FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
14 F.C.C.2d 2 (1968)
May 29, 1968
[*2] With respect to the staff review of the June 1, 1968, group
of Standard Broadcast and Television applications for Oklahoma, Kansas, and
Nebraska, prior to their renewal under delegated authority, the Commission, by
Commissioners Hyde, chairman; Bartley, Lee, Cox, Loevinger, and Johnson, with
Commissioners Cox and Johnson dissenting and issuing statements, rejected
proposals: (1) That the staff be instructed to write the stations in the June
first renewal group proposing less than 5 percent news, 1 percent public
affairs, and/or 5 percent public affairs and other, unless there are
extenuating circumstances reflected in the particular station's application;
(2) that the staff be instructed to write to KWTV, KOCO-TV, KTUL-TV, and
KSWO-TV, inquiring as to any justification or explanation they may have for
their minimal proposals in news, in public affairs, and in local live
programming in prime time; and (3) that the staff be instructed to develop
procedures, including a check list based on the one used in the study of the
Oklahoma stations, for the purpose of identifying and bringing to the
Commission those renewal applications in each group reflecting the lowest
levels of past and proposed performance in the areas of news, public affairs,
and other programming as well as in local live programming generally and in
prime time. n1
n1 For the dissenting opinion of
Commissioners Cox and Johnson on the June 1, 1968, renewal group generally, see
page .
[*3] PREFACE
The basis of American commercial broadcasting is local service -- local
news, enlightened presentation of local controversial issues, local talent, and
a community dialog. On this foundation we have built a system of seven
thousand five hundred local radio and television stations, to which we have contributed
95 percent of the most valuable frequency space owned by the public.
After a 3-month evaluation of the programming of a sampling of American radio
and television stations we must report that this foundation is shaky indeed.
This is perhaps the most serious of the conclusions we, FCC
Commissioners Kenneth A. Cox and Nicholas Johnson, have drawn from our review
of the license renewal forms of this sampling of the 101 Oklahoma radio and
television stations.
We have undertaken this study to evaluate a sampling of American
communities and the role of broadcasting and other mass media in the lives of
their citizens, and to test the validity of the local service assumption of our
present national system of commercial broadcasting; to compile relevant data
about broadcasting stations for a given State, and as a model for other States;
to report and analyze the ownership of local outlets of information and opinion
in this country, and uncover any patterns of statewide domination; to examine
the adequacy and practical impact of the Commission's requirement that
licensees survey the needs and interests of their listeners or viewers, and
consider alternative ways of encouraging local participation in programming
judgments; to
review the Commission's procedures for processing the information contained in
its current license renewal form.
The results of our study are extremely disquieting.
We have found that the programming product of these local stations is,
in greatest measure, television entertainment from New York and Los Angeles,
nationally distributed recorded music entertainment for radio, and nationally
distributed news for radio and television from networks and wire services; that
there is little, if any, relevant information about local radio and television
stations usefully collected, readily available and widely used by local
citizens; that in spite of the numbers of newspapers and broadcast outlets, the
control of the greatest share of audience, profit, and political power lies in
the hands of very few; that the local surveys are, almost without exception,
useless to the broadcaster, the community, and the Commission, and that the
listening and viewing public is almost totally excluded from, and uninformed
about its rights in, the station's program selection process; [*4] that
the Commission is making virtually no use of the information it is now
receiving from licensees in the renewal forms.
In the report which follows we elaborate these findings and present our
compilation of data about broadcasting in this typical State of Oklahoma.
Radio and television station owners operate under licensed authority of
the Federal Communications Commission, as provided by act of Congress.
They are licensed to serve the public interest, convenience and necessity.
Every 3 years they must request that their license be renewed by the FCC under
the same standard. The licenses of all broadcasters in a given State
expire at the same time. They must file their renewal applications 90
days prior to that date. The filing date for Oklahoma stations (as well
as for Nebraska and Kansas) was March 1, 1968. By June 1 virtually all
their renewals will be granted. (The renewal dates for all other States
are contained in appendix B.)
In previous instances of statewide license renewals the two of us have
dissented to the Commission's rather cursory examination of the stations'
performance. (See, for example, Renewal of Standard Broadcast Station
Licenses, 7 FCC 2d 122, 130, 9 P&F Radio Reg. 2d 687, 695 (1967), and
License Renewals (Iowa and Missouri), FCC Public Notice 13087, Feb. 20, 1968
(1968).) We have indicated we believe stations offering, for example, less than
5 percent news, 1 percent public affairs, or 5 percent public affairs and all
other non-entertainment programming, ought to be sent a letter of inquiry, or
set for hearing. Perhaps such stations could offer valid explanations of
why such performance serves the public interest in their community. We
did not believe the bare facts before the Commission, however, offered valid
basis for such a finding.
On this occasion we sought to make a more thorough evaluation. We
selected Oklahoma for this purpose only because we believed it typical, and
because its renewals were next in line when we contemplated this study.
We had not encountered either praise or complaints to indicate Oklahoma station
owners as above or below average. The State ranks 19th in area, 27th in
population, and contains both the Nation's 37th largest market (Oklahoma City)
and some of its most sparsely settled territory (Cimarron County averages but
three people per square mile). Because of the location of its major
cities, most of the State's population receives its radio and television
programming from Oklahoma stations (unlike some States, such as New Jersey,
which receives virtually all of its programming from Philadelphia and New York
City stations). For all of these reasons, among others, we believe the
State to have been appropriate for our purposes.
We offer this collection of data, our analysis, conclusions, and
recommendations to any who may find them useful. It has been of great
help to us in evaluating the Oklahoma license renewals before us. But it
has been more than that for us, and we hope for others. We hope its
principal value will be as a case study, an illustration, of the kind of
collection and analysis that can be done by others, in and out of the
Commission, for license renewals in other States, [*5] our colleagues on the
Commission, and its staff; universities, foundations, and other public and
private institutions presently engaged in evaluation of our Nation's
telecommunications system; individual broadcasters, and their associates and
associations; public-spirited individuals and organizations throughout the
country -- as well as in Oklahoma.
If it is found to have this kind of broader value, if others are able
to build upon this beginning and improve it, and if through that building
American broadcasting inches a wee bit closer to its ultimate potential, our
efforts will have been repaid many fold. [*6]
CONTENTS Page
Preface 3
Introduction, Summary and Recommendations 7
How and Why Our Government Built the Broadcasting Industry 7
Recent Trends in FCC Enforcement of the Communications Act 8
Why the Nation Needs Local Broadcast Service 10
Broadcasting in Oklahoma: A Summary 12
Conclusions and Recommendation 13
Television Programming in Oklahoma 16
Applying the Standards: News and Public Affairs 17
Network Clearances 17
Amount of Local Programming 18
The Local Programs 19
Preemption: The Theory 20
Preemption: The Practice 21
Preemptions: An Evaluation 22
Local Programming Other Than News 23
Radio 24
Renewal Procedures 24
Conclusion 25
Oklahoma Television Stations' Checklists 26
Sample Radio Form (KTOK) 32
Media Ownership in Oklahoma 33
Note on Letters to Broadcasters 37
Note on Sources 39
Broadcasting in Selected Cities of Oklahoma 40
Introduction 40
Ardmore 41
Duncan 45
Enid 48
Guymon 52
Holdenville 55
Lawton 57
McAlester 63
Muskogee 67
Oklahoma City 72
Sayre and Ada 98
Tahlequah 101
Tulsa 104
Appendix A: Letters to Oklahoma Broadcasters 122
Letter to Oklahoma Radio Stations 122
Letter to Oklahoma Television Stations 123
Letter to Networks 124
Second Letter to Oklahoma Broadcasters 124
Appendix B: License Renewal Expiration
Dates for Each State 125
[*7] INTRODUCTION, SUMMARY, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
"When I'm drivin' in my car, When the man comes on the radio, He's
tellin' me more and more About some useless information * * *. Supposed
to fire my imagination? * * * I can't get no satisfaction !" The
Rolling Stones, "Satisfaction"
Most people believe that radio and television are like the
weather. Bad weather exists. But it is no one's fault.
Accordingly, nothing can be done about it. The same is widely believed to
be true of radio and television. Often broadcast programming appears
unsatisfactory, either in individual cases or in general. But the
prevailing assumption is that broadcasting in America got to be the way it is
through some ineluctable and mysterious process, that it was not the product of
any identifiable individual, group, or institution, that no one in particular
is to blame, and that, accordingly, nothing can be done about it.
But this widespread notion is wrong. If something basic is amiss
with broadcasting, someone is at fault. That someone is the United States
Government.
How and Why Our Government Built the Broadcasting Industry
The American broadcasting industry was not structured by the economic
laws of the market, nor by the imperatives of technology. It was built by
Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. The existence of
every television and radio station is owed to those bodies. Policies
which they adopted in the name of the American public determined how many
stations there should be, where they should be located, and which individuals
and corporations should have the profitable privilege of operating them.
To a very great extent programming, which is the product of the
broadcasting industry, is also a result of those Government policies.
Different policies would have led to different results. For example,
Congress and the FCC need not have based their scheme on the concept of local
transmitting stations. Had they instead emphasized national
"superpower" stations, there would be many fewer radio and TV stations
than there are now. But no geographical area of the country would be
without at least some broadcast reception service, as many sparsely populated
areas are today. And there might be much greater variety in the kinds of
programming available to the people. Similarly, Government policy
determined that programs should be paid for exclusively by advertisers.
Had individual viewers and listeners been permitted to compete with advertisers
for the right to finance, and therefore select, the programs aired by broadcast
stations, then there could be greater variety in programming. Finally,
FCC policy forbids cable television systems to pipe distant broadcast signals
into the top 100 markets. But for this artificial support, viewer choice
might be much greater.
Congress created the present scheme in order to promote specific
[*8] policies and specific kinds of programs. A system of locally
based stations was deemed necessary to insure that broadcasting would be
attentive to the specific needs and interests of each local community. It
was also considered a guarantee to local groups and leaders that they would
have adequate opportunity for expression. Ultimately, our broadcasting
system is premised on concern that the very identity of local States and cities
might be destroyed by a mass communications system with an exclusively national
focus.
In order to make sure that these objectives were realized, Congress
decreed that broadcast licenses should expire after 3 years. On their
expiration, it instructed the FCC to review the past and proposed performance
of the licensee to see whether renewal would serve the public interest,
convenience, and necessity. As defined by Congress, and refined by the
FCC, the public interest has always been understood to require licensees to offer
some "balance" in their program format. To serve the public
interest, it is necessary for broadcasting to answer to minority as well as
majority interests, and to provide time for information and discussion of
national and, especially, local issues of public importance. These goals
have been faithfully reflected by each of the landmark declarations of policy
which the FCC has issued since its birth in 1934.
Recent Trends in FCC Enforcement of the Communications Act
Most recent among the important FCC policy statements regarding program
regulation was its 1960 Report and Statement of Policy Re: Commission en banc
Programming Inquiry, in which the Commission vigorously reaffirmed the
obligation of licensees --
* * * to take the necessary steps to inform themselves of the real
needs and interests of the areas they serve, and to provide programming which
in fact constitutes a diligent effort, in good faith, to provide for those
needs and interests.
The 1960 Policy Statement emphasized that empirical surveys and
personal contacts were the preferred ways in which the licensee should apprize
himself of the particular services he needed to render the citizens of his
coverage area.
In 1962 and 1963, the Commission undertook two on-the-scene inquiries
into the quality of local public service provided by television stations in
selected metropolitan areas. Commissioner Lee was dispatched to Chicago;
Chairman Henry went to Omaha. Both Commissioners held public hearings in
the cities they visited. Their purpose was to provide a forum for the
public to submit information on local needs and to voice opinions about whether
these needs were being met.
But after the Chicago and Omaha inquiries, which showed that
metropolitan TV stations originated relatively little programming of their own,
and that what local programming they did put on consisted mostly of news,
weather, and sports, interest in local service flagged at the FCC. In
1965, the Commission abandoned a policy, begun in 1962, of deferring action on
renewal petitions and instructed its staff not to collect any more information
about local live programming practices.
[*9] Now, in 1968, in spite of new renewal forms, the
situation stands about where it stood in 1965. The Commission has not
repudiated its commitments for the record. It has simply declined to
enforce them in practice.
The process of review remains. But it is a ritual in which no
actual review takes place. Every 2 months, a geographical block of
broadcast license renewal applications are presented to the Commission's
staff. Each batch of renewals contains all the licenses within an area of
up to three States. The licensees file their answers to lengthy
forms. (A sample, the television form, is included as appendix C.) They
specify the percentage of their programming which will be devoted to news, to
public affairs, and to other matters exclusive of entertainment and
sports. They submit logs of the programs they carried during 7 days from
the preceding year selected at random by the staff -- the "composite
week." The licensees describe the more-or-less unscientific method they
have employed to divine the needs of their community. These needs are
often not specified. When specified, they often have little relation to
the programming decisions the licensee has made.
This entire ritual, which is a burden on broadcasters and a boon for
the Washington, D.C. communications bar, has no real point. It is a
sham. The Commission staff, acting on delegated authority, routinely
grants all the renewal applications except for the few whose draftsmen were
inexperienced and hence made technical mistakes in filling them out.
Engineering and financial deficiencies revealed by the applications, survey
deficiencies, high commercial levels, and certain unresolved complaints are
also causes for delaying a grant. But programming deficiencies, even the
most flagrant indifference to the local service obligations imposed by the
Communications Act, raise no eyebrows.
The Commissioners themselves play almost literally no role at
all. We simply note that the staff has completed its processing of the
applications, doing little more than nod to the sketchy memoranda as they pass
our desks. Grass-roots organizations from the communities themselves rarely
participate; what efforts have been attempted in this vein have not been
welcomed by the Commission or its staff.
We do not believe this state of affairs serves the public. Nor,
we believe, does it serve the Federal Communications Commission.
Certainly it does the Commission no good to have the United States Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declare that "The theory that
the Commission can effectively represent the listener interests in a renewal
proceeding * * * is no longer a valid assumption which stands up under the
realities of actual experience." Certainly the interests of the
broadcasting industry are no better served when the same distinguished court
remarks, "After nearly 5 decades of operation the broadcast industry does
not seem to have grasped the simple fact that a broadcast license is a public
trust subject to termination for breach of duty."
Broadcasters receive from the Government a license which constitutes,
especially in the case of television, a grant of great power and wealth,
"a license to print money," as commercial television franchises are
termed in Great Britain. The television industry averages
[*10] about 100 percent return on depreciated tangible investment and
about 40 percent on gross revenues. These revenues come from advertisers,
who can profitably reach the public through the broadcasters' channels.
The Government does not grant or preserve this profitable monopoly just in
order to indulge the private interests of its licensees. In exchange for
its generosity, the public, through its Government, expects its licensees to
program not simply to maximize profits, but also to provide service to
community needs, even when profits are reduced somewhat thereby. In view
of the great profitability of most broadcast stations, this obligation can seem
a burden only to the greedy.
Having erected this great structure on the keystone of local service,
we think it absurd for the Federal Communications Commission to let the system putter
off on its own merry way, without ever taking a look to see how it is working,
or even to see if it is working at all.
For if the actual programming of broadcasters is as devoid of concern
about local expression and local service as is the Commission's renewal
procedure, then the FCC should halt the pretense. We should tell Congress
that local service may have been a fine idea in 1934, but it is simply not
worth administering in 1968. We should recommend that Congress design a
different system, one which would not entail the bother of the present one, and
which would not involve its substantial economic and social costs to the
public. Such notions have occurred to numerous distinguished academic and
other critics of the present system of broadcasting. They are, no doubt,
being considered by those institutions which are undertaking comprehensive
evaluations of the Nation's communications system and its communications
policies.
Why the Nation Needs Local Broadcast Service
Personally, the two of us do not believe that the system should be
scrapped. We believe that local service is a value of high import, and
that the local station is an appropriate mode for its realization. The
notion of a broadcast station serving as a focus for communication among the
elements of a community and for confrontation with its problems is not out of
date. Today, America's greatest needs are local needs. Virtually
every city in this country has found itself engulfed by incipient
rebellion. What these cities discovered, in effect, was that a
substantial minority of their residents had lived in the city, but had never
been part of the community. They discovered that there had quite
literally been no communication between the blacks and whites of their
jurisdiction.
The future of this country hinges on the ability of individual cities
to create communication where it has never existed before. Only local
media can serve that need. And indeed, in large part only local broadcast
stations can serve that need. For polls show that most Americans get most
of their information about public affairs from radio and television. For
many Americans, if it is not on radio or television, it might as well not have
happened at all.
As a consequence of the increasing role of broadcasting in shaping the
people's consciousness of affairs, broadcasting has become more decisive than
ever in shaping the course of policy. The Constitution
[*11] protects our citizens' right of petition. But increasingly,
today, citizens know that political action comes not from petitioning one's
Government but from petitioning one's media. A community's agenda for
action can be found, everyday, on the front pages of its newspapers, in the
content of its drive-time radio newscasts, and on the prime-time news and
public affairs programs of its television stations. Those who have
proposals for action must reach the media before they reach the people or the
Government. They need the media to put their needs in the forefront of
the community's consciousness.
The greatest challenge before the American people today is the
challenge of restoring and reinvigorating local democracy. That challenge
cannot be met without a working system of local broadcast media actively serving
the needs of each community for information about its affairs, serving the
interests of all members of the community, and allowing all to confront the
listening public with their problems and their proposals.
In sum, we think the theory on which the American system of
broadcasting is based is sound, as sound in 1968 as it was in 1934. It is
the practice which concerns us. Not that we are convinced that most, or
even many, broadcasters shirk their local service obligations. On the
contrary, the trade press of the broadcasting industry is increasingly filled
with reports of the new and imaginative ventures undertaken by broadcasters
everywhere to meet the challenge of serving their communities, especially with
respect to the present crises of race relations and local democracy. Our
concern stems from the fact that we learn more from the trade press than we do
from the Commission's own procedures. The Commission has indicated its
disinterest in getting information about the performance of its licensees, and
as a consequence the two of us share in its ignorance. This concerns us
greatly.
In a time when the role of local service seems so critical, and when,
paradoxically, this basic concept faces increasing challenge from critics and
from the pressures of technological change, it has seemed to us vital to get an
accurate fix on how our traditional system of local broadcasting is working in
practice.
We have decided to satisfy our need to inform ourselves by undertaking
a study of broadcasting in a single State. Oklahoma is the State we selected,
because it seemed a typical State, which was primarily served by broadcast
signals originating within its borders, and because its licenses come before
the Commission at a convenient date, namely on June 1, 1968. As a result
of our study, hereafter reported in detail, we have made recommendations to the
full Commission for action regarding the group of licenses before us. We
have also made suggestions of a more general nature, regarding changes in
regulatory policy which we believe meritorious of consideration.
Contained within the report and its appendices will be found most of
the basic data publicly available about broadcasting within the State of
Oklahoma. There are city-by-city descriptions of 11 communities and the
programming available to them. Information is provided about the
stations: call letters, power, location, ownership, and so forth. We have
indicated the out-of-city signals which can be received in the community in
question. There is reference to local newspapers, [*12] and
some national magazine circulation figures. There is a separate section
discussing concentration of control of media ownership statewide. We have
evaluated television programming separately. We have discussed sources of
information -- and "the letters." In short, we have tried to bring
together in one document both our own analysis of broadcasting in Oklahoma, and
the raw data from which others may prepare their own evaluation. We
believe our Nation is healthier to the extent this kind of information and
analysis are made widely available to the American people. We hope the
example provided by this single effort will stimulate the imagination of others
to do more, and different, and better, work of this character.
Broadcasting in Oklahoma: A summary
The basic objective of our study has been to ascertain how Oklahoma
broadcast licensees fashion their programming to the specific needs of their
individual communities. In theory, this is also the basic objective of the
arduous process through which the Federal Communications Commission goes
whenever it determines whether to renew a group of broadcast licenses. In
fact, as we have mentioned above, a majority of our colleagues do not regard it
as the Commission's proper role to give serious scrutiny to the performance of
applicants before granting their request for renewal. Hence, we have
undertaken this comprehensive survey on our own initiative.
The results of our study are now in. We find these results
extremely unsettling. Previous Commission studies of the performance of
local broadcast stations, especially the Omaha and Chicago inquiries of 1962
and 1963, had revealed that local stations rely predominantly on network and
other nonlocal sources for programming. We did not expect our analysis to
show a markedly different pattern. Nevertheless, we were unprepared for
what we have found.
Our principal conclusion is this: As far as Oklahoma broadcasting is
concerned, the concept of local service is largely a myth. With a few
exceptions, Oklahoma stations provide almost literally no programming that can
meaningfully be described as "local expression." They provide very
little that can be considered tailored to specific needs of their individual
communities.
This pervasive feature of Oklahoma broadcasting, as well as several
other facets of the situation which fell within the scope of our study, are
elaborated in detail in the city-by-city analyses and supplementary notes and
appendices which form the bulk of this report. Highlights of the report,
of its major factual findings, conclusions, and recommendations, are recorded
below.
Here is what we discovered about the quantity and quality of local
service in Oklahoma:
Of the 10 commercial television stations which submitted renewal
applications in the instant proceeding (which take in a total of more than $16
million in gross revenues annually), only one station devotes as much as 2
hours a week to programs which can be classified as "local public affairs"
(out of 105 to 134 hours per week of programming). Two stations devote
between 1 and 2 hours to local public affairs. Six stations carry less
than 1 hour. Two stations carry none at all.
[*13] Three of the TV stations carry less than 8 hours of news
per week.
There is not in the entire State a single regularly scheduled prime
time program devoted to presentation, analysis, or discussion of controversial
issues of public importance in the State or in the community.
There is not in the State a single station which carries as much as 1
hour per week of locally originated programming in the prime viewing hours,
other than news, weather, and sports.
Radio, although a fairly significant source of news, and not
infrequently of local news, provides almost literally no public affairs service
at all other than news. With but a handful of exceptions, Oklahoma radio
stations do not offer even a token effort to serve as a forum for discussion of
local issues of public importance.
We do not construe these facts necessarily as an indictment of the
broadcasters of this particular State; it is unlikely that their performance
differs greatly from the performance of broadcasters in other States. It
may well be that disinterest in local service by broadcasters and by the Commission
accurately reflects popular interests.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
What we do see as the necessary conclusion of our Oklahoma study is
this: Either the Commission and its licensees must make local service a
reality, or else consideration will have to be given to revising our commitment
to the concept of the local station.
That is the major conclusion we have drawn from our study of
broadcasting in Oklahoma. In addition, we have offered the following
conclusions and recommendations for the consideration of the Commission and the
public.
First, with respect to Commission action pertaining to the renewal of
broadcast licenses for Oklahoma television and radio stations: although the
local service offerings of virtually all the licensees we have examined are
sparse, some records are such that we believe that the Commission ought not
renew certain licenses until more information is obtained from the
licensees. We would send letters of inquiry to the following licensees:
Television Stations
KWTV (Oklahoma City) should explain why it has been able to broadcast
only 30 minutes of public affairs programs weekly, none of which is aired in
prime time, and why it preempted regular programs only three times in the
preceding 12 months.
KOCO-TV (Oklahoma City) should explain why it has carried only 1.8
percent public affairs programming and has only preempted regular programs for
special public affairs broadcasts twice in the last 12 months.
KTUL (Tulsa) should explain why it broadcasts a total of less than 6
hours of news programs per week.
KSWO (Lawton) should explain why it programs less than 8 hours of news
per week, no local public affairs programs per week at all, why it did not
preempt regular programming once during the past 12 months, and why it proposes
absolutely no other non-entertainment programming.
Radio Stations
KVYL (Holdenville), that city's only local broadcast station, proposes
less than 5 percent news, 1.23 percent public affairs, and 18.9 percent other
than entertainment and sports. Examination of its program logs shows that
most of the 18.9 percent "other" is religious music which is
classified as religious programming. We would inquire about the low
amount of proposed news.
[*14] KBYE (Oklahoma City) proposed 1 percent news, 11.1
percent public affairs, and 37.6 percent other than entertainment and
sports. KBYE claims to be an ethnically oriented station serving minority
audiences in Oklahoma City. Almost all of its public affairs and other
programming is religious music or syndicated public affairs programming.
KBYE has no regularly scheduled newscast. We would inquire about the
adequacy of the proposed 1 percent news. We would also ask for a more
thorough documentation of KBYE's survey of the audience it proposes to serve.
KTLQ-FM (Tahlequah) is an FM station associated with the only other
station in Tahlequah. KTLQ (AM) proposes 11.3 percent news, 4 percent
public affairs and 3.9 percent other. KTLQ-FM proposes 1.7 percent news,
0.8 percent public affairs, and 0.8 percent other. We would inquire as to
why the FM station, when engaged in a commendable effort to provide a
nonduplicated service, did not, however, provide at least the AM's minimal
news, public affairs, and other programming for its FM audience.
KMUS (Muskogee) proposes 13.2 percent news, 0.67 percent public
affairs, and 3.6 percent other. We would inquire as to why such a small
amount of public affairs (55 minutes a week) is adequate to serve the public
interest in this community.
KTMC (McAlester) proposes 12.83 percent news,.09 percent public
affairs, and 4.3 percent other. We would inquire about the low amount of
public affairs.
Similar inquiries regarding failure to meet minimum standards that most
other Oklahoma licensees propose to meet would be made to KCCO, Lawton (0.3
percent public affairs); KTOW, Sand Springs (0.5 percent public affairs); KELI,
Tulsa (0.9 percent public affairs); KTOK, Oklahoma City (0.6 percent public
affairs); KLPR, Oklahoma City (0.51 percent public affairs); KOCY-FM, Oklahoma
City (2.0 percent other); WNAD, Norman (2.0 percent other); and KAKC-FM, Tulsa
(0.6 percent other -- associated with KAKC, Tulsa).
