Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

FRIDAir AT 5 Color Tv Boom' Will Aid Sponsor Agency. Broadcaster. Says RCA Exec RCA Sates Corp. vice president predicts 3.3 million color television sets by next year, 5.3 million by end of 1965 New York — Predicting that by earl) i n^xt year there will be 3.3 millioi f color tv sets in use and that by thi end of 1965 the figure will hit 5.3 mil lion, Jack M. Williams, vice presideni] in charge of advertising and sales promotion for RCA Sales Corp., toldj the New York Advertising Club thall "color television is just too good anj opportunity for anybody to pass upl — sponsor, advertising agency, or evenj broadcaster." William added: "Foot-dragging and! procastination will not slow up color's advancement into the living rooms of nearly every American home." Buttressing his point, Williams said that measured in dollars alone, color tv is approaching the total dollar sales level of black-and-white receivers and will surpass it early next year. Discussing color tv's effectiveness as an advertising medium, WilUams quoted Domenico Mortellito, director of E. I. DuPont's Color Council as saying: "Mostly, color permits television advertising to more strongly influence the viewers optical, symbolical and haptic sensations, making it almost impossible for the viewer not to FC&B Okays Stock Split New York — Stockholders of Foote, Cone & Belding, Inc., last year ranked eighth in broadcast billings, last week put their collective stamp of approval on a five-for-four stock split. The split, effective Oct. 15, will increase the number of outstanding shares of common stock from 1,233,017 to approximately 1,540,000 shares. The vote also increased the number of shares of authorized common stock from 1,488,408 to 2,360,510 and of authorized class B common stock from 511,592 to 639,490 shares. Earlier the company, which is the largest pubUcly owned agency in the U.S., declared a quarterly dividend of 14 cents per share on its common stock. On the basis of split shares this will be the equivalent of a dividend of 17.5 cents on each old share, a hike of 17 percent over previous dividends. Iremember the advertising message and Ithe product. The visual impact of J;olor tv advertising is increased over plack-and-white to the same degree I that sound tracks have increased their (impact over silent films." Turning to the higher cost of pro|Jucing commercials in color, Williams told the admen "the dollar value of Ithe increased audience — not to menItion the increased commercial memorlability that color provides — will more Ithan offset the additional production Icost for color." Court Upholds FCC On WDKD Revoke Washington — The Supreme Court last week decided to leave FCC's decision on the Kingstree, S.C., radio station license revoke strictly alone. The court made no comment on the deejay vulgarity factor in the action, keeping its skirts clear of any suggestion of letting FCC judge or censor program content. The FCC was equally careful when it based the refusal to renew WDKD license on the station's "wilful deception" of the commission. But FCC spelled out the deejay's gamey patter as a big factor in its decision at the time. District of Columbia Court of Appeals sustained FCC after the Kingstree station appealed the revoke, and the Supreme Court has now refused, without comment, to review. FCC Umpires Texas-Louisiana Football Fracas Washington — FCC last week umpired hassle over rebroadcast of an NFL game not authorized by the originating station. Rebroadcaster, KLTV Tyler, Tex., is subject to $250 fine for going ahead without permission of originating KSLA-TV Shreveport. La. But originating station was warned not to withhold permission in future, as a matter of public interest, and has agreed, FCC says, to abide by commission decision. FCC scolded Tyler station for going ahead though Shreveport station had said, back in December, 1963, that it would grant no more rebroadcasts, as it had for two previous years. FCC then sent admonitory letter to KSLA, pointing out that under law, the station must have "reasonable" grounds for refusal — or face some questions on operation in public interest. Action by KSLA-TV would bar Dallas NFL games to over 50,000 tv homes in KLTV service area which overlaps Louisiana station's grade B contour. FCC said excuse for denying rebroadcast was poor one: KSLA said it was trying to insure "choice on programs" to overlap area. FCC notes this aspect didn't bother KSLA during previous two years. FCC was sternly disapproving of KSLA's telling Texas station it could have games cabled in for $400 per game. KLTV said cost would be far higher. FCC said price was immaterial— there was no reason why the Tyler station should be put to such expense. Sword, Sandal Popular Despite High Inventory New York — Despite a growing trend to a "buyer's market" in the syndication of sword-and-sandal movies for tv, caused largely by a boom in the supply from tv film distributors, these action epics continue to pull large audiences in local-level showings for spot advertisers. Recent example: on Oct. 11, a Sunday, New York's WOR-TV scheduled two such films in color from Embassy Pictures. The first. Mule Men Against the Son of Hercules, pulled an Arbitron rating of 11.7 and a 26.0 share in New York's seven-station market from 6-7 p.m., checking closely with a Nielsen rating of 11.3 and 23.0 share. The second. Thief of Baghdad, scored 10.6 and 17 share in Arbitron, an 11.2 and 15 share in Nielsen in the 7:309:15 p.m. period. To put it mildly, this rating pattern holds up well against network competition; top-rated Ed Sullivan in National Arbitron for Oct. 5-11 drew a 26.6, by comparison, in the 8-9 p.m. slot on CBS-TV. It also demonstrates that a well-promoted local feature telecast can unexpectedly take the edge off a sponsor's national ratings. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE October 19, 1964