Sponsor (Apr-June 1964)

TV MEDIA Three U outlets now building in major markets exemplify the belief "all-channel" advertisers are just a switch away from a new broadcast era Countdown starts for ■ Kaiser Industries has more just a passing interest in UHF. Although it is not general knowledge that the sprawling Oaklandbased industrial complex is a station operator, if plans go as scheduled, the giant corporation created by Henry J. Kaiser will soon be the proud parent of a major broadcasting group. The five applications for UHF channels in major markets, that were filed with the FCC in 1962, have become what Kaiser people refer to as "the UHF project." Three CP's have been awarded to date. But Kaiser Broadcasting Corp. has not suddenly emerged as a force overnight. Rather it boasts a professional management team backed up by an experienced staff comprising the core that will operate the new tv stations. Kaiser's start as a broadcaster dates back to 1957 when the firm built and operated AM-TV outlets in Honolulu. After four years of operation, the company began to look for areas of expansion. In 1961, the station's manager. Richard C. Block (now vice president and general manager of Kaiser Broadcasting) was transferred to Oakland. His assignment was to look into the prospects for more stations, while keeping a managerial eye on Hawaiian operations. Kaiser management found that price tags for outlets apparently had little or no relationship to phy la sical assets or earnings, and where asking prices were not astronomical, growth potential was limited. The group examined FCC financial figures and found that the high profit ratios were in the major markets and rarely in the smaller ones.! Moreover, Kaiser learned from its experience in Hawaii that earnings are minuscule until a fairly i sizeable volume is generated, and the bigger the market, the bigger the volume. To further point the way to the major markets, Kaiser is a leading company and sponsor,! and could see more derivative val-: ues coming from operating in a' megalopolis. Also, there is little need to explain in detail why UHF in major markets looked so good to Kaiser, in 1961, when then FCC chairman Newton Minnow first broached the idea of a law that would require new tv receivers to be equipped for all-channel reception. If such a bill were to become law. then Kaiser was interested in I broadcasting. Ratio of return to investment and growth possibilities! seemed right. And if quickh executed, the opportunity could approach the potential that tv station and CP holders and licensees had in 1945-46. Anyone having gone through the process of applying tor a commercial license knows that there is a lot of work involved in it. But the assignment lacing Kaiser Broadcasting's small Oakland staff SPONSOR .