Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1953)

2 later. Gen. mgr. is F.E. Fitzsimmonds , with Alvin Anderson, sales mgr. ; Cal Culver, program director; Ivar Nelson, chief engineer. Station will get NBC & CBS programs, starts with §150 base rate. Blair is rep. WAYS-TV, Charlotte, N.C. (Ch. 36), first competitor of pre-freeze vhf WBTV, began testing Dec. 7, expects to go commercial between Dec. 15-30, reports gen. mgr. James P. Poston, native of Durham and onetime Broadway actor. Roy Thomas is sales mgr., B.C. Stewart chief engineer. Same group (Geo. W. Dowdy, B.T. Whitmire, J.H. Doughton, Harold Thoms) also holds CP for WCOG-TV, Greensboro. RCA-equipped, new outlet will join ABC, has §300 rate. Rep is Bolling. WSIL-TV, Harrisburg, 111. (Ch. 22), at extreme southern end of heavily uhfpopulated state, began independent commercial operation Dec. 6. It's owned by partnership called Turner-Farrar Assn., with Oscar L. Turner as president, operating 17 theatres in 11 Illinois communities. Rate is §150, no network or rep announced. KOAM-TV, Pittsburg, Kan. (Ch. 7), located on Missouri border just 79 mi. west of Springfield, began operating Dec. 5, will get service from all 4 networks. Owned 20% by E.V. Baxter, it's 10% owned by Lester E. Cox, who recently sold interest in KCMO-TV & KCMO, Kansas City, and 10% by son Lester Lee Cox; former owns 49% of KWTO, Springfield, Mo. Joplin Globe Publishing Co. has option to buy 30%. Louis R. Martin is program mgr., Leo Stafford chief engineer. RCA-equipped, the station starts with §200 base rate. Rep is Katz. WAIM-TV, Anderson, S.C. (Ch. 40), located 28 mi. south of Greenville's new WGVL (Ch. 23) and 84 mi. northwest of Augusta's WJBF-TV (Ch. 6), has been testing intermittently since Dec. 1, begins programs Dec. 15. Gen. mgr. Glenn P. Warnock reports "response to coverage wonderful up to 50 miles," and adds, "41 days ago we were a mudhole." Owned by Wilton Hall's Anderson Independent, station uses Federal 1-kw transmitter, joins CBS, has §200 base rate, is represented by Burn-Smith. * * * ■* CBUT, Vancouver, B.C. (Ch. 2), Canada's 6th station, began testing Dec. 7, starts 5-hours-a-day program operation Dec. 16 with official ceremonies attended by A.D. Dunton, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. chairman. It's CBC's 4th outlet, Marconi equipped with temporary 16-ft. wooden tower and RCA antenna (old temporary of Montreal's CBFT) atop 2-story chalet-type house at the 2700-ft. level of Mt. Seymour. Kenneth C. Caple has been assigned as CBC regional representative at Vancouver and Peter McDonald is CBUT director. Base rate is §175. Note : CBC has recommended 2 more CPs be granted in Canada — to Ralph H. Parker, CFPA, Port Arthur, Ont., for Ch. 2, and to La Tribune Limitee, operator of CHLT, Sherbrooke, Que., for Ch. 7. Latter is headed by Senator J. Nicol. Stations presumably will simply add "TV" suffix to AM call letters. CBC recommendation is tantamount to grant since Canadian cabinet usually ratifies. With CBUT now on air, these make 17 CPs still outstanding (see list, p. 8, our Nov. 28 Special Report). THE BLUE CHIP BUSINESS OF TELECASTING? It's been a rule-of-thumb, in contemplating the start of a TV station, that you have to figure on §250,000 to §1,000,000 to go into full-fledged operation — the range depending on costliness of getting the CP, elaborateness of the preparations, cost of real estate, cost of transmitter, tower, studio equipment, etc. etc. Fact is, minimum figure for equipment alone is usually around §200,000, not always including camera chain. And a TV station requires a bigger staff, costs more for programs (notably film rentals), burns out costlier tubes more rapidly than does a radio broadcasting station. Hence the hesitancy of many enterprisers not in high income tax brackets to venture into telecasting. So far, we've heard of very few who got into the business on the cheap — and of course there have been the examples of 2 who started but quit ¥ cause they couldn't make a go of it (in Roanoke, Va. and Nampa, Ida.). Our mail this week brings an astonishing report from a prospective telecaster, operator of 3 smalltown radio stations, who tells us he expects to increase the staff of his WJPB, Fairmont, W. Va. by only 6, is spending only §117,565 for all the basic equipment for his new WJPB-TV (Ch. 35), has budgeted it for $75,000 operating costs, expects gross revenues in excess of §100,000 first year. At least: