NAEB Newsletter (Mar 1957)

TEACHING BY TV ► A series of 3 TV lessons in basic English, in¬ tended primarily for newly arrived Hungarian refugees, is being broadcast over WGBH-TV Boston. Sponsors say they understand the lessons would make the first use of ETV to acquaint new Hungarian ar¬ rivals with their second language. They hoped the telecasts might prove useful to high school teachers assigned to work with refugee students in nearby communities. ► New York’s Deputy Mayor John J. Theobald in¬ terviewed on WNYC’s “Campus Press Conference” said that “without question” TV will be used as an educational medium in New York schools. He added his belief that TV is “the coming medium for mass education.” ► Remembering names and faces without a pad and pencil to jot them down, is the outcome of a new 13-week course “Improve Your Memory” that started February 5 on KQED, San Francisco. Based on the association method of mnemonics, these “live” weekly programs also teach thousands of absent- minded viewers how to recall not only their own phone number, but as many others as they want. ► Five institutions and agencies will cooperate with public schools in Alabama in conducting a joint project designed to improve educational opportunities in the state through the use of ETV. The project will be financed by a grant of $72,000 to the Uni¬ versity of Alabama from the Fund' for the Advance¬ ment of Education. State groups to cooperate in the project are the University of Alabama, Alabama Polytechnic In¬ stitute, the State Department of Education, the Ala¬ bama ETV Commission, and the Birmingham ETV Production Center. —N A E B— FCC ACTIONS ► President Eisenhower went on record as saying he believes some TV channels should be preserved for educational purposes. He made the comment at a news conference when asked about the brewing con¬ troversy over reallocation to commercial interests of TV channels originally assigned by the FCC for edu¬ cational use. The President said he had not had a recent study of the problem presented to him, “But speaking only from what I believe to be the eventual good of the U. S., and not knowing anything of many more chan¬ nels being available through improvement of tech¬ niques and equipment, I would say we must preserve channels for educational purposes.” ^ The FCC has been barraged with differing views on proposals that ETV Channel 2 at Denton, Texas, be reassigned for commercial use. Texas edu¬ cators have protested the proposal by Gregg TV Inc., Longview, Texas, that Channel 2 be assigned to Longview. Channel 2 was originally set aside for the Texas State College for Women, North Texas State College, and the Denton Public School System. Because of lack of funds to build and operate a TV station, the channel has not yet been used. PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE ► A delightful little booklet, Children Turn to Educational TV, has been published by the ETRC and is available on request from the Center. New programs and old favorites are described, and in¬ formation is given on where to see these programs. For copies write: Educational Television and Radio Center 1610 Washtenaw Avenue Ann Arbor, Michigan ► A cleverly illustrated, 28-page booklet, Ten Checkpoints for Better Booklets, is available for writers and editors of small publications. Price: 1 copy — 60c, 2 copies — $1, 3-24 copies — 40c each. Write: Council of National Organizations of AEA 303 Lexington Avenue New York 16, New York ► Schools for Tomorrow : An Educators Blue¬ print by Dr. Alexander Stoddard has been published by the Fund for the Advancement of Education. This is a most important stride for ETV, containing dis¬ cussion of the teacher shortage and the use of TV as an integral part of instruction at all levels. Add¬ itional copies are available from the Fund for the Advancement of Education, 655 Madison Avenue, New York 21, New York. —N A E B— ► Suppose They’d Never Invented Radio is the title of an entertainingly informative brochure, the text of an address by Arthur H. Hayes, CBS Radio President. The address was given last November to the Seminar in Contemporary Broadcasting at Em¬ erson College Boston. Those interested in obtaining a copy, write: Charles Dudley, Chairman, Depart¬ ment of Broadcasting, Emerson College, 130 Beacon Street, Boston 16, Massachusetts. —N A E B— ► A nice-looking reprint of the KETC St. Louis article in Broadcast News (January Newsletter, page 8) is available from RCA, Commercial Elec¬ tronic Products, Camden 2, New Jersey. The title of this slick publication is “TV and the Crisis in Edu¬ cation,” and it contains some excellent photos of KETC facilities and personnel. , Page 4 NEWSLETTER