Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Section of RADIO DAILY. Friday, November 18. 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright FCC BANS THEATER-TELE PICKUPS TELE TOPICS I OVERS of mystery drama will get only mild satisfaction from "Plainclothesman," a Transamerican package added to the Du Mont lineup fairly recently. Scripts are routine and not overly-inspired and bear a close resemblance to a class B-minus movie. This week's, which was a trifle better than some others seen on the series, involved a gentleman who cuckholds his best friend, inadvertently kills his paramour then disposes of the body and tries to pin the rap on the husband. Needless to say, the dastard is apprehended by the hero of the title, an unseen police lieutenant, and his assistand in enterprising fashion. Production was devised to get as much suspense as possible out of the situation, even tho' viewers knew whodunit and that the villain must be caught before sign-off. . . . Plainclothesman himself is never seen; the subjective camera technique is used whenever he is on scene. His voice belongs to Ken Lynch. Acting and direction this week were on a high professional level. Cast included Earl Hammond, Elaine Williams, Jim Boles, Billy Lou Watt and Jack Orrison. Bill Marceau directed and script was by Gilbert Braun. • ^^BS SOLD its second hour-long Thanks^ * giving Day special yesterday when Hotpoint, Inc., division of GE, signed for 'Hotpoint Holiday," variety seg to be aired on the full web at 4 p.m., EST. Rudy Vallee will emcee, and other acts include Guy Lombardo, Sam Levenson, Carol Bruce and Raye & Naldi. Barry Wood is producing and Herb Sussan will direct. Maxon is the agency. Program will precede the Longines holiday special. . . . In keeping with the dignity of the Met's first nite audience. ABC cameramen covering the event will be required to wear tuxedos, and the red tally lights on the cameras will be disconnected so as not to disturb the music lovers. . . . Arthur Godfrey's Chesterfield and Coke show this week was one of his best. Jerry Colonna, who is being wasted on AM, offered a standout bit of comedy. . . . The Howdy Doody Victor record album will be in the stores by Dec. 1 to cash in on the Christmas trade. N' | BC HAS set the dates for its new opera series, to be supervised and conducted by Dr. Peter Herman Adler. Kurt Weill's "Down In The Valley'' will be aired Jan. )4, 10 p.m., EST, and will be followed bv new English translations of "Madame Butterfly," Feb. 11; "The Bat," Mar. 11, and "Tales Of Hoffmann," Aor. 8. All will be cut to an hour except rj Weill's work, which will run only 30 minutes. Not yet scheduled is a new ; work by Gian-Carlo Menotti, commis| sioned by the web. Sales, Profits Boost Reported By Du Mont Net sales of $29,507,000 for the 40 weeks ending Oct. 9. 1949 were reported yesterday by Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc., compared with $17,374,000 for the corresponding period last year. Net profits, after provision for Federal income taxes, rose from $1,421,000 in 1948 to $1,676,000 this year. (Net profits after taxes per outstanding common share after deduction preferred stock dividends were 75 cents per share in 1949 and 70 cents last year. Dividend Declared The firm's board of directors yesterday declared a dividend of 50 cents per share on common stock payable Dec. 22 to stockholders of record Dec. 1. A dividend of 25 cents per share on preferred stock also was voted, payable Jan. 1, 1950, to stockholders of record December 15. According to the statement, "No provision for possible liability of DuMont in the event of adverse decision in certain existing patent suits has been included in this figure nor has any amount which may accrue to DuMont from the industry's unauthorized use of DuMont's patents." Pyo Dpiiio Monday Washington — Representative of Pye. Ltd., prominent British electronics manufacturing firm, on Monday will demonstrate the company's video equipment for members of the FCC. Scheduled for 11:15 a.m.. the showing will take place in the Carlyle Hotel. At 2:30 p.m., the demonstration will be repeated for a group of consulting engineers. Amanda Randolph To WC Pianist-singer Margaret Johnson will substitute for Amanda Randolph on a daily morning show over DuMont beginning next week when Miss Randolph goes to Hollywood to fill