Second, with respect to Commission renewal procedures, in order to
enable the Commissioners themselves to participate meaningfully in the
processing of renewal applications, we recommend that the staff be instructed
to prepare checklists for each individual station on whose application the
Commission must act. The checklist should include:
1. Data as to revenues and cash flow (for Commissioners' use
only);
2. Amounts of programming other than entertainment or sports by
percentage of the weekly regular format, by hours of the week, by portions of
the day, and by origin (local, network, recorded);
3. List of special programs which pre-empted regularly scheduled
programs during the preceding months indicating, in addition to the date, time,
and duration of the program, its origin (network, local, or recorded), and
whether of a "public affairs" nature;
4. Percentage of time for commercials, and number of hours
containing over 18 (for radio) or 16 (for television) minutes of commercial
time.
Third, we have discovered an uncommon and, we believe, dangerous degree
of concentration of control over broadcast and other mass media in
Oklahoma. Although 73 separate firms control broadcast licenses in the
State, the top four firms accounted for 56 percent of the revenue and 88
percent of the income of the totals earned by all 73 firms in 1966. The
leader among these four top firms is part of a galaxy of interests owned by the
Gaylord family. This family also controls the two leading newspapers in
Oklahoma City (the State capital and largest city) as well as four additional
television stations in other major markets, two of which are in nearby
Texas. They publish in addition an agricultural monthly magazine with a
paid circulation of nearly 500,000 in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.
Accordingly, we recommend, as we have often on many past occasions, that the
Commission [*15] be wary of permitting so many mass communications
outlets to accumulate in the hands of a single organization.
Fourth, we believe the Commission should consider economic resources in
setting standards for local service. In spite of WKY's remarkable
preeminence as a source of information to the citizens of Oklahoma's leading
metropolitan area, and to the State as a whole, the local service provided by
the broadcast outlets controlled by this combine is not outstanding. The
company's television station, WKY-TV, does provide somewhat more local
programming than any other station in the State. But its lead is not
significant, and the level of its performance in this regard is so low that its
superiority is not in itself a cause for great self-satisfaction or praise.
The company's radio station, WKY-AM, by far the leading station in the city and
the State in revenues, broadcasts a percentage, of news and public affairs
programming that is only about average for the broadcasters in the State.
Because of the power and financial capacity of WKY and WKY-TV, and because of
the great news-gathering resources of the parent organization, we think these
stations could make a far greater contribution to community public needs and
interests than they are presently providing.
We think it unrealistic if not unfair to impose on small and marginal
radio stations the same requirements for local expression and service imposed
on a combine as powerful and wealthy as that represented by these two jointly
owned stations. Accordingly, we recommend that the Commission consider
the promulgation of policies which relate the amount of time and resources
which a licensee is expected to invest in news and public affairs to his
financial ability to make such investments.
Fifth, we have noted the great difference between the very small number
of broadcast and other outlets serving small communities, and the relatively
large number of outlets serving major metropolitan areas, such as Oklahoma City
and Tulsa. Neither Commission policy nor licensee practice seems to allow
for this difference. There is no marked difference between the amount of
local service programming carried by major market stations and stations
licensed to small towns and cities. We recommend, therefore, that the Commission
consider the adoption of a flexible concept of local service, which would allow
for the different informational and expressional needs of small communities and
large cities.
Sixth, we have noted that radio and television seem to play somewhat
distinct roles as outlets for information and the presentation analysis, and
discussion of controversial issues of public importance. We recommend
that the Commission consider adopting different standards for defining the
local service obligations of radio station licensees and television station
licensees. In view of the increase in the number of radio signals in
metropolitan areas, and of the tendency of each radio station to appeal to
specific fractions of the listening audience, the Commission should consider
whether to evaluate licensee performance on the basis of the range of services
offered by all the stations in a given major market, rather than on a
station-by-station basis. In this event, of course, the Commission and
its licensees would [*16] have to evolve other measures of the local
service responsibilities of broadcasters to invest money and time in the needs
of their local communities.
Seventh, we recommend that the Commission make the effort to make
information, such as that we have assembled here, widely available to the
American people, and otherwise encourage more meaningful surveys and other
efforts to involve the public in the program selection process.
We believe that adoption by the Commission of measures such as those we
have proposed, if seriously enforced, would lead to a reinvigoration of local
service by broadcast stations. In that event, broadcasting in America
would come nearer to realizing the great promise and vision which underlie the
traditional concern of Congress and the FCC for promoting and protecting the
local broadcast station as the basis of the system.
But, we hasten to add, if the broadcasting industry and the FCC do not
breathe life into the concept of local service, then there may be a little
basis in reason for preserving our present system. This is not an unreal
possibility. Technological and even political winds of change are
beginning to whistle through the world of communications. It is now clear
that television and radio systems could be fashioned which would emphasize
national and regional outlets more than the present system does. Such
systems might guarantee to all parts of the Nation a more variegated, higher
quality service than is presently available to those within reach of the
thousands of stations licensed to individual towns and cities. Local
service is the only basis for policies designed to foster UHF growth, to
regulate cable television, to refuse to increase the power of today's 50,000-w
clear-channel AM stations, and in general to protect local stations against a
transformation of the broadcasting system. If local service does not in
fact play a significant role in the operation of the present system,
traditional policies may be senseless and they may in addition turn out to be
surprisingly short of life.
Television Programming in Oklahoma
One of the purposes of our special study of certain of the pending
Oklahoma renewal applications was to try to develop processing standards which
we could recommend for use by the staff in handling future renewals.
While we haven't had time to develop our ideas with respect to this matter
completely, we do have some recommendations which we would like to make at this
time. They require our review of what we have found to be television
programming in Oklahoma at this time.
We have chosen television for this purpose because television plays a
special role in American broadcasting today as the principal form of family
evening entertainment and information, because the number of television stations
was far more manageable, and because we had to start somewhere. We
believe the same effort should be made to develop standards for evaluating
radio programming.
Following this text are summaries with respect to the television
stations in Oklahoma, presented in a format which we believe could serve
[*17] as the basis for a checklist to be used in processing television
renewal applications. Essentially this includes:
1. Data as to revenues and cash flow (presented to Commissioners
only, and omitted from this public report);
2. The percentages in program categories "news,"
"public affairs," and all other than entertainment and sports;
3. Local programming in hours and minutes, by portions of the day
and in total;
4. Local programs other than news-weather-sports broadcast in the
composite week by categories, showing day of week, segment of day, day,
frequency and duration of broadcast (e.g., "Morning Devotionals M-F AM
5/25" indicates that this program was presented Monday through Friday before
noon for 5 minutes a day, or a total of 25 minutes for the week);
5. Total time (identifiable in the logs) devoted to
news-weather-sports and to other local programs (which does not always agree
precisely with the licensee's computations);
6. A statement characterizing the station's practice with respect
to preempting network programming.
We believe that analyzing television renewal applications in these
terms would give the staff a basis for bringing to the Commission those
applications presenting the least satisfactory program proposals. We
think that judgment should be made primarily in terms of how a particular
station compares with others in its area in its non-entertainment or sports and
local programming -- with some attention to minimum standards and to the
financial health of the station.
Applying the Standards: News and Public Affairs
In the area of news programming, the proposals of the Oklahoma TV
stations range from KTUL's 5.5 hours to KVOO's 14.3 hours, with KOCO proposing
7.5 hours, KSWO 7.45, KTEN 10.7, and WKY 13.75. Since we are here
considering both local and network programming, KTUL's proposal seems clearly
inadequate -- and those in the 7.5 hours range seem questionable.
We believe that 1.5 hours a day Monday through Friday and half an hour
on Saturday and Sunday constitute a pretty rock bottom service -- at least 45
minutes between sign on and, say, 4 p.m., 25 minutes during the dinner hour
(many stations provide twice that), 20 minutes late at night, and no less than
25 minutes a day over the weekend. There is no apparent economic explanation for the minimal performance
of KOCO and KSWO.
Network Clearances
It appears that KTUL was the only ABC affiliate in Oklahoma which did
not clear for the network's daytime news or its two weekend news
programs. In general, it appears to have the poorest record of clearing
for ABC's news and public affairs programming of the four affiliates in the
State. (Clearance date were provided covering the period December 1, 1967
to April 11, 1968.) ABC presented two public affairs series, "ABC
Scope" and "Issues and Answers." KSWO and KTEN cleared for both,
while KOCO and KTUL cleared for neither. Of 32 advance-scheduled
one-time-only public affairs programs offered [*18] during this period,
KSWO cleared for 29, KTEN for 28, KOCO and KTUL for 23.
CBS refused to furnish its clearance report at all, despite the fact
that whether or not a station showed a given program to thousands of viewers
can scarcely be characterized as "confidential" NBC furnished its
clearance report late. It indicates that WKY cleared for the
Huntley-Brinkley Report, Today, The Frank McGee Sunday Report (but not his
Saturday Report), two of the three 5-minute daytime newscasts, Meet the Press,
all but four of 31 news and cultural specials, and 26 of 36 programs covering
special events. KVOO cleared the same news programs, Today, Meet the
Press, 30 of the 31 news and cultural specials, and 30 of 36 special
events. KXII cleared all the news programs, Today, Meet the Press, and 26
of the 36 special events, but carried only 17 of the 31 news and cultural
specials.
We wish to make clear our position on clearances. We would be the
last to urge that affiliates must carry network programs of any kind, even news
and public affairs. We would be among the first to defend the rights of
local autonomy in programming, and to point up the competitive and ideological
dangers in network power. Local programming is, of course, to be
encouraged. And syndicated programming is available from other than
network sources (such as Group W and Metromedia). But the fact remains
the networks are producing some of the finest news and public affairs
television available anywhere in the world today. It is a serious
decision for a station to choose the option of depriving its viewers of such
programming. And the local station does have an obligation to provide for
its viewers information and analysis about the events and issues of our Nation
and our world. How it does this is its own business. But we believe
it cannot refuse to carry network news and public affairs in the name of
"local autonomy" and then refuse to provide this programming from any
source whatsoever. All too often, we believe, this is not a philosophical
or programming judgment at all -- simply a refusal to run any program that will
not earn the maximum possible profit. We believe the Commission should be
willing to accept many explanations for stations' failure to carry network news
and public affairs, but we would not accept the explanation that old series
reruns and movies make more money.
The same kind of analysis could also be made with respect to public
affairs and other programming. It should be noted that KWTV, KXII, and
KTEN propose less than 1 percent public affairs and that KXII, KTEN, and KSWO
propose less than 5 percent public affairs and other combined. KSWO
proposes no agricultural, instructional, or religious programming, though it
carried some religious programs during the composite week.
Amount of Local Programming
Another approach to evaluating a station's performance is to consider
what it does in the way of local programming. In doing this, the attached
forms do not consider local news. Although there is significant variation
in the news programming furnished by different stations, [*19] some
local news is expected of a TV station and such programs are often an important
source of revenue. Other local programming may be commercially salable
(e.g., entertainment, sports, agricultural), but some of it (e.g., religious,
public affairs) often is not. This local programming other than news,
weather, and sports is more difficult to do well, yet represents the
broadcaster's principal opportunity to develop and present programming of his
own devising and, in so doing, to provide the community with a mass
communications service especially tailored to its own needs.
While the stations' proposed local programming including news ranged
from 11 hours and 30 minutes for KSWO and 13 hours and 28 minutes for KVOO to
17 hours and 15 minutes for KTUL and 24 hours and 25 minutes for WKY, the
levels for local programming other than news are, of course, much lower.
They vary from 1 hour and 8 minutes for KSWO, and 3 hours and 41 minutes for
KOTV to 13 hours and 35 minutes for KTUL (thus making up, in some degree, for
its deficiencies in news) and 13 hours and 45 minutes for WKY. KTEN, KWTV, and
KVOO all had less than 5 hours, while only KTUL and WKY carried more than 9
hours and 15 minutes.
The Local Programs
When one considers the actual programs making up these generally meager
totals, the picture is pretty spotty. Thus Lawton, Oklahoma's third
largest city with a population of 61,697, is served only by KSWO-TV, which has
a net weekly circulation of 134,600 television homes in southern Oklahoma and
northern Texas. The only local programming other than news received in
these homes during the composite week consisted of two programs logged as
Instructional (Internal Revenue Service, 15 minutes on Sunday morning; Live in
Safety, 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon) and 23 minutes of religious programming
(a 5-minute Morning Devotions program broadcast on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Friday, and a 1-minute Thought for Today presented late at night on
Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday). It appears unlikely that any of this
was actually prepared by station personnel. Nothing at all was provided
by the station in the way of local public affairs programming, which includes
"talks, commentaries, discussions, speeches, editorials, political
programs, documentaries, forums, panels, round tables, and similar programs
primarily concerning local * * * public affairs." As noted above, KSWO
clears for most of ABC's public affairs programs, thus informing its audience
about national and international affairs, but it apparently does little or
nothing to perform this important function with respect to State and local
affairs. While such matters were no doubt touched on at times in the
station's 7 hours and 15 minutes of local news, weather, and sports programs
(this includes time for commercials), we think it is clear that all communities
face problems requiring consideration and explication in ways which cannot be
accommodated in newscasts. The station did not indicate that the composite
week did not adequately represent its past programming.
