL Salt Lake City (1160 kc), WHAM Rochester (1180 kc), WOAI San Antonio (1200 kc), WCAU Philadelphia (1210 kc). Class 1-B stations are as follows: KNBC San Francisco (680 kc), WOR New York (710 kc), KIRO Seattle (710 kc), KGOSan Francisco (810 kc), WGY Schenectady (810 kc), KOA Denver (850 kc), WCFL Chicago (1000 kc), KOMO Seattle (1000 kc), WBZ Boston 1030 kc), WRCV Philadelphia (1060 kc ) , KNX Los Angeles ( 1 070 kc ) , WTIC Hartford ( 1 080 kc ) , KRLD Dallas (1080 kc), KTHS Little Rock (1090 kc), WBAL Baltimore (1090 kc), KFAB Omaha ( 1 1 1 0 kc ) , WBT Charlotte (1110 kc), KWKH Shreveport (1130 kc), WNEW New York ( 1 1 30 kc) . Also WRVA Richmond (1140 kc), KVOO Tulsa ( 1 170 kc) , WWVA Wheeling (1170 kc), WO WO Fort Wayne (1190 kc), KEX Portland (1190 kc), WTOP Washington (1500 kc), KSTP St. Paul (1500 kc), WLAC Nashville (1510 kc), KGA Spokane (1510 kc), WKBW Buffalo (1520 kc), KOMA Oklahoma City (1520 kc), KFBK Sacramento (1530 kc), WCKY Cincinnati (1530 kc), KXEL Waterloo (1540 kc), KPMC Bakersfield (1560 kc), WQXR New York (1560 kc). HEW ORLEANS the OK Negro Radio Buy is Page 66 • October 29, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting