Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1960)

ulay, November 29, 1960 pmerce Dept. Sees German TV Market From THE DAILY Bureau ■j'ASHINGTON, Nov. 28. When yj Germany's second television |i(iel starts operations on Jan. 1, g| , three million consumers may £ to make a substantial investment i der to take advantage of it, the jj irtment of Commerce reports. I will open an immediate and sub■jial market for television accesKi (including converters, tuners, [(inas, and related items). I e new channel is in the ultra l|, frequency band, and about 65 |::ent of West German sets operate l is range. It will take about four I,; to adapt the remaining 35 per | of West German sets. ■ lie Commerce Department esti1 s that the cost of providing these |,:ts with the requisite equipment ■ range from $25 to $75 a set, ex1 for those served by communal jimas. Sets now in production are Ilig equipped to receive the new Erams at an additional cost of been $22.50 and $27.50 each, and will still require a UHF dipole nna. Motion Picture Daily Television Jo day T Program Bulletin blication Is Lauded Revision stations in 12 cities were i mended today by Louis Hausman, -tor of the Television Information m, for their joint efforts in pubmg monthly program bulletins, ausman spoke this morning at the conference of the National Associdri of Broadcasters at the Biltmore H. e . [pit monthly schedules of lnformaand educational programs are 1 being published in Chicago; NorVa.; Boston; Hartford-New 'en, Conn.; Houston, Tex.; Fort yne, Ind.; St. Louis; New Orleans; AjfJianapolis; Los Angeles; San ncisco, and Dallas. Wherever local broadcasters have it ilperated with one another to pro' e such program listings," said , asman, "they have been greeted Kith universal approval by business a, teachers, clergymen, and other nion leaders." 'ointing to another example of cowaration among broadcasters, Hausatfiln disoussed "Interaction," a report television public affairs programlg at the community level pubied recently by the Television Inmation Office. The book describes 1 provides technical data about igrams broadcast throughout the lited States. vrcoran in New Post Charles E. Corcoran has been apinted director of NBC Television twork Operations, it was anunced yesterday by William H. evarthen, vice-president, Operations Id Engineering, National Broadoastt Company. Corcoran, who has en manager, Video Tape, Film and nescope Operations for the NBC levision Network since March 11, 59, joined NBC in February, 1951, a television engineer. Sees New Freedom for Broadcasting In Lessening of 'Archaic1 Controls A veteran broadcaster has predicted that the radio-television industry during the next decade will grow in freedom and influence, less hampered by "unnecessary and archaic" legislative and regulatory controls. Clair R. McCollough, chairman of the policy committee of the National Association of Broadcasters, told an NAB Fall Conference at the Biltmore Hotel that legislators and regulators now place "a higher degree of faith" in the broadcasting industry. McCollough, who also is president of the Steinman Stations, Lancaster, Pa., said this improvement in the broadcasters' lot stems in part from their fair and impartial handling of this year's political debates without any legislative restraints. Hails FCC Trend He said another bright spot "a major breakthrough for broadcasting" if achieved — is the present inclination of the Federal Communications Commission to permit broadcasters to plan their overall programming on the basis of specific community needs rather than to offer programs according to fixed percentages. Calling on broadcasters to act with "unusual initiative and vigor," both individually and together in the NAB, McCollough laid down these "touchstones for the future": —"A determined, organized effort to bolster the economy through ethical advertising. -"A dedication, within our capacities, to the cause of better education. —"An awareness of our responsibility to inform, fully and fairly. "—A comprehesion of the public interest in order that we may meet it in a climate of decision freely made. -"And finally, a concerted, organized effort to portray our industry to the public for what it is and aspires to become." McCollough said the future 'most certainly will hold the broadcaster in even greater obligation to the American public." Broadcasters' success in meeting this obligation, he added, will depend in no small measure upon "the mutual and mature efforts broadcasters undertake together." Sees 'Insistent Hunger' "There has never been a more insistent hunger for understanding of great issues and there has never been a more powerful force for bringing about that understanding than free broadcasting," he continued. McCollough also said broadcasters have a responsibility "to encourage young people to undertake broadcasting careers." He said this could be done through endowments, or through promotion of "wider and better educational facilities for our young people." Finally, he said, broadcasting must Interstate Offering Prize Cartoon Series Lloyd Lind, general sales manager of Interstate Television Corporation, today announced the acquisition of two new international festival awardwinning cartoon series, Snip and Snap, and Foo Foo, both created by Halas and Batchelor. Both series represent new techniques in animation. The first, Snip and Snap, has been devised from a paper cut-out technique perfected by Halas and Batchelor and utilizes stop action photography to animate the cut-out characters. The second series, Foo Foo, introduces the cell-graph technique used exclusively by Halas and Batchelor. The technique permits the artist greater freedom of expression and eliminates the costly inking of cells method now in use. Top Dogs, one of the 26 seven minute segments now available in the Snip and Snap series, won first prize in the children's film section of the 1960 International Film Festival at Venice. Miami Station Begins Non-Network Status Special to THE DAILY MIAMI, Nov. 27.-A review of the old and a preview of its new program format, called "The Sound of Music," was broadcast this afternoon by WGBS, launching an entire overhauled, non-network operation. From 12:30 to 4:30 the special program aired excerpts from local and network programs and their personalities for many years back. It was followed by a half-hour preview of what the station will sound like in the future. WGBS completely revised its format after parting company with Columbia Broadcasting System. The CBS affiliation has been switched to WKAT at Miami Beach. Urges TV Industry To Defend Rights An official of the National Association of Broadcasters warned yesterday that the radio and television industry may have to fight to defend its right to editorialize. Howard H. Bell, NAB vice-president for industry affairs, made the statement in a speech at the NAB Fall Conference session on "Broadcasters and Politics" at the Biltmore Hotel. John Meagher Heard Bell and John F. Meagher, NAB vice-president for radio, also urged broadcasters to establish wider contacts and "mutual understanding" among public officials at local, state and national levels as the best way to preserve their freedom to operate. "Protection of your freedom," Bell said, "makes it possible for you to best serve the public interest — and the public's interest in its government." He said more and more stations are exercising their right to editorialize a right which was affirmed by the Federal Communications Commission in 1949, and broadcasters now must combat "misconceptions" about the policy in some government circles. Current Policy, He Says The NAB official pointed out that broadcasters are free to express opinions in editorials so long as they "aid and encourage" opposing opinions by responsible people. He noted that this is the current policy of the FCC rather than a previous FCC position that broadcasters had an "affirmative duty to seek out" opposing opinions. Bell said this should encourage more broadcasters to editorialize. At the same session Vincent T. Wasilewski, NAB vice-president for government affairs said that radio and television, unlike the press, never has been "painted with the brush of partisanship." He also said many of the industry s problems stem from a fear among legislators that broadcasters will become as partisan as the press and not from anydiing individual stations and networks actually have done. improve its "public image . . . what we look like as an industry to those who are exposed to our product." As for advertising, McCollough said, the stake of broadcasters and advertisers in the NAB Radio and Television Codes are inseparable. Their aim, he said, is to "develop patterns for the finest kind of advertising on radio and television the selling, convincing kind of advertising widiout sacrificing integrity or good taste and in full knowledge of the powerful impact of broadcasting on family life. Legislation Reviewed Wasilewski and two other NAB executives Meagher, and Charles H. Tower, vice-president for television — reviewed legislation and government regulations which grew out of the congressional investigation of isolated cases of payola and rigged quiz shows Wasilewski said it was his personal opinion that "the legislation which resulted from the last Congress is 95 per cent acceptable, or even desirable" so far as broadcasting is concerned.