It appears to us that KSWO has failed utterly to discharge its
[*20] obligation to serve as an outlet for local self expression during
its last license period, and that it should be queried with respect to this
aspect of its service. It should be noted that the station, in its
survey, did find a need for public affairs programs, and proposes a local
interview program, Monday through Friday, 12 noon to 12:30 p.m., together with
two to five "News/Feature Specials" a year. We do not think,
however, that this eliminates the need to inquire further.
Each of the other stations should be analyzed in this same way;
however, we will discuss only one more. Let us consider WKY, which
reports the highest level of local nonnews programming in the State, a total of
13 hours and 45 minutes. This consists of 1 hour and 25 minutes of
religious programming (1 hour on Sunday morning and 5 minutes early each
weekday morning); 1 hour and 55 minutes of farm news, weather, markets, and
bulletins; 30 minutes of instructional programming on the creative arts; 1 hour
of wrestling; 7 hours and 55 minutes of entertainment; and 1 hour of public
affairs (consisting of two 30-minute programs, "Medicine and You," Sunday,
1 p.m., and "Point of View," Saturday, 12 noon).
We think the station is to be commended for generating this much local
programming. However, we would point out that only "Point of
View" can be regarded as providing even a potential vehicle for local self
expression and contributing to the solution of community problems. While
this is no doubt a worthwhile contribution, it does not seem to us that a
half-hour weekly program broadcast at noon on Saturday is an adequate
contribution to the community's discussion and resolution of its problems,
especially in view of the fact that the station is immensely profitable.
We have not, and we do not urge the Commission, to evaluate the content
and quality of television programs. We do believe, however, that the
Commission can and should consider the character and quantity of a station's
local efforts as they relate to the needs and interests of its community.
In WKY's statement of the significant needs and interests of the public
which it believes it will serve during the coming license period, it lists the
primary need of its community as the need to be informed. Certainly its
news programming contributes to the information process, but more than that is
required if a broadcast station is to contribute adequately to the solution of
the local problems which face cities like Oklahoma City in these times.
Preemption: The Theory
Another aspect of the performance of stations affiliated with a network
which we should examine is their practice with respect to preemption of network
programming. If stations are to do an adequate job of helping their
communities understand and resolve their problems, they must not only develop
local public affairs programs but must present some of them during hours when
the maximum audience is available, which is usually between 6 and 11 p.m.
On June 28, 1961, the Commission adopted revised delegations of
authority to the Chief of the Broadcast Bureau. Attached to the
[*21] agenda item were the "Notations" which stated that
notwithstanding the delegations to the Bureau Chief, all applications in the
indicated categories would be acted upon by the Commission. Among the
matters considered to be of such importance as to require Commission action was
that of local programming in the nighttime hours. The notations required
all applications proposing less than 5 percent local live and more than 90
percent network between 6 and 11 p.m. to be brought to the Commission.
In late 1962, or early 1963, the Commission considered this issue in
connection with the then pending Oklahoma and Texas renewals, and with
particular reference to WKY and WFAA. Those stations were contending that
it was neither practical nor necessary to have regularly scheduled local
programs in the 6 to 11 p.m. period, but that they discharged their public
affairs responsibilities by following a policy of preempting regularly
scheduled network programs for local programs when the public interest
required. The Commission finally accepted showings that WKY had preempted
time for 21 local live programs during prime time and that WFAA had preempted
for 12 or 13 local live programs and had instituted a regular 30-minute program
at 10:30 p.m. on Sundays. Commissioner Cox, who was then chief of the
Broadcast Bureau, felt that this action approved pretty minimal levels of local
programming and that not enough attention was given to the question of whether
the programs were of a type to contribute to the resolution of local
issues. However, that action more or less fixed the pattern for the
ensuing period. See Local Live Programming of Television Stations, 25
R.R. 482, at 486.
Later on the matters of local programming and network preemption were
discussed on a number of occasions and, in effect, the relevant notations have
been suspended on oral instruction of the Commission. The whole matter of
revised delegations has been pending for some time. However, the
Commission has never formally revised its policies in this area in writing.
We would urge that final action on this matter should retain some
standards for local programming -- and particularly local public affairs
programming -- in the 6 to 11 p.m. period, whether done on a regularly
scheduled or preemptive basis. The new program form still calls for the
time devoted to local programs between 6 and 11 p.m. in the composite week and
asks about preemption of time for special programs.
Preemptions: The Practice
What have the Oklahoma television stations done in fact regarding
preemptions?
KSWO in Lawton reported no preemptions, saying "need has not
arisen in past 12 months," though it listed seven preemptions from
previous years. Taken with the data as to its regularly scheduled local
programming, this means that the station, during its last license period, has
apparently presented no programs, other than newscasts, which were designed to
inform the people of its area with respect to State and local problems.
We feel that further inquiry should be made before [*22] this
station's renewal is granted. KFDO in Sayre is a satellite, so that its
local programs are really designed for Amarillo.
The other stations show the following preemptions for local programs:
By Program Category
Station Total
Localn(1)Preemptions Agricultural Entertainment Sports
KWTV 3
WKY 18
3
KOCO 22
3
6
KVOO n(2) 8 n(2) 3
KOTV 11
6
KTUL 25
1
KXII 22
2
3
KTEN n(3) n(3) n(3) n(3)
Station Religious Instructional
Public
affairs Other
KWTV 3
WKY 7
8
KOCO 7
2
4
KVOO 5
KOTV 2
3
KTUL 3
15
6
KXII 1
3
12
1
KTEN n(3) n(3) n(3) n(3)
n(1) Some of these programs are recorded, rather than locally produced.
n(2) KVOO also presented a local sports program for an unspecified
number of times, often in place of an AFL football game.
n(3) (See discussion below.)
NOTE: The classifications used may not be entirely consistent among
stations.
KTEN's response is a bit confusing. It lists three public affairs
programs in prime time as preemptions, and then tabulates 108 "special
programs," indicating that some may have preempted regularly scheduled
programs. These included 48 public affairs programs ("This Week in
Washington" 20, "Fred Harris Reports" 8, and "Legislative
Reports" 20), 12 local football games, a 30-program series classed as
information-entertainment, a 13-week series for which no category is given, a
17-hour Cerebral Palsy Talent Telethon and two other entertainment programs,
and two religious programs. Most of these seem to have been locally
produced, which seems commendable for a station having only 18 full-time and
eight part-time employees. Some were broadcast between 6 and 6:30 p.m.,
and the football games ran from 10:30 to 12 p.m. A significant number would
seem to have dealt, in some way, with local or State problems.
Preemptions. An Evaluation
The three public affairs preemptions by KWTV hardly seem an adequate
supplement to its only regularly scheduled effort to deal with local issues
which is presented at 10 a.m. on Sundays. This station should be asked
for a further showing under the WKY-WFAA standards.
WKY does better, though it has fallen far below the standard of 21
preemptions in prime time which the Commission accepted in 1963, since only 12
of its 18 programs were broadcast between 6 and 11 p.m. It seems to have
offered two programs dealing with school problems and one on open housing, as
well as four others on unspecified subjects and one on "The Garrison
Investigation" which was clearly not local in character.
KOCO shows more preemptions, but only six were between 6 and 11 p.m.
and only two were logged as public affairs -- one of which dealt
[*23] with the assassination of President Kennedy. Since its only
public affairs programming in the composite week consisted of 14 minutes at 9
a.m. on Sunday and 30 minutes at 7 a.m. on Thursday, it does not appear that
the station is contributing significantly to the understanding of local
problems, except through its newscasts, which are not as extensive as those of
other stations in the State.
KVOO's preemptions were largely for sports, but it did present five
public affairs programs dealing with State and local matters, two of which were
broadcast between 6 and 11 p.m. Its composite week logs show a 15-minute
program titled "Two About Town" which is presented Wednesdays at
12:15 p.m. and is logged as "Public Affairs- Education."
KOTV preempted for 11 local programs, all but one in the evening
hours. However, only three were logged as public affairs, of which one
dealt with the dedication of Oral Roberts University. The only local
public affairs logged in the composite week consisted of three 2-minute editorials.
This is certainly a minimal contribution to the community dialog.
KTUL listed 25 preemptions, only seven of which were presented in the
evening hours. Only six were classified as public affairs, of which two
apparently dealt with the drives of the March of Dimes and the American Cancer
Society. At least three of the remaining four seem to have involved local
issues, but this, again, is a drop in the bucket. The only local public
affairs programming carried during the composite week consisted of the
"Betty Boyd Show" broadcast for 30 minutes each weekday, either at 9
a.m. or 12 noon.
KXII, serving Ardmore, Okla., Sherman and Denison, Tex., with a net
weekly circulation of 57,950 homes, listed 22 preemptions, seven of them
between 6 and 11 p.m. Of these 12 were logged as public affairs, including
eight reports by Senator Harris. The other four involved the Ardmore
water and sewage program, a proposed charter change for Denison, a road-bond
issue in the county where Denison is located, and a "Know Your Candidates"
program. This is not much, especially since the station carried no
regularly scheduled local public affairs programming during the composite week,
but it compares favorably with the efforts of the big city stations with much
larger staffs and incomes.
Local Programming Other Than News
It is interesting to note that the only local programming other than
news-weather-sports casts carried by the television stations throughout the
entire State of Oklahoma between 6 and 11 p.m. during the composite week
consisted of a 30-minute entertainment program on WKY, a 30-minute
entertainment program on KXII, a 15-minute legislative report on KTEN, and
three 2-minute editorials on KOTV. This means that the nine stations in
the State -- excluding KFDO because of its satellite status -- broadcast only
81 minutes of local nonnews programming out of a total of 315 hours on the air,
or less than 43/100 of 1 percent.
We do not downgrade local news, and its presentation within, or
immediately [*24] following, the 6 to 11 p.m. period, as most of
the Oklahoma stations do. However, if our television licensees are to
continue to deserve protection against importation of distant signals by CATV
systems, or the possible development of direct satellite-to-home broadcasting,
they must provide a range of local program services, a significant part of
which should be presented in the evening hours when it is most convenient for
most of their audiences to watch television. We think our renewal process
should emphasize this responsibility.
Radio
Because of time limitations, we have had to concentrate on
television. We believe the same general kind of check should be made with
respect to radio, except that preemption for local programming and local
programming between 6 and 11 p.m. are of a different importance. However,
a check should be made to see that radio stations are presenting significant
local programming in the categories other than entertainment and sports, and
that some of this is broadcast in the periods of maximum audience.
However, radio stations can perform a valuable service by providing more
extended local programming, especially public affairs, in the evening
hours. This is not premium time in radio because so many people watch
television then, but radio programming can provide an alternative service for
those who frequently find nothing on television which interests them.
We are attaching a completed sample form prepared by the staff with
respect to KTOK in Oklahoma City. This gives a pretty good picture of the
station's performance, and we would suggest that it be made the basis for a
checklist to be used by the staff in processing radio renewals. We think
that the following additional items should be included:
1. Total times, as well as percentages, for news, public affairs,
and other;
2. News staff and facilities;
3. Special formats, if any;
4. Number of PSA's;
5. Degree of duplication by jointly owned FM stations;
6. Percentage of time for commercials, all hours and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
together with number of hours in composite week containing over 18 minutes of
commercial time.
We think this material would encompass the most important information
elicited by the renewal application form and would permit the staff to identify
the stations which should be brought to the Commission's attention.
Renewal Procedures
We believe it is time to resume more thorough examination of renewal
applications. The new forms have been in use for some time -- the radio
form was put into partial use for filings on and after January 1, 1966, and
completion of the whole form was required on and after November 1, 1966, while
the corresponding dates for the television form were January 1 and November 1,
1967. Having asked for this information, we are obligated to make some
reasonable use of it.
Under most recent procedures the staff have no direction from the
[*25] Commission except in the areas of community surveys and commercial
policy. As to these matters, they write letters to stations whose applications
reflect deficiencies in the ascertainment of community needs or possible excess
commercialism. They report to the Commission, for each renewal group, the
call letters of those stations proposing minimal programming in the categories
other than entertainment and sports, but this has served only to trigger our
bimonthly dissents.
Section 307(b) of the Communications Act provides that we are not to
require applicants to file any information "which is not directly material
to the considerations that affect the granting or denial of such
application." We think the information requested in part IV of form 301 is
material and should be used. However, we believe that continued failure
to make reasonable use of the data in connection with the renewal process could
raise questions as to the propriety of the form.
