Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

INTERNATIONAL continued granted a power increase from 250 w on 1400 kc to 5 kw day and 1 kw night on 1250 kc. CFOS Owen Sound, Ont., will change frequency with 1-kw power from 1470 kc to 560 kc. CKLN Nelson, B.C., has had its power boost recommended from 250 w on 1240 kc to 1 kw on 1390 kc. Share transfers were recommended for CKSW Swift Current, Sask.; CKSF Cornwall, Ont.; CFAB Windsor, N.S., CKEN Kentville, N.S., CKBW Bridgewater, N.S.; CKX-AM-TV Brandon, Man.; CJIB Vernon, B.C., and CKRD Red Deer, Alta. Transfer of ownership was granted to CFJC Kamloops, B.C., and CKTR Three Rivers, Que. Australia Government to Accept Tv Applications for Four Cities The Australian government has announced it will accept applications for commercial television stations in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart. Bids are to be submitted to the Australian Broadcasting Control Board in Melbourne by next March 31 (for Brisbane and Adelaide) and by June 30 (for Perth and Hobart). The government said public hearings on the applications would commence in April with the expectation that recommendations for grants be made by mid-June and September. Australia employs a dual system of radiotv that permits both government and privately-owned stations. At the present time the Australian Broadcasting Commission operates tv stations in Sydney and Melbourne. Each of these cities also has two other television outlets operated by commercial interests. CARTB Completes Planning For March 30-April 2 Meet Plans are complete for the annual meeting of the Canadian Assn. of Radio & Television Broadcasters at the Mount Royal Hotel, Montreal, March 30-April 2. With the exception of Monday, March 31, meetings will be open only to CARTB members for discussions on operational problems and association policies. March 31 will have a morning television workshop and an afternoon radio workshop, with leading Canadian broadcasters and representatives on panels. Advertisers and agency representatives will be invited to attend these sessions. Brainstorming sessions will be held during the radio and tv workshops. A Quarter Century Club luncheon is slated for March 3 1 and the annual CARTB dinner that evening. Anderson Unseats Murdoch In Toronto AFM Local Vote Toronto musicians have upset the largest local of the American Federation of Musicians in Canada, the Toronto Musicians Assn., by electing trumpeter George Anderson, 36, to replace Walter Murdoch, who has held the presidency 25 years. Only this year Mr. Murdoch was given a testimonial dinner for his quarter-century as leader of Local 149, AFM. Mr. Anderson's election Dec. 7 came as a surprise to musicians and the union. Mr. Anderson has been a union member 20 years and is active with orchestral groups employed by CBC. The move to unseat Mr. Murdoch began some months ago when full-time musicians decided to take a more active role in the operation of their union. Part-time musicians were Mr. Murdoch's main supporters. Elected with Mr. Anderson were Gurney Titmarsh and John Niosi as vice presidents, H. Nicholson as assistant secretary, and Ellis McLintock as chairman of the fees committee. A new executive board also was elected. Mr. Murdoch remains as executive officer for Canada on the international AFM board. IAAB Meet Agenda to Feature Cuban Broadcast Restrictions The renewal of news censorship restrictions by the Cuban government of President Fulgencio Batista and proposed Cuban laws threatening private ownership of broadcast stations will be top topics at a meeting of the General Assembly of Inter-American Assn. of Broadcasters, to be held March 10-15 at Punta del Este, Uruguay. The IAAB board is on record against the proposed laws, contending they would allow expropriation or government ownership of broadcasting as well as censorship. Representing the United States at the Uruguay assembly will be Gilmore Nunn, WBIR-TV Knoxville, Tenn., U. S. delegate to IAAB, and NARTB President Harold E. Fellows. The InterAmerican Press Assn. last week denounced the Batista government for its latest extension of press censorship another 45 days. The censorship exists under a state of siege by which constitutional guarantees are suspended. The press group termed the Batista censorship "a threat against the free journalists of Cuba" and "a blow against freedom of information everywhere." Last October Mr. Nunn and other IAAB board members voiced their censorship and private ownership views in an interview with President Batista. They met with members of the Cuban Broadcasters Assn., of which Abel Mestre, CMQ Havana, is president. Mr. Mestre is a brother of Goar Mestre, director general of Circuito CMQ. The latter left Cuba in the autumn to protest the proposed new Cuban broadcast laws in the United States. He is currently on a South American tour. ABROAD IN BRIEF PERSIAN TV PLAN: Habib Sabet, Iranian representative for RCA and other U. S. firms, will open the Middle East's first commercial tv in March at Tehran, Iran, it has been announced. Call letters are TVI (Television of Iran) and it will operate on ch. 2 (60 mc) with 2 kw. Programming will include live originations at the Tehran studios and film from the U. S. and Europe. The Middle East's only other television station is operated by the government of Iraq in Baghdad in cooperation with a British concern. PROTESTANT PROJECT: European Protestants— lay and clerical — have formed a committee to study the possibilities of a Protestant radio station in Switzerland. The matter was dropped by the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches at its assembly last spring when the group decided that, because of theological questions involved, it could not sponsor the project as suggested by Swiss promoters. Albert Moeckli, former director of telegraphs and telephones in the Swiss Post Office, describes the renewed movement in a Swiss Protestant newspaper, suggesting a medium power station to spread evangelical doctrine throughout Europe (including Western Russia), the Near East and North Africa. Construction, he estimates, would cost from $575,000 to $690,000 and annual operation about $161,000. Funds would come from churches, religious groups and individuals. TV INTRODUCED IN IRELAND: BBC was scheduled to begin telecasting from North Ireland's first television station last week at Londonderry, according to an announcement in London by Kenneth Thompson, assistant postmaster general. The government of Eire also is working on a plan to introduce television to that country. It is considering offers by the Pye manufacturing firm and Gordon McLendon, Texas broadcaster (KLIF Dallas, KILT Houston and KTSA San Antonio) [International, June 24, et seq.] 1 HE BEST FRIEND A STATION EVER HAD! 1 "In eliminating fluffs and the reVAinWiB \ sultant make-goods — we feel that ; i TelePrompTers more than pay for ' | themselves." •> mob 1 mnrnmt Mr h Ha)ff Jr r ,-4.i *i-Ci^ Chairman of the Board WOAI-TV, San Antonio, Texas ^^^^^^ — U CORPORATION — Qur new TelePro 6000 ,ear Jim Blair, Equipment Sales Manager screen projector sives you "on location scenery for the cost 311 West 43rd Street, New York 36, N. Y., JUdson 2-3800 °f * slide Page 82 • December 23, 1957 Broadcasting