Evening star., 1937-01-24

ago actually embarked upon at least
namely, the licensing of many additl
in the smaller communities of the
United States.
Fifty-seven new broadcasting sta
tions were authorized by the commits
sion during 1896, and only half dozen
or so we're dropped from the rolls,
chiefly because they quit voluntarily
or merged with other stations. This
brought the total roster of American
broadcasting stations, large and small,
operating or authorized for construc-
ton, to $50 as of January l, 1887
Seven of the 1886 construction grants,
however, are involved in litigation or
pend rehearings which leaves their
ultimate status in doubt.
During the first two weeks OF 1887
the commissions broadcast division
revealed that this trend toward more
stations would continue this year, for
in those two weeks it authorized four
new stations. two in the little COM
munities of Bridgeton, N. j., and Visa
liza, Calf one in the larger commu-
nifty of Superior, Wis, and another IN
the stable city of Richmond, Va.
Moreover, it has authorized little
station in Petersburg, Va, to be moved
into Richmond, thus giving each OF
, the newspapers of that city its own
broadcasting station in addition 10
the two stations that have long been
operating there.
THE significance Of the commissions
- recent licensing activities has
MANY ramifications. For one thing II
shows that the commission is already
doing what its engineering depart
ment would formaliZe by the issuance
of new regulations designed to I'M
prove the American broadcastlne
structure as a whole and local recep-
ton particularly. The difference SIM
ply is that the commission has Deen
fitting these 60-odd new stations into
the present allocations structure
whereas the engineers report would
widen the wave band upward from
1900 to 1900 kilocycles, and thus
make it possible to add as many as
500 more stations of varying powers.
More than that, the engineers
would revamp present assignments so
that even between $50 and $500 kilo-
cycles. the present broadcast band,
quite a few more stations could be
fitted in at the same time that tne
status of existing stations is generally
improved not only for their benefit
Of "A
The trend toward more stations
thus is an accepted fact, even though
the engineering report may require
months before its various details are
accepted or rejected in whole or part
The engineering report also calls at
tention to the many communities OF
the country which, though they may
. be served by nearby or distant sta
tions, still do not have their own local
broadcasting outlets.
WHO shall be licensed to operate crate
w these new stations poses quite
another question. A veritable ava
lanche of applications has poured in
from newspapers, who already own,
control, have minority interests in or
have options to purchase exactly 1913
of the 693 stations now in existence
or authorized for construction, not to
forget the one newspaper-owned sta
ton in Hawaii and the IT newspaper
owned or controlled stations in Can
ada.
OF the 81 new stations authorized
by the F. C. c. between January l,
1886. and January Is, 1887, cursory
survey reveals that more than score
are to have newspaper owners or
stockholders. Some of these news
papers were strong New Deal sup
porters; some have no particular po-
litical importance and presumably
the commission can justify all of the
grants on the basis of local COM
munity need-although a few are in
volved in litigation growing out OF
local protests.
The point is that the commission
Is faced with the problem of determirl-
ing whether newspaper or non-news-
paper ownership shall be encouraged
or discouraged, and it can hardly
be said that it has been discouraged
in recent years. Senator Burton K.
Wheeler, chairman of the important
Senate Committee on Interstate Com
merce, which has charge OF radio
legislation, has made it clear that he
opposes newspaper ownership. He
particularly opposes monopolies of both
radio and newspaper outlets in any
single communities, but he has said
he is even thinking of fostering legis-
lation to force complete enforcement
of newspaper and radio ownership
anywhere, citing the forced separation
of banking and investment houses and
railroad and coal companies as legal
precedent.
Senator Wheeler only last week
sent two letters to the F. c. G. asking
1t to furnish complete data on news
paper ownership of radio stations,
network ownership, recent acquisitions
by newspapers and networks and pend
ing applications for new radio facili-
ties by newspapers. This is impor-
tant chiefly because it reveals his de-
termination eventually to force
showdown on the issue of common
newspaper-radioo ownership. But since
so many newspaper-owned stations
were pioneers in the broadcasting
field, since newspaper publishers own
ing radio stations are in many cases
national and State political powers,
as often Democratic as Republican,
and since even the forced separation
OF newspaper-radio corporations might
not eliminate interlocking stock own
ership, he admittedly has big prob
lem on his hands.
Jesse JONES, chairman Of the Re-
construction Finance Corporation
and admittedly New Deal power,
for example, through his vast news
paper and industrial holdings in Texas,
controls not less than three radiO