Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Section of RADIO DAILY. Thursday, November 10. 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright LIFT FREEZE, SEN. JOHNSON URGES TELE TOPICS AS EXPECTED, TV coverage of the New York elections was pretly dull, reflecting the one-sidedness of the vote and the fact that the results went according to predictions. There can be, of course, no comparison with last year's exciting around-the-clock grind. This was strictly a local affair and took a back seat to commercial program commitments. As we roamed all over the dial, we found that WCBS-TV did the biggest job, with several 15-minute roundups prior to 11 p.m. and steadily from that hour until sign-off. Coverage was sponsored by United Fruit Co. and was heavily sprinkled with Chiquita Banana spots. These animated films, backed by the familiar jingle, were quite entertaining, although we saw too many in one nite. It was interesting to note that the films were Technicobred prints; wonder how they would have looked on CBS color. Doug Edwards was the workhorse for CBS, with Don Hollenbeck at O'Dwyer headquarters and Larry Lesueur at Morris'. Station picked up a brief talk by Morris soon after he conceded, but we did not see any victory announcement from the Mayor or Sen. Lehman. After 11, Abe Burrows showed up with Milton De Lugg to deliver a politicai-type speech and sing a political-type song. Both were very funny. Unfortunately, only Burrows' shining pate was visible as a large table mike obscured most of his face. • XA/PIX OFFERED brief roundups by * » John Tillman and Lowell Limpus from time to time. At 10:45, as the station's screen was occupied with pictures of two elongated but rather flabby gentlemen named Camera and Talun gently massaging each other in what was termed a wrestling match, Limpus' dry voice was heard offering the news that Dulles had conceded. . . . Except for an occasional bulletin, WNBT didn't get started on the election until 11, when it was all over. John Cameron Swayze did most of the work in his accustomed facile manner, yielding on occasion to other members of the NBC news staff and twice to Ben Grauer, who operated from the studios of WNYC, where a giant tally board was set up. Grover Whalen was there and, of course, made a speech. Station's cover was sponsored by Schaefer beer, but we saw only one commercial, delivered by Win Elliot. . . . The only other election news we saw was a brief count on WJZTV around 9 o clock. . . . Nowhere, but nowhere, did we see a pickup from either of the victorious camps. This, we think, would have been the high spot of the evening. It is possible that such a pickup was made and that we missed it, but we were turning that dial pretty fast and couldn't find it. Perhaps it's just as well, however. There isn't a politician around who could compete with Abe Burrows. Pic-Exhibitors Ask Theater-Tele Bands Washington — Pointing to the possibility that in some towns it may offer "the only satisfactory television service," the Motion Picture Theater Owners of West Virginia yesterday asked the FCC to order hearings looking toward the allocation of channels for a theater television service. Other petitions by local theater groups are expected to follow shortly. With particular reference to West Virginia communities, the exhibitor group declared that "theater television offers a unique and unparalled opportunity for local community service. In addition to bringing events of national importance and significance to the theater-going public, petitioner's members could provide valuable service both in the field of child and adult education to the community during the off hours when the theaters are not operating in a conventional way." A further argument was that installation of theater TV equipment could make unnecessary the installation of theater television receiving facilities in schools, even assuming the school systems of the small communities in which some of the theaters of petitioner's members are located could afford such installations. Test Site Set Washington — The comparative demonstrations of CBS and RCA color and DuMont black and white will be from the Wardman Park Hotel studios of WNBW, it was learned yesterday. Last week. RCA had said it did not see how those studios could accommodate the equipment and personnel of the three companies for tests Nov. 14. but in view of the continuance to Nov. 21. it has apparently been possible to work it out. Dillon To NBC Field Staff John J. Dillon, formerly in the NBC-TV operations section, has been named an assistant director in the web's field division. Pye, Of Britain, Plans TV Sales Drive Here Pye, Ltd., one of Britain's largest radio manufacturers, this month will launch a sales drive aimed at a goal of $5,000,000 a year in exports of cameras and other transmitting equipment to stations in this country. Demonstration of all Pye products for sale as part of the drive, with the exception of transmitters, will be held in Washington on Nov. 21; Chicago, Nov. 29, and New York, Dec. 6, at the Park Sheraton Hotel. John Lakin, who will conduct the demonstrations, said that all equipment operates on U. S. standards, with prices from ten to 15 per cent lower than those of American firms. The sales drive is a long-range project, aimed at stations that will be licensed after the freeze is lifted. First Mexican TV On The Air In Color And BlackAnd-White Mexico City— Mexico's first TV operation — an experimental station owned and operated by Guillermo Gonzales Camerena, chief engineer of XEW (AM) — has gone on the air here with daily live and film transmissions in both black-and-white and color. Originate At Stadium Programs originate at National Stadium, where a government fair is under way and will run through Nov. 20. A number of shows are commercial, with some sponsored by advertisers and others by government agencies. Ten of the 20-odd sets in Mexico have been installed by Gonzales Camerena in department stores and at the fairgrounds. The engineer said that the color system "is a Mexican process, similar somewhat to the CBS in the United States." He said that the same receivers are used for both color and monochrome and that no adjustment's are necessary. All changes are made in the "camera bias controls, adjustments necessary due to the different setting of the lens diaphragm, and on the black level circuit on the camera channel," he added. Gonzales Camerena hopes to acquire a license for a permanent station here. Emilio Azcarraga, Mexico's leading broadcaster and owner of XEW, also has applied for video here. Senator Also Ashs FCC Plan For Color-TV (Continued from Paee 1) mony. Dr. T. T. Goldsmith, DuMont research director, also was heard as chairman of the RMA color television committee on field testing. Their appearance followed the Tuesday questioning of Dr. Allen B. DuMont who went over his earlier statements that color is not yet ready. At one point in Tuesday's questioning Commissioner Robert F. Jones asked Dr. DuMont if he did not think the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, recently lost by the DuMont net to NBC, might have been retained by DuMont were it in color. Dr. DuMont replied that a real difference would have been made had the freeze been lifted so that additional black and white stations could take the air, affiliate with DuMont net and provide a larger audience for the show. "The only color involved here is gold," muttered DuMont's attorney, William A. Roberts, who then objected to Jones' line of questioning. Jones apologetically praised Dr. DuMont for his pioneer role in video, offering assurance that he holds DuMont in high regard. Sanabria called for extreme caution in the present expansion of TV. He suggested that the commercialization of video be curtailed, with black and white stations confined to the first six VHF channels and color assignments on the other four. He said there should be at least two or three years of testing on color. The question about Dr. DeForrest's appearance arose when his attorney, I. H. Levinson. said he might appear in February, after the comparative demonstrations slated for that month. He said DeForrest had not seen the CBS system in operation here last month. FCC Counsel Harry Plotkin said DeForrest had not asked for a ticket to last month's CBS demonstration. He then raised the possibility that DeForrest has a new color system to offer, saying that if that is so the Commission had better hear about it now. It was then that the question of a subpoena arose, but Levinson. indicating Dr. DeForrest has no newsystem to propose, would appear on request, with no need for a subpoena. New WGN-TV Commercial Chicago — Continental Clothing Co. has signed with WGN-TV for sponsorship of a new audience participation show. Treasure Hunt.