DECEMBER 4, 1969 Hudgins, William R., president, Freedom National Bank, New York Jones, Theodore, president, WCRB AM-FM, Waltham, Mass., and Moore, Rev. Douglas E., chairman, Black United Front, Inc.; accom- Wright, William D., accompanied by Absalom F. Jordan, Jr., Black Efforts Page 623 627 610 581 588, 601 DECEMBER 5, 1969 Banzhaf, John F., III, Washington, D.C... Prepared statement__ McLaughlin, Dr. John, S.J., associate editor of America magazine_--- 652 676 639 ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS, LETTERS, AND ARTICLES Austin, Theodore W., licensee, KIGO radio, letter of December 1, 1969-- Bevilacqua, Don, general manager, Birch Bay Broadcasting Co., letter of 694 717 682 Braren, Warren, former manager, New York office, the Code Authority, 707 Brueggeman, Rev. Edward B., S.J., chairman, Department of Theology, statement 690 Burch, Hon. Dean, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, 393 Church, Hon. Frank, U.S. Senator from Idaho, statement_ 690 Cox, Hon. Kenneth A., Commissioner, Federal Communications Com mission: Statement. 384 Letter of December 23, 1969 353 Davis, Hilton, general manager, legislative action, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, letter of December 12, 1969-- 706 Dodge, Melvin B., director of recreation, Department of Public Recreation, Columbus, Ohio, letter of September 29, 1969 687 Edyvean, Alfred R., professor of communications, Christian Theological 687 Ellis, Don, KRXK, letter of December 2, 1969 695 Ferguson, Adlai C., Jr., general manager, Paris Broadcasting Corp., letter of December 10, 1969__ 705 Field, Joseph M., attorney, letter of October 23, 1969 685 Ford, Frederick W., president, National Cable Television Association, letter of November 24, 1969 681 Givens, Richard A., chairman, Federal Bar Council, letter of December 22, 1969 714 Goodman, Jane, director, office on public affairs, United Presbyterian 706 Hemmert, Margaret, KBRV radio station, letter of December 8, 1969_. 691 694 Howell, Rex G., communications consultant, Grand Junction, Colo., Page letter of September 12, 1969_ 687 Hubbard, Rudolph, T., executive administrator, Civitan International, letter of September 22, 1969_ 689 Jensen, J. Allen, president of KID Broadcasting Corp., statement_-_. Johnson, Hon. Nicholas, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, statement-.-. 703 398 Kaplan, Stan, Big Ways Radio 61, letter of October 24, 1969 684 Lee, Allen D., KART, letter of December 6, 1969- Karnes, William F., president, National Trans-Video, Inc., letter of Krueger, Robert E., executive vice president, general manager, KTVB, Lee, Hon. H. Rex, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, statement.... 683 691 698 391 Lee, Hon. Robert E., Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, statement_ _ _ 388 Lipscomb, Hon. Glenard P., U.S. Representative from California, letter of November 3, 1969-- 682 Lipson, Harry R., president, Michigan Association of Broadcasters, letter of October 30, 1969. 683 McDonald, Angus, director of Research, National Farmers Union, statement.. 636 Mefford, Chuck, manager, WITL, letter of December 5, 1969. 705 Miller, Paul A., superintendent of schools, Cincinnati, Ohio, letter of 689 Moore, Dale G., chairman, N.A.B. Secondary Markets, T.V. Committee, letter of September 18, 1969. 686 Moore, Earle K., Moore, Berson, Hamburg & Bernstein, letter of December 19, 1969.-. 712 Pearson, Hon. James B., U.S. Senator from Kansas, statement. 698 685 Peterson, Dale, station manager, KCID Radio, letter of December 8, 1969. 691 Petrofsky, Raymond A., president, Connecticut Broadcasters Association, letter of November 12, 1969-- 704 Potts, William H., Jr., Haley, Bader & Potts, letter of December 12, 1969__ Richdale, James C., Jr., president, Television Stations Division, Corinthian Broadcasting Corp., statement.. 696 699 Roberts, Kline L., president, Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, letter of September 26, 1969- 685 Robinson, Jack W., Gullett, Steele, Sanford & Robinson, letter of November 4, 1969__ 704 Saxvik, Robert W., general manager, KBAR radio station, letters of: 684 December 5, 1969. 693 Stanton, Frank, Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., statement_ Thomson, Mrs. J. R., president, Montana Federation of Women's Clubs, letter of November 3, 1969__ 722 683 Thrower, Hon. Randolph W., Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, 524 Wells, Hon. Robert, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission_ Whillock, Westerman, president, Boise Valley Broadcasters, Inc., statement_. 