Washington report (February 4, 1964)

In granting the applications, the Commission stated: "We recog¬ nize that as shown by the complaints here, such provocative programming may offend some listeners. But this does not mean that those offended have the right, through the Commission's licensing power, to rule such programs off the airwaves, No such drastic curtailment can be coun¬ tenanced under the Constitution, the Communications Act, or the Commission's policy...we are charged under the Act with 'promoting the larger and more effective use of radio in the public interest.and* obviously, in the discharge of that responsibility, must take every reasonable precaution to avoid inhibiting broadcast licensees' efforts at experimenting or diversifying their programming." To the charge which had been issued that the applicants were members of the Communist Party and were using their stations as instru¬ ments of that Party, the Commission asserted that "on the basis of infor¬ mation obtained from Government sources, the Foundation, and our own inquiry, we do not find any evidence warranting further inquiry into the qualifications in this respect of Pacifica Foundation." LOS ANGELES ETV RECEIVES CP AND HEW GRANT The FCC, on Jan. 27, authorized a CP for TV Channel ^28 to Community Television of Southern California to provide the first non¬ commercial educational television service to the greater Los Angeles area. Also, HEW assisted with a grant of $468,790, awarded under the ETV Facilities Act. FCC Chairman Henry commented that "community and educational leaders in Los Angeles have worked diligently toward the development of educational television for their community and are to be commended for this result of their efforts." When Channel *28 comes into service in the LA area with its population of some 8 million, ETV will be availa¬ ble in all the major population centers of the nation. FCC REPORT FOR SALE The annual report of the FCC for the fiscal year 1963 is now on sale at the Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, for 50 cents a copy. The 170-page report notes developments since July 1,1963 in such areas as satellite communication, broadcast, safety and special radio, monitoring and other field engineering, technical research, frequency allocation and use, and other subjects. JCEB-NEA MEETING EMPHASIZES NEED FOR MULTIPLE CHANNEL ETV ASSIGNMENTS A conference called by the Joint Council on Educational Broad¬ casting and the NAEB met in Washington, D.C., Jan. 27-28 to consider a National Policy for ETV Channel Assignments. It was the consensus of the conference TEat a greater proportion of the limited TV channels should be reserved for education and that multiple assignments to any community not be restricted as now proposed in Docket 14229 of the FCC. The conference urged the Sec. of HEW to establish a Citizen's Commission augmented by small work-study teams of competent full-time technical personnel to make an intensive and continuing study to start immediately and to report, if possible, within the time provided by the FCC for Docket No. 14229 comments. This Commission would examine such topics as the relevancy of UHF-TV to community's educational, social and welfare needs, the economics of ETV, and technological questions pertaining to types of broadcast systems and their relationship to edu¬ cational technology and the determination of functional broadcast areas. A report of the Conference is being prepared at present by the NAEB.