SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE SEVENTY-NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H. R. 5201 A BILL MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE AND SUNDRY INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, PART 2 FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION -82049 Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1946 INDEPENDENT OFFICES APPROPRIATION BILL 1947 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1946 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, The subcommittee met at 10:30 a. m., Hon. Kenneth McKellar (acting chairman) presiding. Present: Senators McKellar, Russell, Bankhead, Murdock, Bridges, and Cordon. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION STATEMENT BY PAUL A. PORTER, CHAIRMAN, ACCOMPANIED BY WILLIAM R. ROBERTSON, DIRECTOR, BUDGET AND PLANNING DIVISION; CHARLES S. HYNEMAN, ASSISTANT TO THE CHAIRMAN; DAVID COOPER, CHIEF OF BUDGET SECTION, AND W. E. JAMES, SPECIAL COUNSEL (ASSISTANT TO CHAIRMAN) LETTER FROM SENATOR STEWART Senator MCKELLAR. The committee will come to order. The Chair wants to say that on February 9 he received this letter from his colleague from Tennessee, Senator Stewart, and we will put it in the record. (The letter referred to is as follows:) Hon. KENNETH MCKELLAR, UNITED STATES SENATE, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: I have just been looking over the independent offices appropriation bill and would like to specifically direct your attention to the appropriation for Federal Communications Commission. The amount appropriated in this bill is much larger than the amounts appropriated last year, in spite of the fact that the item "National defense" has been materially reduced since the war. As a matter of fact, the amount appropriated for salaries in the District of Columbia for last year was over a million dollars less than it is for this year. There seems to have been no examination of this Commission by the Senate Appropriations Committee and, because this amount is so unusually high, I belive it should be carefully inquired into, and I hope you will call the members of the Commission before the committee before the bill is called up in the Senate. Sincerely yours, TOM STEWART. Senator MCKELLAR. The other day when the bill was before the committee, nothing had been said about the Federal Communications Commission. I believe you came up, did you not, Mr. Porter: You did not come up? 1 Mr. PORTER. No; I had a letter from you Senator, asking if we wanted a hearing. Senator MCKELLAR. And you said you did not? Mr. PORTER. And we said not; yes, sir. COMPARISON OF FUNDS FOR FISCAL YEARS 1946 AND 1947 Senator MCKELLAR. Anyway, after getting this letter from Senator Stewart, I looked into it, Mr. Porter, and I found on page 968 and page 969 of the House Hearings, a comparative statement of the appropriations for 1947 and 1946. I find the unusual situation that every one of these appropriations are increased, except other overtime, amounting to $38,450, and a deduction of a deficit due to Public Law 106, amounting to $35,287. I find also that there is an increase of $1,080,600, over last year. I think it is very essential that you should explain about these increases. That is what I have asked you to come down here for I know that the House cut it. Mr. PORTER. The House cut $500,000, in undistributed reduction. Senator, do you want me to proceed now? Senator McKELLAR. Yes, sir. Mr. PORTER. I think that in our justification, copies of which are contained in the House report, that we have set forward very completely the increased problems that the Commission is confronted with.¦ ACCUMULATION OF WORK I think you are all aware of the fact that during the war there was no construction in communications except for essential war-communication purposes. As a result, we have an accumulation in the broadcast division, for example, of some 5 years of reduced activity. I think I could put it in very general terms by saying that the Commission has at least 5 to 6 years of normal work that is now pending before it and which we, of course, hope to discharge during the coming fiscal year. I would like to emphasize to the committee that I have no present opinion as to what the permanent level of the appropriation for this agency should be. should be. I am concerned, however, that we, for the coming fiscal year, have the tools and the personnel to discharge the functions that have been accumulated during the war. NUMBER OF PENDING BROADCAST APPLICATIONS I could give you examples in the standard broadcast field of the applications that we have on hand at the present time. This is s list of these stations; that is, of applications for new stations by States. We have on hand as of January 31, 1946, 2,447 broadcast applications that were pending for action by the Commission, com pared with 2,387 of such applications as of December 31, 1945. This includes 478 which have been designated "for hearing" and 298 fre quency modulation applications for new stations which have been given conditional grants. In the standard broadcast field, and I think that this is certainly relevant to the committee's consideration, and I am relying upon my recollection for this figure, we had about 950 standard broadcas stations as of October 8, 1945, when the Commission lifted its freeze and began processing applications. There were pending around 700 applications for new stations, or the improvement of existing facilities; in other words, there is an effort to expand the standard broadcast field by more than 50 percent immediately. I think you gentlemen know that it requires a detailed analysis by the Commission staff to determine questions of electrical interference and, likewise, other determinations as to the qualifications of the licensees involved. NUMBER OF CURRENT HEARINGS We have in hearing at the present time some 629 matters. The Commission is running five hearings simultaneously. That 629 is for all classes of services within the Commission's jurisdiction. Four hundred and seventy-eight of these, or more than 75 percent, were in the broadcast field; that is, standard broadcast, frequency modulation, and television. And in the 2-week period since the 31st of January, the Commission has had to designate for hearing 174 additional broadcast applications. NUMBER OF BROADCASTING APPLICATIONS NOW BEING HEARD That makes a total of 652 applications for new broadcast stations that are now in hearing. Senator BANKHEAD. How many? Mr. PORTER. This figure may be broken down as follows: 460 for the existing standard broadcast station, 119 in frequency modulation, this new service, and 73 in television. Senator MCKELLAR. How many is that all told? Mr. PORTER. That is a total, Mr. Chairman, of 652 matters that are now in hearing. PRESENT NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES Senator MCKELLAR. What is your entire personnel as of today? Mr. PORTER. The entire personnel? Senator MCKELLAR. Engineers, clerks, stenographers, and all other employees. Mr. PORTER. There are 1,282; that is as of yesterday. Administrative, 370; engineering, 685; accounting, 136; and law, 91. That is broken down, as you understand, between professional and the clerical personnel. DIVISIONS AND SUBDIVISIONS OF THE COMMISSION Senator MCKELLAR. Let me ask you a question. You have divisions and subdivisions in the Engineering Department? Mr. PORTER. Oh, yes; yes, we have. Senator MCKELLAR. How many of them are they divided into? Mr. PORTER. In the Engineering Department we have the Broadcast Branch, we have the Field and Research Branch, we have the Common Carrier Branch, and the Special and Safety Services Branch. Those are the principal divisions. For instance, the Broadcast |