394 692 Wickstrom, Dean H., owner-manager, KWOW, Radio Ranch, letter of Zimmerman, Philip, Paneth, Haber & Zimmerman, letter of August 11, 682 689 AMENDING THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934 TO ESTABLISH ORDERLY PROCEDURES FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS FOR RENEWAL OF BROADCAST LICENSES MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1969 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 p.m., in room 5110, New Senate Office Building, Hon. John O. Pastore (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Pastore, Hartke, Hart, Moss, Cannon, Scott, and Goodell. (The amendment, S. 2004, follows:) [S. 2004, 91st Cong., first sess.] A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish orderly procedures for the consideration of applications for renewal of broadcast licenses Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 309 (a) shall be amended by adding the following after the final sentence thereof: "Notwithstanding any other provision of the Act, the Commission, in acting upon any application for renewal of a broadcast license filed under section 308, may not consider the application of any other person for the facilities for which renewal is sought. If the Commission finds upon the record and representations of the licensee that the public interest, convenience, and necessity has been and would be served thereby, it shall grant the renewal application. If the Commission determines after a hearing that a grant of the application of a renewal applicant would not be in the public interest, convenience, and necessity, it shall deny such application, and applications for construction permits by other parties may then be accepted, pursuant to section 308, for the broadcast service previously licensed to the renewal applicant whose renewal was denied." OPENING STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN Senator PASTORE. The hour of 2 having been reached these proceedings will begin. The members of the Commission have been invited here today to give their views on S. 2004, and I want to welcome them all here today. It is really a joy to see all seven of you here at the same time. That does not happen too often. There is a preliminary matter before we begin consideration of S. 2004. As chairman of this subcommittee I received a communication from the distinguished junior Senator from the State of Florida with Staff members assigned to this hearing: Nicholas Zapple and John D. Hardy. reference to the granting of a license a broadcast license to an FM station-to Pacifica Foundation. The junior Senator from Florida was very much disturbed over the reading of a poem on that station. He considered it to be salacious and obscene, and he felt that he should call it to my attention. Immediately upon receipt of that communication, I called it to the attention of the Chairman of the FCC, so that the Commission would be prepared to elaborate today and to explain to Senator Gurney their reasons either for or against taking the action they did. The committee does not want to get involved in matters while they are in an adjudicatory posture, after all, the charges being made are serious, and I think they ought to be aired fully. All of us keep talking about television and radio serving the public interest. That is what radio and television are for-to serve the public interest. I don't know how many of you heard Billy Graham last night on television from California. I did. He talked about our permissive times. He said if rot permeates the fabric of our society we will destroy the society. If radio and television are going to be used as an instrumentality under the guise of art to permeate salaciousness and obscenity throughout the fabric of our society surely a serious mistake will be made. I shall not pursue it any further at this point. I have certain reservations. I will ask some questions later on. But at the moment I shall turn it over to Mr. Gurney to pursue it in any way he desires. Senator GURNEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I appreciate your promptness in answering my letter and also calling this meeting and having the Commission here present today. By way of background, a communication came into my officeas you know, we get lots of communications—as a protest that a license should be granted to an educational station sponsored or owned by a foundation which apparently has programing of this sort on a fairly regular basis. The problem was raised in the dissent of Commissioner Lee, as I understand it, at the time a license was granted for a new station in Houston, Tex. I want to thank Commissioner Lee for putting the poem in the dissent. I would imagine it caused him some problems, deciding as to whether this offensive material should be included in the dissent or not. But by including it you brought to my attention, and hopefully the attention of this committee and to the Senate, some of the stuff that is going on in radio broadcasting. I was shocked, to say the least, to know that this kind of material, this kind of filth, is aired over the airwaves. But I was more appalled that the Federal Communications Commission had issued a license to a station when they knew that programing of this kind had been carried. This particular foundation which was granted the license, as I understand it, owns three other radio stations in California and one in New York where, as I say, programs of this sort are aired. First, I would like to find out from the Commission why a license was granted in a case like this. Perhaps we could ask Commissioner Whoever uses obscene, indecent, or profane language in any radio communication shall be fined not more than $10,000 or confined in prison for 2 years or both. |