Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-09-26

Two years ago the Federal Com
munications Commission announced
the opening Of whole new band of
television channels-enough, it was
said. to bring television to every
village and hamlet and added serv-
ice to every city.
Today the TV fans in the cities,
villages and hamlets are asking what
ever happened to those stations.
Congress also wants to know what
happened. One Senate committee
just completed an investigation, and
another is about to start.
The answer to what happened?"
is easy to find. The stations were
caught in vicious circle. Few
people bought TV sets that could
receive the new stations because the
new stations either didn't exist or
had poor programs. And few new
stations went on the air-or, if they
did go on the air, few could afford to
present good programs-because few
people had sets that could receive
the new channels.
@OAA5SA
harder it will be to break it. Every
one concerned, however, vows it
Will be broken. But there is little
agreement on how.
How 1t Happened
Here's the problem:
Back in 1948 it was obvious that
the II TV channels then available
could not meet the expanding de-
mand for more stations. To keep
nelghboring cities from interfering
with each others broadcasts, the
FEC ordered a freeze" on all new
stations. Then it began to look for
new channels.
The existing band - called the
Very High Frequency range, between
"a and ZIG megacycles was
hemmed in on both ends by other
users of the air waves: Police and
IRE departments, airlines and rail-
roads. So the FEC searched higher
up the wave lengths for empty
space 1t found plenty of room in
the Ultra High Frequency band
(470 to 800 megacycles) and staked
out 70 new TV channels. They
would be designated channels IA
through 80 on your set-if you had
combination VHF-UHF set.
The FEC figured the new channels
would permit operation of 1000 new
stations around the country in a
few years, with even more for the
f11fl1rn xryo
There Was a scramble for the new
UHF channels. and for the few re-
manning Wifi channels opened at
the end of the freeze.
UHF Woes
But the UHF people quickly ran
into trouble:
. Existing Wifi stations had the
network programs seWed up.
. Existing TV sets could not re-
ceive UHF-and it would cost about
$50 to add UFIF tuning to each set.
. UHF transmitters lacked the
range of VHF stations. .s-. .. .
. Almost every planned UHF
station had WIFI competitor al
ready in operation.
. Big advertisers sponsored pro-
grams only where plenty of people
listened to good" programs-and
most good" programming was done
by the networks.
Lacking the power, advertisers
and listeners, the UHF stations
thought they might do the same as
small radio stations: Turn to low
budget operations. But it was found
that UHF station could not be
built and operated on shoestring.
Costs were virtually the same, in
fact as those for Wifi stations.
Consequently, the 1000 new sta
tions do not exist. AS of last week,
3l2 permits had been issued for
construction of UHF stations. But
II of those permits had been
turned back by discouraged holders.
Only 1876 actual operating permits
had been issued.
1.-TWO of the UHF applicants are
from the District. Radio Station
WGMS has permission to build a
station for channel 20, and WOOK
will take channel SO. Use of an edu-
cational channel. No. 26, is being.
discussed by District educational in
situations.
(Both commercial UHF applicants
are much interested in subscription
TV and probably will use it in part
of their programming if the FEC
approves. WOOK's TV station
should be on the air in six months.
WGMS plans to be in the TV busi-
ness three months after final FEC
approval)
At the same time, it was possible
To Snlleeze in 166 new NIIE Stations