AM AND TV LICENSE FEES Senator MONRONEY. How much did you say a television station application was? Mr. HENRY. $100. We reduced it to $100? It is $100. And we reduced AM radio to $50 instead of $100. Televison, $100; radio is $50. That is again for the 3-year license. INSTALLATION OF COMPUTER One other significant new development since we last met with you is the development of our data processing program. On October 22, 1963, we installed our Univac. Senator MAGNUSON. Mr. Chairman, you are going over this you put this al in the record, and you are going over it section by section. Mr. HENRY. Yes. I am just going to skip around. Senator MAGNUSON. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF APPLICATIONS Mr. HENRY. The computer was installed in October of 1963, and on February 10, 1964, we began the electronic processing of certain of our applications. We are now processing citizens radio applications with the computer, and I think we have put out around 100,000 applications so far in the citizens' group. We are also processing amateur applications with the computer and on February 20 we computerized the processing of applications for our antenna survey function which is checking of proposed antennas as air navigation hazards. Future goals for the conversion of the application handling to the data processing system are the marine service in October, the aviation service in December, public safety and industrial services later in fiscal 1965. We also plan to do some additional work with the computer which is primarily the accumulation of information with respect to our AM, FM, and TV facilities. As I indicated before, we believe our budget reflects a very Senator MAGNUSON. We have computer troubles up here in this committee. Everybody is getting a computer and a machine. In fact, one agency came in here last week and wanted an extra amount of money to improve the memory of the machine. This is what it is for. So we are getting into quite an age so far as communications. COST OF COMPUTER How much did this computer cost you? Mr. HENRY. I think we have got roughly a million dollars in it. Senator MAGNUSON. Are you renting it or did you buy it? Mr. HENRY. We bought it. Senator MAGNUSON. So you do not have any rental. Mr. HENRY. That is right. IMPACT OF COMPUTERS ON PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS Senator MAGNUSON. How many people did you have to add to run it, or did you just take the people you had? Mr. HENRY. No; we have had to add Senator MAGNUSON. I mean, or used your own people. Mr. HENRY. No; we have had to-well, they are our employees. In order to run Senator MAGNUSON. They had to be trained. Mr. HENRY. They had to be trained. Senator MAGNUSON. Yes. Mr. HENRY. And we do have additional employees in our executive director's office which handles the computer. Now, we have had some reduction in the areas that used to process the applications now being processed by the computer. They do not quite meet, however. In other words, we have a net gain of employees at the moment. Senator MONRONEY. Because of the computer. Mr. HENRY. Because of getting the computer started initially. We have a Senator MAGNUSON. In this particular field. EXPECTATION OF REDUCTION IN FORCE Senator MAGNUSON. When would you think, if you can put it in the record, that you would show a reduction in force because of the computer, because if you do not show a reduction in force, then there is not much reason for the computer. Mr. HENRY. Well, I do not know for sure. There have been several estimates. I remember one estimate was 70 man-years; I think, at the end of 10 years. However, we do not know whether that is going to prove accurate. We do not know whether overall there is going to be an ultimate reduction, net reduction, in the number of employees that we have. We do feel, however, that there is going to be a large net increase in the productivity that our agency will put out. In other words, with the increased workload that we will have, we will handle it quicker and more efficiently with the computer. Senator MAGNUSON. In other words, you think the computer would have the effect of not-of you people not asking for new employees to do the job that the computer may be doing. Mr. HENRY. Correct. Senator MAGNUSON. Would these be in the lower levels? Mr. HENRY. Well, primarily. Senator MAGNUSON. Primarily, and those that run the computer would be in the higher grades, would that be correct? Mr. HENRY. Primarily; but I still think overall, in terms of net money savings, there will be a saving. MAINTENANCE COST OF COMPUTER Senator MAGNUSON. What does it cost to operate it a year other than the employees? Do you have service charges on it? Mr. HENRY. Mr. Plummer, do you want to comment on that, or Mr. Solan! Mr. PLUMMER. We have a maintenance contract with the computer supplier for $37,000 a year for maintenance. Senator MAGNUSON. And they keep it in shape for you. Mr. PLUMMER. They keep it in shape; yes. Senator MAGNUSON. At an affixed fee, fixed contract? Mr. PLUMMER. Yes. Senator MAGNUSON. In other words, it is their responsibility to keep it in shape no matter how much work they have to do or not have to do? M- PLUMMER. That is correct. Senator MAGNUSON. Like a Chinese doctor. Mr. PLUMMER. They keep a man right on the premises all the time. Senator MAGNUSON. All right. CURRENT USE OF COMPUTER Senator ALLOTT. I have some questions. I would like to ask a question, and perhaps I should understand this, but I can't understand calculations in a computer. You feed in data-Does this come out and tell you what licenses you can give? How does it work? How do you use it? What does it do? Mr. HENRY. So far we are using it to process certain categories of licenses, and it actually prints up the license. Take a citizen's application, for example. As I understand it, it comes in and ofttimes the very paper that is used for the application also ends up as the license with some additional typing on it. All of those have to be initially screened by an employee, human employee. If it is deficient in the information that is required, then it is