American television directory (1946)

PROCEED WITH CAUTION By NORMAN D. WATERS President, Norman D. W aters & Associates, Inc.; Past President, American Television Society, Inc. For the good o'f television let us all take care not to oversell it to the public or the trade. Let us see that there are no more backward steps in its forward march! Let us beware of those who would create greater immediate expectations than television can truly fulfill. No one can challenge the fact that a great new industry is here in all its glory. Vast improvements will come with the passing of time but the fact that television is here and ready to become a great force for public good is indisputable. In our boundless enthusiasm, let us not promise too much too fast . . . let us not disappoint the public again ! Programming is today’s para¬ mount problem, and unfortunately very little progress has been made in solving it. One hears wild specu¬ lations concerning the types and costs of future television programs. Radio was bombarded with identi¬ cal criticism, yet solutions were dis¬ covered. One basic principle ap¬ plies — and it is even more true of television. If the service itself is of sufficient value to the public, an answer will be found for all cost difficulties. If television programs are as effective commercially as we all anticipate, advertisers will stand in line to foot the bills and assure handsome profits to all concerned. The crying need in television is to attract the great creative minds of America to the task of develop¬ ing programs that the public wants to see and learning how to present them most effectively. Everything else revolves around this central point. If John Doe wants to see television regularly, he’ll buy a re¬ ceiving set. If he buys enough sets, advertisers will want to use tele¬ vision time. If broadcasting be¬ comes profitable, stations will spring up like mushrooms through¬ out this country and the world! John Doe, in the televiewer’s chair at home is boss, and always will be. He will call the tune to which all in this great new art must dance! More and more outstanding pro¬ ducers and directors of the radio, motion picture, theatrical and ad¬ vertising fields are seriously study¬ ing television. All of us are begin¬ ners in the complex art that pro¬ gramming represents; but many are rolling up their sleeves, pitch¬ ing in and learning fast. The American Television Society has served as a rallying point for all who foresaw the greatness of television and worked for its ad¬ vancement. It has increased oppor¬ tunity and responsibility today. I believe its strength will always lie in its complete independence as an organization. This independence en¬ ables it to function as an impartial forum for threshing out television problems as they arise. It has nobly served this cause in the past and a great future stands before it. The careers of those in television are best served by conscientiously safe¬ guarding the interests of the public and of the industry as a whole. several grades above a moron. So long as I live I shall continue to repeat that it is never necessary or desirable to talk down to people. We should bring people up to a product, not the product down to them. Not that department stores have made effective use of radio! On the con¬ trary, it is apparent that stores have fumbled badly in their use of radio. When it was a new medium they ig¬ nored it, then feared to use it, and finally edged into it. Radio is as spe¬ cialized as any department in their stores and requires an equally special¬ ized approach and treatment. Only gradually, and late, stores are coming to a realization of this fact. It is my sincere hope that department stores will approach television at the start with the thoroughness, intelli¬ gence, boldness, and resourcefulness that they have used in developing their businesses, their displays and their newspaper advertising. A great contribution to the entire field of television can be made by the stores. They are a vital link in the pro¬ motional follow-through of this new medium. My impression is that depart¬ ment store owners will not be blind to it for television will offer them a minia¬ ture show window in everyone’s home. Great care, time and large expendi¬ tures are lavished on stores’ exterior show windows. And equal attention, by many stores, is concentrated on vital interior display. It will require this same kind of specialized skill and re¬ search to build effective television show windows in people’s homes. I see an entire new industry of men and women trained to present merchan¬ dise visually, in dramatic, interesting, salable fashion. It will not be possible to drape a fabric or a dress in front of a tele-lens and have people remain in¬ terested in it. Remember, it is a dy¬ namic process in a dynamic age! The question will be asked: How can stores compete effectively with world news, expensive entertainment and sports events, which may be viewed as they occur? The answer is, the depart¬ ment store has its own function to per¬ form in television. In the vocal you can tie a selling message to a news program. In the visual the message is the “bread and butter” itself, that is, the actual mer¬ chandise. In newspapers and magazines, for example, we advertise the actual goods, not a news program. In tele¬ vision we will come back to this practice but, with a different technique. We shall be able to offer our cus¬ tomers the news of merchandise, take them behind the scenes as merchandise comes into the store. We shall present a visual catalog for shopping, drama¬ tically and interestingly. Obviously, no store can expect to get away with shooting a camera at static goods. Dramatic Demonstrations to Come There is excitement and interest for women in stores, in their activities in the use of all the new things that are beginning to explode upon us. The back¬ ground of many old and new things can now be interestingly presented to the public. The miraculous scientific story of a new fabric like nylon can be dramatized by showing the method of production and by letting laboratory tests demon¬ strate why it wears so well. Bureau of Standards’ tests, so dry in reading, can be brought to life and can prove before your customers’ eyes that materials will not stretch, fade, or wear out, except under certain duress. Merchants who are struggling to find the solution to the present static win¬ dow display will eventually find their answer in the dynamic television screen which provides movement, vitality, in¬ terest, change and immediacy. Your cus¬ tomer of the future facing what is now the framed still-life window display will find herself looking into active moving exhibits of merchandise either within the store or from other sources. One day soon our present type of window display, compared with the future television window, will probably seem like a framed picture of dead fish in a Victorian dining room. Department stores will do well at this time to begin studies of television tech¬ niques. It is not necessary to build enormous equipment to do so. Somewhat small flexible devices will be available for rehearsal and experimental work. Every retail advertising department of the future will have studios devoted to (Continued on page 127) 48