Document text
& "Some Trade Comments on FM"
Prepared by sdward L. Sellers
Director, Fil PEperhaents NAB
WHAT OTHsR> ARG SAYING. AN. AND DC DOING ABOUL FM
"The general feeling in the industry," reports the BUFFALO sVENING N#WS,"is that the
advent of television took the spotlight from FM but that FM will come into its own.
The fact remains that recegtion in frequency modulation is completely free of inter
ference, even in the most difficult locations, The Rural Radio Network has built a
wide audience in the rural areas with programs appealing to farmers. #ducational and
cultural, as well as lighter programs, have proved their value on a network scale."
Acccerding to ROBERT J. DJAN, nresident, KOTA AM % FM, Rapid City, South Dakota, "the
growth of FM acceptance in this area has been largely dye to the determined promotion
on the part of management and staff alike == and to our firm belief that the system
is here to stay and that it should be treated as a separate service -- not as a poor
relation -- that it is a service second only to the fundamental service Ali renders
through local and national programs. ‘ie have kept a running account of the purchase
of FM sets and have made two surveys in this area in regard to FM. One was with the
dealers, themselves, on sales, and the other was a card survey, using the phone book
as the mailing list. .e found that about 20% of the radio homes are IM-eguipped and
that ties in pretty well with the dealers' reports, which indicate that about 11,000
EMosotseare within the reach of our service -= after a year of promotion e" frore
pose will be given on KOTA-Fil promotion in the near future. It's a real success
story,
Several issues back BILLBOA?D MAVAZINE carried this story in the Radio-Television
section: "while other station managers are relinquishing Fil licenses, PaUL A. LOYaT,
vice-president and general manager of HO, Des Mioines, stated last week that he has
gre faith in the future of FM and that in august WHO-FM would increase its power
from 5,000 to from 5,000 to 50,0 Q00 watts. At the same time, "HOF will start operating with a
program ecuren cchedaic o that will wili not completely duplicate ali shows, Loyet said he believed
that because of its signal sup superiority Fil would eventually replace Alle Indicating a
belief that Fil shows could be sold on the strength of circulation, he stated that
surveys have shovm that when the new transmitter is put on the air, 15 per cent of
the radio sets in his 100-mile coverage radius would be FM, with about 1:00, 000 ; O00 radio
-homes in this area, he stated, M audience would have a commercial value eae SpONSOYS e
When the new transmitter is ont into oper ation, anew rate card for the Fa station
also will be put into effect. This will call for time charges about 10 percent of
the \iHO basic hourly cost of $520.
GLENN H. BROWNING, -radio engineer and manufacturer of electronic apparatus, asks
"Do you remember the fight against AC? One of the keenest industrial battles was
waged against the introduction of alternating current, Our great. American public has
a_ wonderful way of demanding -and getting what is new and better, The profits of
industry have always gone: to taose wno implemented the expansion of improved metaods
and services--not to. those. who clung to the old, and stood against the tide of pro-
gress. ‘hy should we settle for less than the best means of audio broadcasting? It
is admitted that FM has the advantages of 1) freeaom from interference, 2) better
fidelity, and 3) greater dynamic range. “hy, then, are the advantages of FM being
questioned now? The only reason is that FM has created a problem of economics, due
to the fact that stations are not deriving additional income from the simultaneous
broadcasting of their programs by FM and AM. “But this is not a problem that is be=
yond the resourcefulness of the broadcasterse Surely they can find a way to make the
advantages of Fil available to the American publi."
a oe
"If the saslics hopes of FM enthusiasts had cean realized FM: would today be the
dominant medium of aural broadcasting," FCC Vice Chairman PAUL A. ALKsR declared in
a recent address. "And it would be an aural system," he went on to say, "noted for
high-power, high-fidelity and freedom from interference. It would be the kind of an
aural sy system that could grow side by side with televisions fat another spot in his
talk, Commissioner \ialker pointed out that "FM can be built into television sets by
the manufacturers at a comparatively low cost -= which cannot be done with AM."/ It
would be infinitely superior to Ail which is being steadily degraded by the addition
of new stations which can only be put on the air at the expense of the existing
gS
"AS far back as 1940, the Commission had this to say of FM:
"te seeeAmplitude modulation stations in the standard broadcast band may be required
indefinitely for the purpose of giving widespread rural coverage. For coverage of
centers of population and trade areas, the new class of station offers a distinct
improvement .!
"And in 195 in establishing the new FM band, the Commission said:
"'In making an allocation for FM, it is the Commission's purpose to make provision for
a service which will not be simply a new and improved broadcast service but which will
be the finest aural broadcast service which is attainable under the present state of
the radio art.! :
"Ny am persuaded that time is ss on behalf of FM and that it will continue to
move ahead." .
rag M. SaNGsR, General Manager, WQXR AM & FM, expressed his views on FM in the
EW YORK TIM#S as. follows: "To paraphrase Shakespeare, every few weeks, somebody |
Seo to bury FM, not to, praise it.! There have been so many obituaries that there -
has been little opportunity to examine the condition of the corpse. There: has been a
“lot of wishful thinking on the part of Fill station owners which is just as extreme as
the pessimistic accounts of those who, for one reason or another,. see no future in
FM broadcasting. As usual, neither of the extremes is correct, and the truth lies »
somewhere in between. e e One of the real weaknesses in the situation is the apparent
unwillingness of radio manufacturers to promote tne sale of FM receivers. Most of
them are so carried away by the easy sales for television sets that they have neglec-=
ted the less glamorous FM market. ‘ihen the going gets little harder in the- sale of
television sets, perhaps the manufacturer will then turn to FM. « . FM broadcasting
is certainly no royal road to profit. But the fact that New York has so many hun-
“dreds of thousands of FM sets 761 6,900 as of April, 1950, according to PULSE/ is an
indication that an audience can ear built up if. broadcasters will do good programming
and the manufacturers will make cece sets at reasonable aS Jaad. FOSETY el dts to sell
them."
