Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1946)

ne: le :£ a n CHICAGO TVs GRAHTSD SAHS HEAHIHG: We told you last week FCC was preparing to act on pending comuiercial TV applications, grant them without hearing where supply of channels exceeds demand as it did in Detroit (Vol. 2, No. 15). On Thursday it did exactly that, granting CPs for Chicago to NBC and Zenith. NBC got Channel No. 5, with 21.8 kw and 592 ft antenna. Zenith got Channel No. 2 with 4.5 kw and 580 ft. NBC's grant is its second postwar, first having been for Washington (Vol. 2, No. 10) ; it also holds TV license for New York. Zenith held a prewar CP for TV and already holds an experimental license for Channel No. 2. But its president. Gene McDonald, recently plumped strongly for color TV and against low-band TV; v/hether he will go ahead under new grant is conjectural. Chicago still has 4 channels left, and it is likely the remaining applicants (ABC, Raytheon, V/GN) will also get grants w'ithout hearing if their engineering and financial records are in order. Meanwhile, Worcester Telegram &■ Gazette, apparently loath to get grant now, yet unwilling to drop its application formally, wrote Commission this week to ask it not to act on the application until it completes a "survey" of TV field and makes up its mind what to do. 30 i ij it 'TASK FOHCr TO SPEED FM GBAHTS: Smarting under crit icism of its slowness in issu ing CPs for FM stations, while granting them right and left for new AMs, FCC this week pushed through 20 more CPs, 9 of them for Rurals, also granted 5 EAs and 1 Conditional (Supplement No. 36B herev/ith) . Coincidently , it was indicated it proposes to issue CPs and EAs in greater quantity by setting up an engineering "task force" — assigning group of its engineers to do nothing but process FM applications for month or so — as soon as it decides v/hat to do about Area II FM station classifications (Vol. 2, No. 17). "Task force" is expected to overcome main reason for delay in getting FM rolling, which is shortage of engineering personnel. FM enthusiasts' disappointment v/ith slow rate of FM grants has been directed mainly at paucity of information in outstanding conditionals v/hich do not , specify frequency, power, antenna heights. FCC staffers maintain applicants and their lawyers and engineers are themselves partly to blame because of incompleteness of applications (lack of engineering, financial, corporate data). Meanwhile, fact remains that as against only about 60 CPs and EAs for FM thus far (Supplements No. 36, 36A, 36B) , there are now nearly 200 CPs outstanding i for new AM stations (FCC granted 9 more this week). There are also more than 600 pending applications for new AMs. This prompted Commissioner Durr's self-criticism in Columbus speech Friday that "Commission is today still devoting more time to processing of new and enlarged standard broadcasting stations than to processing of FM applications." Durr's thesis was that broadcasters are not meeting postwar obligations, aren't converting to new and better FM, are showing "disturbing inclination to cling to old system rather than give free rein to a new system." ' But he recognized fault was at least partly the Commission's. !£ « I New FM applications apparently have slowed down to snail's pace, only 16 >iaving been filed in last 3 v;eeks, mostly from newcomers (Supplement No. 14-J). n i ' Copyright 1046 by Hacilo News Bureau