Broadcasting (Apr - June 1960)

a handful of box-office hucksters who profiteer through pandering to the lowest common denominator of what they call the 12-year-old mass mentality. They equate popularity with inferiority, and they constantly advance the thesis that the few truly creative tv statesmen have fled the industry.” Broadcasters are beginning to take a defensive attitude toward their profession and their own jobs, losing their most dynamic motivation, pride in their work, Mr. Treyz warned more than 100 who came to hear him. Television practitioners can measure their performance not only by response of “the bit crowd” but that of their colleagues, “the small crowd,” he counseled. By mutual encouragement, they, can inoculate themselves against “viruses” that would rob them of their self esteem. The ATAS Emmy awards are one vaccine, he granted, but those in the business can work individually “to prove that television is not hucksterism, is not phonyism, is not lowest-commondenominatorism.” Daytimers to Hill Daytime broadcasters will have another go on the Hill in their attempts to get extended and uniform hours of operation. Chairman Oren Harris (D ln Roanoke in '60 the Selling Signal is Seven... You won’t get rich selling bongo drums in the Roanoke Television Market, but there are nearly 2,000,000 people who are willing and able to help you turn a neat profit on foodstuffs, toiletries, pharmaceuticals, gasoline, household products and other items. The magic number for reaching these heavy-spending, non-Calypso folks is seven. In Roanoke, seven is WDBJ-TV . . . which will beat the drum for your product in over 400,000 television homes of Virginia, N. Carolina and W. Va. WDBJ-TV has maximum power, highest tower, superior service and programming ... to help you sell like sixty on seven. ASK YOUR PGW COLONEL FOR CURRENT AVAILABILITIES Butler blocks free time move Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul M. Butler Thursday declined a request by 8 Senate and 47 House Democrats that he ask the television networks to give 30 minutes to Adlai Stevenson to discuss the party’s views on “the situation in the aftermath of the summ i t conference.” The tv networks carried a half-hour address Wednesday evening by President Eisenhower on that subject, ABC-TV and CBSTV live and NBC-TV on a delayed basis. Mr. Butler said the Democrats’ advisory council expressed its views “in detail” the previous Sunday and “little more could be said at this time” to elaborate and, anyway, the President’s address “appears to have presented no new information . . .” But things may be different with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s start of hearings (May 27) on the subject, Mr. Butler said, and if it is considered wise to ask networks later to “meet their obligations,” he’ll “act promptly.” The list of senators and representatives signing the wire to Mr. Butler was headed by Sen. A.S. Mike Monroney (D-Ark.), coauthor of the free political tv time bill (S 3171) heard by the Senate Communications Subcommittee the previous week (Broadcasting, May 23). The wire suggested Mr. Stevenson, who testified on the bill, as Democratic spokesman because he is “titular head” of the party. They asked for time on June 1 . Mr. Butler Ark.) of the House Communications & Power Subcommittee has scheduled three days of hearings June 13-15. Under discussion will be five identical bills (HR 6676, 6868, 8286, 9627, 10275) to permit daytimers to operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., instead of the present local sunrise to sunset. The House group would, perforce, have to consider whether authorizing the blanket 6 a.m. -6 p.m. operation sought by Daytime Broadcasters Assn, would abrogate the U.S. -Mexican treaty on use of am frequencies to which the Senate consented (76-8) along with the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement in February (Broadcasting, Feb. 29). Some 265 U.S. am daytimers operate on Mexican clear channels. The Mexican treaty awaits ratification by the Mexican Congress, which convenes Sept. 1. Can FCCaskengineers about Communist ties? The right of the FCC to require an applicant for a first class radio operator’s license to answer questions regarding Communist Party affiliation was put in question last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. At issue was the Commission’s Dec. 27, 1959 dismissal of a renewal application of .Morton Borrow, holder of a first class operator’s license for 30 years and presently employed by WPEN Philadelphia. Mr. Barrow filed his application for renewal in 1958. Two weeks later the FCC sent Mr. Barrow a letter enclosing a form with two additional questions regarding his affiliation in the Communist Party or in organizations dedicated to the violent overthrow of the government of the United States. Mr. Barrow refused to answer these questions. He claimed they infringed on his constitutional rights. The Commission then set the application for a hearing, and after the hearing dismissed the application. 56 (GOVERNMENT) BROADCASTING, May 30, 1960