[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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