Washington report (May 1, 1961)

A late development has been the reassignment from the Subcommittee on Communica¬ tions to the Rules Committee of Rep. William H. Avery (R.-Kan.). Avery has been an outspoken critic of the ETV proposals and at the last session made a personal appear¬ ance before the Rules Committee to argue against reporting out H.R. 10609. Persons interested in giving emphasis to the need for passage of the proposed legislation, may write to any member of the House Committee and duplicate copies for the Chairman and Counsel may be addressed to Room 1334, New House Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE Oren Harris, Ark., Chr.j John Bell Williams, Miss.; Peter F. Mack, Jr., Ill.; Kenneth A. Roberts, Ala.; Morgan M. Moulder, Mo. * 1/; Harley 0. Staggers, W. Va.; Walter Rogers, Tex.*; Samuel N. Friedel, Md.; John J. Flynt, Jr., Ga.*; Torbert H. Macdonald, Mass.; George M. Rhodes, Pa.; John Jarman, Okla.; Leo W. O'Brien, N.Y.; John E. Moss, Calif.*; John D. Dingell, Mich.; Joe M. Kilgore, Tex.; Paul G. Rogers, Fla.; Robert W. Hemphill, S.C.; Dan Rostenkowski, Ill.*; James C. Healey, N.Y.; John B. Bennett, Mich.; William L. Springer, Ill.; Paul F. Schenck, Ohio; J. Arthur Younger, Calif.*; Harold R. Collier, Illinois; Milton W. Glenn, N.J.; Samuel L. Devine, Ohio; Ancher Nelsen, Minn.; Hastings Keith, Mass.; Willard S. Curtin, Pa.; Abner W. Sibal, Conn.*; Vernon W. Thomson, Wise.; and W. E. Williamson, Clerk. * Subcommittee on Communications and Power l/ Chairman of Subcommittee FCC ACTIONS Inquiry . - The Federal Communications Commission (March 29) inaugurated a formal inquiry into the methods by which one of the seven commercial VHF television channels at New York City and at Los Angeles could be made available for non-commercial educa¬ tional broadcasting. Interested persons may file comments on or before May 1, 1961. In taking this step the Commission noted that, despite the achievements of edu¬ cational groups in placing 54 educational TV stations on the air, the vast populations of the New York City and Los Angeles areas — over 13% of the total population of the country -- are still not served by non-commercial educational TV stations. In these circumstances, and recognizing the abundance of resources for educational programming in those cities, the Commission stated it is urgently desirable in the public interest to inquire into available means by which it could enhance the opportunities for provid¬ ing such services. NAEB plans to file comments. Applications Accepted for Filing . - WYES-TV, Greater New Orleans Educational Television Foundation: Renewal of license. KLSE, State Department of Education, State of Louisiana, Monroe, La.: Renewal of license. The School of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Mo.: CP for a new non-commercial FM Station to be operated at 88.1 me., ch. 201, with transmitter power of 10 watts. Actions on Motions . - The Commission (March 27) granted petition by the Committee on Education of The Legislative Council of the State of Kansas and extended from March 27 to May 25 time to file reply comments in TV rule-making proceeding involving Superior, Kearney, Albion, Nebraska, and others (Docket 13860). By Memorandum Opinion and Order, the Commission denied a petition by Rankin Fite and Robert H. Thomas for rule making to allocate Channel 2 for commercial use in Hamil¬ ton, Ala., by deleting that channel now reserved for educational use in State College, Miss., and Nashville, Tenn., and reserving Channel 30 (now commercial) for educational use in Nashville. By Report and Order, the Commission finalized rule making in Docket 13945 and amended the TV table of assignments by substituting Channel 52 for Channel 44 in Vin¬ cennes, Ind., Channel 44 for Channel 52 in Princeton, Ind., and Channel 8l for Channel 60 in Washington, Ind. Purdue University in its comments requested that the assign¬ ment of Channel 8l rather than Channel 76, as originally proposed, in Washington so as to eliminate any future interference should a station commence operating from that city, to the operation of its experimental station on Channel 76 (KS2XGD) aboard a plane over Montpelier, Ind.