NAEB Newsletter (August 1, 1963)

|> Evelyn Walker, producer-coordinator of radio and TV pro^ grams for the Birmingham Public Schools, is one of 17 peo¬ ple to receive the American Educators Medal Award from the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge. The award is given for work performed during the year which encourages others toward understanding the American way of life. ^ Syd Cassyd has been appointed curator of the television collection of the Hollywood Museum. ^ Dr. Samuel B. Gould, manager of WNDT, New York City’s ETV station, was one of the main speakers at the an¬ nual conference of the American Library Association in July. ^ New personnel announced at WDCN-TV, Nashville, are Gordon Reel, producer-director, and Alice Gill, continuity director. Reel holds a degree in radio-TV-films from the University of Kentucky, where last year he directed tele¬ courses in English literature, cultural anthropology, and orien¬ tal culture. Mrs. Gill holds a degree in radio and speech from Ohio University and has worked for the Dallas (Tex.) Times- Herald, and as a free-lance writer. ^ Speaking to 30 Vanderbilt University students completing work in a master of arts teaching program, Charles Siepmann, director of communications at New York University, said that America today faces the enemy of “loveless teachers.” He said the real teacher, either in the classroom or on television, must be dedicated and know the inner meaning of his subject and love to teach it. Siepmann opened a series of sessions for the teachers last fall and he spoke to them again to close the sessions this spring. STATE & REGIONAL ACTIVITIES ^ A state-wide feasibility study is under way for South Da¬ kota. Martin Busch, president of the South Dakota ETV Association and manager of KUSD-TV, states that the study will be completed by the ETV Associates of St. Paul before the state legislature meets in January. ^ New officers of the New York State Educational Radio and Television Association are: Halas L. Jackim, president; Albert Fredette, vice president; John Porter, secretary; and Michael Collins, treasurer. ^ Looking back over the decade since the establishment of the Alabama ETV Commission in June 1953, Manager Ray¬ mond Hurlbert said: “Gratifying progress is viewed in retro¬ spect. The growth is measured from an idea to a TV net¬ work ; from a few weekly evening hours of films telecast over one station to a concise, regular schedule aired over four interconnected stations; from teachers at blackboards deliv¬ ering lectures to deans conducting demonstrations using elab¬ orate equipment and films for in-school study; from sporadic telecourse scheduling to a year’s advance planning of pro¬ graming under authorization of the state board of education; from clumsy, amateur staged presentations to quality, live television productions . . . Yet, there is room for extensive ex¬ perimentation and improvement . . . The next decade prom¬ ises even greater challenges, opportunities, and achievements for educational broadcasting in Alabama and the nation.” ^ WDCN-TV, Nashville, which went on the air last fall, is the first production-broadcast center in the proposed Tennes¬ see ETV network. Present plans foresee affiliated stations in Memphis, Lexington, Sneedville, and Chattanooga. Currently WDCN is awaiting approval of a request filed with the FCC for a power and coverage increase. Station of¬ ficials hope for approval in time to install the necessary equip¬ ment to go to full power at the beginning of the 1953-64 school year. The state board of education has granted the station $503,000—$228,000 for production operations and $275,000 for capital equipment. The station serves 43 school systems in southern Kentucky and middle Tennessee with in-school telecasts, with an en¬ rollment in the TV courses of 134,343, according to Robert NAEB Headquarters: Suite 1119, 1346 Connecticut Avenue, N. W. t Washington, D. C., 20036. Phone 667-6000. Area Code 202. Glazier, station general manager. He said the hoped-for in¬ crease in power from 16kw to lOOkw “should help us to serve 229,000 students in Tennessee alone—and roughly a third of our geographical coverage area will be in Kentucky.” WDCN-TV also programs for adults in the evenings. ^ September 1964 is the target date for on-the-air operation for the ETV station for southern California. To assist in the planning and development of ITV programs for participating agencies with the Community Television of Southern Cali¬ fornia, an ETV planning committee has been formed. At a spring CTSC board meeting, Elden Smith, recently retired chairman of the executive committee of the Los Angeles Security First National Bank, was elected CTSC president. GENERAL ^ WHRO-TV, Hampton Roads ETV station in Norfolk, is scheduled to move into its own studio building August 1. Randy Brent has taken over at the helm, replacing Blair MacKenzie, who is directing operations for the NAEB ETV project in Samoa. ^ Fourteen persons enrolled in the ETV workshop at Win- throp College, Rock Hill, South Carolina, June 10-28. The relationship between the classroom teacher and the TV teach¬ er was emphasized in the workshop, which carried three hours of graduate credit. Participants also studied the broad move¬ ment of ETV in this country and abroad and received suffi¬ cient production experience to understand the problems of the on-camera teacher. Roy Flynn, associate professor of communications and director of public relations at the col¬ lege, was workshop director. He was assisted by personnel from the college and the South Carolina ETV Center, with out-of-state consultants Dona Lee Davenport, director of radio and TV, Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, and Vernon Bronson, NAEB director of research and development. Dr. William Royster represented the state education department. The workshop took place in the new CCTV and radio studios of Winthrop College. ^ Stephens College has announced receipt of a grant enabling it to distribute the lectures in three courses by long-distance telephone conference calls to a network of small liberal arts and teachers colleges. The first course will be a science seminar during the first semester of 1963-64. Conference calls will occur probably once a week, with the science teachers in the classrooms able to ask questions of the science lecturer of the day. The other two courses will be offered during the second semester. James A. Burkhart of the social studies faculty will be technical director of the entire project, with Charles F. Madden, head of the communications department, serving as coordinator. The grant, totaling $47,500, was made by the Fund for the Advancement of Education. ^ KUON-TV, University of Nebraska, is participating in the state’s tourism project for the second season by using pictures of Nebraska scenes of tourist interest as background for the station’s call letters on station-break slides. ^ Supporters of WMHT (TV), Schenectady, New York, have launched various projects to gain funds for the station, presently suffering a deficit of some $68,000. One of the proj¬ ects was a bike sale, which the William A. Koppe family inaugurated, feeling that it not only would be a good family project but would also call attention to WMHT. Many bikes were donated and the Koppes hope it may become an annual event. ^ WMHT and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools (N.C.) recently completed a mutually beneficial equipment swap. Each organization had been given transmitters which could be adapted for use on their respective channels—except for the diplexers. The trade of side band filters and diplexers solved the problem for both. ^ WHYY-TV, Philadelphia, this summer is establishing stu¬ dios and offices in Wilmington, Delaware, and installing a new 50kw transmitter and tower in Glassboro, New Jersey. In September broadcasting over the three-state setup will begin. ^ The 1962-63 annual report of radio-TV activities for the Baltimore Public Schools reports 256 TV programs and 205 AUGUST, 1963 3