Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

DATELINES OF THE WEEK A sampler of radio and television news enterprise BOSTON — When forest fires on Cape Cod threatened other parts of Massachusetts, Boston radio stations quickly stepped up their operations to an emergency basis. At WEEI Boston, General Manager Thomas Y. Gorman took personal charge of deploying station news personnel during the emergency May 7-10. He sent newsmen to Plymouth and other threatened communities and to Civil Defense headquarters in Natick. On the third day of the fires staffers were dispatched in a private plane to the hot spot. From one vantage point they counted seven blazes raging simultaneously. Buffetting air pockets created by the heat waves, affected the quality of the airborne tapes, WEEI reports, but not enough to preclude their use on the air. On the ground the same day WEEI got interviews with Gov. Foster Furcolo and other state officials, feeding the tapes to five other Boston stations and WPRO Providence. WPRO offered the official messages to all Rhode Island stations. Until the emergency ended May 10, safety warnings were scheduled on all WEEI shows, and WEEI continues on the alert, maintaining liaison with WGAN Portland, Me., WTAG Worcester, WPLM Plymouth and WCAT Orange, Mass., as long as any flames remain. WEEFs Charles Ashley appeared on CBS Radio's News of America with reports on the Cape Cod crisis. WBZ-WBZA Boston-Springfield on May 9 instituted around-the-clock broadcasts of fire news directly from the office of the governor and from state civil defense headquarters in Natick. The direct-line newscasts, scheduled on hourly news programs and used for bulletins, supplemented coverage by two mobile units at Manchester and Plymouth, Mass., key fire areas. The WBZ broadcasts were offered to all stations wishing the service. WHDH Boston also harnessed all its special events facilities to the area's disastrous fire story and at the peak of the emergency, May 9-10, broadcast 25 on-the-scene reports and 1 0 to 15 special appeals from state civil defense and conservation authorities, the State House and Gov. Furcolo. These were in addition to special hourly reports and weather bulletins. One of the WHDH-Herakl-Traveler team covering the story found himself actively involved. Fred B. Cole, station personality, who has a Boston Fire Dept. badge and is an honorary member of 10 other fire departments, drives a car that carries a Fire Dept. sticker and siren. He found this was all he r OPPORTUNITY AT RCA FOR BROADCAST FIELD ENGINEERS RCA needs trained broadcast engineers who can direct and participate in the installation and service of AM and television broadcast equipment. Here's an excellent opportunity for training and experience with color TV transmitters. Opportunities exist in Atlanta, Chicago and suburban Philadelphia. You need: 2-3 years' experience in Ami unil mini ||"M t broadcast equipment, including work on CAN YOU QUALIFY 7 TV or AM transmitter installation. You should have: good technical schooling and 1st Class Radio-Telephone License. Enjoy RCA advantages: Top Salaries Many Liberal Company-Paid Benefits Relocation Assistance For personal interview, please send a complete resume of your education and experience to: Mr. James Bell, Employment' Manager, Dept. Y-3E RCA Service Company, Inc. Cherry Hill, Camden 8, N. J. RCA SERVICE COMPANY, INC. needed to be drafted for four hours' firefighting service when he went to Plymouth May 9 to cover the story for his station. DETROIT — Across the country WWJ-TV Detoit gave quick film coverage to the fire that destroyed Grace Harbor Lumber Co., May 7. Cameraman Hank Shurmur and his crew hurried to the scene after the first report at 3:04 p.m., sent the first film take back at 5 : 20 and aired it on the 6 p.m. news. CLEVELAND — A special new squad of the Cleveland Police Dept. recently went on its first rounds in the city's touqh district and newsmen of KYW-AM-TV Cleveland rode aboard the police cruiser. Prize pictures of the late-hour raids showed police apprehending a car thief in a crowded honky-tonk section of town. ST. LOUIS — Covering the last fortnight's Senate investigations into activities of Dave Beck of the Teamsters Union called for considerable ingenuity by stations far removed from the scene. KXOK St. Louis solved the problem with the help of that city's KTVI (TV), which was part of a special crosscountry network taking the live proceedings from WMAL-TV Washington. In unusual inter-media cooperation, C. L. (Chet) Thomas, general manager of KXOK, made arrangements with General Manager Joseph Bernard of KTVI to tape the audio portion of the KTVI telecasts. KXOK aired its first tape within minutes after the original telecast and continued using the tapes on its news shows for the duration of this portion of the hearings. SCRANTON — During April 16-18 committee sessions when the Scranton, Pa., local of the Teamsters Union held the Senate spotliaht, WDAU-TV Scranton had the next thing to live coverage. This amounted to 14,500 feet of sound film, a complete account flown back to Scranton from Capitol Hill on five daily flights. To do the voluminous film job, a fourman camera crew from WDAU-TV was stationed in the Senate committee room and film processing was done both in Washington and in Scranton. Eight hours of commercial time was pre-empted to show the extensive footage, and film was used throughout the day in regular newscasts and bulletins. Charles Mercer of the AP devoted a column — carried by some 500 newspapers — to WDAU-TV's long-range news job. Local papers and the Cincinnati Times-Star also featured the coverage. Harris Named KOA-TV Sales Head APPOINTMENT of Richard Harris as general sales manager of KOA-TV Denver, replacing William F. MacCrystall who resigns June 1, was announced Tuesday by William Grant, president of KOA Inc. (KOA-AM-TV). Mr. MacCrystall resigns to join a group of stations owned by Southern California newspaper and agency executives (KVOAAM-TV Tucson, Ariz., and KOAT-TV Albuquerque, N. M.) in a management capacity, and will headquarter in Tucson, according to Mr. Grant. Page 80 • May 20, 1957 Broadcasting • Telecasting