[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 23 (Monday, February 26, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1589-S1590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEADING NORTH CAROLINA EXECUTIVE CALLS FOR WELL-DEFINED TV PUBLIC
SERVICE
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, a leading citizen of my State of North
Carolina is a young man named Jim Goodmon. Jim is president and CEO of
Capital Broadcasting Company in my hometown of Raleigh. Capital
Broadcasting owns and operates several leading broadcast entities--TV
stations, radio stations, and networks serving all of North Carolina
and some bordering States.
James F. Goodmon is president and CEO of Capital Broadcasting
Company, where more than a quarter of a century ago I had the privilege
of serving as an officer. When I was elected to the Senate in 1972, I
shortly thereafter, as a Senator, divested myself of all ownership in
the company because Senators are often called upon to vote on
legislation affecting broadcasting and broadcasters.
At that time, in 1972-73, Jim Goodmon had just completed his studies
at Duke University and had just married a lovely and very bright young
Tennessee lady--who, by the way, is herself prominent for her tireless
work in literally saving the lives of down-on-their-luck people who
have no place to go. She makes a place for them to go to rebuild
themselves and reshape their character.
Having said all that, my purpose in speaking in the Senate is a
profile on Jim Goodmon published in the December 13 edition of TV
Technology. That is the name of it. It is an industry publication whose
specialty is digital television. The headline on that article was ``Jim
Goodmon: Mayberry Values Collide With Harsh DTV Reality.''
Now, this article, in my view, speaks well of Jim Goodmon, not merely
regarding his business acumen, nor about the kind of businessman Jim
is. I think it is, instead, a measurement of Jim Goodmon's sense of
personal responsibility. In that regard, the article speaks for itself,
and I encourage Senators and all other readers of the Congressional
Record to review it.
I will refer to a couple of paragraphs in this publication, TV
Technology, written by Frank Beacham. It says, under the dateline of
New York:
Soft-spoken Jim Goodmon--like the mythical Sheriff Andy
Taylor of TV's Mayberry has a comforting way of tackling the
most intractable problems with common sense and good humor.
How else could he have done the seemingly impossible task of
making broadcast cynics feel warm and fuzzy about digital
television?
After hearing Goodmon explain his philosophy of
broadcasting, one can just imagine Andy, Barney, Thelma Lou,
and Aunt Bea sitting around their HDTV set enjoying the local
coverage of North Carolina's State Fair on WRAL, Goodmon's
Raleigh, N.C., station.
A third-generation North Carolina broadcaster whose first
job was giving free TV antennas to WRAL viewers in the 1950s,
Goodmon comes off as a radical reformer in Norman Rockwell
clothing. Unlike FCC Chairman Bill Kennard, who draws
lightening for saying many of the same things, Goodmon gets
nods of respect even from those who disagree with him.
``He represents what broadcasting ought to be,'' commented
an audience member moments after hearing Goodmon speak in New
York City at the Consumer Electronic Association's DTV
Summit.
Unlike many of his broadcasting industry contemporaries,
Goodmon not only embraces the opportunities of digital
television but insists that all broadcasters should be
required to air some HDTV programming every evening. Eyebrows
inch up further when he advocates that broadcasters should be
held to a well-defined public service obligation enforced by
a new NAB code of conduct.
I ask unanimous consent that the entire article be printed in the
Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From TV Technology, Dec. 13, 2000]
Jim Goodmon: Mayberry Values Collide With Harsh DTV Reality
(By Frank Beacham)
Soft-spoken Jim Goodmon--like the mythical Sheriff Andy
Taylor of TV's Mayberry has a comforting way of tackling the
most intractable problems with common sense and good humor.
How else could he have done the seemingly impossible task of
making broadcast cynics feel warm and fuzzy about digital
television?
After hearing Goodmon explain his philosophy of
broadcasting, one can just imagine Andy, Barney, Thelma Lou
and Aunt Bea sitting around their HDTV set enjoying the local
coverage of North Carolina's State Fair on WRAL, Goodmon's
Raleigh, N.C., station.
A third-generation North Carolina broadcaster whose first
job was giving free TV antennas to WRAL viewers in the
1950's, Goodmon comes off as a radical reformer in Norman
Rockwell clothing. Unlike FCC Chairman Bill Kennard, who
draws lightning for saying many of the same things, Goodmon
gets nods of respect even from those who disagree with him.
``He represents what broadcasting ought to be,'' commented
an audience member moments after hearing Goodmon speak in New
York City at the Consumer Electronic Association's DTV
Summit.
Unlike many of his broadcasting industry contemporaries,
Goodmon not only embraces the opportunities of digital
television, but insists that all broadcasters should be
required to air some HDTV programming every evening. Eyebrows
inch up further when he advocates that broadcasters should be
held to a well-defined public service obligation enforced by
a new NAB code of conduct.
Against the tide
As president and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Company,
Goodmon is swimming against the tide in an era when media
corporations that own large station groups spend millions of
dollars to lobby Congress against such regulation.
A genuine broadcast pioneer, Goodmon guided WRAL as it
became the first station in the United States to broadcast an
HDTV signal. Now, four years later, the station is about to
become the first to begin all-HDTV newscasts.
