Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1963)

Minow proposes second run uhf network CALLS FOR MUST MEMBERSHIP IN NAB, THINNING OUT FCC RED TAPE "Second run"' networks of uhf stations and a divorcement of members of the FCC from handling both administrative and judicial functions were proposed by FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow at the NAB convention in Chicago last week. In his third major proposal, the chairman asked for legislation requiring all radio and tv stations to join the NAB and to subscribe to code standards (see page 72). Chairman Minow, in his third annual address to the NAB convention, also departed from his text to tell NAB President LeRoy Collins that "the time has come for more than speeches. The time has come for action in self-regulation." Mr. Minow also said it is time to review the "ever-enlarging rule books" of the FCC and broadcasting to determine if "we are already in danger of becoming prisoners of our own procedures." Early in his speech, the chairman dealt with — but did not answer — reports that he plans to resign from the FCC. "Ladies and gentlemen, I shall make no announcements or statements today about these rumors," he said. Addressing 1,992 broadcasters in the Conrad Hilton's International Ballroom, Chairman Minow said that widespread use of the 70 uhf channels will open up at least four new dimensions to television: (1) a nationwide educational tv system with classroom instruction by day and cultural programming in the evening; (2 ) nationwide system of pay tv if the public is willing to pay; (3) a fourth commercial network, and (4) a first service in many communities now without local service. Two Affiliates ■ Uhf, he proposed, can make it possible for networks to have two affiliates in the largest cities — "a first run and a second run affiliate." He visualized the second affiliate as a uhf station repeating programs previously offered by the network on its primary, or vhf, affiliate. "The public would then have a [second] chance to see the best the networks have to offer," Chairman Minow said. As benefits of a second run affiliate, he predicted that new, less affluent advertisers could enter tv; program costs could be better amortized and participants could receive additional income for the "re-run." Uhf also provides "fresh opportunities to see programs from other lands," he said. He said that broadcasters can meet this new challenge "by shaking those mind-forged manacles and by breaking through the crusty rigidity and stub 60 (SPECIAL REPORT: NAB CONVENTION) born complacency of the status quo. . . . You are too young, too vigorous, too creative to be bound by this year's rule book or last year's balance sheet. The enemies of progress, the twin ghosts of fear and habit, must not imprison you in your own procedures." Government, Too ■ The FCC also needs to re-examine itself, Chairman Minow said, in recommending that the commissioners' administrative functions be separated from judicial activities. "I must confess that I have found the FCC, too, a prisoner of its own procedures," he said. "The commission is a vast and sometime dark forest where we seven FCC hunters are often Chairman Minow Phooey on all that talk required to spend weeks of our time shooting down mosquitos with elephant guns. "In the interest of our governmental processes, and of American communications, that forest must be thinned out and wider, better marked roads have to be cut through the jungles of red tape." He said the FCC has made substantial improvements in recent years but the administrative process still is a "never never land we call quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial. The results are often quasi-solutions." While he admitted to being in the minority at the FCC, Chairman Minow expressed a "deep" conviction that the judicial and administrative functions of the commission should be split. "I do not think it wise or even possible that we can be simultaneously regulator and judge," he said. Mr. Minow did not go into detail over what changes he would like to see made, but he expressed a "sincere belief" that basic reform could materially improve the effectiveness of the FCC. He said that he would spell out his recommendations in "great detail ... on some appropriate occasion." Answers Collins ■ Chairman Minow answered NAB President LeRoy Collins' criticism of the FCC's Omaha hearing into local tv programming with an implication that there will be more. "I believe that with broadcasting stations, as with income tax returns, the practice of making an occasional audit in depth is an effective though sometimes painful way of finding out whether the public interest is being served," he said. "I cannot understand how local expression about broadcasting service can be interpreted as governmental interference with freedom. The public's right to insist on having a voice in vour decisions and the public's right to free expression will be honored and maintained." On radio, the chairman said the FCC should adopt different approaches than that used for tv. He said the commission will shortly propose new rules for radio which will tighten engineering standards. "We hope to eliminate a great many unncessary hearings which have eaten away time, money and energies . . . and which have created little in the long run except uncertainty, expense, delay and exasperation," he said. Am and fm should be considered by the FCC as one aural service, he said, and radio stations in large communities should be encouraged to specialize in programming. Chairman Minow praised both Gov. Collins and the operations of stations in such areas as the Cuban crisis, editorializing and expanded news and documentary programs. Of Gov. Collins, the chairman said he "is a man of principle, of conscience and of wisdom. . . He commands respect and confidence of the public and your government. He is a man to heed, to follow and to treasure." ._ BROADCASTING, April 8, 1963