Broadcasting (Apr - June 1960)

Thumbs down Voters at Scottsbluff, Neb., — scene of heavy pro and con catv pressures in recent months — turned down two requests for community antenna franchises at a special election two weeks ago. Between 1,700 and 1,800 voters said no to both applications for catv, while between 500 and 700 citizens voted yes. Choice was between Scottsbluff County Tv, a regular catv group, and People’s Choice Tv Inc., formed by Frontier Broadcasting Co. (which owns ch. 10 KSTF [TV] Scottsbluff). The latter offered catv service without duplication of KSTF programs. The vote on May 10 was 522 in favor of Scottsbluff County Tv and 1,772 opposed, and 763 in favor of People’s Choice with I, 814 opposed. During the pre-election campaigning on this issue, Scottsbluff municipal officials received formal communications from both CBS and NBC explaining their positions on the subject of cable companies (Broadcasting, April I I , March 28) . ceedings. Under such statutes, ACLU contended, radio and tv should have equal access to council proceedings. It reiterated its position that such proceedings of all government bodies should be open to all newsmen. Meanwhile, Chicago broadcasters (station managers and news directors) have obtained an indefinite postponement of a second hearing by the council’s rules committee in their battle to remove the radio-tv ban. They met informally with committee members and received additional time to consider separate proposal of Sterling C. Quinlan, ABC vice president in charge of WBKB (TV) Chicago. He had offered the station’s facilities for a weekly or periodic telecast of council proceedings as a public service experiment. Spokesmen of other stations complained it had no bearing on gaining access to proceedings for spot news purposes (Broadcasting, May 2). City-State Suit ■ A suit filed by the State’s Attorney’s Office of Cook County in Illinois was heard in Chicago Circuit Court Tuesday (May 17), with Judge Cornelius Harrington presiding. He heard arguments on Mandamus action brought by State’s Atty. Benjamin Adamowski, who charged the council has violated the 1st and 14th amendments of the Constitution and Illinois state statutes by refusing to per 54 (THE MEDIA) mit recording and sound newsreel coverage of its proceedings. He had asked the court to issue a writ of Mandamus against Chicago’s Mayor Daley and city hall aldermen, all cited in his complaint. According to the state’s attorney, they are reluctant to appear “inept, ludicrous, stupid or whatsoever” to their constituents. He and the Daley administration have continually been at political loggerheads. Chicago broadcasters have awaited outcome of state’s attorney suit against the council, before their hearing by the council’s rules committee. They also want to see whether ABC’s WBKB (TV) will deliver on promise and tape record entire council proceedings (without editing) for weekend showing. NAB technical bible now off the press Seven years of planning culminated last week in publication of the fifth edition of NAB’s Engineering Handbook, a 1,664-page compilation of latest technical information on broadcast engineering. A. Prose Walker, NAB engineering manager and handbook editor-in-chief, said first copies were mailed last week to radio and tv members of the association. Published by McGraw-Hill, the book retails at $27.50 per copy. Member stations receive a free copy; stations joining after June 2 may order a copy at $16.50. Copies for the public will be available Aug. 1. Actual compiling, writing and editing of the book took over three years, Mr. Walker said, a process that was preceded by four years of preliminary work. The text includes contributions from 47 engineers and a foreword by W.L. Everitt, dean of engineering, U. of Illinois. Nine general sections and 58 chapters are augmented by 29 sets of charts and graphs, with a total of 1,306 illustrations. Most of the material is completely new, according to Mr. Walker. A few chapters carried over from the last edition in 1949 were brought up to date. Material on guyed and self-supporting towers, cost estimating, video-tape recording and special effects has never before been presented in any publication, he said. Contents include latest developments in transistors, tv translators and boosters, remote control, directional antennas, automatic logging, am compatible single sideband, stereo field-strength measurement, color tv, studio lighting, film handling, Conelrad, facsimile and hundreds of other technical topics. The book is a reference source for FCC rules, NAB standards and material provided by other industry associations. BROADCASTING, May 23, 1960 Htgrttg mgr <80 ► -4 mgr mgr & ► 4 mgr mg