Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-10-11


munications Commission.
The power Of American broadcaSting
stations, now limited by Federal regu-
lation, was the chief topic before the
parley which brought to Washington
some 800 broadcast station operators
and their engineers. the presidents of
the two big networks and their tech
meal aides and scores Of technicians
and others identified with broadcast
ing.
WITH respect to superpower, two
schools of thought set forth their
theories before the F. c. C. whose
members, five of them lawyers and two
OF them politicians. were frankly get
ting liberal education" in the tech
meal phases of radio as the various
witnesses paraded before them. Not
only the commissioners but their engi-
neers, most of them men of long ex-
perience in radio, were seeking to get
from the industry itself ideas about the
methods to be pursued in improving
radio in this country.
They heard the so-called clear
channel group, headed by Chief
Counsel Louis G. Caldwell and bull
warked by an imposing array of tech
nicians. eXpound the view that clear
channels Exclusively used by one high
power station at night should have nc
power limitations placed upon them il
they are to send their programs out
into rural America. Their powers are
now limited to $4,000 watts.
They heard the so-called regional
channel group. headed by Chief Coun-
sci Paul D. P. Spearman. ask that
their night powers should be raised
uniformly to 5000 watts in lieu of
their present 1,000-watt limit-and at
the same time heard Spearman and
his engineers tell why superpower
should be banned in the United States.
The regional groups main contention
was that superpower would virtually
doom regional stations, with their To-
cal and nearby audiences standing to
suffer blanketing and cross-talk in
reference as well as facing an undue
economic disadvantage.
ROTH Caldwell and Spearman are
one-time chiefs of the legal stats
Of the Federal Radio Regulatory
Boards-the first having served as
first chief counsel of the old Radio
Commission and the latter as chief
counsel of the F. C. C. when it re-
placed the Radio Commission.
From William S. Paley, president
OF Columbia Broadcasting System,
they heard the view expressed that
additional superpower would mean a
lessened need for local apd regional
outlets on the networks, but from
Lenox r. Lohr. president of National
Broadcasting Co, they heard a strong
exposition of the need of superpower
in certain areas in order not only to
serve the outlying audience but to
deliver clearer programs to interior
ence-ridden metropolitan areas.
Paleys statement asserted that C.
b. s. was ready for superpower if it
Is decided upon, but he urged the F,
c. c. to step warily before disrupting
C.
On the whole, his attitude was dis
tinctly lukewarm toward superpoWer,
and one of his conclusions read: I'VE
find that the difference between 500
kilowattS and so kilowatts is clearly
not the difference between good Serv-
ice and bad service. Even in the deep
rural areas it is rarely the difference
between a disable and non-uSable
signal. Perhaps in one-half Of per
cent of the radio homes of the United
States would superpower, as such.
make the difference between an ade-
quate and an inadequate signal"
ON THE other hand, the N. B. C's
~ president, Lohr, and his engineers
stood stanchly for superpower, and
since both networks own clear chan
mel stations their conflicting attitudes
were deeply significant. But even
more significant, was an observation
rather obscurely tucked away in Pa
ley's statement while he was eau
tioning against too great capital
expenditures at this time in view Of
imminent changes in the whole radio
picture.
Having asserted that superpoWer
grants would impose a burden of over
$l0,000,000 of new capital by the
broadcasting industry, and an addi-
tional annual operating cost of three
to four million dollars year, Paley
yentured this prediction:
I'm television alone. it is my opin-
ion, after a study of European devel-
opments and a knowledge of tele-
visions status here, that the broad
casters are less than two years away
from commitments of many millions
of dollars. Columbia's budget alone
Is over 2.000,000-for experimental
broadcasting work in this new field.
Many more millions must follow, in
the public interest before there is
any hope of return"
Thus the biggest independent Amer
lean network discloses that it has
budgeted itself for the advent of tele-
vision not less than two years hence!
And Paley had returned only the week
before from Europe, where he, himself,
studied televiSion, and whittier few
months earlier he had sent one of his
right-hand men, Paul Keston. to make
q thorough economic study Of the
subject.
"A AUTHORIZATIONS by the Federal
Communications Commission for
the construction of 10 new radio sta
, lions during the last two weeks
brought to As the number Of such
grants since last January l. The log
of broadcasting stations in the
United States thus will be swelled to
nearly 700 by the end of this year. In
the meantime, applications for more
new stations continue to pour into
the F. C. C. at the rate of Is or more
per week. with newspaper interests
leading the parade of would-be
broadcasters.
p. fo,t paucyo porc ORC not oulV