Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

VOL. 15; No. 41 7 WNBC Hartford was approved. He said that Philco offered nothing to show that the public would be hurt by a renewal of NBC’s licenses. He cited Congressional reports to the effect that networks have made the major contribution to TV’s development and he concluded that networks should not be divested of o&o stations, because they need the revenues to maintain a high level of programming. Comrs. Doerfer & Bartley, by their questions, showed that they’re poles apart in their views of monopoly. Said Doerfer: “You don’t know you’ve violated the anti -trust laws until the Supreme Court says so.” He also wondered about the “finality” of anti-trust proceedings — whether the Govt, was justified in putting an organization on the grill repeatedly for the same alleged offense, through the Justice Dept., FCC, FTC, etc. Bartley made it clear he believes that a person knows when he violates the anti-trust laws. Two unusual translator grants were given to the U. of Utah by FCC last week. The stations, to operate on Ch. 71 & 74, will be used primarily to originate on-campus programs with an occasional simulcast of the university’s educational KUED (Ch. 7). In order to grant the stations, the FCC had to waive 2 sections of the rule — one which defines a translator station and the other which sets forth the public-service aspects of a translator. The grants are subject to specific conditions which contain rigid engineering standards confining the stations’ coverage to a clearly defined area. Chronic shortage of engineers has prompted FCC to issue a public notice requesting qualified persons to apply for jobs with the Commission. Because its force of 300 engineers is inadequate, it’s eager to hire young people who want govt, careers. College seniors and engineering graduates, in addition to those with working experience, are urged to apply. The positions pay $4,490 to $5,880 a year, are open in Washington and in field offices. Applicants are urged to write to the executive secretary. Board of Civil Service Examiners, FCC, Washington 25, D.C. Permission to move transmitter of WEAR-TV (Ch. 3) Pensacola 7 miles from its present site was granted by FCC last week. The Commission waived minimum cochannel separation rules to make the grant, which will not become effective until WLBT (Ch. 3) Jackson, Miss, begins opei’ation from its new location 12 miles SW of Jackson. FCC turned down 2 rule-making proposals last week: A request by the Joint Council on Educational TV to change the educational reservation in Wausau, Wis. from Ch. 46 to Ch. 9 and a petition by Wrather-Alvarez Bcstg. Inc., former permittee of KYAT (Ch. 13) Yuma, to switch that channel from Yuma to El Centro, Cal. Telecaster Sarkes Tarzian’s application for Ch. 13 in Bowling Green, Ky. was denied last week by FCC which reversed examiner Millard F. French’s initial decision of Sept. 8, 1958 (Vol. 14:37). Winner was George A. Brown Jr., Ky. sales head of General Shoe Corp.’s Fortune div. Chmn. Doerfer dissented. Complaint to FCC by WSAZ-TV (Ch. 3) Huntington, W. Va. of excessive charges for use of AT«feT’s programtransmission channels between Huntington & Columbus, 0. was designated last week for hearing. The complaint alleged that AT&T was charging more than specified in applicable tariffs. Allocations changes: FCC last week switched the educational reservation in Muncie, Ind. from Ch. 71 to Ch. 55 at the behest of Bell State Teachers College. Networks Executive Shifts: Two network v.p.’s moved into newly created executive jobs last week, and a former NBC program v.p. took over one of the top TV-radio posts among leading ad agencies: At CBS: Sig Mickelson, who’s been v.p. & gen. mgr. of CBS News since TV-radio news & public affairs functions were combined in 1954, was named to the new post of pres, of CBS News. Thus, CBS News now exists as a full-fledged division of CBS, and Mickelson holds a rank (although junior in seniority) equivalent to other division heads such as Lou Cowan (pres., CBS-TV div.), Arthur Hull Hayes (pres., CBS radio div.) and Merle Jones (pres., CBS Stations div.). CBS News now provides about one out of every 6 programming hours on the TV network, nearly one out of 3 hours on CBS radio, and supplies CBS newsfilm service to stations in all major U.S. markets & 21 foreign countries. (The newsfilm service, which was 6 years old in Sept., is now seen in 3 of every 4 TV homes in the world, mgr. John M. Cooper reported last week — an audience estimated at 115 million viewers in 74.6% of the world’s television homes.) At ABC: A new subsidiary of ABC-TV, ABC International div., was created last week to handle what AB-PT pres. Leonard H. Goldenson called “increasing expansion of our network & station activities in foreign countries.” Appointed to head the network offshoot is Donald W. Coyle, ABC-TV v.p. & gen. sales mgr., who joined ABC in 1950 as a research writer. ABC now has foreign investments in Televisora de Costa Rica and in the News Ltd. of Australia (NWS-TV Adelaide), and plans investment in other areas. Ultimately, said Goldenson in announcing Coyle’s appointment, ABC hopes to have “an ABC international network, programmed at first via tape & film but in the not-too-distant future perhaps by direct live transmission relayed from satellites.” (For other news of spaceage TV, see story page 10.) At Young & Rubicam: to fill the v.p. & TV-radio dir. post vacated late last month by Peter G. Levathes (who became pres, of 20th Century-Fox TV Productions — Vol. 15:39), Y&R picked Mort Werner, at one time national program v.p. at NBC-TV and a prime mover in the creation of NBC’s “magazine concept” participation shows such as Today and Jack Paar Show. Werner, recently a v.p. of Kaiser Industries, has been in TV-radio production since 1932. Dismissal of indictment against ex-MBS pres. Alexander L. Guterma, accused of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act in a $750,000 broadcast-propaganda deal with the Dominican Republic (Vol. 15:36-37), is sought on grounds that the law didn’t apply to him. Filing a formal motion in Washington’s U.S. District Court for dropping of the charges, Guterma’s Washington counsel William Wolf Jr. asserted that Radio News Service Corp., which was set up as an MBS subsidiary to handle Dominican news, was a news service exempt from terms of the law. Wolf also challenged constitutionality of the law. At the same time. Wolf submitted a copy of the MBS-Dominican contract which obligated Mutual to transmit Dominican releases over its facilities to affiliated stations. It included provisos that Radio News Corp. wouldn’t handle news reports which would be damaging to the Dominican Govt, or the U.S. After the Federal indictment against Guterma & 2 other former MBS officers was handed down, the Dominican Republic sued to recover the $750,000, complaining that the contract wasn’t fulfilled.