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|J S. OFFERS MORE RADIO AND TV . .'. Than All Other Countries Combined
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JOHN C. DOERFER
Chairman,
Federal Communications Commission
AT THE close of its 24th year, the end of 1958, the Federal Communications Commission had more than 2.1 million radio authorizations on its books; the largest figure in the nation's history. Of these authorizations, 1.5 million were commercial radio operator permits of different grades.
For the first time broadcast station authorizations collectively passed the 9,000 mark, and of this number 874 were TV stations; 791 FM, and 3,353 AM; auxiliaries, etc., made up the remainder.
Of 665 commercial TV stations authorized, 556 held operating permits. In addition, 92 of 156 authorized TV translator stations were on the air.
Proposals for 'booster' and 'repeater' stations to further extend TV service to isolated places were under consideration.
Over 90 per cent of the population is within range of at least 1 present TV station and 75 per cent are within range of 2 or more stations. Over 83 per cent of all homes have 1 or more TV receivers and over 46 million sets are in use. Also, the U. S. is said to be the only nation receiving regular TV color programs.
The possibility of moving all or a major portion of TV broadcasting to the UHF portion of the spectrum continued to receive study; a TV industry group was cooperating in obtaining comparative UHF and VHF technical data; and, meanwhile, present disparity between UHF and VHF operation was relieved to some extent by deintermixture in various localities
and other interim actions.
The Commission held that its regulatory jurisdiction does not extend to community antenna TV (CATV) systems, since they do not transmit over the air, but is studying the effect of satellite, translator, booster, and CATV operations on the growth of regular TV service.
Of 53 authorized educational TV stations, 32 held operating permits. The number of TV channels reserved for education grew to 257, or 15 more than first allocated in 1952. Though some educational reservations have been removed or changed, the Commission has denied requests for commercialization where educators have shown an active intent to use them.
For the second consecutive year, commercial FM stations gained in number. Of 634 authorized stations, 548 were on the air. Pending applications increased from 24 to 57. Increasing competition was reflected in the fact that 23 of the latter were in hearing. Renewed interest in FM is due primarily to the ability of commercial stations to augment their income through subsidiary programs and Commission consideration of the possibility of permitting additional supplemental services through multiplex operation.
AM authorizations rose to 3,353 of which 3,253 had operating permits. The Commission proposed to eliminate the exclusive nighttime use of 12 clear channels by stations in 7 large cities to permit additional stations in 12 western cities to take care of less served areas.
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