We think more work needs to be done in
developing reasonable processing guidelines for radio, since the picture there
is more confused than in television. For one thing, in larger markets -- like
Oklahoma City and Tulsa -- some effort should be made to look at the overall
service provided by the multiple stations licensed to these communities.
However, we do not think that this should permit any station to avoid all
responsibility for programming other than entertainment, news, and
sports. We should also develop better standards as to community surveys
to try to insure that they are not simply used to rubber-stamp formats arrived
at by other means. In fact, we need to know more about what radio is
doing and can do, and much of this information is set forth in the renewal
applications if we will only use it.
We recognize that the FCC has budgeting and staffing problems at the
present time. While we believe that all applications should be given
sufficient checking to catch obvious problems, it may be that we should devise
some sampling technique to select applications for detailed analysis.
CONCLUSION
In any event, unless the Commission is to take the position either that
a license, once obtained initially, permits the owner of the station to program
as he pleases, or that broadcasting can successfully provide only a service
limited to entertainment, sports, and a modicum of straight news, we should be
examining renewal applications more carefully. The first of these
positions would be inconsistent with our posture on the Fairness Doctrine and
with the whole statutory renewal process. The second would downgrade the
possibilities of radio and television enormously and would deprive the public
of greatly needed service in the area of discussion and resolution of public
issues -- again, in sharp contrast to the requirement of the Fairness Doctrine
that licensees "devote a reasonable percentage of their broadcast time to
the presentation of news and programs devoted to the consideration and
discussion of public issues of interest in the community served by the
particular station." We do not think the Commission can abandon the
concept of review of program performance at renewal time and should therefore
make that review a meaningful one.
[*26] KTEN, Channel 10, ADA
ABC (NBC-CBS) Hours 105:15
News Public
affairs Other
Composite week 10.2%
0.7%
2.9%
Proposed 10.2%
.7%
2.9%
Local programming (hours)
8
a.m.- 6 p.m. 6
p.m.- 11 p.m. Other
times
Composite week 8:00
5:50
0:15
Proposed 8:00 5:50 0:15
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite Week
Religious:
Church Sun.
a.m. 1:00
Instruction:
Internal Revenue Service Sun.
p.m. :10
Public affairs:
Legislative Report Sat.
p.m. :15
Entertainment:
Hudson Brothers Show Sun.
p.m. :30
Hudson Brothers Show Sat.
p.m. :30
Country Spotlight Sun.
p.m. :30
Country Spotlight Wed.
p.m. :30
2:00
Agriculture;
Farm Show M-F
Noon 6-10/35
Total 4:00
News, weather, sports 9:47
KXII, Channel 12, ARDMORE
NBC-CBS Hours 116:30
News Public
affairs Other
Composite week 8.7%
3.6% 6.3%
Proposed 7.9%
.84% 3.4%
Local programming (hours)
8
a.m.- 6 p.m. 6
p.m. 11 p.m. Other
times
Composite week 9:55
6:30
0:25
Proposed 8:55
6:00
0:30
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite Week
Religious:
Herald of Truth Sun.
a.m. :30
Baptist Church Sun.
a.m. 1:00
1:30
Entertainment:
Carol's Western M-F
p.m. :30/2:30
Clubhouse:
Meet Your Neighbor M
& Th. p.m. :30/1:00
Pickin Time Tues.
7:30 :30
p.m.
4:00
Agriculture:
Twelve Acres M-F
Noon 30/2:30
2:30
Instructional:
Women's World M-F
p.m. 30/2:30
2:30
Total 10:30
News, weather, sports 7:20
[*27] KSWO, Channel 7, LAWTON
ABC Hours 106:49
News Public
affairs Other
Composite week 6.7%
3.3%
0%
Proposed 7.0%
2.3%
0%
Local programming (hours)
8
a.m.- 6 p.m. 6
p.m. 11 p.m. Other times
Composite week 3:00 6:00 0:0
Proposed 5:30
6:00 0:0
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite Week
Religious:
Morning Devotions M,
Tu, W, F 5/:20
p.m.
Thought for Today W,
Th, Sat 1/:03
:23
Instructional:
Internal Revenue Service Sun.
a.m. :15
Live in Safety Sun.
p.m. :30
:45
Total 1:08
News, Weather, Sports 7:15
KOCO, Channel 5, OKLAHOMA CITY
ABC Hours 134
News Public
affairs Other
times
Composite week 5.6% 1.8% 6.9%
Proposed 5.6%
1.8% 6.9%
Local programming (hours)
8 a.m.- 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 11
p.m. Other times
Composite week 11:15
3:25
2:10
Proposed 11:15
3:25
2:10
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite Week
Religious:
Sunday, 5 programs :10,:
14,
:28,:15
:10/1:17
Reflections M-F
5/:25
Reflections M-F
5/:25
Reflections Sat
:05
2:12
Public affairs:
Open Mind Sun.
a.m. :14
Public Affairs/Education Expedition Th.
a.m. :30
Oklahoma.
Instructional/Education Enid Book Sat.
a.m. :30
Bowl. 1:14
Entertainment:
Lunch with Ho Ho M-F
Noon 35/2:55
Ida B. Show M-F
a.m. 30/2:30
5:25
Instructional:
Crown Chinchilla Sun.
p.m. :13
Total 9:04
News, weather, sports 7:45
[*28] KWTV, Channel 9, OKLAHOMA CITY
CBS Hours 125:39
News Public
affairs Other
Composite week 8.5%
0.8%
11.4%
Proposed 8.5%
0.8%
11.4%
Local programming (hours)
8
a.m.- 6 p.m. 6
p.m. -11 p.m. Other
times
Composite week 5:30
6:30
4:01
Proposed 5:30
6:30
4:01
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite Week
Religious:
Sunday Sun.
a.m. :30
Devotions M-F
a.m. 10/:50
1:20
Agriculture:
Farm Report M,
Tu, W, F a.m. 10/:40
This Morning Th.
am*h:09
Farm Show Sat.
a.m. :30
Plus Market Reports in News
:02
Entertainment: :121
Gaylon Stacy Show M,
Tu, F p.m. 30/1:30
Public affairs:
Dr. Stephens Sun.
a.m. :30
Total 4:41
News, weather, sports 1:20
WKY, Channel 4, OKLAHOMA CITY
NBC Hours 123:08
News Public
affairs Other
Composite week 12.2%
3.5%
7.2%
Proposed 11.2%
2.2%
6.3%
Local programming (hours)
8
a.m.- 6 p.m. 6
p.m. - 11 p.m. Other Times
Composite week 11:12
6:11
5:18
Proposed 12:05
7:30
4:50
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite Week
Religious:
Sunday School Sun.
a.m. :30
Church Sun.
a.m. :30
Morning Devotionals M-F
a.m. 5/25
1:25
Agriculture:
Markets & Bulletins M-F
a.m. 8/40
Farm news and weather M-F
a.m. 15/1:15
1:55
Instructional:
Creative Arts Sat.
p.m. :30
Sports:
Wrestling Sat.
p.m. 1:00
Public affairs:
Medicine and You Sun.
p.m. :30
Point of View Sat.
noon :30
1:00
Entertainment:
Foreman Scotty M-F
p.m. 30/2:30
Dennys Day M,
W, Th p.m. 35/1:45
T. P. Show Tu
p.m. :35
This Afternoon F
p.m. :35
Country Social F
p.m. :30
Foreman Scotty Roundup Sat.
a.m. 1:00
The Scene Sat.
p.m. :30
Judy & Jody Sat.
p.m. :30
7:55
Total 13:45
News, weather, sports 10:40
[*29] KFDO, Channel 8, SAYRE
CBS Hours 128:18
News Public
affairs Other
Composite week 8.0%
1.25%
11.98%
Proposed 9.4%
2.23%
11.9%
3*3Local programming (hours)
8
a.m.- 6 p.m. 6
p.m. - 11 p.m. Other times
Composite week 7:30
6:30
5:10
Proposed 10:00
6:30
5:30
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite Week
Religious:
Pattern for Living Sun.
a.m. :30
Church Service Sun.
a.m. 1:00
Religious Questions Sun.
a.m. :30
Meditations M-F
a.m. 5/:25
2:25
Educational, instructional, and other:
Stop Look & Listen M-F
a.m. 40/3:20
Romper Room M-F
a.m. 30/2:30
Amarillo College M&T
a.m. Ed
30/1:00
6:50
Total 9:15
News, weather, sports 10:40
KOTV, Channel 6, TULSA
CBS Hours 123:20
News Public
affairs Other
times
Composite week 8.3%
2.1%
7.5%
Proposed 8.3%
2.0%
7.3%
Local Programming (hours)
8
a.m.- 6 p.m. 6
p.m. - 11 p.m. Other
Composite week 4:38
5:59
1:03
Proposed 7:30
6:00
1:00
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite Week
Religious:
Church Sun.
a.m. 1:00
Light M
& W a.m. 5/:10
1:10
Entertainment:
Colorful World Tu.
a.m. :30
Dance Party Sat.
Noon :30
1:00
Other:
Bookshelf Sun.
a.m. :30
Project M-F
a.m. 5/:25
Coffee Break M-F
a.m. 6/:30
1:25
Public affairs:
Editorial M,
W, F :02/:06
:06
Total 3:41
News, weather, sports 8:57
[*30] KTUL, Channel 8, TULSA
ABC Hours 117:45
News Public
affairs Other
Composite week 4.7%
2.7%
7.3%
Proposed 4.7%
2.7%
7.3%
Local programming (hours)
8
a.m.- 6 p.m. 6
p.m. - 11 p.m. Other
Composite week 9:53
5:02
2:20
Proposed 9:53
5:02
2:20
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite
Week
Religious:
The Vanguards Sun.
a.m. :15
Pastors Study Sun.
a.m. :15
Revival Fires Sun.
a.m. :30
Galaxy 67 Sun.
a.m. :30
Meditation, sign on & off Sun.-Sat.
a.m. 1:00
Lords Prayer :15
2:45
Educational/instructional:
Let's Explore Sat.
& Sun. a.m. 30/1:00
Romper Room M,
Tu, W a.m. 1:20
2:20
Other:
High Flight M,
Th. Mid :02
or :03/:05
Entertainment:
Mr. Zing & Tuffy M-F
p.m. 3:30
Rub A Dub Tu,
F p.m. 30/1:00
Big 8 Jamboree F
p.m. :30
5:00
Public affairs/instructional:
Betty Boyd Show M-F
a.m. 2/30
Agriculture:
Farm Reports M,
Tu, W, Th, :08-:10/
Sat.
a.m. :40
Market Basket Sat
a.m. :15
:55
Total 13:35
News, weather, sports 6:26
KVOO, Channel 2, TULSA
NBC Hours 119:25
News Public
affairs Other
Composite week 12%
5.0%
6%
Proposed 12%
3.5%
6%
Local programming (hours)
8 a.m.- 6 p.m. 6 p.m. -11 p.m. Other times
Composite week 4:55
6:18
2:15
Proposed 4:55
6:18
2:15
Local Programs Other Than News During Composite
Week
Agriculture:
County Fare S
a.m. :30
Almanac M-F
a.m. 5/:25
:55
Education:
Tulsa School Report S
a.m. :30
:30
Religious:
Church S
a.m. 1:00
Sing S
a.m. :15
Meditation M-F
a.m. 5/:25
1:40
Public affairs/education:
Two about Town M-F
p.m. 15/1:15
1:15
Total 4:20
News, weather, sports 8:38
[*31] Example of Radio Renewal Checklist (KTOK)
Population: 448,300.
Stations in city: 7 AM, 7 FM, 1 FM-ED., 3 TV and 2 TV-ED.
Station: KTOK-AM, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Operating facilities: 1000 KC, 5 KW U.
Hours of operation: 168.
Network affiliation: ABC.
Metro rating: 2.2.
Commercial policy
Number of employees Normal
Special
Special
Circumstances
39 18
20
Christmas,
political, Oklahoma
State Fair,
and other special
promotions.
Types of programs (percent)
Composite week 3*Now
proposed
News Public
affairs Other
News
Public
affairs Other
2.7 0.6
4.3
12.7
0.6
4.3
Survey: 324 Report -- 1966: Dollar
Satisfactory B/C
Rev
Weak B/C
Exp
B/C
Income
Salaries
Pay.
to Princ
Deprec
Forfeitures:
10/65 Broadcast of lottery information $500
paid 5/27/66
KTOK, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Complaint details Disposition
10/13/65 Individual objects to broadcast interview with prostitute. Station
answer satisfactory.
10/65 Individual claims obscene descriptive words used. Station
answer satisfactory.
10/65 Broadcast of lottery information in giveaway ad. $500
forfeiture paid 5/27/66.
1/11/66 2 individuals objected to interview of Nazi Party leader. Not
specific -- no further action.