a movie commitment. Miss Johnson, originator of the quartet, "The Song Spinners," will hold down the spot until Miss Randolph's return Dec. 19. CBS Plugs Lower Cost Despite Rate Boosts Continuing trend toward lower circulation costs is pointed up by CBS this week in a letter announcing rate increases for 18 affiliates. Signed by general sales manager David Sutton, the letter reveals that in January of this year cost-perthousand for the 18 stations was $6.16, compared with $3.97 by Dec. 1, when all the outlets will have higher hourly rates — a decrease of 36 per cent for new advertisers and more for present bankrollers protected at the old rates for six months. Old and new rates (one hour, class A) for the stations follow: WNHC-TV from $300 to $400 WGAL-TV from 150 to 200 WTMJ-TV from 300 to 350 WRGB from 250 to 325 KSD-TV from 300 to 425 WBTV from 150 to 175 KTTV from 500 to 750 WAVE-TV from 200 to 250 WTCN-TV rrom 250 to 325 KING-TV from 200 to 300 WCBS-TV from 1500 to 2000 WCAU-TV from (500 to 1000 WTVR from 220 to 250 WBKB from 000 to 800 WNAC-TV from 400 to 750 WOIC from 300 to 450 WEWS from 500 to 600 WHEN from 150 to 250 ABC's Technical Plans Set For Opera's Opening Night Completing plans for its pickup of the Metropolitan Opera openingMonday night, ABC yesterday took a deep breath and revealed that more than a ton of equipment and three-quarters of a mile of cable will be installed in the Met and that the additional power to be brought into the theater to supply the ci^ht cameras and auxiliary operations would be sufficient to provide 50 homes with electrical services. Staff of six directors will be assigned to the event, sponsored by Texas Co., under producer-director Burke Crotty. They are Marshall Diskin. Robert Doyle, Gertrude Tipper, Theodore Nathanson. Perry Smith and Leonard Blair. The eight cameras will be stationed as follows: two on the orchestra floor, one in the standing room area and the other stage left; one on the second balcony near the proscenium, stage right; one adjacent to the radio booth on first balcony; two backstage; one in Sherry's bar, and one in the 39th street lobby. One backstage and the one in the lobby will be equipped with the Balowstar lens. Bids Them Await Final Ruling On Pix-House TV Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — The FCC said yesterday it will grant no more okays for TV relay for "non-experimental exhibition purposes" thereby making official what became apparent more than a month ago as the Commission first turned down, then permitted, relays of the World Series for bigscreen showing in a Scranton, (Pa.» theater. It was made plain at that time that the eventual okay in Scranton was a special thing, with policy against such relay. The Commission said yesterday that there had been misunderstandings of its policy which made it seem best to grant that request. In its notice yesterday the Commission pointed out that there is currently no provision for frequencies for the relay of theater TV programs, adding that it "now has under consideration petitions recently filed by several motion picture organizations requesting the institution of rule-making proceedings looking toward the establishment of a theater television service and the allocation of frequencies for such a service. "The Commission considers that to continue to grant new theater television authorizations before a final decision is reached on whether or not to establish such a service might be misleading to the public and to persons contemplating investment in the proposed service." KSD-TV Maps Coverage Of Veep Wedding Today St. Louis — Final arrangements for televising the wedding here today of Vice-President Alben W. Barkley and Mrs. Carleton S. Hadley, were announced yesterday by George M. Burbach, general manager of KSDTV, which will make the pick-up for the NBC net. Four cameras and KSD-TV's mobile unit will be used to cover the event. Two cameras will be spotted in front of the church to photograph the wedding party and guests entering and leaving. Cameras have been forbidden in the church. Two other cameras will be used at the reception and wedding luncheon which will follow at a private home. Pickup will start at 11:45 a.m., EST, at the church and will switch to the reception at 12. NBC will cut off at 1 p.m.. EST. but KSD-TV will continue locallv until 12:30 p.m.. CST.