Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

NEW SERIES VOL. 3, No. 35 TELEVISION DIGEST-3 acquire an 8th, although the same station may be acquired by a corporation with 7 TV stations, 7 FM stations and 6 large AM stations plus a string of newspapers. Generally I would consider newspaper ownership or affiliation a substantial negative factor in determining qualification for a broadcast license. " Commission's duopoly rule is "plainly inadequate, " he asserted, and proposed it be broadened to preclude common ownership of broadcast & print media in same area. "It is just as undesirable for one person to control the local newspaper & TV or radio station as to control 2 radio stations in the same locality— and for the same reason. " Loevinger said greater diversity of ownership would improve programming in long run, providing greater variety. However, in giving diversity his No. 1 priority, he said: "If we must choose between program quality & diversity, 1 would choose diversity without hesitation. " He proposed uhf band as opportunity to implement his diversity doctrine— in direct conflict with Comr. Lee's proposal that ownership limits be liberalized to permit control of 5 vhf & 5 uhf stations by any single entity (see p. 1). While taking note of criticisms that TV programming is "banal, boring & bad, " he conceded that all surveys show mass of public is satisfied with it, attributed complaints mainly to "critics, intellectuals & the educated elite. " He clearly identified himself with this group with statement which certainly wasn't intended to endear him to broadcasters: "I prefer radio to TV and much prefer reading to the intellectual indolence of surrender to any form of broadcasting. " He said his aim was not to "ban trash from the air, " but to help assure adequate choice of programming for all tastes. "One man's trash is another man's treasure; one man's vast wasteland is another's verdant vineyard. " Where Loevinger did make suggestions on rules touching on programming was in field of public information broadcasting. "The most significant public interest served by broadcasting— and the end that most clearly justifies the spectrum allocations made to it— is the performance of the journalistic function and its contribution to the maintenance of a political democracy and a free society, " he said. Then he advanced this novel criterion for determining whether station is meeting its responsibilities: "Since it is the journalistic function which gives the principal social value to broadcasting, I would measure broadcasting performance principally by the degree to which it performs this function. Specifically, 1 would require as a minimum that each station devote at least as much broadcasting time to news as it does to commercial advertising. " Terming this yardstick "at best a crude measure" he said it has virtue of being "clear & definite" operational criterion. "In effect, it makes each broadcaster pay for the time he takes from the public domain for his own commercial use by devoting an equal amount of time to public service. " Third major proposal by Loevinger was that FCC encourage "enterprise, experimentation & innovation" by broadcasters. He threw specific suggestion into the pot: Broadcasting should end its reliance on AP & UPI, which, he said, basically use "newspaper techniques, " and "establish its own independent news resources. " Only in this way, he reasoned, could full potential of broadcasting be realized as news medium. (UPI Pres. -Gen. Mgr. Mims Thomason, in statement of rebuttal, pointed out that UPI & AP have devoted many millions of dollars to developing world-wide facilities, that UPI has separate broadcast news dept. , that eliminating broadcast activity would weaken existing news agencies and "seriously damage all forms of news communications. " AP had no formal comment, but spokesman pointed out that all previous "broadcast-only" news agencies— such as Trans-Radio— had failed. ) Thus, Loevinger' s 3-point program— in order of priority: (1) "Maximum diversity & dispersion of station ownership. " (2) "Adequate performance of the journalistic function" through time-balance of news & commercials. (3) "Enterprise, experimentation & innovation, " including independent "Broadcast News Assn. " ARB READIES RADIO STUDY; OTHER MOVES; ARB will announce signing of major station group to underwrite a radio methodology study. ARB hasn't been in radio since 1952, has been conducting tests using personal diaries in Baltimore & Washington. I Announcement will come just about time NAB's Research Committee will be making recommendation on whether to spend $75,000 to co-finance RAB's radio methodology study — in about 2 weeks. RAB