Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Section of RADIO DAILY, Monday, November 21, 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright BAB SURVEYS RATE PRACTICES TELE TOPICS THE WEEK'S WASH: As part of its ' holiday promotion, Ronson will simulcast "Twenty Questions'' over the NBC-TV web, WOR-TV and the Mutual AM hookup for five weeks beginning Nov. 26. Program is aired Saturdays, 8 p.m. Grey agency handles the account. . . . Chevrolet Dealers in Boston are really going all-out in TV. Already bankrolling all 35 home games of the Bruins pro hockey team over WBZ-TV, the group has just signed with the station for a five-a-week quarterhour variety show. The dealers sponsored Braves and Red Sox baseball over the Westinghouse outlet last season and will repeat next year. . . . WCAU-TV has upped its local class A hourly rate to $700. Its CBS network rate is $1,000. • THE NOTRE DAME-NORTH CAROLINA ' clash last week walked all over its TV competition according to a special Hooper survey. Carried by Du Mont, the game had a rating of 22.2, with 75.1 share of audience. Army-Penn game on NBC was rated 5.5; "Of Human Interest," a film on WATV, had 1.1, and the NavyColumbia contest on CBS had 0.8. Total sets-in-use in combined AM-TV homes was 34.7 per cent, with video accounting for 29.6 per cent. . . . The Henry Souvaine office, which has been producing intermission features for the ABC Saturday afternoon airings of the Met for the past nine years, will perform a similar chore at tonite's coverage, supervising the precurtain and two intermission pickups. • A WEEKLY nite-time half-hour will be made available by WOR-TV early next year to agencies and package firms as a showcase for new programs. Julius Seebach, station's program veepee is looking for a sizeable number, so that "when we start we shall have lined up enough acceptable programs to assure the continuance of the series." . . . New issue of Look mag, out tomorrow, applauds Dr. Allen B. Du Mont as the "Father Of Television." The bit about him is placed next to one about Paul Douglas, former CBS announcer. . . . A I lard ale Productions has completed four films in a projected series of 26 featuring Ken Niles and titled "Hollywood Startime." • TWO DAILY RACES at Bowie will be ' aired by WNBW, beginning today, for Gunther Brewing Co., through Ruthrauff b Ryan. Station, owned by NBC, will feed the races to WAAM, ABC affiliate in Baltimore, which carries a daily afternoon sports show for Gunther. . . . Pathe Cine is introducing a 16mm. camera "designed to fill the needs" of TV films. Priced under $400 and weighing less than five pounds, camera has a full frame focus which permits viewing the picture through the lens while shooting. Comparative Testing Begins Today In D. C. Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — Comparative demonstrations of RCA and CBS color and DuMont black-and-white TV will get under way before the FCC today and will continue through tomorrow. The Commission at the weekend announced the schedule of program material to be scanned. Included are wrestling, boxing, interviews, advertising scenes, chorus singing, variety shows, puppet shows, cooking instructions, flower arrangements and numerous other types of presentations. To Resume In February The demonstrations will conclude the initial phase of the Commission's color hearings, which will be resumed in February with demonstrations of the Color Television, Inc., system and additional comparative tests. Automotive Firms Heavy In Newsreel Sponsorship Sponsorship of the Telenews-INS weekly newsreel over WHEN, Syracuse, by two local Chevrolet dealers brings to nine the number of markets in which the reel is sponsored by an automotive firm. The others are Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Omaha, Schenectady, San Diego and Toledo. Exploitation About 3,000,000 children and their parents are expected to see NBC puppet star "Howdy Doody" who will be featured in three Thanksgiving Day parades In the Gimbels parade in Philadelphia, Bob Smith will lead the procession in an open car followed by floats picturing the show's cast New York's Macy parade will feature a 13'/2-foot replica of the puppet, while Cla-abell, the show's clown, will lead the Bamberger parade in Newark. Bloomington, Ind. Is Smallest TV City Bloomington, Indiana — Pride in bigness is an American trait. Thus when a community takes pride in lack of bigness, it's news. That's the case with Bloomington, a city of 7,300 families, which is proudly claiming to be the smallest city in the nation with a TV station. The outlet, WTTV, is owned and operated by Sarkes and Mary Tarzian and has been on the air since Armistice Day. Although WTTV was the first in the state to apply for a video license, it followed WFBM-TV, Indianapolis, into operation because chief engineer Morton Weigel and his staff made most of the major equipment used in setting up the station. The Week In Television TV Authority Voted Into Existence By 4-A's International board of the 4-A's voted into existence Television Authority, an overall group to represent talent in the TV field. Five eastern unions approved the measure, which was opposed by the two film guilds. The step was taken "with the express understanding" that TV A would "mediate all matters that may he in dispute with" the western unions. . . . FCC said it will grant no more okays for TV relay for "non-experimental exhibition purposes," thus cutting off use of channels for theaters until action on applications for frequencies by several movie groups. . . . Madison Square Garden peddling three winter sports packages without success, because of price tags said to be excessively high by both stations and advertisers. . . . Plans are being formulated for construction, atop Empire State Bldg., of a master transmitter antenna mast which could accommodate all stations in the N. Y. area. Only two outlets. WCBS-T]' and WOR-TV . are believed definitely not interested in the project. . . . Great Britain was drawn into the war between RCA and CBS when Dr. Peter Goldmark returned from London and announced that BBC. would begin experiments with the CBS color system. RCA then released a statement by a BBC. te/pper to the effect that Britain was equally interested in all systems and that no arrangements bad been made, Goldmark immediately retaliated with the statement that "RCA is again attempting to ride CBS' coattatls in color television." Reveals Similarity Between TV, AM Rate Cards (Continued from Page 1) sets served." Six months is the most frequently accepted rate protection period in TV, the report said, although considerable variation does result from different methods of measuring the six months. Largest group of stations guarantees rates from the date notice is given of an impending change, while the second of the two largest groups protects only for six months from the date the series contracted for actually begins. Short Periods Come Higher Also noted was a tendency among TV outlets to charge more for shorter program periods in relation to their basic hourly rate than the generally accepted ratio in radio. Most TV stations find it necessary to charge 25 per cent of their basic hourly rate for five minute segments, for example, while 20 per cent is the radio recommendation of NAB. For longer periods of time, however, the ratios tend to be identical. Only nine of the 75 stations whose rate cards were studied do n>ot make any extra charge for use of their studio or film projection facilities unless an abnormal amount of rehearsal time is required. Largest group, 37 stations, make no charge for film projection facilities but do charge extra for live studio shows. The study was done by Charles A. Baston, assistant director of BAB for tele. Members Listed Members of the standardization group are Eugene Thomas, WOIC. Washington, chairman; Arthur Gerbel, Jr., KJR, Seattle; Henry W. Slavick. WMCT. Memphis; E. K. Jett. WMAR-TV, Baltimore; Louis Pead, WDSU-TV, New Orleans: John E. Surrick. WFIL-TV, Philadelphia; James T. Milne, WNHC-TV. New Haven; George W. Harvey, WGN-TV. Chicago; E. Y. Flanigan. WSPD-TV, Toledo; William B. Ryan. KFI-TV. Los Angeles; George Moskovics, CBS: James V. McConnell. NBC; Harold L. Morgan, ABC: Edward Codel, I'atz Agency; William H. Weldon, Blair TV; Russel Woodward, Free and Peters, and Henry I. Christal. Edward Petry. WBNS-TV Sells Hoop Sked Columbus, Ohio — David Davics Packing Co. has signed with WBNSTV for sponsorship of Ohio State University's home basketball schedule of ten games. Marty DeVictor will be behind the mike.