Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1946)

VVeiting of National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, "If manufacturers don't seem interested in making FM combinations, we'll have to think of making them ourselves." Ho added co-op v/as constantly urging its millions of members not to buy AM alone.. While FM hearing waxed hot in New York, where reservation would be felt most keenly, representatives of 3 New York applicants came to Washington for argument. Hoyt S. Haddock, NMU, was against withholding, claiming legal obligation of FCC to grant all ,9 available channels in New York. Unity Broadcasting Corp. (ILGWU) favored reservation, except for New York, saying applicants there were already sufficiently diverse. Peoples Radio Foundation was for plan, attacked pre-war grants to New York AMs. Raymond Kohn, president of Penn-Allen Broadcasting Co., fighting veterans' outfit from Allentown, Pa., said his group was just lucky enough to get out of service in time to apply, might otherwise have been left out in the cold. He also lashed bitterly at NAB and others for "legalistic double-talk" instead of FM promotion, accused set manufacturers of bare-faced insincerity, of giving FM the run-around. ST. LOUIS TV GBAHT; MOBS COMmCl: You can expect up to a dozen more TV grants , i n non-competitive situations, in reasonably short order. For the FCC's staff has processed about that many still-pending applications for Comjnission approval,, while 28 await further data requested from applicants — largely incomplete engineering or accounting details. FCC staffers say whole pending TV file, including hearing cases, should be cleaned up by August, though date is still to be set on hearing for Toledo's 2 applicants (Fort Industry and Toledo Blade) for that city's one allotted channel. This week the Commission granted its 22nd postwar TV application (for grantees, see Vol. 2, No. 27). To St. Louis' sole remaining applicant, Pulitzer. Publishin.g Co. (Post-Dispatch), it granted Channel No. 5 (76-82 me), with 18.15 kw visual power; aural pov/er to be determined; 524-ft antenna height. Post-. Dispatch officials advise us that they already have full RCA equipment on order, with delivery promised by end of year. They expect to be telecasting from tower atop Post-Dispatch building by early March. On Friday also, the Commission made final its conditional TV grants of las April 10 (Vol. 2, No. 15) to the Detroit News and to King-Trendle. The Detroit^ Nev/s was given Channel No. 4 (66-72 me), with 17.1 kw visual pov/er; 7.7 kw aural power; 588-ft antenna height. King-Trendle was granted Channel No. 5. with 16 kw visual power; 14 kw aural pov/er; 379-ft antenna height.. The spectacle of a TV grantee surrendering its CP occurred this week . The V/orcester Telegram & Gazette, granted Channel No. 5 on May 16 (Vol. 2, No. 20], asked the FCC to vacate its CP. Its AM station VVTAG being a CBS affiliate, and its manager Ed Hill having signed the CBS station advisory committee manifest, in favor of uhf color as against low-band monochrome TV, the withdrawal was not unexpected. The newspaper company said it prefers to wait for uhf but, like most others v/ho have said the same thing in dropping out, it has not yet applied for, experimental uhf frequencies nor indicated when it will apply. Real reason for, this, like most other TV dropouts, is high cost. FIVE YEAHS OF FM; First fulltime independent commercial FM station in the countr; Leonard Asch's WBCA, Schenectady, celebrates fifth anniversary next Wednesday, July 17. V/ithout any AM affiliation, it has operated on 16-hour-per-day schedule since 1941, steadily building up a faithful audience in the Albany-SchenectadyTroy area. One of best engineered FMs in the business, a real pioneer, WBCA has been a veritable "shrine" for prospective FM broadcasters and technicians, always | welcomed by Manager Asch and his staff. They probably know more about actual operating problems of FM than anyone else in the field.