Goodmon's business plan is simple: ``Our plan is to stay in
business. Period.''
``What we are talking about here is the future of
broadcasting. How do we remain competitive in the future? The
way we do it is digital,'' he said in his address at the DTV
Summit.
Rejecting a recent mantra from many of his industry
colleagues, Goodmon said the DTV transition is not about new
revenue streams.
``This is not about sending e-mail to watches or selling
our spectrum to high-speed data providers,'' he said. ``This
is about how we stay competitive. About how we can be good
local broadcasters in the future.''
He cited WRAL's motto: ``The main thing is to keep the main
thing the main thing.'' The main thing, Goodmon said, is
local news. ``That's why in January we are going to start
doing five hours a day of local news in high definition.''
HDTV: LIKE BEING THERE
It was IID coverage of Sen. John Glenn's space shuttle
flight, Goodmon said, that convinced him news would benefit
from high-resolution video and Dolby Digital sound.
``What is television news? It's being there,'' Goodmon
said. ``Putting the viewer there. There is no better way to
put the viewer there than high definition.''
Goodmon said viewers like the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio
and Dolby digital sound that HD provides.
``Sound and 16:9 are a big deal. We're talking about
creating an experience here . . . getting wrapped up in it.''
He said, as a result of experiences in local HD production
over the past four years, the station sees HD bringing
significant enhancements to hockey, auto racing, football,
[[Page S1590]]
basketball, baseball, outdoor symphonies, art exhibits and
documentaries.
Multicasting has also benefited WRAL, Goodmon said, by
giving the station the opportunity to respond to new
programming opportunities.
``We were broadcasting a basketball game and had some flood
news in North Carolina. We interrupted the game, did the
flood coverage and then said: `If you want to watch the
basketball game, stay on Channel 5.1. We are going to do
continuous flood coverage on Channel 5.2 and we'll have our
weather radar on all the time on Channel 5.3.' What you can
do with this technology is limited only by your
imagination.''
Goodmon said he sees multicasting as a way to expand the
station's brand with a broader array of programming.
``We don't see multicasting as an opportunity to start a
new full-time channel or something like that.''
Ditto for datacasting. WRAL now has 200 volunteers with PCs
equipped to receive its data broadcasts.
``We send IP traffic 24 hours a day. We ask users to allot
about 500 Mb on their hard drive and dedicate it to the
data.''
A key application is local news. The station is working
toward a service where viewers can watch a newscast on-demand
on their PC, either in its entirely or on an interactive
story-by-story basis.
Currently, WRAL has about 700 HD viewers in its 23-county
market. As in the early days of his career, Goodmon now makes
sure every new DTV set owner in the Raleigh-Durham area gets
an outdoor television antenna, courtesy of the station.
``We know most of our viewers and get lots of comments from
them.''
The station uses an e-mail group conference to stay in
touch with digital set owners.
As for fellow broadcasters who see no business model for an
immediate return on their investment from digital television,
Goodmon offers another homily: ``Sometimes you have to spend
money just to stay in business.''
must-carry a must-have
Though Goodmon's aggressive use of digital technology in
his local market is impressive, even he acknowledges the
national DTV transition is facing some big obstacles.
One of the largest stumbling blocks is digital must-carry,
something FCC Chairman Kennard has cautioned broadcasters not
to depend upon. Even if enacted, a new must-carry requirement
would face an uncertain future with years of legal battles
and appeals. But, to Goodmon, it's a make or break issue.
``Cable has 70 percent of the homes,'' he said. ``How are
we going to get digital into the homes if they are not on
cable? I think we need full digital must-carry on satellite
as well. And I mean full digital must-carry--everything,
including our data.''
Goodmon proposes coupling digital must-carry with a now
elusive public service requirement.
``How can we ask for digital must-carry if we don't agree
to public service standards? To me, the two go together.
``Along with getting this digital license comes a
commitment to serve the public interest, whatever that is,''
he continued. ``That's not a very defined notion. It needs to
be defined as a minimum standard. We need this standard set
and then we need to return to a broadcasting code of conduct.
I'm really showing my age talking about the NAB code, but
that was a great thing.''
Also essential for a successful transition, said Goodmon,
is a requirement for an integrated digital tuner in all new
DTV receivers, preferably by 2003, and a requirement that
every digital station air at least two hours of HDTV
programming each night between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.
``We broadcasters asked Congress to do high definition,''
reminded Goodmon. ``If you take a digital license, you should
be required to do HD each night. The networks need to push
primetime HD. If they do that, the stations will have to
carry it.''
Finally, he called on television receiver manufacturers to
come forward with public assurance of a fix for multipath
problems that can block reception in urban areas. Though he
said WRAL has had no problems with the 8-VSB transmission
standard and that he favors retaining it, a strong message of
assurance either through a technical standard or other
objective method must be sent to calm fears over the
technology.
``Broadcasters need assurance,'' Goodmon insisted. ``Tell
us we don't have to worry about the multipath problem.''
In addition, he said the consumer electronics industry has
``to stand up and say this receiver thing is not a problem.
It can be with a standard or some other way. But it must be
said.''
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