Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

STATIONS CONTINUED DATELINES Newsworthy News Coverage by Radio and Tv CAPE CANAVERAL • WTVT (TV) Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., aired 400 feet of film on the explosion of the Vanguard missile one hour and 50 minutes after the earth satellite burst into flames Dec. 6 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., 110 miles from the station. Roger Sharp, a WTVT newscaster, and a two-man camera crew had been recording the preliminaries of the attempted launching for three weeks prior to the target date. They covered the explosion from four miles away and rushed the film to WTVT by chartered plane. WTVT supplied prints for stations in New York, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Montgomery, Louisville and Miami in time for newscasts that same day. WMFJ Daytona Beach, Fla., claims it carried news of the Dec. 4 cancellation of the Vanguard missile firing 24 minutes before national media made any announcement of it. WMFJ stationed correspondents on the beach and a Civil Air Patrol member, who was flying in the safe zone in that area, provided coverage via land and air. Bob Lape, news director of WICE Providence, R. I., was on hand to cover the Vanguard mis-fire for his station and its affiliated WCUE Akron, Ohio, and gave 25 direct reports by beeper phone to both outlets within five days. In addition to news reports of the missile's progress, he interviewed J. Paul Walsh, deputy director of Project Vanguard and featured a tape recording of a count-down from the control center prior to the firing. PHOENIX • In the past, KRUX Phoenix' stringer service has brought news tips from far corners of the country, but last week, it went international. Actor Barry Sullivan called KRUX from London and gave an onthe-spot report of the disastrous British train smashup that reportedly claimed 100 lives. He gave full details of the wreck and sidelights on the weather, which was a contributing factor to the accident. NUREMBERG • In an effort to give "the best possible coverage" to Baltimore and the state of Maryland, personnel of WBALAM-TV Baltimore traveled 3,000 miles last week. They flew to Nuremberg, Germany, with the Maryland 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The coverage began at Fort Meade, Md., where the regiment was stationed, and featured interviews, film reports and tape recordings. The programs from Germany are scheduled to be flown to Baltimore on Air Force planes. In addition to these, the stations plan to record Christmas messages from Marylanders stationed in Europe. They also hoped to be able to cover the U. of Maryland extension center in Munich. CLEVELAND • George Grant, newsreel manager for WEWS (TV) Cleveland's John B. Hughes and the News, spent a hectic day last week when he covered assignments that took him from Cleveland to Cape Canaveral, Fla., back to Cleveland and then to New Brunswick, Canada, all within a 24-hour period. After covering the Vanguard missile project, he returned to WEWS and immediately was sent to Frederickton, N. B., on a "mercy" trip to a 15year-old boy dying of leukemia. The boy is a fan of the Cleveland Barons hockey team so Mr. Grant filmed personal get well messages from the Barons, in addition to films of the team in action. He took these to the boy, along with an autographed hockey stick and puck. KABC's Pace Realigns Staff; More Changes Anticipated John H. Pace, who left the post of executive vice president of Public Radio Corp. (KAKC Tulsa and KIOA Des Moines) to become general manager of ABN-owned KABC Los Angeles Dec. 1 [Stations, Nov. 1 1], has lost no time in starting to revamp the station's operations in line with the network's music-and-news programming. First step was to bring in Roy Cordell, station manager of KIOA, as commercial manager of KABC, replacing Bill Baxley. Second, was to notify four of the station's producers — Tom Baxter, Ken Manson, Frank Morris and Ted Toll — that their services would not be required when the new KABC program structure goes into effect about the first of the year. Before then, other changes are anticipated, but what they will be, Mr. Pace is not saying. His only statement is that when his plans have crystalized, probably by the end of 1957, he will announce them in detail. Mr. Pace, who also has become managing director of KGO, ABN-owned station in San Francisco, spent the first part of last week in that city, but by week's end had made no comment on what changes, if any, he plans for KGO. SATCHMO'S STORY NEW YORK — Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong, jazzman-statesman and sometime political commentator, will never make it as a newsman, if success depends on the impromptu report he gave WDAF-AM-TV Kansas City last week on the New York subway strike. At the time, it seemed like a good idea to News Editor Randall Jessee of the Kansas City stations to try for a taped interview from a strikebound commuter. So he had staffer Walt Bodine put through a call to Hurley's, a downtown New York bar said to be frequented by NBC people. When the first patron he contacted had little to say, Mr. Bodine asked him to put another customer on the line. It turned out to be the trumDeter. "Subway strike? Man, don't worry 'bout that none. It ain't hardly no bother at all. I'm just runnin' around today in my wife's little ol' beat-up Cadillac. Don't worry, man. Everything's gonna be all right. . . ." Mr. Armstrong ran on volubly about his latest record release, the NATO conference, the general situation in Hurley's and "everything, in fact, but the subway strike," according to the WDAF account. New Station Rep Firm Formed A new station representative firm, Major Market Radio Representatives, has been formed with offices at 7 Central Park West, New York; Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, and 1441 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood. Initially, the firm represents three Elroy J. McCaw stations— WINS New York, KYA San Francisco and KDAY Los Angeles. THE satellite tracking system built by KBET-TV Sacramento, Calif., awaits the next U. S. attempt at satellite launching to start feeding information back to the Naval Research Centre in Washington. KBET-TV, the only commercial tv outlet among the dozen tracking stations around the country, volunteered to serve and rushed construction of special equipment in the mountains near El Dorado, Calif., to be ready for the unsuccessful launching Dec. 6 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Shown above is half of the system of two antennas, each made up of 16 dipoles. The equipment must be highly sensitive to pick up the projected U. S. satellite's low-power signal, which unlike the sputnik signals, will not come in on ham sets, according to reports. KHMO Hannibal, Mo., also is operating a satellite tracking station. Page 76 • December 16, 1957 Broadcasting