Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 November 1948 — Page 33

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Editorials . .°. . . Page 34 Politics . . . . . . Page 35 World Report , , Page 35

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Science . . . . . . Page 38 Radio . . « q+ « « Page 44

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1948

Movies . ++ « « « Page 46

‘Picture’ Radio Likely ,_Here by Late Spring

~ By Harold Hartley and John Spicklemire ELEVISION, Rip Van Winkle of electronics, is beginning to stir out of its long sleep in Central Indiana. By late spring Indianapolis residents ghould be able to step into their living rooms, flip a switch, get a cartoon comedy or a play, or see Myrna Loy making flapjacks. Hoosiers, irked and puzzled by unexplained delay, have read about, talked about, and have even seen television in other cities. Hungry for sight-and-sound, they have wondered why they have had to wait. Other cities of size, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and the West Coast long have been familiar with television. ow or oe REASONS for the delay boil down to a twoway answer—material shortages and costs. Most big radio stations, in the know, have no’ fear of television. They are willing to gamble from $250,000 to $300,000 in equipment outlay, plus at least two years in the red before striking pay dirt. Indianapolis is a ripe market. Hoosiers stalk salesrooms, ask questions, beg to buy. Dealers. discourage them.

The dealers have a gentleman's agreement not

to sell sets until there is a local station on the air. They don’t want buyers to be disappointed, or go sour on television by trying to get sustained reception from Cincinnati or Chicago. < So AT. PRESENT the Cincinnati or Chicago receptions are spotty, unreliable, although set owners say that during recent foggy’ days, it was next to perfect. Television engineers agree that sustained reception (steady, unblemished pictures) can be assured up to 50 or 60 miles from the transmitter. There are about 500 television’ sets in Indianapolis, many of them home-made or assembled from mail order houses. The best reception here is from Cincinnati (WLW-T), although at certain times, on certain days, it shows streaks, fades. Set owners tinker with tuning mechanism to keep the picture sharp and clear. Sb > : SAMPLE of programs from WLW.-T is first a testing pattern (to get set in focus, warmed up). Peter Grant, news commentator comes on, is shown sitting at a desk reading his script. Camel and Lucky Strike eommercidls show the cigarets in marching formation or dancing to music. Children like two types of programs, one in which children participate, and cartoon comedies—like Bugs Bunny. Television set owners have no trouble luring visitors. Children from the neighborhoods swarm in, and on the days of sports even the men hover around the screen. WLW-T offers football games, fights, and wrestling matches. ’ 0 Dd

RECEPTION is often good but at other.times must be babled with tuning controls. Some have

In winfer quarters the § glitter of circus life vanishes in hard work. :

Rolling a barrel is a feat few lions master. The cage is their} schoolroom, their perch a desk. Mr. Jacobs’ 23 lions and tigers com-

pose the world's largest act.

TUNING UP—Television is sensitive. Here Janice and Leslie Bannon, 5735 Washington Blvd., are clearing the pattern for a telecast in their home.

compared present-day television with the crystal set days of AM radio, although authorities insist television is a little farther along than that. Two construction permits have been granted for Indianapolis stations, one to Harry Bitner for WFBM, and the other to the Wm. H. Block Co. for WUTZ. Mr. Bitner, who will erect a 230-foot tower on the Merchants National Bank (reaching 400-feet-plus above street level), will be on the air with local television programs and flown-in news and entertainment films by the middle of March, depending on the delivery of construction materials. The other station, WUTZ, is under construction on top of the store. Equipment is being tested and the station now carries test patterns for receivers, Sh IN ADDITION, there are two other channels open in Indianapolis. But four stations are after them. WIRE, WISH, WIBC and the Crosley station in Cincinnati all are jockeying for the precious licenses. ‘ To make matters worse, the Federal Communications Commission early last month closed the door on further application for television licenses, until engineering problems are worked out. Many stations, knowing they will lose money, have not pressed the television issue. They know TV is still far from perfect, especially in Indianapolis today. For instance, an electric razor will remove fuzz from a face, but it also puts it on a

television picture: Automobile ignitions, or even a neighbor's light switch also will streak the visual screen. # > > WHAT HAVE we been waiting for? Materials, mostly. And, secondly, a transmission cable link with the big live networks. But it is the cost of everything, from materials to studio production and cable rental that has kept television out of the picture as a sure money loser, at least for a year or two. The increased cost starts right in the televising studio. As Mr. Bitner explains it, a home economics program on present AM radio requires four persons for broadcasting, the economics instructor, the announcer and two engineers, one in the studio and one at the transmitter. The same program in television would require 14 persons, including three cameramen. > oo

THAT'S JUST the beginning. To get live net-

work programs with the big stars, a station must rent coaxial cable from the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. for $35 per airline mile per

LOOK WHAT'S INSIDE—No wonder television has been a long time coming.

