NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

This grant will result in an improvement in service from that station, and there will be no objectionable interference to any existing station. WORK — York Broadcasting Co., York, Pa. — Granted renewal of license on present frequency — 1000 kc., with 1 KW power, as licensed at present. WHN — Marcus Loew Booking Agency, New York — Granted re¬ newal of license to operate on 1010 kc., with 250 watts, sharing with WRNY and WQAO-WPAP as at present. WRNY — Aviation Radio Station, Inc., New York — Granted re¬ newal of license to operate on 1010 kc„ with 250 watts, sharing with WHN and WQAO-WPAP as at present. WQAO-WPAP — Calvary Baptist Church, New York — Granted re¬ newal of license to operate on 1010 kc., with 250 watts, sharing with WHN and WRNY as at present. WOWO — Main Auto Supply Co., Fort Wayne, Ind. — Denied modi¬ fication of license to permit full-time operation on 1160 kc., a clear channel now shared with WWVA at Wheeling, W. Va. and denied CP to increase power from 10 KW to 25 KW. It was proposed that WWVA be assigned to 1290 kc., now used by WJAS. WWVA — West Virginia Broadcasting Corp., Wheeling, W. Va. — Denied modification of license so as to operate full time on 1160 kc. ; granted renewal of license on present basis, i. e., sharing time on 1160 kc. with WOWO. In explaining how it reached its decision, the Commission de¬ clared: “Consideration of the relative merits of the different applications for 1020 kc. is aided by a comparative study, first, of the popula¬ tion, quota status, present service, service needs and requirements, interference problems of the cities and communities involved: and second, of the relative merits of each of the applications with reference to financial responsibility, technical equipment, past, present and proposed programs, service, etc.” All of these questions are discussed fully in the decision. In its statement of Facts and Grounds for Decision the Com¬ mission took up first the proposal to use 1020 kc. at Detroit, then the proposal that 1020 kc. be used at Louisville, Ky., and 820 kc. at Pittsburgh; next the several proposals to use 1020 kc. at Phila¬ delphia, then KYW’s application for renewal of license at Chicago, and lastly applications relating to 1160 kc. Referring to the application of Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. to move its station from Chicago to Pennsylvania, the Com¬ mission sets forth, among other things: “This applicant proposes to construct a transmitter in the vicinity of Whitemarsh, Pa., 10 or 12 miles northwest of Philadelphia City Hall. This location was chosen with a view to rendering as effec¬ tive service to the Philadelphia metropolitan area as possible and by means of suitable antennae array, with a minimum of inter¬ ference with stations on adjoining channels. “The studios will be located in the Westinghouse Building, 13th and Walnut Streets, and the programs and service will be similar to those now rendered in Chicago.” Discussing the qualifications of applicants, the Commission says: “While each of the applicants for 1020 kilocycles is financially responsible and otherwise qualified to carry out his proposal, the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, licensee of KYW, has a superior financial standing, greater technical resources, more extensive broadcasting experience, etc., than any of the other applicants. Although there exists in a licensee no property or priority rights in a frequency, it has been held that a licensee with a good past record and substantial investment in his station should not be deprived of his license except for compelling reasons. In Chicago Federation of Labor v. Federal Radio Commission (41 F. (2d) 422) the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia said: ‘It is not consistent with true public convenience, interest, or neces¬ sity, that meritorious stations . . . should be deprived of broadcasting privileges when once granted to them, which they have at great cost prepared themselves to exercise, unless clear and sound reasons of public policy demand such action. The cause of independent broadcasting in general would be seriously endangered and public interest correspondingly prejudiced, if the licenses of established stations should arbitrarily be withdrawn from them, and appropriated to the use of other stations . . With reference to the various proposals to use the frequency 1020 kilocycles in Philadelphia, Pa., the Commission declares: “One of the proposals to use the frequency 1020 kilocycles at Philadelphia, is that of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufac¬ turing Company, licensee of KYW. “The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company is a Pennsylvania corporation with extensive manufacturing interests • Page in Philadelphia and other cities. On December 31, 1931, it had total assets of $222,819,777.74; liabilities other than capital stocks of $10,461,793.38, a surplus of $79,050,324.06, and a net worth of $212,358,074.06. “The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company first entered the radio broadcasting field in 1920, when the election returns of that year were broadcast through a station in Pittsburgh which later became known as KDKA. Through its research and experimental activities this company has contributed largely to the development of the radio arts and industries with particular refer¬ ence to the practice of maintaining frequency by crystal control, the synchronization of broadcasting stations, the development and perfection of transmitters suitable for high power, as well as for the use of shortwave long distance communications; the develop¬ ment and use of remote control apparatus and studios, and the employment of directional antenna in connection with short-wave operations. “KYW was the first radio broadcasting station in Chicago, con¬ struction having been completed and operation commenced in November, 1921. The station has since been operated continuously by the present licensee and has been maintained in keeping with the progress of the radio art, many of the new developments having been installed in this station earlier than in any other. Since about the first, of August, 1925, the station has been operated with a power of 10 kilowatts. Operas were broadcast direct from the stage during the first month after completion of the station; and later, musical programs, market reports of the Department of Agriculture, news bulletins from the Associated Press in connection with the Chicago Tribune, and market quotations direct from the grain pit of the Chicago Board of Trade were broadcast. The year following, additional studios were opened in the Hearst Building, and later, studios were added in the Congress Hotel.” The Commission further states: “The Fourth Zone being greatly over-quota and the Second Zone considerably under-quota, the withdrawal of 1020 kc. from the Fourth Zone and its assignment for use in the Second Zone would tend toward the equal distribution of broadcasting facilities among zones required by Section 9 of the Radio Act of 1927, as amended, and Paragraph 111 of the Commission’s Rules and Regulations. "As between Michigan and Pennsylvania, the two states in the Second Zone from which applications for 1020 kc. were filed, Pennsylvania being more under-quota than Michigan, the alloca¬ tion of this facility to Pennsylvania would be more consistent with the requirements of Section 9 of the Radio Act of 1927 as amended, and Paragraph 111 of the Commission’s Rules and Regulations providing for a fair and equitable distribution of facilities among states, according to population, than would its allocation to Michigan. “Of the metropolitan areas of the four cities from which come the applications for 1020 kc., viz Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Chicago, the Philadelphia area has fewer transmission facili¬ ties in proportion to population and the number of receiving sets than any of the others. “While reception is had in Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago from stations located outside their metropolitan areas, and while the Pittsburgh area depends almost entirely for reception upon stations located therein, there are more transmission facilities in Pittsburgh area than in either the Detroit or Philadelphia areas.” Concerning its decision in the “1160 case”, the Commission says: “The granting of WOWO’s application for full time on this channel would reduce the facilities of a state and zone already under-quota and would thus be inconsistent with Section 9 of the Radio Act of 1927.” In its opinion the Commission sustained the recommendations of former Examiner Elmer W. Pratt. WHAS APPEAL DISMISSED The appeal of Station WHAS against a decision of the Radio Commission in which it granted WFIW permission to move from Hopkinsville to Louisville, Ky., was dismissed this week by the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia. The appeal was dismissed at the request of the applicant station. SUPREME COURT DENIES WLOE APPEALS Writ of certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court this week in case No. 446 of the Boston Broadcasting Com¬ pany, Station WLOE against the Radio Commission and case No. 447 of William S. Pote, also against the Radio Commission. In the case of Station WLOE the Radio Commission refused to grant a license renewal and a temporary license which it had was 206*