Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1954)

3 WBTV, Charlotte, and part owner of WFMY-TV, Greensboro, N.C. Primary CBS affiliate, it will also carry WBTV originations. Until AT&T microwave is completed, it will get network programs via WBTV, 94 mi. away. Charles H. Crutchfield is exec. v.p. & gen. mgr.; J. Wm. Quinn, managing director; Melvin Purvis, station mgr.; Wallace J. Jorgenson, gen. sales mgr. Base rate is $250. Rep is CBS-TV Spot Sales. CJCB-TV, Sydney, N.S. (Ch.4), easternmost TV station in North America, began regular test patterns Oct. 5. It has 10-kw RCA transmitter, 400-ft. tower with 12slot wavestack antenna. Owner is N. Nathanson, whose sons J. Marven and Norris Nathanson are gen. mgr. & business mgr. ; Robert J. Norton is chief engineer. Station is CBS secondary and CBC outlet. Base rate is $200. Reps are Weed & All-Canada. CHCT-TV, Calgary, Alta. (Ch. 2) started programs Oct. 8. "Picture and sound reported 120 miles," wired gen. mgr. J.H. Battison after first test patterns went on air Oct. 2. Using GE transmitter, 4-bay antenna and 670-ft. tower, it's owned by local AMs CFCN, CKXL & CFAC, the latter affiliated with Calgary Herald (Southam newspapers). Officers are H.G. Love, pres.; H.R. Carson, managing director; A.M. Cairns, secy.-treas. Base rate is $200. Reps are Weed & All-Canada. DIVERSIFICATION' BIG FACTOR IN DECISIONS: Ownership of TV-radio-newspaper interests continues a serious handicap to those seeking additional stations in hearings, this week's decisions emphasizing the point. In the one final and two initial decisions issued, applicants preferred were chosen because they had fewer TV-radio or newspaper holdings than the losers. Commission's actions this week: Final decision granting Ch. 10, Sacramento, to Sacramento Telecasters, turning down McClatchy Bcstg. Co. (KFBX). Uncontested grant on Ch. 43, Visalia, Cal., to Sequoia Telecasting. Initial decision recommending grant on Ch. 7, Evansville. Ind., to Evansville TV, turning down WEOA & WGBF. Initial decision favoring Ch. 10 CP in Waco, Tex, for KWTX, rejecting WACO. * Hi * * In Sacramento case, examiner Thomas Donahue had found McClatchy' s record of community contribution so great that it outweighed fact McClatchy controlled numerous TV-AM-FM stations and newspapers in area, whereas Sacramento Telecasters' only stockholder with radio interests is John H. Schacht — who proposed to sell his 50% holdings in KMOD, Modesto, if his group won. Commission conceded quality of McClatchy' s record but concluded: "The facts in this case boil down to a comparison of an applicant with an excellent record of past performance with all the attendant advantages that accrue, and on the other hand, an applicant without a record of past performance but affording assurances that its operation will be in the public interest. "We conclude that under these circumstances the superiority McClatchy has demonstrated with respect to certain factors does not outweigh the comparative advantages adhering to Telecasters because of its freedom from ties with other radio newspaper and TV interests in Sacramento as well as throughout the Central Valleys. " In Evansville initial decision, examiner Herbert Sharfman said that Bitner family's WEOA "is far and away the superior applicant from the standpoint of preparation and assurance of accomplishment," but he considered Bitners' other TV-radio interests an "overmastering force" requiring denial. Sharfman found record of WGBF also superior to that of Evansville TV, but he concluded its several radio interests were crippling, though he stated: "Yet* we must confess that were it not for the fact of ownership in other media we might very reasonably have preferred WGBF, and it is perhaps unfortunate that the very facilities whose long and successful operation naturally lays claim to our approval should furnish the basis for our ultimate determination against WGBF." Sharfman 's snappish opinions, sometimes satirical and sometimes humorous, give some indication as to language he'll employ in writing initial decision on’ the Lamb communist-charge case which he's currently hearing (see p. 6). Evansville TV_J,s headed by Rex Schepp (45% owner), long-time broadcaster whose most recent station ownership was in KPHO-TV, Phoenix, until he sold out in