Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Section of RADIO DAILY. Wednesday. December 14, 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright VIDEO SETUP OF CBC COMPLETED TELE TOPICS SHOPPERS' MATINEE," the muchheralded DuMonr web dayrimer, is a potpourri of brief, inexpensive programs which remind us of the shows aired by WABD when the station tried all-day programming last year. Shows are set in various departments of a department store and tied together by Minnie Jo Curtis as an elevator operator who takes viewers from one floor to another. This gimmick probably looked swell on paper, but there is just too much of it; after a while those elevator rides seem interminable. During the first 75 minutes of the two-hour stanza, there was only one service seg that offered any information. This was a cooking lesson by Fannie Engel, who is undoubtedly competent, but devoid of personality. Muky's photography portion could be good but yesterday showed only a remarkably dead-panned boy blowing giant spheres with bubble gum. The photog's attire and the talking camera gimmick were just too, too precious. A "Swap Shop" conducted by Don Russell was merely talk. • THE REMAINDER of that part of the ' lineup we had time to see was comprised of musical segs featuring Susan Raye, Cass Franklin, Monica Moore and Gordon Dillworth. Of the four, only Miss Raye projected the necessary warmth. . . . Every so often the program is interrupted by chimes heralding a "store bulletin" — one minute of news fed to the web for airing by those outlets that have not sold the bulletin for a local commercial. (None of the spots we saw on WABD had been sold.) Copy on these spots should be improved to avoid repetition of one that ran something like this: "While Fannie Engel considers recipes for the kitchen, the United Nations continued . . ." Program is supervised by Duncan McDonald, written by Alvin Boretz and directed by Dick Sandwick, Jim Saunders and Pat Fay. • CHEVROLET REPORTED dropping "Inside USA" because of the show's heavy budget. . . . NBC building a new half hour show around Henry Morgan for debut around the first of the year. . . . Gainsborough Associates has one of the webs interested in "Maggi Goes To A Party," half hour stanza with Maggi McNellis. Show would originate each week from a party at the homes of various celebs to tie in with Maggi's new party games book. Remote costs said to be about $800. ... "A Couple Of Joes" returns to ABC Dec. 21, 8-8:30, and will be extended to a full hour soon after, with "Look Photocrime" probably being axed. Wendy Barrie will be moved to Thursday, 9 p.m., to replace the departing Boris Karloff stanza. Plans Include One All-French Station In Montreal; Test Programs Expected On Air By Next Autumn; Predict Ten-Fold Jump In Receivers In One Year (Continued ber, 1951. As soon as the $4,500,000 loan to the CBC passed by the House of Commons for the establishment of stations in Montreal and Toronto has received full approval, an RCA transmitter will be bought for Montreal at a cost of approximately $204,000. A General Electric transmitter will be bought for Toronto at an installed price of $184,000, J. J. McCann, Minister of National Revenues, stated in the House of Commons. In a long statement on the government's policy, Dr. McCann said that negotiations were now being conducted with the City of Montreal officials for approval of a plan to build a transmitter atop Mount Royal. Final approval, he said, would have to be obtained from Quebec Government. Plans are under way for the construction of studios on the site of the Radio-Canada Building in Montreal, with an extension on the sixth floor of the building for TV staff and services. Training of personnel and construction would start in the spring. After the transmitters were installed, there would be some test programs on a regular schedule. The Minister warned that the initial loan of $4,500,000 was only a beginning and that over the years tele was going to cost a lot of money, running as high as $14,000,000. "We believe that in Canada in the from Page 1) first year there might be 2,250 receiving sets," he said. "In the next year we expect that will go 10 times as high, or 22,000 sets. By 1952-53 it will be probably 56,000 sets, by 1953 -54, 111,000 and by 1954-55, 168,000. "If we count on the revenue from those sources, they should bring in a revenue of $3,600,000 and from commercial operation revenue, $1,817,000. So that the total revenue in that period we estimate would be in the neighborhood of $5,420,000. Our total expenditures would run as high as $14,000,000 over the years . . . leaving a net capital cost in the neighborhood of $10,000,000," Dr. McCann said. Gains By U. S. Experience Earlier, the Minister said that by waiting until this time to embark in the field of television, Canada was able to take advantage of the costly experience gained by the United States. "In view of the high cost of television operations," said the Minister, it is felt that individuals or groups interested in establishing private stations in any city may wish to form an association for the purpose of applying for a license." In Montreal, Dr. McCann reported, there were five television channels, of which two had been reserved for CBC. In Toronto there were three. Press-Time Paragraphs SAG Talks Begin; Will Resume In January Having for its purpose the improving of working conditions and wages of actors in motion pictures produced for television exhibition, a meeting was held in New York yesterday by a Screen Actors Guild negotiating committee and representatives of the principal film producers in this area. Minimum wages were discussed, also payment for re-use of TV films, after which negotiations were adjourned until after the Christmas holidays. Premier Foods Buys Olsen Program Premier food Products Co., has signed with DuMout for across-theboard sponsorship of "Johnny Olsen's Rumpus Room" over WABD beginning Jan. 2. Audience participation daytimer features Johnny and Penny Olsen. Contract was placed through Peck agency. ITPA Meet To Diseuss Merger With Coast Membership meeting of Indepeiulent Television Producers Association will be held tonight, 8 p.m. at the Hotel Plaza to discuss merger with TP A, of Hollywood, which will be represented by prexy Mai Boyd. Meeting will feature addresses by ITPA president hvin Paul Sulds and Chris Witting, executive assistant to DuMont web chief Mortimer Loewi. There will also be a legal seminar conducted by James Lawrence Ply and William Durka. TV's 'Greatest Need' New Bands: Poppele The industry's "greatest need today is more channels to permit its expansion into a nation-wide competitive service," J. R. Poppele vicepresident of WOR TV and jgjigli ^ president of 0Bmmwm. TBA' said yt's" Wfe . terday in an adJmL dress before the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. tThe 40 UHF I channels propo■■M ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ unexplored from the standpoint of usefulness as a commercial service, and extensive field-testing must be done before we can have the answer to their practicality." Turning to color, he said that none of the proposed systems can match the high quality of brilliance and clarity of today's monochrome and that it would be probably five years or more before color is introduced commercially. Poppele urged the architects to plan now for video facilities "for multiple dwellings with the same careful consideration as that given to plumbing, heating, ventilation and other tenant services." These should include conduits for wiring and outlets for plug-in on a master antenna system. He added that the architect should also consider TV from the viewpoint of location in a living room or den. POPPELE NBC Covers Plane Crash NBC reopened its network one hour after regular sign-off Monday night to carry WNBW's (Washington) coverage of the Potomac crash of a commercial DC-3. Web went on the air at 12:30 a.m., EST, with onthe-spot pickup of rescue operations off Boiling Field. The telecast, under the supervision of WNBW's Charles Colledge. included interviews with members of the Air Rescue Squad stationed at Boiling Field, airline officials and first-hand observers of the crash. Cleve. Set Sales Record Cleveland — New monthly sales record — 17,745 receivers — was set here last month, the Bureau of Business Research reported yesterday.