Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1958)

NEWS SURVEY continued WBAP-TV PICKS FILM FOR NEWS r 1 WBAP-TV Fort Worth, recipient of the Radio Television News Directors \ssn. citation for best tv news operation, believes the best way to cover most stories for tv is on film. James A. Byron, news director, said. "We strive to let the film tell the story insofar as possible. Our policy is to obtain what film coverage is available on all major stories and to cover those minor stories best suited to our medium. The job of the editors-writers is to take the available film, arrange it in the best manner possible to tell the story, and write commentary which supplements the film." WBAP-TV insists that commentary coincide at all times with the picture on the screen. Sound film is edited down to essentials on the theory that sound adds something to most stories but too much sound is worse than none. Unusual angles of stories are developed. A system of story assignment is operated by Mr. Byron, but it remains the responsibility of the camerman to look for stories, develop them and build up contacts. The station believes it has the same right — and obligation — to cover the news on film for television as any other newsman working for any other medium. Countless times criminal court stories have been covered with full cooperation by the judge. Sound film is obtained on verdicts in important criminal cases, both in Fort Worth and Dallas, and elsewhere in the state. A central office is maintained in Fort Worth and a bureau in Dallas. The news department is a combined television-radio operation. The staff includes 20 persons. Eight are assigned primarily to radio but all have some tv duties. Four reporters, assigned primarily to radio — two in Fort Worth and two in Dallas — carry motion picture cameras and shoot tv spot stories that otherwise might be missed. Four newswriters-newscasters assigned primaril\ to radio do some writing and some on-camera work for tv. Working on the television side under the news director are the tv news editor, the Texas News editor, two cameramen in Fort Worth and two in Dallas, and four film editors-writers. Two of the latter four also are cameramen and three are on the air regularly, all reporting to the tv news editor in Fort Worth. Texas News is the major WBAP-TV newscast, aired seven nights a week at 10 o'clock. It is a 15-minute newsreel with no inside commercials. It is sponsored three nights by a utility company, two nights by savings and loan companies, and one night each by an oil and a drug company. The program has been telecast continuously since WBAP-TV went on the air in 1948. Following Texas News is a five-minute weather show and then News Final, a 10 minute roundup of national, foreign, state and local news not included in Texas News. News f inal has a man-oncamera and national and or foreign film. Two five-minute morning spots are mainly man-on-camera, with local film used occasionally. High Noon, participating, includes 25 minutes of news, with film and man-on-camcra plus five minutes of weather, sold separately. Evening News at 5:40 p.m. precedes network news and is a [exas roundup with film used only occasionally. A utility firm is sponsor. 1 he man-on-camera selects and prepares his own news copy. Everyone in the WBAP-TV news department is a news writer or reporter, no WBAP-TV News Director J. A. Byron matter what his assigned duties. All news is channeled to both radio and tv. Gimmicks as such are avoided under the theory that news in itself is at once informative, interesting and even entertaining. NO GIMMICKS' RULE AT WHAS The news staff of WHAS Louisville, awarded the Radio Television News Directors Assn. citation as best radio news operation [Trade Assns., Nov. 11, 1957], operates on the principle that thorough news coverage is more important than gimmicks. Bill Small, WHAS news director, put it this way, "Gimmicks such as remote broadcasts of minor auto accidents and fires are not hard news. The basic ingredients remain facts, background and good writing. No taped material should ever be used unless it meets this test: Would you devote this much time to it if it were straight rewrite and not tape?" WHAS, he said, is the only radio station regularly covering the General Assembly in Frankfort, taping debate right off the floor of both House and Senate along with interviews. A regular beat man is stationed at the Louisville city hall and county building. Staffers tape frequent interviews for newscasts, and use tele WHAS News Director Bill Small phone recordings and personal reports from the scene of events. The nine-man staff stresses regional news coverage of Kentucky and southern Indiana. Every news item is rewritten, with emphasis on interpretation of national news for the "Kentuckiana" audience. No newsman delivers his own commercials. All newsroom personnel doing air work have a hand in writing their own newscasts. The news director reports only to Victor A. Sholis. station director. WHAS is owned by the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times but the station news operation is entirely separate from the newspapers. The station calls itself the newspapers' greatest competition in hard news coverage. A list of longtime sponsors is cited as evidence of commercial success. Continuous sponsors include: Aetna-Ashland Oil Co. and Yellow Cab Co., over 10 years; Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., seven years; Louisville Gas & Electric Co., six years; Liberty National Bank, Shell Oil, Cooke Chevrolet, DeLaney Furniture and Jefferson Federal Savings & Loan, one to four years. Outstanding coverage includes: 1957 floods in southeast Kentucky, with staffers spending hundreds of dollars to provide beep reports. Year-long coverage of a $275,000 bank theft, including capture of the burglars and their trial, drew wide attention [Trade Assns., Nov. 11, 18]. Extensive treatment is given election news, the station often following candidates around the state during campaigns and giving daily election summaries. Morning news is aired by Paul Clark and Jim VanSickle; evening news by Bill Minshall and Ed Engles. Jay Crouse provides daily legislative feeds from Frankfort plus interviews. City and county beats are covered by Bob Hickman and Warren Wolfson. Mr. Small makes assignments and coordinates the work but operates on the theory that each man is competent to make his own judgments on news values. I Si; I I 1 1 1 J I IS: Page 176 February 24, 1958 Broadcasting