Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1960)

N e t w o r k 4 ^mflUts' KDUB-TY KEDY-TY lUBBOCK, TEXAS B I G S P R I N C, TEXAS KPAR-TV KYER-TY ABILENE SWEETWATER CLOVIS. NEW MEXICO NATIONAL REPRESENT'VE THE BRANHAM COMPANY W. D. "Dub" Rogers, President and Gen. Mgt Fresno assails FCC for deleting its vhf The city, county and school district of Fresno, Calif., last week accused the FCC of "arbitrary and capricious" action in deleting that city's only vhf channel. Making Fresno all uhf would deprive its citizens of high-quality vhf service and impose additional expenses upon them, the three petitioners complained in a joint petition for reconsideration. Last July 8, the FCC made Fresno an all uhf market by deleting ch. 12 and adding ch. 30 from Madera, Calif. (At Deadline, July 11). KFRE-TV, now licensed on ch. 12, was given until April 15, 1961, to shift to ch. 30. Also operating in Fresno are ch. 24 KMJ-TV and ch. 47 KJEO-TV. In the petition last week, Fresno city and county said that the rulemaking was instituted so that the city's two uhf stations could compete effectively and contintie operations. "Four years after the initiation of the proceedings, these stations are still on the air and no intimation has been made that they are not able to effectively compete with the existing vhf station," Fresno stated. The "fallacy" of the FCC approach is best illustrated by the fact that the FCC, in moving to deintermix the California San Joaquin Valley, is unable to determine what to do with chs. 12 and 10, the petition said. Rulemaking now is underway, with comments due Sept. 6, to delete ch. 10 from Bakersfield, making that city all uhf also. Proper action, Fresno maintained, would be for the FCC to reduce cochannel vhf mileage separations in zone II from 190 to 170 miles, current separation requirements in the eastern half of the U.S. "Only in this way can Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley be treated in the same fair, equitable and efficient manner as the commission has treated all other areas of the U.S.," the petition concluded. They also asked for — and were promptly turned down by motions Commissioner Robert E. Lee — a stay of the Fresno decision pending final determination of rulemaking to make Bakersfield, Calif., all uhf. Commissioner Lee ruled that the petitioners had failed to show that "irreparable injury" will result if the stay is denied. EQUIPMENT & ENGINEERING STEREO STUDY Engineers complete tests of fm systems Radio engineers have completed testing six stereophonic systems of fm broadcasting and are correlating their charts, it was announced last week. The results will be handed over for correlation and presentation to a committee of the National Stereo Radio Committee of the Electronic Industries Assn. This committee is headed by Norman Parker of Motorola Inc. After review by this committee, the data will be submitted to the FCC. The six fm stereo systems which were field tested at the request of the FCC are those of Electronics Music Industries Ltd., Crosby-Teletronics Corp., General Electric Co., Zenith Radio Co., Multiplex Development Corp. and Calbest Electronics Co. The tests measured transmission and reception of the systems. They also evaluated monophonic receiver compatibility. Three signal levels were used — 1,000, 200 and 50 microvolts input to receiver. A specially prepared musical program was test broadcast for subjective evaluation on both stereophonic and monophonic receivers. All transmissions were made over a special experimental station using the facilities of KDKA-FM Pittsburgh. The tests were under the direction of Panel 5 of the NSRC. Chairman of Panel 5 is A. Prose Walker, NAB engineering chief. Two FCC observers were present throughout the tests — Harold Kassens, Broadcast Bureau, and John Robinson, Chief Engineer's office. FCC Commissioner Robert T. Bartley was present on the final night of the tests. Color tv fast-growing, RCA tells tv dealers Color television has passed the $100 million-a-year point, John L. Burns, president of RCA, told the Institute of Management of the National Appliance & Radio-TV Dealers Assn. in Washington last week. That figure covers current retail volume on color receivers, tubes and other equipment, servicing and local independent broadcasting. It took six years for color tv to arrive at that point, Mr. Burns said, contrasting the record with 12 years taken by the American automobile industry to reach $100 million, 25 years for the aircraft industry and 40 years for the petroleum industry. RCA's president listed recent color milestones in sales, technology and programming and went on to oudine the next 15 years as a period of unprecedented growth for home electronics generally. 90 BROADCASTING, August 15, 1960