Television digest and FM reports (Feb-Dec 1947)

conoid Corp., Unionville, Conn. (Jerome E. Respess, president). Respess says he gets regular service from New York (over 100 miles), often Philadelphia (200 miles). Regarding the tall tower idea, instead of everyone squeezing his wallet that painful way, it might pay some bright entrepreneur to look into Dr. Fritz Schroeter's proposal (Vol. 3, Mo. 8). What the former TV director of Germany's Telefunken suggests is a single neighborhood station to reach for TV signals, convert them to lower frequencies, transmit them to home sets by cable. . — r— , SIGHT AND SOUND : — — Class B conditional grantees now know which channels are earmarked for them. FCC this week issued proposed assignments (Supp. 54 herewith) which are almost certain to show up on final CPs. All conditionals henceforth will be granted with channels specified. Publication of assignments is for benefit of new applicants, who, since July 1, have had to specify desired channels. They now know which are preempted. For your convenience, you should enter these channels in Supp. 53 to 53-G; those Supplements, used with Supp. 52 (channel allocation), will show exact channel situation in any city. RCA’s Consumer Custom Products Dept, isn’t telling us (or its competitors) how many of new Berkshire line of sets (Vol. 3, No. 31) it’s sold thus far— but it does say the §1,800-§4,000 units are moving in about equal numbers. On first 200 of the §4,000 breakfront models, which contain large-screen TV, purchasers get engraved plaques signed by Boston Symphony’s Serge Koussevitsky attesting that §500 of purchase price goes into Berkshire Music Center scholarship fund. Nothing to lose and everything to gain, some Class A grantees in metropolitan areas are asking for modification to Class B, requesting reserved channels. Thus, Passaic Daily News (Paterson, N. J. grantee) wants to be on hand when New York reserved channels are passed around, and Montgomery FM Broadcasting Corp. (Silver Spring, Md.) asks for Washington’s sole unassigned channel. TV story of the week, as recounted by Bennet Cerf in Saturday Review of Literature: “A television salesman tried to sell one of his elaborate models to Mr. [Ed] Wynn. “Just think,” he said, “you can sit comfortably in your hotel room, press a button on your television set, and a beautiful, scantily clad girl is suddenly standing before you.” “In hotels I go to,” Wynn said, “you can get the same thing without television. . . . Thomascolor Ir.c., Los Angeles, colorfilm system, in which BMI’s Carl Haverlin has big interest and which was represented at FCC’s color TV hearings, recently filed with SEC registration statement covering 1,000,000 shares of §5 par Class A common stock which it proposes to offer public at §10 share without underwriting. Inventor Richard Thomas was in Washington this week to demonstrate for SEC. World Series games in New York will be seen via TV by 2,500,000 people. That’s estimate of WOR’s Jack Poppele, TBA president, who said Mutual had all rights sewed up (Gillette sponsor), would farm out video lights when series cities are decided. Talk is that New Yoik s 3 stations would be given simultaneous or rotation rights. Maj. Gen Roger B. Colton, ex-Signal Corps research chief, has left Washington engineering consulting firm of Colton & Foss to become Washington radio consultant for IT&T. Foss continues as William L. Foss Inc. Collins, moving into high gear in FM transmitter production, reports it is now delivering 250-watt and 1 kw units from stock, will be shipping 3 kw’s next month. Lt. Gen. James G. Ilarbord, who died this week at 81, only last month relinquished RCA board chairmanship to David Sarnoff (Vol. 3, No. 28). Gen. Pershing’s World War I chief of service of supply, Gen. Harbord was RCA president 1922-30, during company’s great upbuilding days, with Sarnoff always his executive officer. He will go down in radio history as one of its great leaders. RCA International’s B. E. Shackleford has been nominated for 1948 presidency of IRE, mail balloting results to be announced Oct. 24. R. L. Smith-Rose, radio supt. of Britain’s National Physical Lab, has been nominated for v. p. Two directors-at-large will be chosen from: B. deF. Bayly, U of Toronto, A. B. Chamberlain, CBS; J. E. Shepherd, Sperry Gyroscope; Prof. J. E. Stratton, MIT. Importance of TV as newspaper lineage builder was cogently demonstrated when one section of St. Lov.is-FostDispatch carried 35 dealer ads, promoting RCA, GE, Crosley, and DuMont sets. Occasion August 6 was dedication of KSD-TV’s new 20 kw transmitter and 546-ft. tower, which led newspaper to start promotion campaign also to plug St. Louis as important TV market, attract sponsors to station. KSD-TV this week asked FC for full license. All RCA patent licensees are being urged to go into TV set production, even though competitive, as measure of stimulating industry. Thus some 100 manufacturers and trade newsmen have been invited to Camden and Lancaster, Pa., Aug. 27-28, for tour of TV production lines. AFRA’s New York convention this week made clear its intention to (1) expand and organize radio stations not now unionized, (2) fight Taft-Hartley law, (3) demand right of commentators to express their opinions on the aix-, (4) follow AAAA scale with respect to TV appearances. Film documentary March of Time for September release is devoted to broadcasting, writh due attention to TV and FM. Like “The Hucksters,” it’s not being greeted very warmly by broadcasters who’ve seen it, mainly because it stresses alleged advertiser control of programs. July saw 75 sponsors on TV stations, reports Fred Kugel’s Television Magazine for August, which lists them (with agencies). National accounts dominate, though there are quite a few locals, particularly radio dealers, brewers. Articles on TV and FM are scheduled for September and October issues of Kiplinger Magazine — purely factual, editors assure us, not opinion like recent tirade against commercial radio. Tiniest yet in commercial receiver field seems to be a §5.98 hand-sized, battery, earphone set by Modernair Corp., 925 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Chicago’s TV set count as of Aug. 15 was 5,027, reports WBKB which has fixed new rates accordingly (Vol. 3, No. 32). NAB-RMA Joint Liaison Committee meeting scheduled for August 26 (Vol. 3, No. 32) has been postponed until sometime in the fall.