"Here Mrs. Ruth Smith, Franklin, Ind., is wiring the chassis of a receiving set. And (right) Mrs. Margie Bolin, 3817 N.- Pennsylvania St., is giving an assembled receiver

the deflection test at RCA.

month for an eight-hour broadcast per day. In addition the studio must pay $500 a month for the use and maintenance of terminal point equipment, TV must be connected and disconnected at the terminal point (for Indianapolis it would be Terre Haute) at the beginning and end of each telecasting day. ffelephone spokesmen are quick to remind you that Indianapolis is not the only large city without a coaxial cable connection. They point to Cincinnati's WLW-T where studio, local and filmed programs keep the station going. ¢ 7% STRANGELY, waiting Indianapolis is the largest producer of television receiving sets in the world. Out at the RCA Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America, two assembly lines are turning out between three and four thousand 12-inch screen sets a month. The sets are attractively aimed at the rich, wage-earning trade. They sell from $326.60 (21-tube table model) to $556.79 for the four-way (TV, AM, FM, record-playing) 40-tube console model. Prices are shrinking as production climbs. Six months ago the console was $684. Prices, however, do not include the cost of the sensitive job of installation which runs about $60 extra. dw BUT TELEVISION is the next great phenomena to hold the spotlight on the American business scene. Some compare it to the electric light, steam engine, automobile, airplane and radio, itself, To get an idea of its growth there were

6500 sets produced in 1946. This year 800,000 -

sets will roll off production lines. Next year, Americans are expected to invest $330 million in another 1,600,000 receiving sets. It has not been easy for television manufacturers, either. They have a bottleneck, or more

——————

With my heart in my mouth, | entered the lions’ cage of Barnes Bros. Circus for closeups of Terrell Jacobs’ |

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Mr. Jacobs and Sheba.

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son Twenty-six ring years’ experience Ps a : into the horsemeat tug-of-war between

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E trained cats. | chose to play Daniel in the den rather than catch cage bars in a picture.

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: The public is welcome at the winter quarters near Peru, They see behind the scenes the fabulous wérld of the sawdust trail.

- The buffalo is another attraction.

9. i i Aerialisf Dorothy Patterson pose prettily with a pair of guanacos. Winter i inside shows open next month.

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Ind. Here &

14!/, rolling acres.

accurately, a “tube-neck.” There is a shortage of glass blanks for TV tube envelopes. .. oH» THE market-measuring Wall Street Journal reported that television is not trying to reap its harvest on the gold coast alone. It's shooting at the hot dog-and-soft drink level among families in the “comfortable, getting-by, and poor” groups. In New York where a fourth of all television sets are in use, 80 per cent are owned ‘by this wage level. The same is true in Philadelphia, * 9 9 IT WON'T be long until advertising budgets will: be shoveling their dollars into television. Already television has some 500 sponsors with many waiting until prices come down. Some even have tried it and quit. Big Standard Oil of New Jersey, for instance, dropped a 10-minute telecast. Too expensive. It cost $2400, exclusive of station time, But another continues to spend $10,000 a week for the production of a program alone, kicking in another $2400 for time on seven stations, > © ¢ ; JOSEPH B, ELLIOTT, vice president in charge of RCA's home instruction department, predicts that by 1949, half of the population of the United States will be living within range of television. He says that already one person in three can have television in his home, \ So Indianapolis can blame material shortages and costs, all along the line, for the delay im. television. But in spite of this, the wait won't be long. If you keep your feet dry, and don’t cross the street in the middle of the block, stay alive until next year, you still may be able to see Myrna Loy making those flapjacks, or—tut-tut—if the censors permit, see Betty Grable’s legs right ia your own living room, :

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The King bared his fangs at Trainer §

Jacobs, who bears 558 occupational haz- # ard stitches in his body.

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The gnu is a confused beast. H bears physical characteristics of the mule, zebra, deer, antelope, goat and cow. The quarters ara on

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