NAEB Newsletter (June 1958)

BOARD SETS NEW PUBLICATION POLICY A new policy was determined at the recent NAEB Board of Directors meeting in Columbus, 0. affecting a change in the number of Newsletter and Journal copies sent to members, on the basis of their member¬ ship dues. Effective this month, members paying $100 or more in membership dues will receive three copies of both the Newsletter and Journal; those paying from $50 up to but not including $100 will receive two copies; those whose dues are less than $50 will receive one copy. The publications will be sent to one ad¬ dress in the case of each membership. Additional subscriptions for member institutions for any address has also been changed to $3.25 a year. REGION I MEETING SCHEDULED A meeting for all members of Region I is slated for the weekend of September 19 in New York City. The theme of this meeting will deal with better integration of radio and television as companion media in further¬ ing education’s total responsibility. Response to a questionnaire sent to all members in the region indicated a preference for a September meeting rather than one in October, and most people seemed to prefer holding the session in New York City. Information on the program and accommoda¬ tions will soon be sent to all members. META FACES POSSIBLE SHUT-DOWN Ed Note: At press time, META’s financial position has been brightened considerably by a gift of $5,000 from WMCA, New York AM station. However, ad¬ ditional individual donations amounting to “several thousands of dollars” and the ETRC summer pro¬ duction contract still do not insure META’S resum¬ ing live programming . Emergency financing, chiefly through contractual arrangements with the ETRC, has enabled the Metropolitan Educational Television Assn. (META) to insure its operations as a production center through the summer, according to an announcement by Dr. Alan Willard Brown, META president. Last month, Dr. Brown announced that META would be forced to suspend its programming activities because of lack of funds. He said that the organiza¬ tion needs $200,000 to continue operations from June 1st through December 31st. Dr. Brown indicated that the need for this amount is still acute, but that META will not have to close down completely, a pos¬ sibility which was averted as a result of “realistic grants from private and independent sources” which he was not at liberty to disclose. According to the May 26 issue of Broadcasting, an intensive 6-week fund raising drive brought the as¬ sociation $6,000 and three grant-supporting founda¬ tions jointly pledged $100,000, but the pledge will re¬ main unfilled until 1959. Dr. Brown’s estimate of META’s needs for the next six months is half of present annual budget. It derives funds from founda¬ tion grants, revenue from production of kinescopes for the ETRC and public contributions. Existing under a charter of the New York Board of Regents, META’s plight represents a lack of financial and civic support. In his announcement last month, Dr. Brown placed the situation squarely be¬ fore the people of New York as he said, “It is dif¬ ficult to believe that a city such as New York, one of the world’s greatest cultural centers, should be with¬ out educational broadcasting. I call upon citizens of the metropolis to guarantee the future of educational television in New York by contributing generously to META. We cannot expect foundations alone to provide this support.” NEW ENGLAND PLANS ETV NETWORK Plans for a New England ETV network are being drawn up by representatives of the six state area who met recently at WGBH-TV, Boston. Daily open cir¬ cuit telecasts would include programs for elementary and secondary schools, for high school pupils who wish advanced standing for college credit, and for a general adult audience. The regional network would use educational and commercial TV facilities where they exist, with the expectation that further educational outlets would be developed where there are none. KNME-TV ON AIR IN RECORD TIME New Mexico’s first educational TV center has achieved an unofficial record in “getting on the air.” KNME-TV, sponsored by the University of New Mexico and the Albuquerque public schools, started broadcasting on open circuit May 1, just over six months after its original permit to construct was granted by the FCC. Although a station’s application is not usually ac¬ cepted for one to three years after the construction permit is granted, the station has been granted JUNE, 1958 7