NAEB Newsletter (Aug 1958)

U. OF ALABAMA GRANT WILL ASSIST IN-SCHOOL TV The Alabama In-School Television Project for 1958- 59 will receive part of the support of a $105,000 grant made recently to the University of Alabama by the Fund for the Advancement of Education. According to an announcement by University President Dr. Frank A. Rose, the university will share the grant with Alabama Polytechnic Institute, the Greater Birmingham Area ETV center, and a project coordination office located in the State Dept, of Education. ETV funds will be used to continue and enlarge the Alabama school TV program for next year when school telecasts will be made available over the Ala¬ bama ETV Network from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Mon¬ day through Friday. ETRC RECEIVES GRANT FOR RELIGIOUS PILOT PROGRAM The Lilly Endowment, Inc., of Indianapolis has awarded a grant of $8,520 to the ETRC for develop¬ ment of a pilot program in religious drama, according to a recent announcement of Robert B. Hudson, program coordinator for the Center. Specifically, the filmed pilot program will aim at determining whether the “interrupted-rehearsal tech¬ nique” can be an effective tool of religious education on television. In this technique, the director inter¬ rupts the play rehearsal from time to time to inter¬ pret characterization and meaning. If the method proves effective for TV, Hudson says that an effort will be made to arrange for pro¬ duction of a series of TV programs in religious educa¬ tion. Programs would be broadcast by the Center’s affiliated ETV stations. Plans are now underway for the pilot production. WGN-TV GIVES TIME FOR TEACHER TRAINING Commercial Chicago station, WGN-TV, will make available one-half hour a day this fall to be used by Chicago Public Schools to present an in-service train¬ ing program in reading for teachers from kinder¬ garten through the eighth grade. This represents the equivalent of a grant of more than $70,000 in time charges and production costs by WGN-TV to the Chicago Board of Education over a 36-week period. Believed to be a unique undertaking by a com¬ mercial station, the program will provide in-service assistance to new teachers coming into Chicago schools as well as serving as a refresher course for other teachers. N. Y. REGENTS BUY TIME ON WPIX (TV) New York States’s Board of Regents voted last month to contract with WPIX (TV), New York, to use its station’s daytime facilities for educational program¬ ming. WOR-TV, New York, had announced earlier it would lease its daytime schedule for educational pur¬ poses, but the June 30th issue of Broadcasting re¬ ported that WPIX (TV) had underbid WOR-TV. The Regents have agreed to pay WPIX (TV) $250,000 for use of the station on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 46 weeks, starting September 15. NYU PLANS ADDITIONAL "SUNRISE SEMESTER" COURSES “We are moving toward a full four-year college pro¬ gram on television,” said Dr. John E. Ivey, executive vice president of New York University after an an¬ nouncement of expanded plans for NYU’s course-for- credit television program, “Sunrise Semester.” Utilizing pre-breakfast time donated by WCBS- TV, “Sunrise Semester” is scheduled to expand' this fall from one to four courses, offered from 6:30-7:30 weekday mornings and from 7-8 a.m. Saturdays. The program was started last year with a course titled “Comparative Literature 10,” presented by NYU Prof. Floyd Zulli, Jr. at 6:30 a.m. weekdays. A total of 117 qualified applicants paid $90 to enroll the first semester and WCBS-TV estimated some 120,000 persons in four states watched the show reg¬ ularly. According to the July 21 issue of Broadcasting, the success of “Sunrise Semester” stems from six years of cooperative educational broadcasting between WCBS-TV and NYU. Although all of the required time for a full four- year college program probably could not be cleared by WCBS-TV, NYU has not yet approached' other stations for a similar arrangement, according to War¬ ren A. Kraetzer, director of NYU’s office of radio¬ television. —N A E B— 6 This Coming Fall NEWSLETTER