Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1959)

ST. LOUIS PROBE RECESSES FCC hearing continues inquiry into alleged influence in shift of Springfield, III., ch 2 Pressures on the FCC for and against shift of ch. 2 from Springfield, 111., to St. Louis, Mo., during 1956-57 were put into the record last week at rehearings conducted in Philadelphia by Special Examiner Horace Stern. The hearings recessed last Wednesday until January. Two matters remain to be cleaned up: • The recall of former Comr. Robert F. Jones at his own request. • The outcome of a search of Comr. T.A.M. Craven's files. Mr. Jones asked that he be recalled to correct his testimony, Edgar W. Holtz, chief FCC attorney in the case, reported to Judge Stern. Mr. Holtz said Mr. Jones indicated his testimony concerned Comr. Craven's files. Mr. Jones testified three weeks ago he had been retained by Harry Tenenbaum, one of the owners of KTVI(TV) St. Louis, to work on the then uhf station's campaign to move ch. 2 to St. Louis and to persuade the FCC to grant KTVI temporary authority to operate on it immediately. Mr. Jones said he had spoken neither to commissioners nor congressmen about the St. Louis case. Reached at home Dec. 17, Mr. Jones refused to divulge the nature of his forthcoming testimony but indicated it would not be a major item. Because of Mr. Craven's absence from the country it has been impossible to check his files, Mr. Holtz said. Mr. Craven is chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the International Radio Conference, Geneva. He is due back Jan. 11. The St. Louis ch. 2 hearing began three weeks ago, with Mr. Tenenbaum the major witness [Broadcasting, Dec. 14]. The case was sent back to the FCC by the U.S. Court of Appeals to determine whether any commissioner should have disqualified himself because of ex parte representations. Also to be determined is whether any party should be disqualified for the same reason. This is the third special hearing on alleged behind the scenes representations to the FCC; the others are Miami ch. 10 and Boston ch. 5. Two others are under hearing orders: Miami ch. 7 and Orlando ch. 9. Witnesses Heard • Four witnesses heard in last week's sessions, which ran Monday-Wednesday, were: • C. Arthur Weis, former president of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat which, until 1957, had a 23% interest in ch. 4 KWK-TV St. Louis. Mr. Weis testified on his activities regarding ch. 2. 50 (GOVERNMENT) • Nelson O. Howarth, former mayor of Springfield, 111., who testified of his efforts to keep ch. 2 in his city. • Hart Cowperthwait, chief of the FCC's Rules & Standards Div., Broadcast Bureau, who testified on his meetings with Mr. Tenenbaum. • Gordon Sherman, president-general manager of WMAY Springfield, which was granted ch. 2 in Springfield but forbidden to construct pending outcome of deintermixture proceedings. Mr. Sherman told of his part in the struggle to retain ch. 2 in Springfield. Their testimony was along these lines: Mr. Weis told of seeing FCC commissioners in late 1956 or early 1957. He said he was accompanied by Robert T. Convey, Raymond Dady and, he thought, by V.E. Carmichael. All were associated in the management of KWK-TV. He said that KWK-TV was not happy at the idea of ch. 2 being brought into St. Louis, and was decidedly unhappy at the idea that ch. 36 KTVI might receive permission to use ch. 2 immediately. With CBS coming into St. Louis, Mr. Weis explained, KWK-TV knew it was going to lose that affiliation. That left ABC, since KSD-TV St. Louis had the NBC affiliation, he said. But, he added, KTVI already was an ABC affiliate and if it received permission to operate on ch. 2 it would sew that affiliation up leaving KWK-TV without any chance for a network. CBS Inc. was then in a contest for ch. 1 1 St. Louis but, Mr. Weis stated, it was considered the strongest contender. CBS did, in fact, win the ch. 1 1 grant, but relinquished this to the other applicants when it bought ch. 4 KWKTV. Mr. Weis acknowledged that he had seen his senators and congressman on the matter. He declared they had promised him no help. He also admitted that he had talked to Oliver Keller (WTAX Springfield president) about Sangamon Valley protesting the ch. 2 move. WTAX was one of the principals in Sangamon Valley, which was the unsuccessful applicant for Springfield's ch. 2. It appealed both the FCC's grant to WMAY and its move of ch. 2 out of Springfield. Mr. Howart, who was mayor of Springfield from 1955 to 1959 (he lost his bid for re-election early this year), said he first heard of the contemplated ch. 2 move late in 1956. Mayor Moves • After hearing other rumors that ch. 2 was going to be shifted, Mr. Howart said he got in touch with Illinois Gov. William G. Stratton and sent telegrams to the FCC urging retention of ch. 2 in Springfield. He sent copies of this telegram, he said, to his senators and congressman. In January 1957, Mr. Howart said he came to Washington with Illinois State Sen. George Drach. They saw all the commissioners except Comrs. Rosel H. Hyde and Robert T. Bartley, he said. They also saw Edward F. Kenehan, then chief of the FCC's Broadcast Bureau. Mr. Howart said he even tried to see Sherman Adams, White House assistant to President Eisenhower, but got no farher than Mr. Adams' secretary. Mr. Howart expressed the opinion that it was not improper for him to take this course, but "highly proper." He was acting in the best interests of his community, he stressed. Mr. Cowperthwait told of seeing Mr. Tenenbaum several times in Washington— in his office, at several lunches and at one dinner. He said Mr. Tenenbaum expressed the feeling to him that "faltering" uhf stations should be given a vhf grant if a vhf channel were moved into its community. Mr. Sherman discussed the events leading up to the grant to WMAY for ch. 2 in Springfield. This grant was conditioned on no construction until the deintermixture proceedings was resolved. After ch. 2 was moved out of Springfield, WMAY was given ch. 36 (moved into Springfield from St. Louis). This permit was surrendered by WMAY two months ago. Mr. Sherman said he fought the move of ch. 2 on the record. He stated he had spoken to no commissioners; that he had made no agreement with KTVI principals; that he had never told Mr. Tenenbaum that WMAY-TV had been promised the NBC affiliation. He acknowledged he had spoken to Mr. Tenenbaum and Paul E. Peltason (another KTVI owner) about using KTVI's ch. 36 equipment in Springfield. He said he got the impression that both Mr. Tenenbaum and Mr. Peltason felt WMAY was "butting its head against a stone wall" in fighting the ch. 2 shift. KRLA license renewal set for FCC hearing KRLA Pasadena, Calif., still has not heard the last of its ill-fated $10,000 "find Perry Allen" contest (Broadcasting, Nov. 2, Sept. 14). Continuing its "get-tough" policy against stations at license renewal time, the FCC last week informed KRLA that its renewal application would re BROADCASTING, December 21, 1959