MARTIN CODEL's AUTHORITATIVE NEWS SERVICE OP THE VISUAL BROADCASTING ARTS AND INDUSTRY WITH AM , FM REPORTS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY RADIO NEWS BUREAU, 1519 CONNECTICUT AVE. N.W., WASHINGTON 6, D.C. TELEPHONE MICHIGAN 2020 o VOL. 7, NO. 31 August 4, 1951 New Border Station Opens Ripe Market, page 1. FCC Experts to View NTSC Color Systems, page 4. In this TV Films May Supersede Live Networks, page 2. The TV Trade Picture Brightens, page 7. Issue: Coast -to -Coast TV Starts Sept. 30, page 3. NPA Loosens Materials Straitjacket, page 8. Haraden Pratt Gets Top Govt. Post, page 3. ' Trade, Financial, Mobilization Notes, pages 9-11. POWER BOOSTS ALL TO EVERYBODY'S GOOD: Up to 10 miles more coverage radius for some TV stations...better pictures for many televiewers...less interference annoyance... even the more effective use of built-in and indoor antennas. These are immediate benefits assured from TV transmitter power boosts now being authorized by FCC. Acting speedily to implement new FCC policy of permitting maximum powers on temporary basis pending end of freeze, Broadcast Bureau is proc- essing applications as fast as it can. By end of week, it had approved increases for 22 stations in 18 cities -- and all or most of 20 remaining applicants, plus others who may file, should be similarly notified in matter of a few more days. (For list of authorizations and applications still pending at end of week, see p. 4.) For this week's 22 stations, it merely means turning up power outputs of present transmitters -- in most cases to 5 -kw maximum -- to derive benefits of last week's special order (Vol. 7:30. & Supp. 74), which permits maximum effective radi- ated power (ERP) up to 50 kw. The 3 "community" stations are limited to 1 kw ERP. Majority of the stations will realize significant increases in powers radi- ated from their antennas as result of boosts granted this week. Some of the hikes, translated into ERP, are little short of spectacular. Miami's WTVJ should get big- gest proportionate boost so far -- tenfold jump in ERP to approximately 22 kw. One station will reach FCC's maximum of 50 kw ERP -- WHAS-TV, Louisville, which was authorized to turn its transmitter output up from .89 to 4.6 kw, instead of 5 kw, which would have shot it through the 50 -kw ceiling. That's a 500% hike -- from present 9.69 kw. Louisville's other outlet, WAVE -TV, goes from 7 to 25 kw. In New York, WJZ-TV announced it will turn up its power Aug. 9 from 3 to about 16.5 kw, -same day it moves from temporary antenna to main TV mast atop Empire State Bldg. WOR-TV gets boost from 9 to about 22 kw, WPIX from 3.6 to 5 kw ERP. Other typical increases in ERP expected as result of this week's actions: WGN-TV, Chicago, 11.2 to 28 kw; WBKB, Chicago, 11 to 20 kw; WSM-TV, Nashville, 14.4 to 27 kw; WHEN, Syracuse, 15 to 27 kw; KRLD-TV, Dallas, 15.1 to 30 kw; WXEL, Cleve- land, 21 to 25 kw; WTVN, Columbus, 6 to 19 kw. Note: It should be emphasized that ERP in TV isn't comparable to AM power. TV powers alone can't be used as criteria for comparison of station service areas -- which depend also on related engineering factors, such as antenna location and height and operating frequency. NEW BORDER STATION OPENS RIPE MARKET: Nice new market for TV receivers opens up with start, promised sometime between Sept. 1 & 15, of new station in Matamoros, Mexico, just across border from Brownsville, at southeast tip of Texas. New XELD-TV will operate on Channel 7, be programmed mostly in English -- for all practical pur- poses another American outlet, though licensed by Mexico to Romulo O'Farrill Sr., publisher of Mexico City Novedades, operating XETV there, Latin America's first TV. New 500 -watt RCA transmitter has already been delivered, along with studio Copyright 1951 by Radio News Bureau A(,,; www.americanradiohistory.com n 1.ºs, - 2 - and field camera chains and projection equipment. It's located on high hill outside Matamoros, so that its .1 Mv/m signal is expected to embrace coverage of 50 -mi. or more, taking in all or most of rich Cameron, Hidalgo & Willacy counties, to say nothing of substantial population cluster on Mexican side of Rio Grande. Those counties alone total more than 300,000 population, include wealthy towns of Brownsville, 1950 estimated population 36,000; Harlingen, 23,000; McAllen, 20,000; San Benito, 13,000; Edinburg, 12,000; Mission, 11,000; Mercedes, 10,000; Raymondsville, 9000; Weslaco, 7500. Matamoros has only 8000, but its environs also share in rich fruitlands and big irrigation projects of Rio Grande Valley. Manager Monte Kleban, an American, headquartering at 1111 S.E. Levee St., in Brownsville, has been lining up sponsorships in U.S. with