Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1963)

FCC PLANS HEARING ON RADIO Panel of all seven commissioners answers questions ranging from license fees to limit on commercial time All seven members of the FCC answered questions directed toward them by 1,500 broadcasters last Wednesday afternoon as the closing feature of the 41st annual NAB convention in Chicago. The replies which the audience liked were followed by loud applause while the tough, regulatory ideas were greeted by silence. There were many outbursts of laughter. , This year all but a handful of the questions were asked live from the floor, a procedure which led to several speeches by the questioners. Moderator Clair McCollough of the Steinman Stations, NAB board chairman, kept the session moving and threw out some questions because they were based on individual cases. In answer to questions, the commissioners disclosed that they plan an en banc hearing to explore fully the problems of am broadcasting. This follows the FCC-industry "shirt-sleeves" working conference early this year. The radio hearing is planned, the commissioners said, because the FCC's information and rules on radio are badly outdated. One subject of the hearing will be a discussion of radio and its relationship to other media of commu nications. The FCC staff has been instructed to prepare a document announcing the hearing and setting the ground rules but no date for its start has been set. Other subjects discussed included license fees, loud commercials, license renewal letters, program reporting forms, the am-fm freezes, Conelrad, community antenna tv and the FCC's controversial proposal to set a limit on commercial time through adopting the NAB time standards or via some other plan. Code Proposal ■ On the code proposal (see other convention developments in this area, page 72) Chairman Newton N. Minow pointed out that FCC already has a policy against overcommercialization and it is just attempting to clarify that policy for broadcasters. Commissioner E. William Henry said that broadcasting claims to be a profession, but it has no effective sanctions against its members. "Broadcasting now has self-regulation without any teeth," he maintained. Asked what happens if a station is sold to the FCC limit, the new rule is adopted, a political campaign starts and the candidates want to buy spots, he replied: "In that situation, you've got a problem." If a station is already a code sub scriber, such a problem now exists in campaigns to keep from becoming overcommercial, Commissioner Robert E. Lee said. Commissioner Robert T. Bartley thought the licensee should reschedule regular spots to take care of the wants of candidates and still stay within acceptable limits. Commissioner Rosel H. Hyde, on the other hand, maintained that the FCC proposal "illustrates the folly of too much federal regulation at the local level." He said broadcasters need more freedom and flexibility than such a rule would permit. Chairman Minow said the thrust of his luncheon speech, when he recommended that all licensees be required by law to join the NAB and subscribe to its code (see page 60), was toward greater and more effective self-regulation and not more government interference with licensees. Good News ■ The FCC is reconsidering its new rule which requires every station to have a first-class operator inspect its transmitter daily and keep daily logs, Commissioner Kenneth A. Cox reported. He said the FCC now realizes that the rule works an undue hardship on stations in northern climates whose transmitters often are snowed in Uhf committee takes new name, minus 'uhf The brand new executive committee of the almost-brand new Committee for the Full Development of Uhf Broadcasting met in Chicago Thursday after the close of the NAB convention and promptly came up with a brand new name for itself as the FCC-spawned organization which seeks with White House blessings to help foster the flowering of uhf television. You guessed it. Uhf vanishes. Now this brand new Committee for the Full Development of All Channel Broadcasting really doesn't have to do with quite all channels — meaning promotion of vhf of course, as an FCC representative explained. What it does mean is all uhf channels. There is said to be some sort of a stigma that sometimes prevails when uhf is mentioned. So it won't be mentioned any more. (There is no "uhf" in the new all-channel law, either, which is designed to aid uhf growth). Organized in Washington in early March, the full committee is under the chairmanship of FCC Commissioner Robert E. Lee (Broadcasting, March 18). Commissioner E. William Henry is vice chairman. The executive secretary of the committee is Robert G. Weston, engineering assistant to Mr. Lee. Legal advisor is George S. Smith, Mr. Lee's legal aide, and special counsel is Arthur A. Gladstone, FCC hearing examiner. The executive committee, all of whom were present in Chicago, includes: Ben Adler, Adler Electronics; Thad H. Brown Jr., Assn. for Competitive Television; Mort F. Farr, National Appliance and Tv Dealers Assn.; W. T. Hamilton, WNDU-TV South Bend, Ind.; Ed gar W. Holtz, Hogar & Hartson; Frank G. Kear, Kear & Kennedy; Peter B. Kenney, NBC; Lester Lindow, Assn. of Maximum Service Telecasters; Edwin M. Marshall, American Assn. of Advertising Agencies; Frank Marx, ABC. R. Wayne Master, Melpar Inc.; William L. Putnam, WWLP (TV) Springfield, Mass.; Percy H. Russell, Midwest program on airborne tv instruction; L. M. Sandwick, EIA: Seymour N. Siegel, WNYC-TV New York; Harvey J. Struthers, CBS; Sarkes Tarzian, Sarkes Tarzian Inc.; Vincent T. Wasilewski, NAB; Lawrence Webb, Station Representatives Assn.; Adam Young, Adam Young Inc. Committee Meetings Open ■ The executive committee voted that its sessions would be closed but those of its three working committees would be open to all interested. 62 (SPECIAL REPORT: NAB CONVENTION)