3/28/67 Individual claims station unfairly withheld contest prize from
her. Station answer satisfactory.
6 letters of commendation
[*32] Typical Programs or Program Series Broadcast During
the Preceding year: KTOK, Oklahoma City
KTOK, Oklahoma City
Exhibit No. 8
Date: 2-5-68
Section IV-A, Part II
PAST PROGRAMMING
Title Source
Type
Brief
description
Headliners Local
PA
Interviews
with civic and political
leaders.
Mayor's Call Local
PA
Telephone
interviews with
mayor of Oklahoma City.
Blind Spot Local
PA
Information
for and about the blind.
White Kid Glove Award Local
PA
Areawide
beautification program.
Capt. Perdue's Traffic Reports Local
Other
Traffic
reports and advisories.
Swap Shop Local
Other
Listeners
call in to buy, sell,
or trade.
Play by Play Blazers Local
S
Professional
ice hockey games.
Play by Play Plainsman Local
S
Professional
football games.
Sports News Local
S
Local
sports news
Pin Up Board Local
PA
Public
Service program for
local clubs.
Hymn of the Day Record
R
Devotional
music
Farm News Local
A
Market
prices and farm news.
Religious programs:
Capitol Hill Church of Christ. Local
R
Sermon
Old Fashioned Revival.
Rec R
Sermon
Voice of Prophecy Rec
R
Sermon
10th Street Church of Christ. Local
R
Sermon
Christian Science Rec
R
Sermon
St Luke's Methodist.
Local
R
Sunday
Church service
"Meet the Candidates
1st Edition." Local PA
Pol Candidates
for mayor questioned
by KTOK newsman,
and by listeners
by phone.
"Meet the Candidates
2d Edition." Local PA
Pol Two
runoff candidates for mayor
spoke and answered
questions from listening
audience.
"Judicial Reform Debate." Local
PA
Pol Debate
between Oklahoma Senate Minority Leader and a Justice of the Peace over proposed court reforms.
"The Miracle Workers" Local
PA
Ed. Review
of State legislature's work on educational bills. (This program won Oklahoma Education
Association Award
for "Best Single Radio
Program" in State
of Oklahoma concerning
education.)
"Flashback --1967" Local
PA
Review
of major local news
stories of 1967.
Title Time
and duration How
often broadcast
Headliners Sunday,
12:05 p.m. 1
weekly.
25
Minutes
Mayor's Call Approx.
7:25 a.m. 3
weekly.
3
minutes
Blind Spot 9:15
p.m. 1
weekly.
5
minutes
White Kid Glove Award Rotate
6
daily.
1
minute
Capt. Perdue's Traffic
Reports Between
7 a.m.- 8:30 a.m.; 4:30 p.m.-6
p.m. As needed.
30
to 60 seconds.
Swap Shop 7:05
p.m. 6
weekly.
50
minutes
Play by Play Blazers 8
p.m. 3
Weekly
Approximately
2 1/2 hours.
Play by Play Plainsmen 8
p.m. 1
weekly.
Approximately 2 hours
Sports News 6:05
p.m. -- k
weekly.
5
minutes.
Pin Up Board 9:45
a.m. --
2
minutes.
2:45
p.m. -- 12-18 weekly
2
minutes.
8:45
p.m. --
2
minutes.
(when
necessary)
Hymn of the Day 6:25
a.m. --
3
minutes.
9:50
p.m. -- 12
weekly.
3
minutes.
(approximately)
Farm News 4:30
a.m. --
3
minutes.
5:27
a.m.- 10
weekly.
3
minutes.
Religious programs:
Capitol Hill Church of Christ 7:30
a.m. -- 1
weekly.
30
minutes.
Old Fashioned Revival. 8
a.m. -- 1
weekly.
30
minutes.
Voice of Prophecy 8:30
a.m. -- 1
weekly.
30
minutes.
10th Street Church of Christ 9
a.m. -- 1
weekly.
15
minutes.
Christian Science 9:15
a.m.- 1
weekly,
15
minutes.
St. Luke's Methodist 60 minutes. 9:30
a.m. -- 1
weekly.
"Meet the Candidates 1st Edition." 8 p.m. 1
time.
2
hours
"Meet the Candidates 2d Edition." 8
p.m. 1
time.
1
hour
"Judicial Reform
debate." 8
p.m. 1
time.
1
hour
"The Miracle Workers” 6:30
p.m. 1
time.
25
minutes
"Flashback -- 1967" 7:30
p.m. 1
time.
29
minutes, 52 seconds
[*33] Media Ownership in Oklahoma
We have chosen to examine a sample of broadcasting stations in the
State of Oklahoma. In doing so we hope be able to say something generally
about the service that Oklahoma receives from the Commission's broadcast
licensees. One facet of that examination is a description of the patterns
of media ownership. Our Nation has affirmed the necessity for dispersion
of private power -- and this Commission has pledged to guarantee that
dispersion in the ownership of broadcast properties. n1 But how well is that pledge carried out? The following analysis
offers some guide.
n1 In one of its most recent statements,
declining to adopt more restrictive rules for ownership of TV stations in the
50 markets, the Commission said: "The twofold purpose of the Commission's
multiple ownership rules is to promote maximum competition among broadcasters
and the greatest possible diversity of programming sources and
viewpoints." (FCC 68-135.)
There are roughly 83 commercial radio and 10 commercial TV stations in
Oklahoma. n2 There are also five
educational radio and three educational TV stations. Because of multiple
station ownership, however, there are fewer than 93 separate owners of
commercial broadcast stations. In fact, there are 73. At first
glance one might feel reassured that there are 73 separate broadcast owners in
Oklahoma. But the following statistics are less comforting. Of the
73 broadcast firms reporting 1966 revenue and income, the top four firms earned
56 percent of the revenue and 88 percent of the income. n3 The top eight firms earned 73 percent of the revenue and 98 percent of
the income before taxes. The figures for television and radio firms show
a similar pattern. Of the nine TV firms reporting, the top four earn 78
percent of the TV revenue and 97 percent of the TV income, and have 75 percent
of the total net weekly circulation. n4 Of
the 68 radio firms the top four earn 29 percent of the radio revenue and 67
percent of the radio income; the top eight earn 50 percent of the radio revenue
and 93 percent of the radio income.
n2 As measured by stations reporting 1966
revenue.
n3 All income is income before
taxes. Percent figures for income before taxes are based on percent of
net income for the State after losses are subtracted.
n4 In this analysis the overlapping
ownership interests in KOCO-TV, Oklahoma City and KVOO-AM-TV, Tulsa
(individuals with 27 percent interests in KOCO-TV own 8.82 percent of KVOO-TV)
have been ignored.
These figures suggest certain conclusions. Most of these stations
do not compete against each other for advertising revenues, except at the local
community level. However, in describing the state of the broadcast media
in Oklahoma, it is obvious that a few firms and a few stations enjoy a dominant
position in the State. Political candidates for statewide office will
have to be cognizant of the influence of these few firms and stations.
These stations will also have a substantial impact on statewide issues.
In sum, a few large firms dominate broadcasting in the State of Oklahoma.
The information for State daily newspapers shows a similar
pattern. There are 50 daily newspapers in Oklahoma with a total daily
circulation of about 863,000. One firm, the Oklahoma Publishing Co.,
publishes two newspapers in Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma and the Times, which
account for roughly 35 percent of the total statewide daily circulation of
State newspapers. The four largest newspaper firms account for 69 percent
of the daily circulation; the eight largest [*34] 77 percent. And this concentration problem is
exacerbated by the fact that the largest newspaper owner also owns a very large
AM-TV (WKY-AM-TV) complex in Oklahoma City. Another aspect of media
concentration is the overlapping ownership of media. Of the approximately
50 communities in Oklahoma that have broadcasting stations licensed to them, 12
have local media monopolies -- all broadcast stations and daily newspapers (if
any) are jointly owned. (In three communities the newspaper and only
radio station are jointly owned; in one the newspaper owns two stations; in
seven there is only one radio station; and in one there are two stations
jointly owned.)
Here is a list of the multiple ownership of broadcast stations and
newspapers in Oklahoma by cities. Additional detail is found in the
cities sections which follow:
Ada. -- The owner of TV station KTEN also owns AM station KEOR in
Atoka.
Altus. -- The owner of AM station KWHW has an interest in the Altus
daily newspaper, the Times-Democrat.
Ardmore. -- The owner of AM station KVSO also owns the Ardmore daily
newspaper (Ardmore Ardmoreite).
Atoka. -- See Ada above.
Duncan. -- The owner of AM station KRHD also owns AM station KGWA,
Enid, and KSWO-AM-TV, Lawton.
Durant. -- The owner of KSEO-AM-FM also owns the Durant daily newspaper,
the Democrat.
Enid. -- The owner of KCRC-AM-FM also owns the two Enid daily
newspapers, the Enid News and Enid Eagle. Also see Duncan above.
Henryetta. -- The owner of KHEN-AM-FM also has controlling interest in
the Henryetta daily newspaper, the Free Lance, and has an interest in
KJEM-AM-FM, Oklahoma City.
Lawton. -- See Duncan above.
McAlester. -- AM-FM stations KWED are jointly owned.
Muskogee. -- The owner of AM station KBIX also owns the two Muskogee daily newspapers,
the Phoenix and the Times-Democrat.
Norman. -- WNAD-AM-FM are jointly owned.
OKLAHOMA City. -- KOCY-AM-FM are jointly owned. WKY-AM-TV, two
Oklahoma City daily newspapers, the Oklahoma and the Times and a farmers'
monthly, the Farmer-Stockman, are jointly owned. The owner of TV station
KWTV also owns TV station KTUL-TV in Tulsa. The owner of KLPR-AM-TV also
has an interest in AM station KTOW, Sand Springs. The part owner of
KOCO-TV and KOFM (FM) also has an interest in KVOO-TV, Tulsa. The owner
of KBYE has a new FM in Oklahoma City. KJEM-AM-FM are jointly owned. Also
see Henryetta above.
Ponca City. -- Stations KLOR-AM-FM are jointly owned. The owner
of AM station WBBZ also owns the Ponca City daily newspaper, the News.
Sand Springs. -- See Oklahoma City above.
Shawnee. -- The owner of AM station KGFF also owns the Shawnee daily
newspaper, the News Star.
Stillwater. -- The owner of KSPI-AM-FM also owns the Stillwater daily
newspaper, the News-Press.
Tahlequah. -- KTLQ-AM-FM are jointly owned.
Tulsa. -- KAKC-AM-FM are jointly owned. KFMJ (AM) and KRAV-FM are
linked by joint interests. KRMG-AM-FM are jointly owned. Also see
Oklahoma City above.
In addition to the above incidence of joint ownership of media within
the State of Oklahoma, owners of Oklahoma media also have interests in media
outside the State. Here is a listing of that ownership:
Ardmore. -- The owners of KXII (TV) also have interests in KWTX- AM-TV, Waco, Tex.; KBTX-TV
Bryan, Tex.; KNAL, Victoria, Tex.; KLFY-TV, Lafayette, La.; and KTBC-AM-FM-TV, Austin, Tex.
[*35] Duncan. -- The owners of KRHD (AM), Duncan, R. H.
Drewry stations (who also own KGWA (AM) Enid, and KSWO-AM-TV, Lawton), own
KMID-TV Midland, Tex.
Enid. -- See Duncan above.
Lawton. -- See Duncan above.
Oklahoma City. -- The owner of WKY-AM-TV, the Oklahoma City Oklahoman and Times and the
Farmer-Stockman, also owns WTVT (TV), Tampa, Fla.; KTVT (TV), Fort Worth, Tex.;
WVTV (TV), Milwaukee, Wis.; and KHTV (TV), Houston, Tex. The owners of KWTV (TV) and KTUL-TV, Tulsa,
own KATV (TV), Little Rock, Ark.; and 80 percent of WSTE (TV), Fajardo,
P.R. The owners of KLPR-
AM-TV and KTOW, Sand Springs, also have interests in KTCS-AM-FM, Fort
Smith, Ark., and KPAY, Fayetteville, Ark. Part owners of KOCO-TV and KVOO-TV, Tulsa,
also have interests in KBMT (TV), Beaumont, Tex. The owners of KBYE also
own KXLR, North Little Rock, Ark. The owner of KOMA also owns WQAM,
Miami, Fla.; WHB, Kansas City, Mo.; KXOK, St. Louis, Mo.; WTIX, New Orleans,
La.; and WDGY, Minneapolis, St. Paul. Minn.
Sayre. -- The owners of KFDO-TV also own KFDA-TV, Amarillo, Tex.
(KFDO-TV is a satellite of KFDA-TV); KFDW-TV, Clovis, N. Mex.; and KAAR-TV, San
Diego, Calif.