considerable success, planning commercial operation along traditional lines --with kine-recording-services from the U.S. networks. Luis Guaragna, of RCA Victor Mexicana, is engineer in charge of construction. RCA subsidiary will send sets from Mexico City factory into Mexican area, but by far largest sales are expected on U.S. side -- with sets to be channeled from wholesale houses of major manufacturers in San Antonio and Houston. T T T T Sovereign Mexico is fully within its rights in authorizing station, for it has no freeze and is party to agreement with U.S. whereby Channel 7 is allocated to Matamoros. In same allocation plan, but frozen so far as U.S. applicants are con- cerned, are Channels 4 & 5 allocated to Brownsville. Senor O'Farrill's speedy enterprise will doubtless spur other Mexican inter- ests to hasten efforts to get border stations and get going before FCC ends freeze. They will thus gain same head start in capturing audiences that stations in Buffalo and Detroit have in as yet non -locally served Canada. The allocations agreement gives other Mexican border towns like advantages. For example, Juarez, opposite El Paso (130,000 population) gets Channels 9, 11 & 13 while El Paso gets VHF 2, 4, 5 & 7 and UHF 20 & 26, all frozen; Nuevo Laredo, oppo- site Laredo (51,000) is allocated VHF 11 & 13 while Laredo's VHF 3 & 8 and UHF 15 are frozen; Tiajuana, near San Diego (321,000) is allocated 6 & 12 while San Diego has one Channel 8 station in operation and VHF 3 & 10 and UHF 21, 27 & 33 frozen. Note: For Mexican channel allocations, see p. 60, TV Factbook No. 13. Also in Factbook are proposed U.S. & Canadian allocations, lists of pending applications. TV FILMS MAY SUPERSEDE LIVE NETWORKS: Conviction is growing in high places that most TV programming will eventually be on films -- whether produced by networks themselves or by other enterprisers. Reasons aren't hard to discern: (1) High cost of coaxial -microwave hookups -- largest item in TV's overhead -- so much higher than for radio that some can't see any chance for network TV, per se, to earn a profit. Cost will mount to staggering proportions when, now promised as of Sept. 30, transcontinental relays west from Omaha will permit linking merely 4 more TV cities into present networks -- at huge per -mile cost. (2) Control and editing of programs before telecasting, with just as good quality possible via modern film techniques as via wire or radio relays. Hence the networks' preoccupation not only with their profit -earning owned- & -managed TV outlets, but with all kinds of film techniques: kine-recordings, still requiring more development for quality; simultaneous filming of TV shows during per- formance, permitting superior quality; filmed shows produced exclusively for TV. NBC-TV has even gone so far as to plan making films of popular TV programs and stars for actual showings in movie houses (Vol. 7:26). "Except for news and special events, what's there on network TV that can't be shown just as well on a delayed basis?" to quote a top network executive. "And for news and special events, we can simply buy special hookups on a plug-in basis instead of contracting for monthly or yearly rentals of coaxial -microwave circuits." AT&T may not like it -- but, then, neither did the radio networks like it at first when high-fidelity recording came along, indistinguishable from live shows, offering just as good program fare, winning official recognition of FCC when it www.americanradiohistory.com - 3 - accepted the late Henry Bellows' suggestion (he was a radio commissioner, then a CBS v.p.) that they be given the euphemious label "electrical transcription." Many years passed before networks would deviate from self-imposed rule not to use recordings for anything but sound effects. Now they're all up to their ears in transcriptions, as are stations -- using them regularly for time -zone or time - clearance repeats, and even for such big -name network radio shows as Bing Crosby's. Everett Crosby, who runs his brother's Bing Crosby Enterprises, goes along with "Ike" Levy's fast -building rival Official Films Inc. (Vol. 7:22,27) in convic- tion that most future TV programming will be via film --at least 75%, he says. More- over, he told Advertising Age, TV program headquarters will eventually be Hollywood. Crosby said he has spent $2,000,000 to back up this belief, citing firm's highly successful "Fireside Theater" series (produced for Procter & Gamble), promis- ing new productions titled "Cry of the City," 30 -min. drama; "Inside Football," with coaches as commentators; "Freedom Hour," based on documents on the Freedom Train; "Parade of Champions," greats in sport; "The Chimps," animals with human voices.