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— — i 40 Million to See Race on Television 170 Stations Will Carry Derby Video Show, With 206 Covering It on Radio By FRED GROSSMAN Staff Correspondent While 100,000 avid turf fans jam every nook and cranny ol historic Churchill Downs today to see the 81st running of the Kentucky Derby, millions more will witness the classic via the medium of television. The Derby will reach an estimated 40,000,-. 000 persons, one-quarter of the entire 160,000,000 population of the United States, while additional millions will hear a description of the running on radio. The 1955 Derby will receive the widest television and radio coverage in history. The Columbia Broadcasting System, which is again handling the radio and TV for [ the Triple Crown events this year, has thrown its full network facilities open for the Derby, which will bring "live" descriptions of the race to all corners of the United States, parts of Canada and Hawaii. The broadcasts are being sponsored by the Gillette Safety Razor Company. To Be Short-Waved to Armed Forces In addition, the Armed Forces Radio Service, broadcasting via short wave to U. S. military personnel overseas, will go on the air with a transcription of the CBS description about 15 minutes after the "live" show in this country. The APRS broadcast will be available to all English-speaking peoples in the world, and previous estimates of its audience have run as high as 92,000,000. AFRS also will broadcast the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, which CBS will also cover by radio and television. CBS will begin its Derby broadcasts at 4:15 p.m. CDT, the show running a half-hour until 4:45 p.m. Three top-flight sports commentators have been assigned to cover the Derby and they will be heard on radio as well as on television. Fred Capossela, the familiar voice on. the "horns" at all New York bracks and at Tropical and Hialeah parks in Florida, will call the race, while Win Elliott will give the color description and Phil Sutterfield will handle the interviews in the winners circle. In the New York area, the race will-be seen on television over WBBM-TV chan- Continued on Page Twenty-Eight 40 Million to See Race on Television 170 Stations Will Carry Derby Video Show, With 206 Covering It on Radio Continued from Page One nel 2 and heard on radio over WBBM 780 on the dial. The CBS television network has arranged for 170 owned and affiliated video stations to carry the Derby show. Last year, there were 128 television stations on the network, with the audience estimated at 22,000,000. In radio, too, CBS will have record coverage. A total of 206 stations will carry the radio broadcast. This includes two outlets in Hawaii and five or six in Canada which will air the Derby through the facilities of the Canadian Broadcasting Company. The other foreign -areas which the voices of Capossela, Elliott and Sutterfield will reach through the facilities of AFRS are Europe, Greenland, Africa, Newfoundland, the Mediterranean and Caribbean areas and the entire Asiatic theatre, including Japan and Okinawa and the. Midway Islands. This will be Caposselas third Derby description in four years. The veteran turf-caster is no stranger to a microphone and ! race /horses, having announced races since 1933 and having handled the job on the big apple in New York since 1943. Elliot is a popular sportscaster, familiar to both radio and television audiences, while Sutterfield, of the staff of WHAS, Louisville, is also well known nationally to sports fans. In addition to the airing of the Derby, CB§ will present a "Derby Preview" on ra- dio only from 2:45 to 3:00 pjn. CDT this afternoon. John Derr, CBS director of sports will interview newspapermen and 1 racing experts on the Derby.
