The Impromptu Network

The TV networks decided last week that soap operas and quiz shows were more important than any live broadcast of Teamster Boss Dave Beck's second big appearance before Senate investigators. Not content with the decision, a dozen stations across the U.S. had the enterprise to form an impromptu network of their own so that one of the year's best running news stories could be heard and seen as it was happening.

ABC's Washington affiliate, WMAL, first asked network officials if there was any interest in televising the hearings. Not enough to justify the cost, said ABC. It was the same argument with which CBS sealed off its network to live broadcasts of the first Beck hearings in March by Washington's WTOP. But WMAL's General Manager Fred Houwink polled other ABC affiliates and found plenty of interest. Most interested of all: Seattle's lively KING, whose manager, Otto Brandt, went quickly into action. Brandt lined up six other ABC affiliates willing to share the costs, also flew one of his announcers to Washington to help with the coverage.

The result: the sordid story of Beck's business interests and his own queasy evasions (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS) unfolded in living rooms in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, St. Louis, Fresno, Phoenix and Portland as well as Washington and Seattle. Late in the week the impromptu network added three more stations, Baltimore's WAAM, WBAL and WMAR, the second time in the week that these three gave their networks a pointed lesson in public service. One classic network argument against special live news coverage is the heavy cost in sponsored shows that must be canceled. The three Baltimore stations produced a sensible rebuttal. When the House Un-American Affairs Committee scheduled six sessions in Baltimore last week, each station agreed to carry two of them on the air. Thus they shared the financial burden and not only assured interested viewers of full coverage but gave other viewers alternative programs. They did the same thing with the impromptu network's hearings from Washington.

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