MICHAEL R. HANNA, General Manager of the eleven-station Kural nadio Network, reaffir-
med his belief in FM when,. in announcing RRN's affiliation with WQXR-Fil, he said
"je. have always conceived that FM is a specialist. Programs make transmitters suc-
eessful. In taking this ‘step, we feel that FM is being given its best chance since
Major Armstrong. introduced it. Jie intend to back this move with one of the most in-
tense. "promotion, campaigns FM has ever enjoyeds It is ridiculous. to assume that the
closing of a relative hancful of FM stations across the country symbolizes the fail-
ure of FM. Fil has “hot. failed. “Some br broadcasters have failed to realize its possi-
bilities."
a -fn-
‘hat, about this FM thing? what cooks here? Should we close our FM station and save
a few nickels and:perhaps live a little longer? CHECIL D. wASTIN, General Manager,
TINBF (AM-FM-TV), asked himself these questions, then decided to find out. So,"
says Mastin, "on our Fil station, starting April 9, 1950 through April 27, we carried
this announcement:
“WU NBF will decide next week whether or not to continue its FM system. ‘"lrite WNBF-
". FM, Post Office Box 8, Binghamton, telling us of your use or dependence upon our
Fu systeme! :
"hat happened? 637 replies. 482 replies from New York State, 155 replies from Pen=
nsylvania, and more were coming in, in | Spite of our announcement on April 27th:
"'To all FM set owners who are waiting for the results of our FM survey. ‘Je are happy
to announce that, due to the satisfactory volume of mail response ons our Fil audi-~
ence, WNBF has decided to continue with a duplication of its Alf programs over WNBF-Fiie
We thank you for your help in our investigation, and nope you mill continue to regis-
ter your FM sets with this station, so that we may have first-hand data on the con-
tinued growth of our FM audience.!
"What did they say?
"31 said they used FM exclusively day and night.
" 65 said they used FM at night.
"179 complained of 'hash' on the AM bande
63 mentioned desire to get CBS service.
" 3 indicated recent purchase of FM sets»
" 9 spoke of shopping in Binghamtan
" 9 advised us to discontinue AM,
"Where are those listeners in relation to Binghamton? Great majority from 25 to 50
miles away. Their complaint -=- no satisfactory AM service by any AM station at any
times Frankly, I do not know what this survey represents, viewing it as a sample of
probable listeners. Surely it isn't 100 per cent; most likely not 50 per cent, and
I presume substantially 20 per cent. It does indicate to us a bonus audience to our
AM coverage of up to 12,000 listeners. If not that, a substantial ial amount in any
event. 950 -- perhaps == maybe == the FM nag is getting out of the starting gate.
Will she overcome her handicap? Who knows! Anyway, we wili continue to rice not
one, not two, but all three: All -~ FM -= and TV!"
_-fn=
The report of a recent death of an FM station in the columns of GiORGs E. CONDON,
Radio-Television Editor for the CLEVELAND PLAIN DuaLeR, drew some thoughtful. letters
from listeners and readers. specially interesting were the comments of ROBERT M.
BEER, Manager, WAG, Ashland, Ohio. Beer wrote: "Your column told the truth, but it
leaves the impression © that Fi is doomed. I still have faith and here's whye « e
Metropolitan stations in particular never have given FM a chance. They failed to
give it any kind of promotion. Hither they duplicated AM programs a staffed their
stepchild affiliate with one or two men and a library of 78s and 33Se e o Television
has stolen the show, as we all know, and TV is going to give nighttime radio an awe
ful kick in the pants. There are only two ways to compete with, the new medium. —
‘ith the exception of clear channel stations, darkness brings on added interference
that particularly hurts the low-powered AM outlets, If the victims of this situa-
tion would let Fli come to the rescue they might salvage something from the wrecke
Howevere « e extensive promotion and dealer-manufacturer cooperation would be essen-
tial.
"Surely the set builders could be induced to incorporate FM on most of their televie
sion models if sufficient pressure were brought by a faction that still has the money
and influence to demand it. Therein, I am convinced, lies the future of broadcastinge
TV and FM in combination$ Aural broadcasters in their worst state of offensiveness
never can be as bad as a poor TV program that imposes on an audience by its inherent
demand for undivided attention. There is and will continue to be a place for both
radio and video." ca
Scanned from the National Association of Educational Broadcasters Records
at the Wisconsin Historical Society as part of
“Unlocking the Airwaves: Revitalizing an Early Public and Educational Radio Collection.”
A collaboration among the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities,
University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Communication Arts,
and Wisconsin Historical Society.
Supported by a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant from
the National Endowment for the Humanities
MITH MARYLAND INSTITUTE For = UNIVERSITY OF
TECHNOLOGY In tHe HUMANITIES MARYL AND
WISCONSIN
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
(1) WISCONSIN
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
~~ Humanities
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication/collection do not necessarily reflect those of the
National Endowment for the Humanities.