Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1954)

workshop and 150-ft. Blaw-Knox tower with 3-bay RCA antenna. ABC programming begins Sept. 26. Frank Carman is gen. mgr. and 25% owner, with Grant Wrathall also owning 25%, Salt Lake Tribune & Telegram 50%. Base rate is $450. Rep is Hollingbery. WLOS-TV, Asheville, N.C. (Ch. 13) was all set to begin regular operation at week's end with ABC & DuMont programs — first vhf in city where WISETV (Ch. 62) began operating more than year ago. It has 25-kw Federal transmitter, 300-ft. Lehigh tower with 8-bay antenna on 6000-ft. Mt. Pisgah, second highest peak east of Mississippi. Charles B. Britt is exec. v.p. and, with family, principal owner; Asheville Citizen Times holds option to acquire 30%. Bradley H. Roberts is sales mgr. ; Fred Brown Jr., program mgr. Base rate is $250. Rep is Venard, Rintoul & McConnell. KETC, St. Louis, Mo. (Ch. 9, educational), started test patterns on Sept. 13, begins with program preview Sept. 20. It uses 5-kw RCA transmitter and 600-ft. former WEW-FM tower, rebuilt with 6-bay superturnstile antenna at new site near Oakland Stadium. It's another community project with about half of $300,000 of yearly operating funds coming from allocations to be made by area schools on basis of $1 per student per year. Acting chairman of St. Louis Educational TV Commission is the Very Rev. Paul C. Reinert, S.J., with Martin Quigley, gen. mgr. ; Charles Guggenheim, operations mgr. ; John F. White, business mgr. ; Jack Chenoweth, chief engineer. CFPA-TV, Port Arthur, Ont. (Ch.2), 9th privately owned Canadian TV outlet of 15 now on air, began test patterns Sept. 17, starts with CBC programming Sept. 26. It uses 2-kw RCA transmitter, 200-ft. self-supporting tower with 3-bay antenna. Ralph H. Parker is owner-mgr. Base rate is $150. Reps are Weed and All-Canada. 21in. COLOR SET 'NAKEABLE & MARKETABLE': Production — that's the story of color from here on out. After witnessing RCA's brilliant demonstration of 21-in. & 28-tube receiver in Princeton Sept. 15, after having seen fine pictures on the CBS-Hytron 19-in. tube a few weeks earlier, after polling dozens of top manufacturers who have seen either or both, after comparing notes with fellow newsmen whose opinions we respect — we believe it's abundantly clear that the industry is now in a position to produce an eminently "makeable" and "marketable" color receiver. But volume production — and popular price — are by no means in sight yet. Neither RCA nor any other tube maker is revealing production capacity, but it's evident that the kind of mass output that drives prices down from the $800-to-$900and-up currently quoted won't start until well into next year. In the meantime, there may well develop a scurrying for picture tubes and special components reminiscent of the early days of black-&-white. Indicative of timetable is fact that RCA says it will sample picture tube about Nov. 1, deliver only "limited quantities" late this year, and offer no commitments for next year as yet. Also due for sampling are 3 new receiving tubes as well as special yokes, transformers, etc. in October. The new tubes make possible reduction of the 21-in. set's circuit to 28 (including 3 rectifiers) from the 37 in the 19-in. set first planned by RCA and the 44 contained in the CBS set (Vol. 10:36), ♦ * * * RCA policy is all-out for color, and it has committed itself definitely to this tube — so there's undoubtedly an intra-company drive on to achieve, as quickly as possible, a rate comparable with the 1,000,000 or more a year that RCA is believed to turn out in black-&-white . But considering the complexities, it will be a miracle if the rate reaches 10,000 a month before well into next year. Only with mass production of the tube can prices of sets come down substantially. For example, if price of the tube to manufacturers can be reduced from the currently quoted $175 down to $100, it means set can be sold to public for $150-$200 less. Suspicion is that RCA isn't merely turning out hand-made tubes but that at least skeleton lines are already set up and moving at Lancaster, Pa. plant. What will be impact of RCA's 21-in. tube on CBS-Hytron' s 19-in.? Majority of tliose who have seen both give slight edge to RCA in quality, but a few would vote the other way. And merchandisers agree it's only reasonable to expect the public to