Sponsor (Nov 1946-Oct 1947)

There will be over 60,000 receivers in Windy City homes by the end of 1947, Chicago thus joining New York as an actual market for TV advertising. Figure is based upon commitment of set manufacturers to deliver 20 per cent of production to that market. RMA (Radio Manufacturers' Association) sees at least 300,000 television receivers coming off the lines in 1947. Confidential American Telephone and Telegraph sources indicate that without labor trouble coaxial cable from New York will be through to Chicago by March 1948 and thus permit network TV in that area. The refusal of a television commercial license to the Columbia Broadcasting System does not mean that CBS can't continue to telecast full color pictures but just that they can't go ahead on a commercial basis nor can a manufacturer of a color receiver assure a purchaser that the set he buys will be good for any specific length of time, since universal standards have not been established. Establishment of standards would have been part and parcel of permitting commercial color TV. Result of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) refusal to establish (at this time) commercial standards means sponsor action in television. While some of the early sponsor-experimenters in the medium have tightened their purse strings new sponsors more than make up for withdrawals. Twenty per cent tax which might have been added to the burden being carried by bars and grills which had television receivers was squashed with the help of Jack Poppele, president of the Television Broadcasters' Association. Poppele went to Washington to speak to the Treasury Department about the proposed levy and apparently convinced them it wasn't justified. RCA dealers in Los Angeles sold 1,000 television receivers on the West Coast's T Day (March 10) in eight hours. Signals from Los Angeles stations located atop Mount Wilson are said to have been picked up and enjoyed in San Diego 116 miles away. The District of Columbia is the number one FM market in the United States at the present time. Due to its political importance and the fact that all the station licensees in the area seem to be pushing, manufacturers are allotting more of their output to Washington than they are to any other one section of the country. Two broadcasters, WASH, and WINX-FM are on regular schedules. WWDC-FM is due to open early in April with a 3,000watt transmitter. WRC-FM has its tower up and plans to start transmitting shortly, and stations in Silver Spring, Maryland (WGAY), and Winchester, Virginia (WINC), are heard regularly in the area. Thirty days ago dealers had at most one FM-AM set on the floor, today deliver and install console receivers (at $300 and over) within 48 hours. Although table models are promised in 30 days by Emerson and other manufacturers, hopes are highest for quick delivery ofa Pilot set to retail at $107.50. For the first time since broadcasting began, downtown Washington will have an opportunity of hearing the broadcasts of the Senators' baseball games. In the past static has made listening nearly impossible in much of this area but WWDC, which broadcasts the games, will air them all on its FM affiliate as well and that will mean the games sans interference. Sponsors using WASH, the only FM station that's selling time at present, include a real estate firm (Worthington), a men's custom clothing store (Caswell), a number of radio and music merchants (Ballard's, Kitt's, and George's), a women's apparel store (Haber and Company), and a furrier (Cavalier). Based upon serving 8,000 FM receivers, the WASH rates are $25 an hour one time or $15 on a 156-time basis (three times a week for a year). The nation's capital is getting the FM works at present even if national advertisers have thus far not used it as a testing ground, as they did with Leonard Asch ( WBCA) in Schenectady. W hile both major factors in the facsimile field, John V. L. Hogan and W. G. H. Finch, are continuing program experimentation, commercial use of the equipment is expanding rapidly. The idea is that business firms will use the equipment, which is adaptable lor commercial use without modification, and this acceptance will ease the introduction of FAX into the home. Unlike TV and FM, the transmittal of printed material via wire or airwaves has many practical business applications, which already have saved thousands for organizations which profit byprinted instructions transmitted instantaneously to a number of offices without manual sending. Multiplexing (transmitting FAX on a waveband being used at the same time for transmitting sound) is also reaching the stage where application will soon be made to the Federal Communications Commission for permission to transmit both FAX and sound on the same FM channel, thus making FAX operation possible wherever an FM station is in operation. Multiplexing has actually been possible lor some time but the Commission has frowned upon its use because every station in the service area of the station multiplexing would have had to install special equipment in order to guard its own signal from distortion. FCC felt that this was putting an unfair burden on the stations which were not making dual use of their facilities. The new developments should eliminate this handicap. Sneak tests in one city where 20 re ceivers have been installed in homes indicate that department stores will find FAX's impact even greater than TV's. FAX guinea pigs have brought FAX printed department store ads right into the stores to buy things pictured in the ads, which for the tests are simply taken from current newspaper advertising. Lack of promotion has resulted in FAX'S being the slowest-growing air medium, but every test reveals that it can be the most effective for sight selling. 48 SPONSOR