Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

Ford Foundation gives $6 million to NET EDUCATIONAL TV GROUP TO IMPROVE PROGRAM QUALITY The Ford Foundation announced last week it is making a $6 million grant for 1964 to the National Educational Television and Radio Center to bolster a "high-quality" informational and cultural program service for noncommercial TV stations throughout the country. The grant raises to $86.4 million the amount the Ford Foundation has given for various educational TV projects since 1951. NETRC itself has received $28.2 million during that period. The foundation also announced it is ending any large-scale grant-making activities in instructional activities. Henry T. Heald, president of the foundation, noted that this phase of educational TV is sufficiently established and additional foundation funds on a large scale are unnecessary. The NETRC at the same time announced that the grant marks the beginning of a major new phase of its activities. Henceforth, it will discontinue radio, instructional-television and other related fields and concentrate its efforts in the areas of informational and cultural programing to TV stations. As of this week the organization will be known simply as National Educational Luxury Living! Sensible Location! Specify The New Weston, in the heart of the advertising and broadcasting belt, as your intown address. Our splendid rooms and suites make an ideal environment for living or entertaining. Theatres, clubs, shops are advantageously close. NOW COMPLETELY AIR CONDITIONED. Television. More Ahead ■ The $6 million Ford grant will raise NET's operating budget for 1964 to $7.7 million from $6 million in 1963. Mr. Heald indicated that the foundation would make additional grants in the vicinity of $6 million to NET for several more years, subject to review by the foundation's board of directors. John F. White, president of NET, reported that the grant will enable the center to produce programs of quality in the informational and cultural areas, but said there are no plans to increase the number of hours of programs the organization supplies to its affiliated stations. Affiliates now receive 10 hours a week of programing, of which five hours are new programs. Mr. White said there are now 8 1 ETV stations in the country, of which 75 are affiliated with the center. By the end of 1964, he estimated there will be 95 NET-affiliated outlets. The Ford grant, Mr. White said, will enable NET to produce more of its own programs and also will result in a new affiliation policy whereby noncommercial stations will receive NET programs for a nominal yearly fee. Executives in the news and informational areas at the three TV networks asserted that NET's move toward the production of higher quality public affairs shows would have no effect on their own plans. All of the networks, in fact, indicated they had plans to increase the number of public affairs and informational programs in 1964. Several news executives commented that they "welcomed the competition" from NET. Film sales . . . Science Fiction Features (Allied Artists TV) : Sold to wfil-tv Philadelphia; wkbw-tv Buffalo; wnhc-tv New Haven, Conn.; wqad-tv Moline, 111.; wnbf-tv Binghamton, N. Y.; wral-tv Raleigh, N. C; wfbg-tv Altoona, Pa.; wwlp(tv) Springfield, Mass.; wlyh-tv Lebanon, Pa.; kfre-tv Fresno, Calif.; ktsm-tv El Paso, Tex. and wnbe(tv) New Bern, N. C. Churchill, The Man (Seven Arts Associated): Sold to wmar-tv Baltimore; ktar-tv Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.; woc-tv Davenport, Iowa; ktva(tv) Anchorage, Alaska; ktvf(tv) Fairbanks, Alaska; wcsh-tv Portland, Me.; wdau-tv Scranton, Pa.; wtrf-tv Wheeling, W. Va.; wfmy-tv Greensboro, N. C; wfbc-tv Greenville, S. C. and to Am bro Advertising Agency for Iowa Electric Light & Power Co. for programing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Now sold in 11 markets. Stoney Burke (Economee) : Sold to wttv(tv) Bloomington Indianapolis; kcop(tv) Los Angeles; kgun-tv Tucson, Ariz.; wfaa-tv Dallas-Ft. Worth; weht (tv) Evansville, Ind.; wgn-tv Chicago; kpho-tv Phoenix, Ariz.; cklw-tv Windsor, Ont.-Detroit; wsjv(tv) Elkhart-South Bend, Ind.; kprc-tv Houston; wtar-tv Norfolk, Va.; wpta(tv) Roanoke, Ind.; ktvu(tv) Oakland-San Francisco; wsun-tv St. Petersburg, Fla.; krex-tv Grand Junction, Colo.; ktul-tv Tulsa, Okla.; kfsa-tv Fort Smith, Ark.; ktbs-tv Shreveport, La.; whyn-tv Springfield, Mass. and ktnttv Tacoma-Seattle, Wash. Now sold in 20 markets. 47 markets set for special United Artists Television has reported sales of its six Wolper-UA-TV specials to eight additional sponsors bringing its market count for the series to 47. New sponsors are Jersey Farms Dairy and Home Federal Savings & Loan, Nashville; First Pennsylvania National Bank & Trust, Philadelphia; Illinois Bell Telephone, Springfield, 111.; Bank of New Orleans, New Orleans; Citizens Federal Savings & Loan, San Francisco; Prudental Federal Savings & Loan, Salt Lake City, and Montana Public Power for Great Falls, Billings and Butte, Mont. UA realigns TV activities United Artists Corp. announced last week that henceforth its television activities will be combined into one corporation, United Artists Television Inc. In the past, another corporation, United Artists Associated Inc., concentrated on the sale of theatrical films to TV, while United Artists Television produced and sold programs to networks and stations. It was said that present employes and officers will continue in their respective posts in the new corporation. WOR-TV to increase color Wor-tv the only independent TV station in New York scheduling color, has announced a new boost in colorcasts effective next spring. An estimated 54 hours each week will be in ALL-AUDIO EXCLUSIVE TRY ONE! Write or call collect: Republic News International 132 3rd St., S.E., Wash. 3, D. C. Telephone: 547-3800 World-Famous NEW WESTON BAR & ENGLISH DINING ROOM Here you rub shoulders with the smartest people any time of day. Come in for cocktails and hot canapes. The cuisine is skillfully prepared to Continental tastes. Try it some day soon ... at lunch or dinner. 83 (PROGRAMING) BROADCASTING, October 7, 1963