Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

In one month, Air Express made overnight delivery on 95.5% of 111 shipments to Penton Press Division With their split-second schedules, Penton Press Division of Penton Publishing Company, Cleveland, can't afford to waste time. That's why they depend on Air Express. Air Express shipments for Penton Press originate all over the country. In each place, R E A Express trucks rush themto a nearby airport where they head out on the first outbound flight. (Air Express has priority on all 38 scheduled airlines— right afterU.S. mail.) When they arrive at the Cleveland Airport, R E A trucks are waiting to rush them right to Penton. There's no slip-up, no time lost. How much doesthis speed and dependability cost? Less than you'd think. For example, a 20-pound package goes from New York to Pittsburgh for just $4. Wouldn't you like to buy so much for so little? Call ^ EXPRESS for AIR EXPRESS 1 service telling the 75 luncheon guests, "the commission must get tough on this question of financial qualifications. He said applicants for new stations and buyers of stations should both come under closer — and more stringent — scrutiny by the FCC in order to insure their financial ability to run a station in the public interest. Commissioner Bartley also predicted that national advertisers will continue to troop back to radio, both through the networks and locally. "Don't underestimate the sales job ahead of you," he warned the SRA people, "for, unless things have changed radically since my days in radio, 'time buyers is the laziest people.' " Commissioner Bartley also said "my faith in the future of FM has never faltered." A member of the FCC's committee on renewal program forms, Mr. Bartley said he would just as soon "forget about statistics. ... In the absence of complaints or unexplained departures from the representations made, I would feel comfortable in renewing a license." Mr. Bartley reasserted his belief that new applications should be filed in conflict with renewal applications when the proposed new service would mean "a more equitable distribution of facilities," diluting the concentration of stations in major markets. New staff authority key to license lock HENRY TELLS HILL LEADERS WHY DELAYS OCCUR The FCC advised key congressional leaders last week that new delegations of authority to its staff are expected to speed up processing of applications for assignments of licenses and transfers of control. Chairman E. William Henry said additions to its staff and a temporary delegation of authority during the August recess helped the agency to process 64 applications in October, which is almost twice what it processed in September and nearly 1 Vz times the average month in 1963. But, he noted, the improvements just kept the FCC abreast with the flow of new applications — 65 arrived in October. Log Jam Break ■ Fewer matters will be brought to the commission with the new delegations in effect, and the staff "will be spared large volumes of paper work occasioned by the preparation of detailed and often lengthy agenda items," the chairman said. "The commission is confident that . . . this will make possible the reasonably rapid reduction of backlogs and processing delays in . . . station transfers," he said. In letters addressed to the heads of the House and Senate commerce committees and their communications subcommittees, Chairman Henry explained that three major factors have contributed to a rise "during 1963 in our inventory of pending applications." These factors were cited: The three-year rule requiring stations to hold licenses for at least three years. Written to prevent trafficking in licenses, Chairman Henry said, the rule provides for exceptions, and that's part of the trouble. The exceptions and waivers present "a task rendered more difficult and time-consuming. . . . Many of the financial submissions are incomplete or inconclusive . . .," requiring correspondence with stations seeking more information, the chairman said. A provision that permits submission of petitions to deny grants under 1960 amendments of the Communications Act has seen these petitions come in to the FCC "in increasing numbers," he said. The commission doesn't oppose the petitions, Chairman Henry said. It notes, however, that "the pregrant procedure introduces an element of delay. . . . "Closer review and evaluation of the financial qualifications of station purchasers . . . will in the long run sharply reduce the commission's workload in a number of areas," but they do cause other delays in processing, "particularly since there are very frequent deficiencies and lapses in reporting by applicants of the financial data on the basis of which the commission is asked to find them qualified," Chairman Henry wrote. What it adds up to, he suggested, is that Congress has passed laws which, while improving the FCC's procedures, has burdened the agency with more work. Commission Action ■ Chairman Henry explained that the FCC has made some changes to cope with the backlog problem, such as transferring five attorneys temporarily to the processing line (Closed Circuit, Nov. 4) and delegating the staff to handle matters without bringing them to the commission. The latter reduces the amount of work the FCC staff must do to prepare material for the commission, which in itself is time-consuming, he said. In order "to unblock the clearance" of more routine, nonproblem cases "which otherwise would be held up by preoccupation of the staff with the more time-consuming cases," the FCC has departed from its procedure of processing all transfer applications in the exact order of filing. Chairman BROADCASTING, November 18, 1963 (THE MEDIA) 73