Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1959)

by tv to other media except network radio. He showed how tv has been a help to print and motion pictures, despite apprehension on their part. The speaker climaxed his talk with a series of forecasts of what awaits television and the nation 10 years hence. Attributed to NBC's planning and research dept., they are: U.S. population increase from 176 million now to almost 210 million; rise of gross national product from $436 billion to about $675 billion; present level of 44 million homes with total of 49 million tv sets will be up to 58 million homes with nearly 70 million sets, mostly color; total advertising expenditures, now $10.1 billion will reach approximately $15 billion, with tv's share rising from 13.6% to more than 20%, i.e. over $3 billion per year; 1969 set models will include transistorized portables with three-inch screens and for the home a thin, flat screen that can be hung on the wall for which one can tape record shows for later playback; international tv will be routine and college educations may be obtainable almost entirely through television. KYW strike settled KYW-AM-TV Cleveland, Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. outlets, and the local AFTRA settled a three-day strike Feb. 10. Twenty-four union members were on strike. Members of National Assn. of Broadcast Employes & Technicians, IATSE and Radio-Television Directors Guild refused to work during the AFTRA strike. The settlement included a three-year contract, effective last Nov. 15, with $5 weekly increases effective Nov. 15, 1958, 1959 and 1960, making base pay for newsmen and announcers in the top bracket $145 until next November. In two years newsmen will receive the same basic pay as announcers. Starting pay was raised from $85 to $95. A local videotape rate was adopted — $85 for a wild spot or unlimited use for 13-week period. Program spot rate for vtr is $130. The stations maintained full programming with the aid of supervisory personnel flown in from other WBC outlets. WTIC building Travelers Broadcasting Service Corp. (WTIC-AM-FM-TV Hartford) is investing more than $2 million in a building to house its properties, Paul W. Morency, president, announces. The building, occupying a 25,000 sq. ft. site at the northwest corner of State and Front Sts., will contain about 50,000 sq. ft of floor space. TBSC hopes to get construction started this fall and take occupancy in the fall of 1960. NEW 'FIRST' CLAIM KCBS predecessor began in 1909— Greb Another claim to the honor of the "first" broadcasting station was entered Sunday (Feb. 15) on behalf of KCBS San Francisco, in an article in the current issue of the Journal of Broadcasting, Technical Journal of Broadcast Educators. KCBS now is owned and operated by CBS Inc. Writing in the U. of Southern California publication, Gordon E. Greb states, "Notwithstanding the many claims to 'first broadcasting' . . . there is considerable evidence supporting a California station's claim as being the granddaddy of them all because of its 50th birthday this year." To support his thesis, Mr. Greb utilizes personal papers of the station's founder, Charles David Herrold; conversations with his contemporaries, and a speech by radio pioneer, Dr. Lee De Forest. According to Mr. Greb, Mr. Herrold opened his radio school in San Jose's Garden City Bank Bldg. Jan. 1, 1909. "From the first, broadcasts were a part of my routine," Prof. Herrold wrote in a letter to Lee De Forest in 1940. "In spite of continual changes in apparatus there was always music of some sort coming from my station." These first "broadcasts" were more than three years before Congress enacted the Radio Act of 1912. The radio law then required licenses and call letters from "voice" transmitters. Prior to this time, Mr. Herrold's operators simply announced, "This is San Jose calling" and went into their news and music. The article states that early in experimental stages, the call FN was used. Experimental land licenses 6XE and 6XF preceded the call SJN which was first used in 1913. And, in 1921, when licenses were first issued under the classification of broadcasting, the San Jose station became KQW. Later it moved to San Francisco and in 1949 the call letters were changed to KCBS. In 1948, Mr. Herrold, who was a classmate of Herbert Hoover at Stanford U., died at the age of 72. Ray Newby, Mr. Herrold's assistant and an instructor in his school, when interviewed recently by Mr. Greb, stated the station early in its operation went on a pre-arranged schedule so "we would have listeners that could report to us." At first the schedule was a half-hour every Wednesday evening on which news, records and voice were broadcast for a half-hour and sometimes longer "if the microphones and Charles David Herrold's station: 1913 • Sometimes heard by ships at sea for 900 miles, the old "spark" station is here shown being operated by Mr. Herrold (c in door) who watches his assistants at work. Operator Emile A. Portal (front, 1) and Kenneth Sanders (rear, 1) performed announcing as well as technical duties. Frank Schmidt (r), mechanic, kept the transmitter tuned when on the air. 52 (THE MEDIA) BROADCASTING, February 16, 1959