NAEB Newsletter (Feb 1957)

The first of this month Cohn and Marks, legal counsel for NAEB, filed a protest to the FCC against amending Section 3.182 (c) and (v) of the FCC Rules and Regulations. This section provides pro¬ tection to broadcasters that render a unique program service. TEACHING BY TV ► TV courses in 2nd-year Algebra, Trigonometry and Physics are being taught to high school students in twelve high schools in Oklahoma. Instruction is presented daily over KETA-TV, Oklahoma City. Tests, notebooks, and assignments are graded by the TV teacher and returned to school; and scores are comparable to those of regular classes in the same subject. ► WTHS-TV, Miami, started a new TV course on Psychology February 7th. The series will run 12 weeks and features Dr. Jack Kapchan of the Uni¬ versity of Miami Psychology staff. Upon paying a $3 fee and passing a final exam, viewers will be en¬ titled to a certificate of completion. ► Cincinnati Public Schools has put out “A Study on the Effectiveness of TV as a Medium of Instruc¬ tion in High School Chemistry 1955-56.” This mimeo¬ graphed study is based on a chemistry TV course WCET, Cincinnati, ran March through April, 1956, for the city’s public schools. ► High school seniors through TV are earning col¬ lege credits in a new course presented by the State University of New York, State College for Teachers at Albany, in cooperation with the Mohawk Hudson Council and General Electric station WRGB. This first credit offering via TV in New York State is also available for credit to qualified adults who receive the program at home. The course, “Introductory Ge¬ ography,” started February 4th and is televised at 11 a. m. three times weekly. ► “Survey of English Literature,” a University of Wichita TV course for college credit, is being telecast over KARD-TV, a commercial station in Wichita, Kansas. The course deals with 18th century to pres¬ ent-day English authors, and is taught by Dr. Morton Rosenbaum of the University of Wichita. ► Two TV courses are being offered by Indiana University over WTTV. “Individual Study in Guidance” and “Introduction to American Govern¬ ment II” are the two TV-home study courses for col¬ lege credit. LETTER FROM PARIS By Keith Engar The French Broadcasting System maintains a unique section called “The Club d’Essai” — tryout club. It’s devoted to experimentation in Radio and TV, to the publication of a first-rate periodical called Cahiers d’Etudes (which contains many articles in English — it’s a cosmopolitan, international periodi¬ cal devoted to radio-TV), and to training students in skills for radio-TV. To my knowledge, no French university offers such skills courses, and the Broadcasting System is forced to. This has the worthy effect, however, of making broadcasting more of a profession, for there is a genuine attempt to employ successful graduates of the course. More than skills is taught. Lectures are given in the Sorbonne Amphitheatre Turgot by various specialists on such subjects as “Theories of Information,” “Poetry on the Radio,” and “The Aesthetics of Broadcasting.” The experimental work is bold in conception. Recently a troupe of actors and technicians went to Grenoble to attempt an experiment in “Radio del’ Art” or radio drama by improvisation. The pur¬ pose of going on location was two-fold: Parisian fa¬ cilities of RTF are not readily available, and the lo¬ cale of the scenario was a bell factory. There is a dandy bell factory near Grenoble, and the actors were given the opportunity to im¬ provise under realistic conditions. A psychologist (an American Fulbright) was on hand to record re¬ actions of the actors. Recently the founder of psycho-drama par¬ ticipated in a film which attempted to demonstrate uses of this technique for the training of actors. When the Club d’ Essai essays such a film, personnel aren’t sure how the experiment will turn out, but they have the true spirit of adventure. I daresay they will become more well known in international broadcasting circles as times goes on. —NAEB— Seymour N. Siegel, director of WNYC, has notified us at the NAEB that three additional broadcasting organizations have joined the interna¬ tional competition of the Prix Italia Prize. These are the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, the Israel Broadcasting Service and the Yugoslav Radio. The 1957 World Radio Handbook is out now, list¬ ing old friends and new in the broadcasting-television world. The book performs a fine service and pro¬ motes better understanding between peoples of the world. New York representative is Gilfer Asso¬ ciates, Box 239 Grand Central Station, New York 17, New York. NEWSLETTER Page 5