NAEB Newsletter (July 1958)

MICHIGAN ETV TO SHARE CHANNEL Educational station WKAR-TV, Michigan State University, awaits a final FCC decision awarding shared use of channel 10 to the university and the Television Corp. of Michigan, creating the nation’s first station combining educational and commercial TV on a split schedule basis. On June 28 the ETV station suspended broad¬ casting on UHF channel 60, which it has used since 1954. Application for the VHF channel has been in a competitive hearing for over three years. The Com¬ mission’s initial decision was in favor of Michigan State and its co-licensee, and a similar final decision is anticipated in the near future. According to Dr. Armand L. Hunter, director of WKAR-TV, the channel will operate as an edu¬ cational station from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Television Corp. will operate during the remainder of the broadcasting day as a commercial station, using separate call letters. ing the summer months. Additional funds have come from New York sta¬ tion WMCA, which contributed $5,000 last month, and from public donations totaling another $5,000, a sum considered disappointing by Dr. Brown. After his original estimate that $200,000 would be needed to keep META going, Dr. Brown said that re-evaluation of META’s needs resulted in an in¬ creased estimate. Despite total contributions of $102,000, he said that META still needs $200,000. TARIFF AMENDMENT PASSED Senate gave its vote of approval June 13 to the Eber- harter Bill permitting the importation of tapes and recordings without duty when they are used for ed¬ ucational purposes. Passage of this bill will prove beneficial to edu¬ cational broadcasters since it also provides free im¬ portation for “. . . exposed or developed picture film for the encouragement of the arts, science, or educa¬ tion through broadcasting on a nonprofit basis The House of Representatives passed the bill in Feb¬ ruary. META GETS GRANTS TOTALING $92,000 Two grants, one in the amount of $50,000 and another for $42,000 have been received by META, the Metro¬ politan Educational Television Assn., in response to its emergency plea for financial assistance, according to a recent announcement by Dr. Alan Willard Brown, president. The $50,000 grant was made by the Avalon Foun¬ dation, one of six philanthropic organizations that helped build META last year, and the remaining sum represented an advance, from the ETRC against contracts for the production of kinescope series dur¬ P. I P. 20 P. 20 DIRECTORY CHANGES Associates - 96 (under CALIFORNIA) San Diego State College Add: Mr. Frank W. Norwood Associate Professor Speech Arts San Diego State College San Diego 15, California JUniper 2-4411, Ext. 255 San Jose State College Add: Frank McCann Assistant Professor Dept. Speech and Drama San Jose State College San Jose, California CYpress 4-6414 NEWS OF MEMBERS GENERAL July was proclaimed “WCET Month” by Cincinnati, Ohio’s Mayor Donald E. Clancy, who called on the city to help “the nation’s first licensed educational TV station” celebrate its fourth birthday. WCET went on the air July 26, 1954, with a non¬ commercial license. It is owned and operated by 52 voting member school systems, colleges and univer¬ sities which provide the station’s primary source of support. During the past year, WCET had a weekly audi¬ ence of 35,000 children in 350 schools. It is estimated that 30,000 homes are now equipped to watch WCET’s educational and cultural programs. y WBGO, Newark, N. J., sends its thanks to NAEB members who sent letters, telegrams and tape re¬ corded greetings for a program celebrating its 10th anniversary. In a successful effort to make Newark aware of the progress made in educational broadcast¬ ing, WBGO utilized the 44 messages received in a special program emphasizing the idea that broad¬ casting is an accepted facet of education all over the United States and in foreign countries. ^ In another effort to gain public support for edu¬ cational broadcasting, WEDU-TV, Tampa, Fla., and many other stations sent letters to people in their coverage areas urging them to write their House NEWSLETTER