Evening star., 1952-01-30
On the Air
Freeze End
Is in Sight,
CoySoys
By Horry Macarthur


frozen. The end of the freeze
on new TV station licenses. in ef-
feet since September, 1948, so that
the Federal C Communications Com
mission could study the ultra
high frequency channels and the
color problem, ought to arrive by
the end of February.
The approximate timetable was
revealed this week in a Cleveland
speech by FEC Chairman Wayne
Coy, a man in a position to know
what he is talking about. What
he actually said about the freeze"
was this:
"It looks now as If we may be
able to issue a final decision Tin
the questions of color, education.
channels and ALLEGATION OF the
present IL VIIF and 70 new UHF
channels) in a month or quite
close to that. Our tentative plan is
to allow perhaps so or 80 days for
the filling of new applications ana
the amending of old ones. This
would mean that the commission
could begin processing applica-
tions between May / and June l."
Don't, however, expect the air
to be filled with new televiolon
transmission this summer, even II
all goes according to Mr.. Coy's
forecast. 1t may be 1858, in fact.
before any new TV stations are on
the air and it is sure to be that
before more than a few make it.
In the cases of the lob present
TV stations an average OF Il
months elapsed between issuance
of construction permit and inau-
gural program.
Ak%
Since a lot of the pioneering
has been done, this time-lag
should be cut considerably by new
stations, but it will not diminish
into nothing. DR.. Allen B. DuMont.
writing in the trade magazine,
Television, says: "a conservative
estimate of the time to be required
to get on the air after the 'un-
freeze is IL months"
Nobody is certain yet, OF course,
what effect the critical materials
situation will have on construction
of new television stations. Trans
mitters, the VHF type, at least. are
not expected to be an immediate
problem and there even is a stock
pile of them reported awaiting
"unfrozen" TV broadcasters. NO
body is making any guesses about
UHF, though.
It isn't certain, either, what the
camera situation will be. Right
now you can't buy an RCA, Du-
Mont or General Electric camera,
according to word in the trade.
and these three leading manu-
facturers are reported to have a
backlog of rs to 80 orders. 1t is
possible, of course, that they may
have materials to make these
cameras and more for new sta
tions when they run the next
batch through the assembly line.
There also is a BritiSh-made
camera on the market and avail
able. It is not readily interchang-
able with American models. but
some are in use in this country
and there is. no reason why II
would not serve new station well.
The future, at any rate, looks
bright to the TV broadcasters and
It will look even brighter when |
he "unfreezing" becomes official. /
Department of Amplification-A
recent letter here from feminine
viewer asking for "a cooking pro-
gram or an educational program
of some sort" in the morning has
caught the eye Of WNBW's Nancy
Osgood.
Il realize" she writes. "that
this might have been a letter writ
ten before the change Of sched-
ule of 'Nancy's Notebook but
there now is such a program at
$3.50 in the morning. Tues
day through Friday, following
Dave Garroway's Today
"'Nancy's Notebook presents
four variety shows week, 1nclud-
ing d 'Homemakers' Quiz audi
ence participation show every
Wednesday; cooking demonstra-
tions every Thursday by home
economists from the Washington
Gas Light Co.; and as far as edu-
cational features are concerned
we have a series on
child psychology by DR.. Thelma
Hunt. executive officer Of the De-
uartment of Psychology OF George
washington University begln-
ming February 15); we expect TO
begin a series in dentistry soon.
Also of an educational nature
was the appearance of Mr.. Victor
Sadd, manager of the washington
Social Security Field Office. who
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