Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

GOVERNMENT continued Temporary Satellite Status Requested for WILK-TV In order to maintain service in the WilkesBarre and Scranton, Pa., area during a transition period, the FCC was asked last week to permit ch. 34 WILK-TV Wilkes-Barre to be operated as a satellite of ch. 16 WARM-TV Scranton. The request indicated that this would be a temporary measure until FCC approval of the merger of both stations and the sale of 60% ownership in the new corporation to Transcontinent Television Inc. for $1.5 million in cash and stock, with owners of each of the two stations retaining 20% each [Stations, Oct. 21]. As part of the merger-sale transaction, it is proposed to operate a new station, WNEP-TV Wilkes-Barre, on ch. 16 from the present site of WILK-TV and using WILK-TV's 1.5 million-watt facilities. Transcontinent already owns WGR-AM-TV Buffalo, WROC-TV Rochester, both New York, and 50% of WSVA-AM-TV Harrisonburg, Va. FTC Challenges Rad-Tel Tubes Rad-Tel Tube Co., Newark, N. J., is charged in a Federal Trade Commission complaint with selling ■"rejects" as first quality tubes. The action, filed last week, names Albert D. Dill and Edward J. McGrath, partners in the firm. They have 30 days to answer the complaint, with a hearing set for Feb. 4 in New York. KSLM-TV Fighting to Hold Cp, Seeks Another Modification KSLM-TV Salem, Ore. (ch. 3, dark), last week struggled to hold on to the frequently extended construction permit granted it in September 1953. The station has attributed its failure to build to management illness, harassment from Portland stations and a 1956 contract to sell its cp to Storer Broadcasting Co. which never came off. KSLM-TV said the proposed sale kept its hands tied for some time. The station has another petition to modify the permit to move about 20 miles southwest of Salem. Such a step has the approval of Tribune Publishing Co., applicant for ch. 2 in nearby Portland. But Tribune Publishing, which already has been denied FCC permission to intervene in the failure-to-build proceedings, does object to the original cp which it says will violate separation requirements between its application and KSLMTV. Eisenberg Joins Antitrust Staff Milton Eisenberg, former assistant U. S. attorney in Washington, has joined the professional staff of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. A 1950 law graduate of Cornell U., Mr. Eisenberg was appointed by Kenneth Keating (RN.Y.), ranking minority member of the committee. He replaces Sam Pierce, who resigned from the subcommittee staff to work on a doctorate degree at Yale U. KBEE's ID Request Rejected The FCC has turned down a request by McClatchy Broadcasting Co. to announce its call letters— KBEE-AM-FM Modesto, Calif. — as "K B Double E." In denying the request, the Commission said that to allow deviations (in announcing call letters) "would tend to create confusion and add to the already difficult task now assigned to our monitoring stations," which must check and identify them. IBEW Denied FCC Rehearing A petition for rehearing filed by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers against the FCC's Sept. 19 order permitting all am and fm stations to operate transmitters by remote control has been denied by the Commission. IBEW's objection was to the rules amendment which expanded remote control operation to all radio stations. Previously remote operation of transmitters was limited only to those stations with power not greater than 10 kw, and with omnidirectional antenna patterns. FCC Denies St. Louis Request The FCC denied a request by Louisiana Purchase Co., applicant for ch. 2 St. Louis, to terminate the temporary authority held by KTVI (TV) St. Louis to operate on ch. 2 there pending the outcome of a hearing for this vhf channel. Ch. 2 was moved into St. Louis from Springfield, 111., earlier this year in deintermixture actions, and then ch. 36 KTVI was given permission to operate on the vhf wavelength temporarily. FIRS T in \XJ/ MR. MUSIC M La •if is ville TAYLOR MADE THE ALL I LONG NIGHT MAN MR. CREW CUT TAIL WILLIE GLEN HARMON Vice-President and General Manager one of AMERICA'S great independent stations • • •BASED ON A. C. NIELSEN REPORT JUNE 1957 More LOUISV1LLIANS listen Bill Larry Pol It, Gefson Taylor O Non Co. on WINN Regardless of power, frequency or coverage, WINN has more TOTAL LISTENERS than any other station except one. WINN 4-: SPCCO 8 U I UO I NG LOUiSVILLC ?. KENTUCKY Page 74 • December 9, 1957 Broadcasting