Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1957)

fe^KBST HAS CHANGED IT'S NAME AND JOINED THE ££>Uj r7mwu& STATION? 7 WEST TEWS NETWORK COVERS MORfc THAN 250,000 HUMAN OWNED SETS/ IT'S THE SOUfHWEST'S "\ GIANT, ECONOMYSIZE' /. PACKA&E //••••' KiDUB stations K D U B T V LUBBOCK, TEXAS K P A R T V ABILENE-SWEETWATER, TEXAS K E D Y T V BIG SPRING, TEXAS NlTiONAL REPRESENTATIVES: THE fmldtnt and G.n. Mgr., W. D. "DUB" ROGBtS Notional Sol« Mgr. E. A. "Buzz" HatMtt TRADE ASSNS. ENGINEERS TO COVER OLD AND NEW NEW technical equipment and ways of modernizing old gear will be demonstrated to 500 engineering and management delegates at NARTB's 11th Broadcast Engineering Conference, to be held April 8-1 1 during convention week at the Conrad Hilton Hotel, in Chicago. The conference has developed into one of the nation's major technical forums. The four-day program for the meeting next month will cover subjects ranging from automatic operation of equipment to the latest in color television. Last year's attendance at the engineering meeting totaled 392 registered delegates. Present indications point to approximately 500, which would be an all-time record, according to A. Prose Walker, NARTB engineering manager. Meetings will be held in the Waldorf Room of the hotel, the same auditorium used at the 1956 session. Engineering executives will hear about such new devices as a Minneapolis Honeywell Regulator Co. automatic recording unit that will keep a radio station log and maintain directional arrays in adjustment [Closed Circuit, Feb. 18]. This application of industrial recording techniques will provide automatic records of plate voltage, plate current and frequency deviation and in addition show current ratios in directional antenna arrays. General Electric Co. will explain its new 50 kw am transmitter using about a dozen vacuum tubes, with germanium rectifiers and other units replacing many tubes. The transmitter can operate unattended. One of the money-saving features of the conference will be a paper showing how "sticky" image orthicon tubes, costing $1,200 new, can be given a greatly extended life by means of a mechanical device that causes the lens plate to oscillate. Recalling last year's conference and management meeting, with its talk-exciting demonstration of the new Ampex tv tape recorder, the NARTB Engineering Dept. predicted technical delegates will encounter a number of surprises at this year's meeting. Programming for the conference is under direction of John G. Leitch, WCAU-AM-TV Philadelphia, program committee chairman, and Mr. Walker. The four-day meeting opens Monday, April 8, with greetings from Raymond F. Guy, NBC, NARTB Engineering Committee chairman. James H. Greenwood, WCAE Pittsburgh, will preside at the morning meeting. Engineering sessions run on a strict 9 a.m.-5 p.m. schedule. The opening paper, describing GE's new 50 kw am transmitter, will be read by Neville Mapham, of GE. Other morning papers include a report by Mr. Walker on NARTB's request to FCC for extension of remote control plus a discussion of automatic logging; automatic recording at transmitters, Gustave Ehrenberg, Minneapolis Honeywell Regulator Co. (Brown Instrument Div.); radio station of the future, John Haerle, Collins Radio Co., and modernizing transmitters, Charles Hallinan, WKOP Binghamton, N. Y., and Henry Hulick Jr., WPTF Raleigh, N. C. Axel G. Jensen, chief, visual and acoustics research, Bell Telephone Labs., will address the engineering luncheon on opening day. A reception will precede the luncheon. On the Monday afternoon program, with Ben Wolfe, WAAM (TV) Baltimore presiding, will be a series of tv papers opening with a report on operating factors of the new Ampex videotape recorder, by Charles Ginsburg, of Ampex Corp. Other afternoon papers: operating experience with video tape, Howard Chinn, CBS Television; color appearance in tv studio lighting, Rollo G. Williams, Century Lighting Inc.; ChromaChron, William J. Wagner, KRON-TV San Francisco. A Monday afternoon panel on color tv test signals will be moderated by C. G. Nopper, WMAR-TV Baltimore. Panel members are George Nixon, NBC; Richard S. O'Brien, CBS; Robert Morris, ABC; J. R. Popkin-Clurman, Telechrome; James W. Wentworth, RCA, and John Thorpe, AT&T. Tuesday morning, April 9, the engineers will meet jointly with management delegates for the formal opening ceremonies of the annual convention. That noon they will hear FCC Chairman George C. McConnaughey address a joint management-engineering luncheon. The afternoon session, based on radio topics, will be presided over by Carl J. Meyers, WGN Chicago. Papers include: compatible single sideband system, Leonard R. Kahn, Kahn Research Labs.; new type of audio console, Emil P. Vincent; ABC; automatic program equipment, John K. Birch, Gates Radio Co.; remote pickups, Harry Dennis, WERE Cleveland, and recording techniques. C. J. LeBel, Audio Devices. Wednesday morning features a joint engineering-management roundtable, with members of the FCC submitting to questions. NARTB President Harold E. Fellows will address the noon luncheon. George S. Turner, chief of the FCC field engineering BOGEYMEN'S BOOTY MORE than a score of prizes, including the annual B*T silver trophies, will be awarded at the annual NARTB Convention Golf Tournament to be held Sunday, April 7 at Midwest Country Club, near Chicago. The B»T awards will go to low gross and low net winners, using blind bogey handicaps. B«T will provide buses from the Conrad Hilton Hotel, with tee-off time at 9:30 a.m. at the club, located at Hinsdale, 111. Entries should be mailed to the nearest B«T office or Washington headquarters. Winners last year were Merrill Lindsay, WSOY Decatur, 111., and Joe Higgins, WTHI Terre Haute, Ind., who tied for low gross with 79, and FCC Comr. John C. Doerfer with low net. Page March 18, 1957 Broadcasting • Telecasting