NAEB Newsletter (Apr 1957)

“The Fight for TV Dominance.” Broadcasting. 51:25, p. 27, December 17. TV networks and Hollywood movies compete for station programming time. “TV Laid An Egg.” Sponsor. 10:25, p. 25, Novem¬ ber 17. New fall network programs imitative, lack creativity and suffer low audience ratings. “TV Program Time Tops 100 Hours Per Week.” Broadcasting. 51:25, p. 28, Decem¬ ber 17. Stations increase hours in the air per week; de¬ vote more time to network programs and film features, less time to local live programming. “Old Movies Click on TV.” Tide. 30:23, p. 49, Dec¬ ember 14. Feature films are achieving high audience rat¬ ings. “TV Revenue Is Up, But Shows Are Creaky.” Ad Age. 27:50 p. 53, December 10. Network income is up but sponsors can’t find new, exciting, high-rating programs for spon¬ sors. Langman, Anne W. “Television.” Nation. 183:25, p. 546. December 22. “Ding Dong School” and Walter Winchell leaving air in 1957 are victims of TV’s single measure of program success, the rating system. White, David Manning. “What’s Happening to Mass Culture?” Saturday Review. 39: 44, p. 11, November 3. Prediction that TV and other mass media may bring to “average” man a cultural richness no previous age could give him. TEACHING BY TV ► “Workshop for Writers” is a 16-weeks’ tele-course for credit put on by the University of Cincinnati Evening College over W T CET. Two hours of college credit will be granted upon successful completion of the required written assignments and the final ex¬ am to be held on campus. Close to 100 persons sign¬ ed up for the course. ► New York State’s first televised educational pro¬ gram offering college credit, “Inductory Geography,” has been launched. The Mohawk Hudson Council of ETV reported 800 inquiries about the course had been received, but enrollment figures are not available as yet. ► KETC, St. Louis, has the results of a survey made by their School Programs Department. They found they have a weekly classroom audience in excess of 150,000, that 696 schools take their programs, and 2065 teachers regularly use their series. A fine record of growing audio-visual education! AWARDS AND WORKSHOPS ► Michigan State University’s 7th annual Summer TV Workshop, August 5-23, will offer a foundation in TV production to school and community leaders, educators and members of the TV industry. The workshop, available on a credit and noncredit basis, is divided into two general areas - directing and broadcasting fundamentals. For further information, write: William H. Tom¬ linson, Co-director, TV Summer Workshop, Depart¬ ment of Speech, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. ► A one-week workshop-conference on instructional TV sponsored jointly by the California State Depart¬ ment of Education and San Jose State College will be held in San Jose, July 15-19, 1957. In addition to the one-week program, a full six-week Instructional TV Course for credit will be offered from June 24 to August 2 for all who wish to develop skills in in¬ structional TV. For information, write Richard B. Lewis, coordinator of Audio-Visual Services, San Jose State College, San Jose 14, California. FCC ACTIONS ► The FCC ruled against a proposal to shift th edu¬ cational reservation in Bozeman, Montana, from VHF Channel 9 to UHF Channel 22. Montana State College and JCET opposed the proposal, for the col¬ lege plans to use the channel in 2 years. Spokesmen said the switch to UHF would seriously affect the college’s ability to serve the entire state. Also, prep¬ arations for technical facilities had already been made. ► Two members of the FCC testified that assigned TV channels for education should be kept for edu¬ cation as long as there is any indication they will be so used. Chairman George C. McConnaughey and Commissioner T. A. Craven testified at a hearing be¬ fore the House Interstate Commerce Committee. Craven said he believes no legislation is necessary to “nail down” the assignment of such channels for education. He said the channels should be reserved even in a case where educational use might be 10 years off. McConnaughey said the Commission has dem¬ onstrated a most lenient attitude and he thought they would continue to do so. —N A E B— The high price of TV sets is still a major deterrent to mass TV ownership in Japan. A 14-inch set costs around $200 - about 6-months’ take-home pay for a Japanese factory worker. APRIL, 1957 7