Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1959)

Ensconced • WAVE-AM-TV Louisville moved into its new headquarters last month. Costing about $1.5 million plus equipment and furnishings, the building has two tv studios, a radio studio, three announce booths, three control rooms, film and viewing rooms, offices and workshops. The address: 725 S. Floyd St. Official dedication of the building will take place Oct. 23, marked by the broadcast of Beatrice, an opera commissioned by WAVE Inc. to install a special switch to get KSPRTV aired signals and even then it was difficult to get a good ch. 6 picture because of cable interference on the adjacent channel. "We had hopes that the FCC or other legislation would come to our rescue on this unfair situation, however after holding out this long feel it is now prudent to discontinue operation of free tv," Mr. Hathaway said. The station had lost $95,000 since going on air in August 1957, he reported. Earlier this month, KSPR radio was sold to KTWO-TV for $150,000 (Broadcasting, July 13) and Mr. Hathaway sold tv equipment to Community Tv Systems (William Daniels of Denver) for approximately $300,000. WTOC-TV trial film Court proceedings, including pronouncement of the death penalty on two defendants, were filmed by WTOCTV Savannah, Ga., with attorneys for both demanding new trials on the basis of the telecasts. No pictures were permitted of defendants in the courtroom during the trial but other photography was allowed with available lighting. Judge J. Henry Johnson, of the Beaufort, S.C., county court, presided. At one point in the proceedings Judge Johnson put a still photographer on the stand with instructions to take a picture of a protesting lawyer. The lawyer was unable to tell when a picture was taken. Some of the WTOC-TV footage was carried on CBS-TV. RCA, NYU to set up etv training center In collaboration with RCA, New York U. in September will open a center for instructional television, reported to be the first of its kind in the U.S. Through RCA's contributions of $100,000 and television equipment, the center will "develop and disseminate the most effective techniques for televised teaching in the nation's schools," according to Dr. John E. Ives Jr., NYU executive vice president. The center's program, administered by NYU's School of Education and Communication Arts Group, is designed for teachers, producer-directors, evaluators, administrators and others, and will include teacher-training, apprenticeships, institutes, in-service workshops, consulting services and research. Appointments of the center's director and staff will be announced at a later date. An advisory group of 19 educators and authorities on educational television has been organized. The teacher-training phase of the center's program will consist of a workshop in tv teaching for graduate students, under-graduates who have had teaching experience, practicing teachers and school administrators who have been recommended by their school systems. On completion of the workshop, for which credit will be given in the School of Education, qualified persons will be offered ap prenticeships in school systems that use tv in their instruction. All of the center's research findings will be made available in publications and films. Tv PR committee set to act this week The campaign to give the public a better appreciation of television will come off the drafting board this week. Television Information Committee, top policy unit for the upcoming Television Information Organization, will go over a program of activities as well as financial structure and selection of a TIC operating head at subcommittee meetings to be held tomorrow (Aug. 4) at the Waldorf-Astoria, New York. Three subcommittees will hold separate meetings starting at a luncheon session. Clair R. McCollough, Steinman Stations, chairman of TIC, said that if the committees come up with specific proposals "it may be possible to hold a committee meeting at the end of the day and take action on some of the subcommittee recommendations." The subcommittees will make no announcements of their actions. Their membership adds up to full TIC structure. The subcommittees were named at a July 15 TIC meeting (Broadcasting, July 20). Target dates of Sept. 15 for appointment of a director and Oct. 1 to start operation were set at the July session. Members of the TIC committee, besides Chairman McCollough, are C. Wrede Petersmeyer, Corinthian Broadcasting Corp.; Willard E. Walbridge, KTRK-TV Houston; Roger W. Clipp, Triangle Stations; John S. Hayes, Washington Post Broadcast Div.: Lawrence H. Rogers II, WSAZ-TV Huntington, W. Va.; Michael J. Foster, ABC-TV; Charles S. Steinberg, CBS-TV, and Kenneth W. Bilby, NBC-TV. MBS hearing Aug. 28 U.S. Referee Asa Herzog last week set Aug. 28 as the date for hearing a motion by Mutual for a decision on the network's petition for voluntary bankruptcy under chapter 1 1 of the Bankruptcy Act (Broadcasting, July 6 et seq.). Referee Herzog told a creditors meeting that another session will be scheduled on Aug. 12, at which time the creditors' committee will submit a progress report on the total number of creditors who have approved Mutual's plan for disposing of its debts. Mutual has liabilities of $3,195,607 and has offered the vast majority of creditors 10 cents on the dollar. The plan must be approved by at least 5 1 % of the total number of creditors who are owed at least 51% of the total amount. 48 (THE MEDIA) BROADCASTING, August 3, 1959