Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1958)

GOVERNMENT CONTINUED bands in the 220-10,500 mc region. Among these were some broadcast studio-transmitter link and remote pickup bands. Military development in missiles and space vehicles in recent years — with their great reliance on electronics for control, guidance and surveillance — coupled with the establishment of forward scatter as the newest method of over-the-horizon communications has given rise to fears that portions of the television and fm bands might be requisitioned by the military. Aside from military weaponry, a vast upsurge in demands for spectrum space by industrial users has also inundated the FCC in recent years. The Commission has under way a study of the entire spectrum beginning at 25 mc. This is in two phases, 25-890 mc (this includes tv and fm), and above 890 mc. In evaluating the import of the establishment of the new presidential advisory committee, there have been recent, regulatory straws-in-the-wind pointing to a possible outcome. These are the recent establishments of "super" agencies — one dealing with aviation and the other with space. The Federal Aviation Agency was established last August. It is headed by retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Elwood R. Quesada and has jurisdiction over both government and non-government aviation. This includes military aviation. The FAA was layered over the existing Civil Aeronautics Board-Civil Aeronautics Authority establishment precisely because of the same difficulties plaguing the radio spectrum— divided authority. Similarly, the National Aeronautics & Space Administration was organized last September to take over astronautical projects involving satellites, lunar probes and other space age developments. The last telecommunications advisory committee was the President's Communications Policy Board, appointed by President Truman in February 1950. Members of that committee included Dr. Stewart as chairman, and Lee A. DuBridge, president of Cal Tech; William L. Everitt, U. of Illinois; James R. Killian Jr., then MIT president, now science advisor to the President, and David H. O'Brien, retired vice president of the Graybar Electric Co. In March 1951 it issued its report, the 226-page Telecommunications, A Program for Progress. It advocated the establishment of a three-man Telecommunications Advisory Board to advise and assist the President. It recommended that this board be empowered to require all government users to justify and periodically to rejustify their need and use of the radio spectrum. It recommended that this board, in cooperation with the FCC "supervise the division of spectrum space between government and non-government users." It also called for the FCC to be strengthened in funds and structure. Justice Says It'll Defend Secrecy of FCC Spectrum Moves The Dept. of Justice has announced it is preparing to claim the right to withhold the reason why the FCC was asked to reassign 14 bands in the radio spectrum from civilian to government usage. The announcement was made last Thursday in a pre-hearing conference before Circuit Judge John A. Danaher of the U. S. Appeals Court in Washington. The conference, at which attorneys representing Aeronautical Radio Inc., Bendix Radio (Bendix Aviation Corp.) and other aeronautical companies met with Justice Dept. and FCC lawyers, was in preparation for the argument on the appeal against the FCC's April 16 decision reallocating various bands ranging from 220 mc to 10,500 mc. This was done without notice or a hearing. Last July the FCC turned down a petition for reconsideration. In last week's conference, the Justice Dept. counsel told Judge Danaher that the administration was willing to give the court the basis for the OCDM requirement, but not the parties. He said he was preparing to claim executive department privilege. The White House has claimed this privilege for executive departments, but this will be the first time it has been claimed for an independent regulatory agency. IN PITTSBURGH... take TAE and see Nothing like a spot of TAE to perk up your Pittsburgh schedule. Exclusives like the MGM film package, on-location Telecom news coverage, Pittsburgh's most elaborate production set-up, make TAE-time so stimulating! WTAE is new; so pick up the prime spots while they're hot. Take TAE and see. But first see your Katz man. mmaemj i^mwm CHANNEL BASIC ABC IN PITTSBURGH Page 72 November 24, 1958 Broadcasting