Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

7 stantially free from atmospheric interference, from such man-made interference as ignition and other impulsive electrical noise and from airplane flutter. “Galactic noise, which may be an occasional bothex'some source of interfex-ence on low vhf channels, is of no consequence at uhf. Finally, although there were frequent reports of co-channel and adjacent-channel interference at vhf in the information obtained from servicemeix and others, there were px-actically no such reports at uhf. This, however, may well be due at least in part to the relatively small number of uhf stations on the air to cause such intex’ference, since the curves of interfering (or tropospherically propagated) signal stx’ength developed by TASO indicate that, at equal distances and for compax-able conditions, interfering fleld strengths at uhf are only some 6 db lower than at vhf.” 4: * * Report summarizes transmission line losses, showing greater attenuation on uhf, and the reasons why uhf antennas generally deliver less voltage to transmission line. The important receiver noise factor averages thus: low vhf, 6.5 db; high vhf, 8.5 db; uhf, 13.3 db. Report states that TASO hasn’t done “all of the work which needs to be done in the field of TV engineering allocation studies.” Among these: completion of propagation data analysis; more field wox-k to learn why uhf field strength “is well below its theoretical value”; study of variation of field strength over short and long periods; xneasurements of galactic noise; tests of directional antennas; measurements of very precise carrier frequency control; expex’iments with circular polarization; evaluation of picture quality in homes in “very large metropolitan areas.” No ‘Evil Eye,’ Television : Crack Scripps-Howard Washington corx'espondent Andrew Tully, fed up with “anti-TV snobs,” got gripe off his chest, and Washington News headlined his column, “That Eye Doesn’t Have to Be Evil.” All the more striking was the play his syndicated article got in contrast with the horrendous findings of that newspaper’s own TV-radio editor Dave Reque, in series just a few weeks earlier, based on that sure-fire old chestnut — the number of murders and other crimes he could count in one week’s program schedule. Wrote Tully on his pet peeve : “The tedious line affected by this pseudo egghead varies, but in essence it sounds like this: ‘Of course, we don’t have a TV set — we think it’s bad for the children.’ The more subtle ones favor the reverse English method, offering a mock apology for their inability to get interested in TV fare. ‘As soon as I finish Goethe in the original . . .’ they say, with a gentle smile. Some day I’m going to challenge one of those types to spell cat. TV is a bum a lot of the time and not worth the space it takes up in the house, but on increasingly frequent occasions it is a whopping entertainment value . . . The kid who is allowed to watch TV 5 or 6 hours a day is flirting with permanent idiocy, but the parent who okays such a schedule already has achieved that stature ... A TV set can x’uin a child. But so can too much oatmeal or an overdose of Euclid . . . American parents with something between their ears have managed to save their children from the radio, the automobile, the movies and even the perils of too much parental gum-beating. They have done it by practicing something I wish the anti-TV snobs would discovex*. It’s called ixioderation.” Annual conference of presidents of State Assns. of Bx'oadcasters will be held in Washington Feb. 24-25. Marie Torre Takes Ten: Dressed in regulation blue-&white striped prison uniform, N. Y. Herald Tribune TVx'adio gossip columnist Marie Torre took up 10-day residence in Jersey City’s Hudson County jail Jan. 5. She was fingerprinted and committed to pastel-tiixted 7th floor dormitox-y room to serve contempt-of-court sentence after final refusal to tell N. Y. Federal Judge Sylvester J. Ryan the name of CBS v.p. she quoted as source of allegedly libelous remarks about singer Judy Garland (Vol. 15:1). “If you change your mind. Miss Torre, you can communicate directly with the court,” said judge as she was led away to jail which is used for lesser Federal offenders and court witnesses. Tx’ailed by repox’ters & cameramen, she said she couldn’t “contemplate the future” when asked if she’d persist in defying Judge Ryan — and thereby risk fux'ther contempt punishment— -in pre-trial of Miss Garland’s $1,393,333 suit against CBS. Behind her in N. Y. Miss Torre left 21-month-old son, 8-month-old daughter, TV producer husband Hal Friedman — and assignments to guest columnists to carry on at Herald Tribune. She had visit in jail 2 days later from Herald Tribune’s Ogden R. Reid, who conveyed his “strong belief in the px’inciple she is fighting for.” At same time CBS issued statement saying network “is most sympathetic to the plight of Miss Torre and her family and would do anything, if it could, to relieve her.” CBS pointed out that from beginning of case it “has made no objection to Miss Torre’s divulging the source of her stox'y,” maintaining that network “has been unable to find that any of its executives or employes made any statement to Miss Torre concerning Miss Gax’land.” CBS’s N. Y. flagship, WCBS-TV, also provided a forum for discussion of free-press issues in the case on Ron Cochx'an’s Jan. 10 Right Now show. Recruited for discussioix wex’e reporters Robert Conway of N. Y. Daily News & Murx'ay Davis of N. Y. World-Telegram & Sun, Walter Minis of American Civil Libex'ties Union, Prof. B. McKay of NYU Law School. Miss Torre herself is scheduled for appearaixce — but not talk — on Ed Sullivan Show Jan. 18. Meanwhile, Radio-TV Directors Assn, came forth to champion Miss Torre. Freedom of information committee chairnxan John Lewis, news mgr. of Hearst’s WBAL-TV & WBAL, Baltimore, said her imprisonment is “black mark” on press freedom, that: “It is the inherent responsibility of every newsman to protect the identity of a confidential news source.” And on opening day of 86th Congx'ess Rep. Dorn (R-N. Y.) fulfilled his promise to introduce bill granting protection for repox’ters against being forced to disclose their news sources to Federal judges or Congressional committees (Vol. 14:50). Inspired by Miss Torre’s troubles, measure (HR-355) would cover reporters, writers & commentators employed by TV & radio networks & stations as well as newspapex’s, news services, syndicates & periodicals. He pointed out 12 states now have laws giving newsmen legal privilege to keep sources confidential. In Hollywood, Miss Garland and husband Sid Luft also wex’e heard from. They said they’re sorx’y for Miss Torx’e, But will pixrsue action against CBS. Series of Fireside TV chats similar to infoxmal foxixxat of President Roosevelt’s history-making radio talks to countx’y ax'e planned by President Eisenhower. He told private conference of Republican leaders at White House this week that TV appearances — not yet in ixetwork scheduling stage — would include Q-&-A discussion of domestic & foreign problexns.