Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1956)

GOVERNMENT TRUCKERS MAKE BID FOR VHF TV CH. 2 American Trucking Assns. asks FCC to set aside that facility for use in communications system of transportation industry. Affirmative action would displace 35 stations now on air. DANGER that tv's ch. 2 might be taken away from broadcasting cropped up last week with a petition to the FCC from the American Trucking Associations Inc. that the Commission reallocate that channel for fixed scatter service. ATA, national trade association of the motor carrier industry, made its proposal to withdraw ch. 2 from tv service in a reconsideration request of the FCC's recent split channel action wherein it decided not to split channels in the 25-50 mc band [B»T, Oct. 8]. The ATA pointed out that the motor carrier industry is allocated for its mobile communications 12 frequencies in the 25-50 mc band, three of which are shared with passenger carriers. These frequencies, as well as other motor-carrier assignments, are now severely congested and conditions are getting worse, the ATA complained. "The Commission's decision not to reduce channel separations in the 25-50 mc band, which offered the best prospect for immediate satisfaction of the motor carrier industry's need for additional assignments in the vhf band, will . . . very adversely affect the radio use of the motor carrier industry," the ATA petition stated. The continuation of operations in the 2550 mc band With 40 kc channel spacing will not, as the FCC anticipates, slow down the equipment investment in this band, but will have the contrary effect of greately increasing congestion "and consigning the motor carrier industry to 50% utilization of its assigned frequencies in the vhf band," the ATA declared. The petition argued that ". . . channel splitting in the 25-50 mc band now would relieve the existing and prevent future congestion and provide the much needed additional frequencies without substantially affecting the equipment investment in this band, which is bound to keep growing whether or not channel splitting is approved." A channel-separation of 20 kc would about double the number of assignments in the 20-50 mc band and provide the immediate relief necessary, the ATA said. Setting aside ch. 2 for mobile-service use would not be without precedent, the ATA contended, pointing out that the present allocations between 44 and 50 mc are derived from what was formerly ch. 1. It also would be consistent with the proposal to move all tv to uhf, the association added. In conjunction with the recommendation to reallocate ch. 2, the ATA said it would then be possible to split channels above 40 mc in the 25-50 mc band because the incidence of skip interference decreases the higher one goes in that band. ATA recommended that "a suitable amortization period" be provided in the event the 25-50 mc band is vacated to make room for scatter. This would lessen the problem of equipment obsolescence, the petition asserted. ATA's recommendation proposed that like amortization provisions "would also apply to the television licensees on ch. 2 to enable them and the viewing public to amortize their existing equipment." HIT BY A TRUCK IUST about the most ridiculous request to be filed with the FCC since it began business is the petition of the American Trucking Assn. that ch. 2 be withdrawn from television service to expand highway trucking communications. Trucking is a commercial business. There is no "safety of life" factor in its communications, as in aviation or shipping which cannot use wire communications. Trucks must stop for servicing at regular intervals. They can use wire communications at those points. Or they can use short-range communications of the An Editorial "wired wireless" type that adhere to power or telephone lines along highways. There is no use of the spectrum more important than service to the public, except that which involves safety of life and the national welfare. We think the trucking association petition, which is simply the front-runner for other industrial users who covet the scarce vhf band, will get nowhere. It would seek to eliminate 35 tv stations serving millions of people. It is an insult to the FCC's intelligence and an effrontery to the very public the truckers serve, to make the proposal. TASO BOARD HOLDS ITS FIRST MEETING Over $50,000 pledged for research program to gather technical data; paid executive to be hired with Loughran mentioned for post. PRIMED with a potential war chest of over $50,000, the first board of directors meeting of the Television Allocations Study Organization (TASO) met last week in Washington. Harold Fellows, NARTB president, was chosen chairman of last week's meeting. The chairmanship will be rotated among the five groups represented on the board at subsequent meetings, it was announced. The TASO board agreed to confine the research program — instigated at the behest of the FCC to evaluate uhf and vhf propagation and equipment — to the gathering of technical data, it was understood. There had been, at one time, the thought that the program would also involve economics and policy. It also was agreed to retain a paid executive. The name of Arthur V. Loughran, former Hazeltine research vice president and presently president of the Institute of Radio Engineers, has been prominently mentioned as being sought for the post. It was understood that Mr. Loughran's answer to the offer to head TASO would be forthcoming by Oct. 31. The next board meeting is scheduled to be held in Washington Nov. 9. Pledges of financial support have been received from the following, in these amounts, it is understood: NARTB, Assn. of Maximum Service Telecasters, RETMA and Joint Council on Educational Tv, $12,000 each; Committee for Competitive Tv, $6,000. Those attending the board meeting were: NARTB— Harold Fellows and Thad H. Brown Jr.; AMST— John S. Hayes (WTOPTV Washington) and John H. DeWitt Jr. (WSM-TV Nashville); RETMA— William L. Reynolds and H. E. Bernstein; JCET — Ralph Steetle and Dr. Edgar Fuller; CCT — John G. Johnson (WTOB-TV Winston-Salem) and William L. Putnam (WWLP [TV] Springfield, Mass.). Also present at the meeting were Seymour Krieger, JCET counsel; Ernest W. Jennes, AMST counsel; Harold Head, AMST engineering consultant; George R. Townsend, CCT engineering consultant, and Cy Braum, JCET engineering consultant. Thorns7 Overlap Questioned QUESTIONS of signal overlap were raised by the FCC last week in advising Harold H. Thorns, that a hearing may be necessary on his application for a new am station at Sylva, N. C. The Commission letter noted that a grant of the Sylva application would give Mr. Thorns and family interests in six radio operations in North Carolina, three in the western part of the state. Thorns' North Carolina broadcast interests include WCOG Greensboro, WISE Asheville, WKLM Wilmington, WMMH Marshall and minority (25%) interest in WAYS Charlotte. Mr. Thorns also owns 75% of WEAM Arlington, Va. BATON ROUGE the OK Negro Radio Buy vnioK Page 72 • October 29, 1956 Broadcasting Telecasting