Radio: The Flood

No sooner had the 3½-year-old ban been lifted on construction of new TV stations (TIME, April 21) than the applications began pouring in. Last week the FCC was starting to dig through the fine print of some 500 requests for new stations.

There was a flood of applications from schools (for both commercial and noncommercial permits), radio stations, newspapers, theater interests, a coal company, a real estate company, a tobacco company, several insurance companies and religious organizations. Some well-known names were also in the running: Mary Pickford Rogers, in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Bing Crosby Enterprises, in Spokane, Wash.; Democratic National Committee Chairman Frank McKinney & friends, in Indianapolis; Economic Stabilizer Roger Putnam, in Springfield, Mass. Denver, which now has no TV, is the biggest plum. Among the hopeful applicants: Comedian Bob Hope and Denver’s Mayor Quigg Newton.