Shawnee. -- The owner of KGFF and the Shawnee News Star (Stauffer
Publications) also owns KSEK, Pittsburg, Kans.; KSOK, Arkansas City, Kans.;
WIBW-AM-FM-TV, Topeka, Kans.; and KGNC-AM-FM-TV, Amarillo, Tex.; and the
following newspapers -- Topeka (Kans.) State Journal and Topeka (Kans.) State
capital; Kansas City Kansan; Arkansas City (Kans.) Traveler; Pittsburg (Kans.)
Headlight-Sun; Newton (Kans.) Kansas; Grand Island (Nebr.) Independent; York
(Nebr.) News-Time; Maryville (Mo.) Forum; Nevada (Mo.) Mail; Independence (Mo.)
Examiner; Marshall (Mo.) Democrat-News. A minority stockholder own KKAM,
Pueblo, and KKFM (FM) and KKTV, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Tulsa. -- The owners of KOTV (TV) (Corinthian Stations) also own
WISH-TV, Indianapolis, Ind.; WANE-TV, Fort Wayne, Ind.; KHOU-TV, Houston, Tex.;
and KXTV (TV), Sacramento, Calif, and interests in WGHQ-AM-FM, Kingston, N.Y.,
and WVOX-AM-FM, New Rochelle, N.Y. Corinthian stations are controlled by
Whitney Communications which also publishes Parade (newspaper supplement);
Interior Design; Harvest Years; and the New York Herald Tribune -- Paris
edition. KELI is owned by Sammons-Ruff stations which also own KTRN,
Wichita Falls, Tex.; KHOG, Fayetteville, Ark.; KIXZ, Amarillo, Tex.; and KWAT,
Watertown, S. Dak. KOME is owned by Unicom, Inc., which has an interest in KJIM,
Fort Worth. KRMG-AM-FM is owned by Swanco stations which also owns KQEO,
Albuquerque, N. Mex.; KLEO, Wichita, Kans.; and KBAT, San Antonio, Tex.
Each of the 10 TV stations in Oklahoma is associated by ownership with
other broadcast stations or newspapers; about half of the radio stations are
associated with other broadcast stations or newspapers. Concentration of
control of media in the State of Oklahoma, whether measured by incidence of
multiple ownership or the domination of statewide circulation and broadcast
revenues by a few firms, is far greater than it would be if this Commission had
followed its pledge to "promote maximum competition."
Another facet of media ownership to be explored is conglomerate
control. Media are often owned by corporations for whom the broadcast
stations or newspapers are simply a profit-making subsidiary. In addition
to being treated as a lonely branch of the corporate tree, conglomerate
ownership of media opens the possibility of program distortion from other
direct or competitive corporate interests.
Information on the extent of conglomeration is difficult to
accumulate. None of the Oklahoma stations is owned by such familiar
conglomerates as RCA, CBS, ABC, RKO General, Westinghouse, [*36] or General
Electric. But the following two case studies offer illustrations of
conglomerate broadcast owners.
The WKY-AM-TV stations are owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Co., which
also publishes the Oklahoma City Oklahoman (circulation 170,709) and the
Oklahoma City Times (circulation 116, 379). The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
also publishes three State editions of the monthly Farmer-Stockman with a
circulation of 435,000 in the States of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. The
Oklahoma Publishing Co. also owns Mistletoe Express, which provides a general
trucking service to 400 Oklahoma cities. Publishers Petroleum Division of
Oklahoma Publishing Co. is involved in oil exploration and production.
And Oklahoma Publishing Co. also owns TV stations in Dallas-Fort Worth, and
Houston, Tex.; Tampa, Fla.; and Milwaukee, Wis. Oklahoma Publishing Co. is
owned by the Gaylord family which also owns Gaylord Philanthropies, Inc.
The other business interests of the officers, directors, and stockholders
of the corporation that owns KOCO (TV) in Oklahoma City (and have interests in
KOFM (FM), Oklahoma City; KVOO-TV, Rulsa; KBMT (TV), Beaumont, Tex.)
illustrates the complicated corporate interests of this Commission licensee:
Real Estate Proprietary
Mid-Continent News Co., Oklahoma City
Oklahoma News Co., Tulsa
Publishers News Co. of Iowa, Oklahoma City
Publishers News Co. of Nebraska, Oklahoma City
Publishers News Co. of Dakotas, Oklahoma City
Publishers News Co. of Minnesota, Oklahoma City
Green Building Co. (Real Estate Development), Oklahoma City
Liberty National Bank & Trust Co., Oklahoma City
Community National Bank, Oklahoma City
Great Western Business Investment Co., Oklahoma City
Tascosa Gas Co.
Kerr-McGee Co.
McGee Properties Ltd.
Kerr Aviation Service, Inc.
Arkansas Valley Farms
Shamrock School of Aeronautics, Inc.
Black Angus Restaurant
Loyd Benfield Oil Co., Oklahoma City
OK and B Drilling Co.
Kirkpatrick Oil Co.
Kirkpatrick Oil & Gas Co.
Kirkpatrick Pipeline Co.
Kirkpatrick Drilling Co.
Jennings Engine & Supply Co.
Kirkpatrick Supply Co.
Essex Corp.
Standard Life & Accident Insurance Co.
Resources Development Corp.
The Kerr Foundation, Inc.
This analysis of broadcast and other media ownership in Oklahoma has
necessarily been incomplete. But even this survey shows that the
Commission has been less than vigilant in maintaining maximum competition and
diversity and protecting the absolute integrity of media programming.
[*37] Note on Letters to Broadcasters
This study was occasioned by our own dissatisfaction with Commissioner
participation in the process of renewing roughly 2,500 broadcast licenses a
year. Once every 2 months our staff presents a summary of what action is
proposed on the stations due to be renewal at that time. The staff calls
attention to those AM and TV stations which propose less than 5 percent news,
less than 1 percent public affairs, or less than 5 percent all other programming
except sports and entertainment. We have been dissenting to certain
license renewals on the basis of those statistics presented by our staff.
It was our hope that by undertaking a more thorough analysis of the
renewal process for a particular State we might gain a firmer understanding and
basis for our judgments. In that spirit we sent letters to a selected
group of broadcasters asking for information concerning the role of the
broadcaster in his local community. (Copies of these letters are in
appendix A.) We anticipated that these letters would provide broadcasters with
an opportunity to supplement the information in their renewal forms. Some
broadcasters responded in just that way.
But the letters occasioned a somewhat extreme response from many
broadcasters and the broadcasting trade press. Appeals were made to
members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation, intervention was sought from
the Budget Bureau to stop this harassment of businessmen, and only 25 percent
of the stations responded in any way, even after a clarifying letter (also in
the appendix) was sent. Some
stations did, however, respond, and with useful and informative material.
These stations included:
KOCO-TV, of Oklahoma City, which emphasized that American Indians, rather
than Negroes, constitute the bulk of the nonwhite population of Oklahoma City,
pointed out examples of efforts to cooperate with local Indian leaders to
promote general understanding of the positive role of the Indian in the
building of the American West, and also noted the considerable attention paid
by the station to the Kerner Commission through its regularly scheduled show,
"Fred Harris Reports," featuring the Oklahoma Senator who was a
member of the Commission.
KVOO-TV, of Tulsa, which listed rumors about racial strife as the
paramount among its selection of five important local issues, and described its
efforts to cut provocative scenes from its news programming, along with other
efforts to build amicable race relations in Tulsa.
KETA-TV and KOED-TV, ETV stations for Oklahoma and Tulsa, both licensed
to the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, which emphasized their
financial inability to compete with commercial stations as a news-gathering and
distributing medium, and emphasized further their efforts to promote the common
good through education, both instructional and cultural.
KOKH-FM-TV, ETV station for Oklahoma City, emphasized that its role is
almost exclusively limited to instructional daytime programming, but pointed to
a large number of efforts to broadcast programs dealing with problems of race
relations over its own facilities and also on the VHF channel licensed to the
Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, KETA-TV.
KOCY-AM and FM, of Oklahoma City, noted financing city government as
the most important on a list of local issues which included urban renewal,
racial relations, intercity sewers, roads and expressways, and alcoholism, as
problems to which the stations have endeavored to devote broadcast attention.
[*38] KBIX of Muskogee, emphasized its forum of the air
programs and spot-time sales to groups interested in such issues as the
Arkansas River bond proposal, right-to-work legislation, Muskogee school
annexation, urban renewal, and the increase in general hospital rates.
KTLQ of Tahlequah originally responded, and then asked that its
response be withdrawn, after the station realized that it was not obliged to
answer our letter. Accordingly, we are not reporting the contents of its
original letter.
Some stations sent explanations of why they were disinclined or unable
to respond to our letters. Among these the most elaborate was that of
WKY-AM-TV, of Oklahoma City. WKY explained that it considered the letters
ultra vires if answers were to be used in evaluating renewal applications
(which they were not) and uncalled for if they were not to be so used. In
addition, WKY voiced specific objections to the questions we asked, including
especially a professed uncertainty as to whether our query about employment of
and programming for minority groups related just to racial minorities, or more
broadly to groups classified by "color, religion, sex, and place of
national origin."
Letters were also sent to the three networks asking for a listing of
public affairs programming for a specified period and the record of clearances
on Oklahoma TV stations. ABC and NBC complied with our request; CBS sent a list
of programs but refused to send data on clearances.
We are reluctant to draw conclusions from the unwillingness of certain
of the stations to answer simple requests, or from the position of CBS with
respect to its refusal to supply data furnished by the other networks. It
strikes us as odd that stations which uniformly claim they operate in the
public interest were unwilling to respond to limited requests for additional
relevant information by two members of the Commission which licenses and
supervises their operations. The unwillingness of so many stations made
it difficult for us to draw conclusions with respect to the matters about which
we inquired. As pointed out in our letter, our request did not constitute
agency action, and so stations were not required to answer. However, we
hoped that we would receive sufficient answers to permit meaningful
conclusions.
In the course of this study we have necessarily concerned ourselves
with programming. We make no apology for this fact. We believe the
Communications Act of 1934, its legislative history, court decisions, the
existence of the very renewal forms we have been evaluating, and numerous other
actions of this Commission during its 34-year life clearly establish that
"censorship," which is forbidden both by the Communications Act and
by the Constitution, is not to be equated with FCC concern about local service
by broadcast licensees. Such concern is required by the Commission's
mandate.
We would point out in this connection the following:
1. Our entire analysis has been based upon information in the
license renewal form and other publicly available sources. (Our efforts
to obtain supplementary information were resisted by many Oklahoma broadcasters
and by their trade associations and trade press.) Most of the objections to our
study are, in fact, objections directed to the existence of the license renewal
form, or even the very existence of Federal regulation of any kind.
2. We note that we have not listened to a single audio tape,
viewed any video tape, or read any transcripts of Oklahoma broadcasters'
programming product. Nor have we, at any point throughout this study,
indicated that a particular program should not have been shown, or that a
favorite of ours deserves wide exposure.
[*39] 3. We have directed our attention to the
general public service, and local orientation, of the stations involved.
We have looked at percentages of regular news, public affairs and programming
other than entertainment and sports, and the station's willingness to clear for
this type of special network programming; we have examined the quantities of
locally originated programming; we have considered the other media available to
the station's audience; we have taken into account the station's revenues in
determining their economic capability to do better (this is proprietary
information and has not been reported by us).
4. Moreover, we believe this analysis is necessary to our other
responsibilities as Commissioners as well as to our regulation of
broadcasting. For if broadcasters are not performing the local public
service role they have assumed this carries implications for our policies
regarding cable television, the demands of mobile radio for additional
frequencies, proposals for direct satellite-to-home radio and television, and
"superpower" radio stations -- to name a few.
Note on Sources
The data in this analysis has come from a variety of sources.
Nowhere is this information collected together, although most of it is publicly
available. No doubt there are other sources which should have been
consulted. And there are also probably minor errors as in any analysis
that relies on statistics. Further, circulation and revenue data are for
the year 1966 -- it would be desirable to have 1967 data but it is simply not
available in usable form.
Population data are drawn from the "Statistical Abstract of the
United States" (1967); "County and City Data Book" (1962);
"Editor and Publisher Yearbook" (1967); and "TV Factbook"
(1967). Magazine circulation was received from the individual
publications. Local media ownership as well as cross-media ownership and
other business interests of the licensees are drawn from the licensee's renewal
application; the ownership form (form 323) submitted to the FCC; and the
listings in "Broadcasting Yearbook" (1968) and "TV
Factbook" (1967). Newspaper circulation is drawn from "Editor
and Publisher Yearbook" (1967).
The determination of reception by a community of broadcast signals from
stations outside the community was made by examining the engineering data
available in FCC station license files, M-3 map conductivity data (predicted
coverage), propagation curves, and channel studies. Primary coverage has
been defined as 2-mv/m coverage for AM stations, 1 m/m for FM, and at least
"grade B" for TV. Of course any individual community may be
able to receive radio or television signals that are not as strong as those
which we have used to define coverage. Whether a community receives a
signal depends in part on receiving antenna height, atmospheric and ground
conductivity conditions, and quality of equipment.
