PAGE TWO
Scranton and Wilkes-B
continued from PAGE 1
in some business circles though some other busi-
nessmen have opposed it.
A single orchestra is being thought of by some
board members as a step in the direction of a mar-
keting merger because several important business-
men from both cities are involved in the negotia-
tions, and their influence can be expected to in-
crease over the years because of the fact that an
eventual single orchestra board will be an in-
stitution heard in both communities. Except for
informal talks between the two boards, the situa-
tion today is that one board is officially indepen-
dent of the other.
A series of committees will be composed of
Lackawanna and Luzerne County board members,
so that some from each area will be on the same
committee. The committees do much of the ad-
ministrative work that is needed to plan concerts,
hire musicians, deal with the conductor’s pro-
blems, book soloists and take care of the ticket
sales, local press inquiries and the multitude of
problems involved in getting music before the pub-
lic.
The two boards will exist independently for
a time; in fact the time that it finally will be re-
duced to one board is something that board mem-
bers talk about in terms of ‘‘playing it by ear’’ with
two years from now an educated guess as to when
the one board-one orchestra will come into ex-
istence.
One of the immediate gains the board will
make is to cut in half the amount of rehearsal
time they pay for. This will be done by identical
musical programs in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton.
Thus the renting of music scores and the pooling
of rehearsal time will accomplish this. Each or-
chestra is to play eight concerts. Four of these will
be in Wilkes-Barre, four in Scranton. Miss Brown
will conduct two in Scranton and two in Wilkes-
Barre while Mr. Liva conducts two in Wilkes-
- Barre and two also in Scranton.
Another area the orchestras are to look into
is the expansion of the youth concerts into schools
outside the two cities. Thus with a single orchestra
learning a single program, it was thought the cost
of the concert to school districts would be reduced,
making it possible for schools in the outlying coun-
ties to afford the concert. As of now, youth con-
certs have been heard by the city schools, whose
districts usually have more money for concerts
than do rural and suburban schools. Even so, the
youth concert in the city schools have been heav-
ily aided financially by local businesses. ;
It is quite likely that problems developing
from the coalition move will involve differences
between the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre or-
chestra’s present ways of operating. For instance,
“SESAME STREET”
continued from PAGE 1
\ v ye
rupted basis at least until the end of the school
year.
Channel 44 station manager George Strimel,
a resident of Mountaintop, told NNI that he had
“no idea’ where the needed money might be
raised. He explained that Channel 44 has no one
who solicits financial support for the station, as
such, and that he saw ‘‘absolutely no alternative”
to remove the financial crisis of the network by
Saturday.
In a recent Channel 44 board of director’s bul-
letin, the local station’s financial stability appeared
to be questioned. “The other smaller sources of
revenue have decreased, particularly that of foun-
dation support which decreased from $62,000 in
1968 to $50,000 in 1969 and down to less than $1000
in the current fiscal year.” During the 1968-69 fis-
cal year the station had the assistance of a pro-
fessional fund raiser, who left his station duties
last spring.
William H. Crum, instructional superintendent
in the Abington Heights School District, told NNI
that in his opinion the reason of state legislature
had not funded the network was because of poli-
tics involved between a Republican governor and
a Democratic controlled House.
~ Additionally, Mr. Crum explained that the
funding of the network is not part of the general
appropriations bill, and must be handled by sep-
arate legislation.
Mr. Gibson said that the funding was not part
of the current financial crisis the state is facing,
but is usually handled as a 12th hour appropria-
tion. ‘“There is no reason for the delay,” Mr. Gib-
son continued, ‘‘because the state does have the
money.’
Other appropriations, as with the network,
have not been funded either, Mr. Crum explained.
These others, according to the school administra-
tor, include mental health, and certain state school
subsidies.
The amount of money needed to keep the seven
television stations carrying the network program-
ming is $1.73 million. The coverage area involved
would run into the millions of viewers in the state,
with station locations in Philadelphia, Hershey,
University Park, Erie, Bethlehem, Pittsburgh and
Scranton.
Already the local station has raised its head-
tax on schools, upping the cost per pupil to school
districts from $1 to $1.25. This move, according
to Channel 44, will bring in an additional $25,000
for the local station. An additional $25,000 is hoped
for by enrollment of more schools in the program.
A television auction is also planned for the spring,
station officials said.
In the past, Mr. Strimel explained, emergency
funds were available for such crisis from the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, also known
as Public Broadcast Laboratories, which secures
its funds from the Federal Government. Currently,
however, he continued, PBL is also short of money
with which to meet such needs.
THE DALLAS POST, JAN. 29, 1970
arre orchestras to combine
Beatrice Brown, musical! director of the Scranton Philharmonic,
conducting a concert.
the Wilkes-Barre contract with Mr. Liva provides
for reading rehearsals while the Scranton con-
tract with Miss Brown does not have this feature.
There are areas where the boards will have to
make judgements in such delicate matters as
' personalities and performance evaluation. They
are not unsolvable problems, musicians inter-
viewed believe, but are illustrations of what the
future may hold for the two boards once the first
days of reorganization are over.
As a generality, musicians contacted are
excited about the merger idea, feeling that it is
a worthwhile experiment and could become an im-
portant cultural addition to the northeastern part
of the state.
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