sent back. If it appears to be complete, then it is put in, and that is just a very rough brief check. If it appears to be complete, then it is put in the computer. Now, the computer has certain facts stored in it. That constitutes what generally is called its memory, I guess, and as each application goes through the computer, the computer checks the information on it with what it has got stored, and if it fits, then the application goes on through, and it is typed up, and it is issued. But if it does not, if it is deficient, then it is taken off line, it is rejected, and then you have got to look at it again Senator ALLOTT. In other words, then, if you were going to pile one wavelength right on another in the same area, the machine would reject it. Mr. HENRY. That is right. Senator ALLOTT. It saves all of this checking and rechecking against the other files and other things. Is that the idea? In Mr. HENRY. Yes; for certain basic aspects of all applications. other words, those basic aspects are stored rather than checked each time. Senator ALLOTT. All right. LIMITED PROCESSING OF BROADCAST APPLICATIONS Senator MAGNUSON. Well, its use on applications would be pretty much limited to the broadcast applications, industrial, or citizens, or private, or things of that kind. You would not run through an application for a radio or television station through a computer, would you? Mr. HENRY. No. Senator MAGNUSON. You might Mr. HENRY. Just its engineering aspects. Senator MAGNUSON. You might run certain factors, but that would be one that you would discuss at some length. But you have hundreds of applications that you can run through. For instance, you have got now 6,199 authorized broadcast stations, and you have issued 700 additional which is 6,900. Are those the types of things you run through there? Mr. PLUMMER. In broadcast the computer does only a partial job, as you say. It does not do the whole application. It does two things. It does the engineering phases, the calculations of the contours and the interference. The second thing it does, it maintains an ownership file, cross index of ownership of the people involved that own the stations and also where you have situations where one owner may be involved in several stations. So it prints out on those. Mr. Cox. If any of these people are in trouble elsewhere. So if we have complaints about other operaitons, we can run those down there. Mr. HENRY. Of course, that is its capability. It is not doing that yet. Mr. Cox. No. Senator MAGNUSON. All right. SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO APPLICATIONS PRIMARY COMPUTER WORKLOAD Mr. LOEVINGER. Primarily applications, not broadcast-so-called safety and special, where you have several thousand, 5,000 or 10,000 broadcast licenses, in the safety and special field. You have over a million, so that we deal with more than hundreds of thousands. That is the primary application. These are simpler applications. Senator MAGNUSON. And many engineering problems involved. COMPUTER'S READING OF APPLICATIONS Senator SALTONSTALL. Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question, a very simple question? Senator MAGNUSON. Yes. Senator SALTONSTALL. What this computer does is to read your licenses, reads your applications for you; doesn't it? Mr. HENRY. Well, in essence, yes. Senator SALTONSTALL. I do not begin to understand how it can read the applications for you, but I assume that is what the whole purpose of the computer is. Mr. HENRY. In essence, yes. It reads certain basic parts of them by taking from them certain information and then if that information jibes with the stored information in the computer, it allows it to pass through and be processed. If it does not jibe, it rejects it. Senator SALTONSTALL. And how it reads it you are not capable of saying: are you? Mr. HENRY. I am not. But it is a USE OF COMPUTERS BY OTHER AGENCIES Senator MAGNUSON. Judge, does it divest evidence, too, for you? Would it? You could run some evidence there, couldn't you, and see whether it jibes. Mr. LOEVINGER. As a matter of fact, you can, and the Department of Justice did not use a computer but a simple punchcard system in handling evidence in some cases. It does not read it optically, Senator Saltonstall, but you have a clerical employee who types the simply take the application and types it on what looks like an ordinary machine but in fact is a machine that puts the letters in punch form so that there is a mechanically punched card for the machine to read. It goes in in a punchcard form. Senator SALTONSTALL. That is the same principle on which the Internal Revenue is now doing tax returns. Mr. LOEVINGER. Yes. Very similar. Senator SALTONSTALL. And I hope it is more accurate. Mr. Chairman, may I ask one more question? Senator MAGNUSON. Yes. Go right ahead. FEE COLLECTIONS DEPOSITED INTO THE GENERAL TREASURY Senator SALTONSTALL. You say you are taking in $12,000 a day or about $3,120,000 a year. Does that go directly into the Treasury? Mr. HENRY. General Treasury, yes, sir. Senator SALTONSTALL. Thank you. Then this Commission is really making some money for the Government theoretically. Mr. HENRY. Well, yes. We are still taking out more than we give in, but we are collecting some additional revenue. Senator MAGNUSON. Now, they are getting-what about those fees? Now, put in the record what you did about fees. Did you raise them or are they the same or Mr. HENRY. These are brand new. This is a brandnew fee schedule. Senator MAGNUSON. Put in the record the fee schedule so if anybody asks us, we will have the fee schedule. (The information referred to follows:) FEE SCHEDULES Broadcast services Application for construction permit for new station Application for renewal or assignment of license or 50 50 100 30 339 30 30 (1) (1) 1 No fee. 2 In all services. 3 For each application. Fees are not required in the case of applications filed by tax-exempt organizations for the operation of stations providing noncommercial educational broadcast services, whether or not such stations operate on frequencies allocated for noncommercial educational use. 330 |