Data on call sign, type of station, general manager, number of
employees, frequency and power, hours of operation, network affiliation,
business offices, studio and transmitter location, past and proposed commercial
policy and programming, news staff, station format, news services, source of TV
programs, and adherence to the NAB code have been taken from the station's
renewal application. The station's commercial time rates are reported in
the "Standard Rate and Data Book." The year the station began
operation is found is "broadcasting [*40] Yearbook"
(1968). Information on network TV clearances was provided by ABC and NBC
in response to our request. (CBS refused to provide all the data
requested.)
Other sources which have been consulted include the "Americana
Encyclopedia (1967) Yearbook," and "Oklahoma: A Guide to the Sooner
State" (1957) (an updated version of the "WPA Writers Project Study
of Oklahoma"). Chambers of Commerce supplied data.
We do not represent that we have consulted all the available materials
relevant to our analysis of Oklahoma broadcasting. To consult even the
entire FCC files on a station -- the station license files going back to the
beginning of the station (some of which are in storage); the ownership reports
by the licensee; the general complaint files along with complaint files on
fairness and political broadcasting; hearing records in which the station may
have been involved; the confidential reports of financial data -- would be an
impossible task. We have been as thorough as time allowed.
Broadcasting in Selected Cities of Oklahoma
Introduction
Oklahoma is midway of the 50 States in many categories. Its
largest city, Oklahoma City, is America's 37th largest market. Selected
statistics and state rank (in parentheses) show: Population 2,512,000 (27th),
area 69,919 square miles (19th), population density 33.8 per square mile
(36th), and median income $4620 (39th). Its most important economic
activities are oil refining, meatpacking, electronics, agriculture, and
recreation facilities. It got its start as Indian territory (a
significant factor in its subsequent historical development and present ethnic
mix). It gave America one of its most famous and beloved part-Indian
citizens, Will Rogers, and was the subject of one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's
most successful Broadway musicals, "Oklahoma!" It is a land of
cowboys and their cattle, as well as Indians -- a land that produces oil as
easily as just storms.
We would be the first to acknowledge that the following descriptions of
communities, and stations' programming, may be inaccurate in some
particulars. Indeed, the inadequacies of the FCC's current data, and
analytical tools, are basic to our dissatisfaction regarding its present
license renewal procedure. And our efforts to get better information from
the broadcasters themselves met the refusal of many to even answer our
letters. So we have done the best we could.
In describing the communities we have relied upon Chamber of Commerce
literature, and basic reference works. And we have described only those
features which are somehow unique or noteworthy. It goes without saying
that these Oklahoma cities, like their counterparts throughout the country, are
also made up of motels, churches and hospitals; PTA's, Rotary clubs and bar associations;
public building of sewers, schools and streets; billboards, neon signs and
overhead power and telephone lines; some very rich, some very poor, and a
majority who will never be either; a generation gap, racial minorities, and
most shades of political opinion; little theaters, flower beds and city parks;
libraries and liquor stores; those who are building and [*41]
striving, and those who have stopped trying. All this is summed up,
perhaps, in the line from the song in "Oklahoma!" -- "We don't
say we're no better than anybody else. But we'll be danged if we ain't
just as good."
Oklahoma is a slice of the American pie; it's little better or worse
than the rest. We have not attempted to describe America -- only
Oklahoma. It is a State distinguished by Indian territory origins; a late
19th century beginning; early 20th century oil, followed by the commercial
marketing of natural gas; cattle and cowboys; wheat and wide-open spaces.
But the significance of these details is questionable. For however dissimilar
life in Oklahoma may be to life in New York, Washington, or San Francisco (or
any of America's 10 largest cities), it has much in common with life throughout
most of the geographical, continental United States.
The 11 cities we have selected represent, we believe, a representative
sampling based on population and geographical distribution. The three
largest cities (Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Lawton) are included. We have
selected some cities that are relatively isolated, and others that come under
the influence of nearby centers. (Because we have analyzed the
programming of each of the 10 commercial television stations we have also
included reference to the Sayre and Ada stations without further description of
those communities.) As with the selection of Oklahoma itself, so the selection
of cities within the State was not prompted by any prior complaints or reason
to believe the stations located there were above
or below average.
Ardmore
Ardmore, the county seat of Carter County in south central Oklahoma, is
located midway between Dollas and Oklahoma City in the heart of the former
Chickasaw Indian Nation. It came into being when the Atchison, Topeka,
and Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1887, and was further stimulated by the
discovery of oil in 1912. Its estimated 1967 population was nearly 23,000
(up from 20,000 in 1960) -- about half that of Carter County.
Like the rest of the State, Carter County has its share of oil and
cattle. It is also blessed, however, with the tourist trade brought by
nearby Platt National Park, Lake Texoma, Lake Murray, the Arbuckle Reservoir,
and other points of natural beauty and recreational value.
Ardmore has but one newspaper and AM radio station, and they are under
common ownership. The evening Ardmoreite has a circulation of about
11,000. Its local AM affiliate, KVSO, operates about 117 hours a
week. They are owned by Albert Riesen, Jr., Betty Riesen Dillard, and
other trustees and members of the Riesen family.
There is a television station, KXII-TV, channel 12, located about 30
miles away in the next county, with transmitter in Madill, Okla., and studios
there can in Sherman, Tex. -- another 50 miles down the road. It is
controlled by the group of individuals and companies which own KWTX-TV in Waco,
Tex., and is managed by its president, Mr. M. N. Bostick. It is
represented to be an "Ardmore and Sherman-Denison, Texas" station,
and is in fact licensed to Ardmore. It carries mostly NBC programming,
and some from CBS. It puts a "city grade" signal over
Ardmore. But, by and large, the city lies just outside the
[*42] grade B coverage area of stations in Oklahoma City, Wichita Falls,
Fort Worth-Dallas, and Tulsa.
There are, in total, some seven AM signals reaching Ardmore day-time,
and three at night, and an additional grade B television signal. But most
of the quality television comes to Ardmore residents from distant cities by
cable television. Video Independent Theatres, Inc., 100 percent owned by
RKO General (one of the major mass media and cable television owners in
America), provides signals to 3,500 Ardmore subscribers from KXII, KFDX-TV
Wichita Falls, KWTV Oklahoma City, KTEN Ada, KTVT and WFAA-TV Fort
Worth-Dollars. There are no translators.
Outside publications include 200-400 copies of the three news weeklies,
about 70 copies of Harpers, and eight Sunday New York Times.
Assuming that KXII-TV provided Ardmore's only local TV programming
during 1967, it is difficult to find that the city received much television
attention. Aside from daily news, weather, and sports programs at 6 p.m.
and 10 p.m. (which would allow little time for local news from each of the
cities within a claimed 425,000 population viewing area), the only preemptions
during the year with possible relation to Ardmore were something called
"Ardmore Birthday Party" one evening in August (the city's annual
"day"), a noon-time hour-long "Carter County Junior Livestock
Show," a 15-minute "Ardmore Water and Sewage Program" 10:30 one
evening and a half-hour "Know Your Candidates" show on the Ardmore
City Commission candidates. The station carried regular reports from
Grayson County College and Southeastern State College of Durant. It also
carries occasional reports from Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris. KXII does
carry some local programs aimed at several of the communities in its coverage
area and to that extent seems to view itself as a "regional" station
rather than simply as an "Ardmore" station.
Of its 116 1/2 hours broadcast during the week, KXII carried 8.7 percent
news, 3.6 percent public affairs, and 6.3 percent other than entertainment and
sports. During the year it preempted regularly scheduled programs for 22
special broadcasts -- the most of any station in the State. For the next
3 years KXII proposes 7.9 percent news, 0.84 percent public affairs and 3.4
percent other than entertainment and sports. There is no indication why
the station feels a need for this cutback. During its composite week 14
percent of KXII's programs were from local sources, 75 percent from networks,
and 15 percent were recorded programs. KXII proposes essentially the same
format for the next 3 years.
KXII determines the needs and interests of the communities it serves
through the personal contacts of its almost 40 employees in those
communities. KXII also maintains a public comment log at the reception
desk of the station offices. KXII's staff includes seven administrative,
six engineering, three salesmen, 15 programming staff, and seven news.
Although KXII lists seven people on its staff concerned with news, in a more
detailed explanation of its news operation KXII lists 19 staff people including
eight "stringers" in various nearby communities. KXII
subscribes to UPI wire and photofax, Fort Worth wire service, and the Federal
Aviation Flight Service Weather.
[*43] KVSO, the AM radio station in Ardmore, is owned by
the Albert Riesen family who live there. The general manager is Douglas
Dillard and the station has seven employees. It programs roughly 117
hours per week -- and in the composite week presented 20 percent news, 1.3
percent public affairs and 16 percent other than entertainment and
sports. It proposes 25 percent news, 10 percent public affairs, and 17
percent other than entertainment and sports. It characterizes its format
as 63 percent country and western, folk music, jazz, and standard pops.
KVSO is an ABC radio network affiliate and AP subscriber.
KVSO determines the needs and interests of its community through
meetings between KVSO management and various Ardmore groups. An audience
questionnaire was also run in the Ardmore Ardmoreite. KVSO has one
newscaster and one mobile news reporter.
General
Population (1967 census estimated) 22,949.
Population (1960) 20,184.
Nonwhite (1960) (Carter County) 10.3
percent.
Homes (Carter County) 14,200.
TV homes (Carter County) 12,900.
Local media 3.
Local AM stations 1.
Local FM stations 0.
Local TV stations 1.
Local newspapers 1.
Local media owners 2.
Loverlapping ownership KVSO
(AM)
with
Ardmore Ardmoreite.
National publications circulation Time, 377; Newsweek, 210;
U.S.
(Carter County). News,
211; Life, 810, Look, 1,164;
Sunday
New York Times, 8;
Harpers,
72.
Translators None.
CATV's 1
(carrying KXII, Ardmore; KFDX,
Wichita Falls, Tex.;
Oklahoma City; KTEN, Ada; KTVT, WFAA, Dallas-Fort Worth, Tex.).
Broadcast coverage
AM
Miles n1 City
Call
Frequency
Class
Day
Night
80 Wichita
Falls, Tex KWFT
620
III-U
DA-N X
94 Dallas,
Tex KRLD
1080
I-B
DA-N X X
do
WFAA
820
I-A
X
X
do
KSKY
660
II-D
X
Ardmore,
Okla KVSO
1240
IV-U
X
X
22 Madill,
Okla KMAD
1550
II-D
X
93 Oklahoma
City, Okla KOMA 1520 I-B
DA-N (*)
FM --
None TV
City
A B
44 Ada,
Okla KTEN
10
ABC,
CBS, NBC X
Ardmore,
Okla. and KXII
12
NBC
X
Sherman-Denison,
Tex.
* Borderline coverage.
n1 Approximate city center to city center. [*44]
Radio stations
Call sign KVSO.
Type AM.
Ownership:
Licensee KVSO
Broadcasting Co.
Locally owned Yes.
Principal owner Albert
Riesen, Jr., 1/3; Betty Maurine Riesen Dillard, 1/3.
Other owners J Jean
Lowenstein Riesen Hughes, 2/9;
T.
Fred Collins (trustee) 1/9.
Other media interests Ardmore
Ardmoreite.
Other business interests None.
General manager Douglas
C. Dillard.
Number employees 7.
Frequency/power 1240
kc, 1 kw-D, 250 w-N.
Hours of operation 116.
Commercial rates $4.50/1
minute.
Network affiliation ABC.
Began operation 1935.
Proposed maximum number of 12
(18 maximum).
commercial minutes/hour.
Program types:
Past sample week (percent):
News 20.1
Public affairs 1.3.
Other non-entertainment 6.6.
Proposed for next 3 years (percent):
News 25.0.
Public affairs 10.0.
Other non-entertainment 6.0.
Answered inquiry No.
News staff 2.
Format Country
and western; folk music; jazz;
standard pops, 63 percent.
News services AP.
NAB Code Yes.
TV stations
Call sign KXII-TV.
Type VHF.
Ownership:
Licensee Texoma
Broadcasters, Inc.
Locally owned No.
Principal owner M.
N. Bostick, 29.972 percent.
Other owners Texas
Broadcasting Co., 23.225 percent;
Hilton
E. Howell, 9.972 percent;
Ross
M. Sams, 9.972 percent;
W. W.
Callan, 7.824 percent;
W.
W. Callan, Jr., 1.074 percent;
Diana
C. Braswell, 1.074 percent;
Robert
E. Levy, 6.915 percent;
Thomas
D. Stribling, 6.378 percent;
George
& Ellender Chase, 3.594 percent.
Other media interests KLFY-TV,
Lafayette, La.; KNAL, Victoria,
Tex.; KBTX-TV, Bryan, Tex.;
KWTX-AM-TV,
Waco, Tex.; KTBC-AM-FM-TV,
Austin, Tex.
Other business