Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1946)

nOHSTVs DROPPING OUT: As the FCC this week booked a schedule of additional hearings on TV applications, more and more are dropping out or indicating their intention of withdrav;ing their applications. Most give as their reason that they intend to wait for uhf color, though none has yet filed for the experimental frequencies assigned for that purpose. More cogent reason, though not usually stated, is that they are being scared off by the high cost of TV. When we published Supplement No. 18 as our TV directory last December, we listed 141 applications on file. Surveying the scene since then, we find only 8 m.ore have filed or are about to file; Dorothy Thackrey (New York Post) , for Los Angeles and San Francisco; Hearst Publications, for San Francisco; Times-Picayune, for New Orleans; Sunpapers, for Baltimore; Fort Industry (Storer), for Toledo; Allen Simmons (WADC), for Akron; Star-Telegram, for Fort Worth. Thus, applications for TV reached a high of 149 — but this number has been diminished considerably in recent v/eeks by formal withdrawals or will be cut by further dropouts which we are advised by counsel are definitely on the way. These number 22 (aside from those affected by the V/ashington TV decision; Vol. 2, No. 10), and it is a fair guess more will follow. As we get the dope from official and unofficial sources, these have dropped out, or v;ill probably shortly do so; Yankee Network, for Hartford, Boston and Providence; KLZ, for Denver; Marcus Loew, Eleanor Patterson (Times-Herald) and Scripps-Howard, for Washington; Johnson-Kennedy (WIND) , for Chicago ; Maryland Broadcasting (WITH) and Tower Realty Co., for Baltimore; WTAG, for Worcester; International Detrola and WJR, for Detroit; Metropolitan Television, for New York; WGAR and WJW, for Cleveland; WKY, for Oklahoma City; Bamberger and Philadelphia Inquirer, for Philadelphia (latter, however, intending to pursue TV through its recently acquired WFIL) ; E. Anthony & Sons, for Providence; Utah Broadcasting Co., for Salt Lake City; Hearst Radio, for Milwaukee (where its WISN is CBS-affiliated). We will reissue a corrected log of TV applicants when the situation stabilizes itself more; meanwhile, you can safely correct your records according to the foregoing and such other additions or withdrawals as v/e report them. TV STATIONS BSSUMING: DuMont got WABD back on the air Thursday from its uptown studios, using film on its new Channel No. 5; company now reports April 15 as definite opening date for its new Wanamaker studios, which will link via coaxial with its Washington experimental W3XWT. NBC’s WNBT expects now to be reconverted and back on air on Channel No. 4 between April 28-May 6. CBS's WCBW expects to resume on Channel No. 2 early in April, is planning remotes from UNO sessions. Don Lee's W6XA0 resumed March 4 on Channel No. 2; Philco's WPTZ March 8 on No. 3; and Balaban & Katz's WBKB (Paramount) resumes on Channel No. 4 March 18. On the color front, Worthington Miner, CBS video chief, has been telling audiences at network's uhf demonstrations that CBS will have its live pickup unit ready in May; but it is understood Dr. Goldmark already is working with a camera for live color pickups behind closed doors of his laboratory. CDSr^OPDLITAH OH TV; Somewhat critical in treatment, but not as cynical in tone as Alva Johnston's current Satevepost series (Vol. 2, No. 10), is article on TV in March Cosmopolitan Magazine by Bill Davidson, ex-Yank writer. Title and subcaption just about sum up his story; "Television Is Still Around the Corner. Go ahead and buy a receiving set if you want to watch this interesting industry grow up. But, don't expect it to move into same class with movies and radio for at least 5 years." T3A SETS CONCLAVE DATS; promised enough equipment for adequate exhibits, TBA has now fixed the date of its 1946 television conference — Oct. 10 and 11 at New York's Waldorf-Astoria. Ralph B. Austrian, president of RKO Television’ Corp. , is general chairman. The convention is deferred from this spring and is timed, Mr. Austrian stated, "to coincide with the widespread distribution of receivers to dealers in the nation's leading cities where TV stations are operating."