Television digest and FM reports (Feb-Dec 1947)

Of 958,428 Class A and 758,924 Class B shares, mostly publicly held, directors held larger blocks as follows: William S. Paley, 88,510 and 233,500; Isaac D. Levy, 31,726 and 21,380; Leon Levy, 14,100 and 40,900; Samuel Paley, 9,000 and 21,300; Frank Stanton, 810 and 2,525; Joseph H. Ream, 100 and 100. (Dividends paid in 1946 were $2.30 per share, compared with $1.80 in 1945.) CBS executive salaries and bonuses continued among highest in radio, amount in parentheses is approximate net after Federal taxes: William S. Paley, $65,000 ($27,600) ; Joseph H. Ream, $52,740 ($24,640) ; Frank Stanton, $94,010 ($32,810) ; Paul W. Kesten (resigned as of Dec. 31, 1946), $50,000 ($23,500); Edward WallerStein, $57,884 ($25,884) ; Frank K. White, $52,740 ($24,640) ; Herbert V. Akerberg, $30,689 ($17,389); H. Leslie' Atlass, $40,805 ($21,205); Douglas Coulter (resigned), $24,000 ($15,000) ; Earl H. Gammons, $21,663 ($14,063) ; William C. Gittinger, $35,470 ($19,370) ; Lawrence W. Lowman, $33,420 ($18,720) ; Howard S. Meighan, $22,661 ($14,461); Adrian M. Murphy, $36,451 ($19,751); Edward R. Murrow, $64,243 ($27,443), part being compensation as news analyst; Davidson Taylor, $27,095 ($16,295) ; Donald W. Thornburgh, $34,225 ($18,925). THIS IS THE "BLOOPER": Here's a letter that tells its own Story — our only com ment being (1) that we never did say we were fully sold on K.G. Marquardt's (WIBWFM, Topeka, Kan.) little gadget to convert any AM set into FM, but only reported (Vol. 3, No. 11) how we actually saw it work, and (2) that we'll send any of our subscribers a photostat of the diagram herein mentioned. The letter and diagram are from Frank Shopen, Omaha World-Herald's technical supervisor who manages its KOAD: "Re your March 15th issue regarding 'FM SET — CHEAPLY AND QUICKLY' : Since you are curious as to the' 'innards' of the 'blooper,' we thought you might be interested in the enclosed diagram. The Aug. 15, 1946 magazine section of the' Omaha World-Herald described a 'blooper' which is connected to 3 additional tubes and makes a complete 4-tube FM radio. We built the set as a stunt and about 200 of them have been built by amateurs and experimenters in Omaha. The circuit is far from nev/ since it is simply the super-regenerative detector invented by Prof. Armstrong 20 or more years ago. It so happens that this type of detector will respond to either FM or AM signals and has a very high degree of noise rejection on either. Unless the received signal is strong on FM, the quality is impaired and the hissing noise made by the detector is not completely eliminated. "The KOAD engineering staff has experimented with this type circuit for nearly a year trying to overcome the handicaps. The circuit has 3 principal objections : (1) An additional control is needed and must be used to vary the voltage on the super-regenerative detector. This control must be adjusted for different stations, thus single dial tuning is lost. (2) If enough signal is received to get good quality, the set is not selective enough to receive stations which are close together on the band. (3) The principal objection is the fact that the detector is a miniature transmitter also, and thus will re-radiate and cause interference. "The term 'blooper' is one which has been used for many years by 'hams' to designate this circuit and the regenerative circuit. This letter is not intended to criticize Pug Marquardt since he is a very good friend of the writer and a very able engineer, but we hate to see the hopes of FM broadcasters built up with the announcement of this device, without at least mention of its limitations." TV BORDER ALLOCATIONS: Not generally known is fact that Canadian Government has asked FCC to hold out one of Detroit's 5 assigned TV channels for possible use in Windsor, just across the Detroit River. So, actually, there's only one channel left in Detroit, since 3 have already been granted (Vol. 3, No. 12). Canadian officials are expected to submit proposals soon to FCC on integration of video allocation for Vancouver and Victoria (northern Washington State area) and for Toronto and Hamilton (Buffalo, N.Y. area). FCC engineers believe they will be able to work out plan that won't reduce number of channels already assigned (or proposed to be assigned) to U.S. cities concerned.