Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Section of RADIO DAILY. Thursday. November 17, 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright 4-A'S ORGANIZE TV AUTHORITY TELE TOPICS SAFELY ensconced in the NBC time slot following the top-rated Berle show, "Fireside Theater" continues to offer film programs that are so far below quality of live video that its shadow of mediocrity is being cast on the entire field of TV films. Each week two shorts, about 12 minutes each, are aired. With a few exceptions, these films have been almost amateurish in script, acting and photography. The weakness of the story material is primarily due, we think, to the difficulties of developing characters and plot in such a short time. When occasionally a good story is used, the adaptation is so poor that both the production and acting suffer as a result. (Once the show attempted to squeeze Cooper's' novel, "The Spy," into a quarter-hour, less time for commercials.) And photography, for the most part has overlooked the rigid requirements of the video system and the ten-inch screen in both lighting and composition. . . . Many of the Hollywood movie boys have long been touting themselves as the salvation of TV programming. Their efforts, as demonstrated thus far on "Fireside," indicate that they should acquaint themselves with the fundamentals of the new medium before trying to save it. • THE king-size legend about the in' accessibility and indifference of Greta Garbo (she has never made a radio appearance and reportedly ignored a $25,000 offer from "We, The People") has been cut down a bit by Irving Mansfield, venturesome CBS producer of "This Is Show Business." About a week ago, Mansfield wired Garbo an offer to appear on his show. Although CBS refused to disclose the price, it is believed to be well into five figures. The actress answered that she had seen the show, but wanted to see it again before making a decision. After seeing this week's edition, she notified Mansfield that she did not want to appear at present, especially since there was a studio audience. Because of the nature of her reply, Mansfield has hopes of signing her for an appearance, and would eliminate studio attendance should she consent. • A N oft-repeated question heard yester** day was: How much did NBC pay for the rights to the Barkley-Hadley wedding? . . . Ken MacClelland, legit and movie designer, has been signed as art director of the Ed Wynn show. . . . Total of 125 literary critics are participating in the "Author Meets The Critics" poll for best fiction and non-fiction works of the current year. Winners are to be announced over ABC Dec. 7. . . . Mars, Inc., through Grant agency, has signed a 26-week renewal for its portion of "Howdy Doody" effective Dec. 5. Sees TV Time Sales At 30 Million In '49 ELLIOTT (Continued from Page 1) it took 12 years before sufficient automobiles were produced to have a wholesale value of a billion dollars. In contrast, the cumulative wholesale value of sets produced will exceed a billion dollars some time next year, he added. There will be about 95 stations on the air by the end of this year, Elliott said. Average cost of station equipment and facilities is $400,000. Citing receiver service as a representative tributary business of set sales, Elliott said, "The estimated 1949 dollar investment in television servicing and service facilities is $90,000,000 in installation and service charges, $22,500,000 in antenna sales, and $20,750,000 in accessory sales." Elliott estimated that tele will eventually hit an annual rate of 5,000,000 units, absorbing vast quantities of raw materials from all parts of the country and giving employment to many tens of thousands of workers engaged in fabricating that material into component parts and Joint Unit To Study TV Effect On Sports A special study to determine the effect of TV pickups of sports events on gate receipts will be undertaken by RMA and NAB "to get the facts of the case and to see if some satisfactory policy can be worked out." Decision to make the survey, it was said, was prompted by a ban on TV instituted this season by several colleges and reports that a wide ban for next season would be urged at upcoming meetings of the Big Ten and the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. RMA representatives on the new group are H. L. Hoffman. Hoffman Radio Corp., Los Angeles; Leonard F. Cramer, DuMont; A. A. Brandt, General Electric, and Joseph B. Elliott, RCA Victor. NAB members have not yet been named. The RMA position is that TV sports pickups hypo receiver sales, and also spur paid attendance. The committee, it was said, will attempt to determine the true facts. sub-assemblies. The steel going into TV, he estimated, may reach an annual consumption of 100,000 tons; copper, 47,500,000 pounds; aluminum. 40,000,000 pounds, glass, 83.000,000 pounds, and wood, 103,000,000 board feet. Other raw materials going into video include rubber, plastics, ceramics, mica, carbon, nickel, tungsten and paper. RMA Asking FCC To Form Trade-Wide Natl TV Group The TV committee of the RMA will present to the FCC a plan for immediate establishment of an industry wide National Television System Committee composed of top engineers in the field and charged with (1) presenting technical data relative to allocation of UHF frequencies and lifting of the freeze, and (2) recommending basic standards for the future development of color. "Our action is based on the industry's experience with a similar Television System Committee which, in 1941, drafted and recommended to the FCC standards for present black and white television broadcasting," R. C. Cosgrove, president of RMA. said yesterday. "At the request of the FCC, the industry at that time formulated standards for a service which has met with the approval of the public and which has permitted steady growth and improvement in the art of television. We believe a similar procedure for color television, while it is still in the experimental stage, will have equally constructive results." RMA will initiate and finance the engineering study but engineers from all branches of the industry will participate, including non-RMA companies, broadcasting interests, and qualified technical organizations. The FCC will be invited to send representatives to all committee sessions and will receive regular progress reports on the committee's operations. Cosgrove pointed out that the association recognized the ultimate need for such a committee in his testimony before the FCC on September 27 Will Mediate Cases In Dispute With Screen Guilds Television Authority, an over-all talent union to represent performers for video, was voted into existence yesterday by the international board of Associated Actors and Artistes of America CAFL). The new organization was approved by AFRA, Actors Equity, AGVA, AGMA and Chorus Equity, and opposed by the two other 4-A member unions, Screen Actors Guild and Screen Extras Guild. Paul Dullzell, international presiden of the 4-A's. said the board voted to "approve and authorize the formation of Television Authority with the express understanding that Television Authority shall agree to mediate all matters that may be in dispute with Screen Actors Guild and Screen Extras Guild." The new group has been actively ooposed by the. film unions, which charged that it would infringe on their jurisdiction. This week the film guilds announced that they are beginning to organize the TV film field, in which they demand exclusive representation, but that they would support the other 4-A members in their organization of live tele. Following yesterday's board meeting at the Hotel Astor, Dullzell said: "The 4-A's has now given its aonroval to the setting ud of Television Authority. Its aim is the nroper organization of television for +he benefit of all performers and the public. The offer of mediation ooints the way to a peaceable and iust settlement, fulfills the need of the television performers to organize and will preserve harmony among all actors no matter where they work. "It is inconceivable that actors should be involved in any controversy when a way to avoid it could so easily be accented. It is sincerely to be hoped that the actors of America will compose their differences through the peaceable and traditional procedure of mediation. I earnestly urge them to do so since the need for organization is pressing and cannot be long delaved." WLW-T Names Mason Cincinnati — Lin Mason, manager of WWSO. Springfield, has been named program director of WLWTV effective Dec. 1. replacing Ruth Lyons, who has held the post for the past several months on a temoorary basis. Miss Lyons will devote her full time to her two AM and TV programs