Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

VOL. 15: No. 31 7 The Proxmire amendment says: (1) “TV & radio frequencies are in the public domain.” (2) Station licenses require “operation in the public interest.” (3) In all equaltime-exempted show, “all sides of public controversies shall be given as fair an opportunity to be heard as is practically possible.” Retained unchanged in the Pastore bill were provisions for Congressional reviews of Sec. 315 operations within 3 years and for annual equal-time reports by FCC. Meanwhile the FCC itself did some equal-time amending. It revised its political broadcast rules, which were collected last year in a long Q-&-A guidebook (Vol. 14:41), to add stipulations that: (1) Candidates must apply for station equal time within a week after opponents have appeared. (2) It’s up to candidates themselves — not FCC — to prove that they are “legally qualified” under Sec. 315. Passage of the Senate bill was hailed by CBS Inc. pres. Stanton. He wired all CBS affiliates that it gives TV & radio “a greater opportunity to serve the public during political campaigns.” The Senate vote was preceded July 26 by a special CBS-TV documentary on the Lar Daly case, in which Stanton editorialized that the industry doesn’t “ask for the right to discriminate — only to distinguish” between major & minor candidates. Minor party spokesmen were scheduled for an equal time rebuttal on CBS-TV 7:30-8 P.M. Aug. 2. But CBS & NBC weren’t resting on the Senate’s Sec. 315 vote. They went to the Court of Appeals in Washington last week to ask it to reject FCC’s Lar Daly interpretation and reverse the decision. “Political candidates & Sec. 315” will be debated at a special panel session of the Federal Bar Assn. Sept. 25 in Washington’s Statler Hilton Hotel. FBA communications law committee vice chairman Harry Plotkin, ex-FCC assoc, gen. counsel, will be moderator. Participants: CBS v.p. Richard S. Salant, NBC commentator Martin Agronsky, acting Asst. Attorney General Robert A. Bicks, ADA vice chairman Joseph L. Rauh Jr. Final TV allocations actions: (1) Shift of Ch. 6 from Whitefish Bay to Milwaukee, permitting WITI-TV to identify itself with the latter. (2) Denial of WTTV’s petition for reconsideration of earlier action denying a shift of its Ch. 4 from Bloomington to Indianapolis. (3) Denial of petitions by Fla. Educational TV Commission and Joint Council on Educational TV for reservation of Ch. 13 instead of Ch. 30 in Panama City, Fla. Proposed TV allocations changes: (1) Swap of Ch. 2, Denton, Tex. and Ch. 11, Ft. Worth, reserving Ch. 11 for educational use and permitting KFJZ-TV to shift to Ch. 2. This is a reversal of a previous ruling denying KFJZ-TV’s petition for the switch. (2) Shift of educational reservation in Muncie, Ind. from Ch. 71 to Ch. 55. New TV CPs granted by FCC: (1) Ch. 11, Fargo, N.D., to North Dakota Bestg. Co.; (2) Ch. 23, Yakima, Wash., to Yakima Valley TV Co.; (3) Ch. 3, Escanaba, Mich., to Norbertine Fathers, Green Bay, Wis.; (4) Ch. 22, Walla Walla, Wash., to Northwest Bestg. System. Translator CPs granted : Ch. 70 & 79, Hood River, Ore., to Columbia Gorge TV Inc. Shift from Ch. 45 to Ch. 33, plus move of station & studio location to Youngstown, has been granted to WKST-TV New Castle, Pa. Grantee WXTV Youngstown has been given a modification of CP from Ch. 73 to Ch. 45. More about FCC-OCDM STATUS REPORT: The FCC’s progress report on negotiations for more vhf TV channels, being conducted with the Office of Civil & Defense Mobilization (see p. 3), is woi’th quoting in full to show exact approach being made. Here it is: FCC announced today that it and OCDM have proceeded in the manner set forth in the Commission’s public notice of April 30, 1959, looking toward an improved overall pattern of frequency allocations which could be implemented within the next 10 to 15 years. Public interest in this subject indicates the desirability of a report of the progress made to date. The technical group engaged in this program, consisting of FCC staff personnel and representatives of the member agencies of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC), has held a number of meetings. Having reached agreement on the terms of reference, the technical group has taken actions which include : 1. Invited the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory [CRPL] of the National Bureau of Standards to name a representative to participate in the work of the technical group, in view of the necessity for basing future allocation planning on the most accurate propagation data currently available. 2. Requested the CRPL to prepare graphical presentations of necessary power versus distance for various emmissions, data rates, antenna heights and megacycle orders of frequency. 3. Agreed as a first step in the over-all program to deal with the band 50-1000 me on the ground that it represented the knottiest problems. 4. Requested the CRPL to concentrate its efforts initially on the band 50-1000 me, setting August 1, 1959 as the target date for a report thereon. 5. Agreed to treat at least the broadcasting, land mobile, aeronautical mobile, maritime mobile, radiopositioning, radionavigation, and earth-space services in its consideration of the band 50-1000 me. 6. Requested the govt, agencies to present to the technical group their present or foreseeably unfulfilled frequency requirements for the band 50-1000 me, of which they were aware, not later than August 1, 1959. Having but recently completed taking testimony in its docket No. 11997 dealing with the band 25-890 me, the Commission is in a particularly good position to supply such information with respect to non-government requirements. It is anticipated that the further progress of the technical group will be delayed somewhat during the next several months inasmuch as many of its members will be attending the forthcoming International Radio Conference in Geneva. Nonetheless, it is the intention of the Commission to continue with the joint study as rapidly as possible, and also to issue periodic reports of the progress being made in this important program. Protest against renewal of NBC’s licenses for WRCVTV & WRCV Philadelphia, filed with the FCC by Philco, has been set for oral argument Oct. 1. The argument, the FCC said, will be on the questions “whether, if the facts alleged in the protest were pi’oven, grounds have been presented for setting aside the conditional grant of such applications and, if an evidentiary hearing is required, the scope thereof.” Philco charged that the stations were used unfairly to promote RCA.