Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

FHIHAX A.T 5 Metromedia Buys Wolper Productions Los Angeles — Metromedia, Inc., continues to expand its holdings with announcement that the firm has contracted to acquire the entire stock of Wolper Productions, Inc. Total price tag is more than $3.6 million — approximately $1 million in cash plus 69,551 shares of Metromedia common stock. As a result of the deal, Metromedia picks up all of Wolper Productions, including its five subsidiary companies; Wolper Television Sales, a national distribution company; Newsreel, Inc., formerly Paramount News; and three Wolper music companies. David L. Wolper, president of the production firm, will remain in his post and will become a vice president of Metromedia, Inc. Commenting on the purchase, John W. Kluge, chairman of the board and president of Metromedia, said: "This is a logical step in Metromedia's corporate development combining two young and aggressive broadcasting and entertainment entities. It will make possible better quality entertainment and informational programs for the ABC-TV Documentaries To Cost 3M $2.5 Million New York — Six hour-long documentaries on ABC-TV will be sponsored by Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing at an estimated cost of 2.5 million. The buy represents 3M's first support of a documentary series and its first use of corporate institutional advertising. In a talk given at Videotape Productions' sixth anniversary open house. Harry Helzer, in charge of 3M's advertising services, stated that 3M wil', be spending almost 10 million in advertising this season ('64-65). Three of the David Wolper-produced documentaries will be aired this season and three next season. Also, it was announced last week that all of the documentaries will be narrated by Van Heflin. The programs will cover such subjects as important but littleknown scientists, people who defy death, the life of MacArthur, the "tribal customs" of teenagers. Agency for 3M is BBDO. public and simultaneously achieve a corporate growth objective." For his part, Wolper declared: "The transaction will provide the financial ability to carry out the expansion and diversification plans which would not have been otherwise possible now." Wolper Productions' current schedule includes six tv specials being produced for the Xerox Co. and six specials for 3M (see story on this page). International Film & Tv Festival Winners Named New York — A European filmedin-color commercial for Pirelli Tires, produced by Insel-Film of Munich in a fast-paced style that looked like a James Bond chase sequence, won the grand award for tv commercials at the fourth International Film & Tv Festival of New York here last week. Other significant tv winners: the MPO-produced "rolling tire" commercial for Gulf Oil (best visual effect); Stars & Stripes Productions' "Ronson oily bird" (best animation); VPI's "balloons" commercial for Upjohn (best color); Barbara Feldon, Revlon's "tiger girl" (best commercial actress). Stations WFIL-TV Philadelphia, WGN-TV Chicago, WBNS-TV Columbus and WRCV-TV Philadelphia won awards for public service shows. Herbert Hoover In Radio's Early Days Washington — Broadcasts and cere^ monies here for former president Herbert Hoover brought nostalgic memories of radio's early days to broadcasters who remembered Hoover's guidance during the history-making National Radio Conference back in the '20s. It was under Hoover's guidance, as secretary of commerce in the Harding administration, that the young and wildcat radio industry in this country was given its first serious attention and discipline. At the time he called the first National Radio Conference, in 1922, there were 50 licensed broadcasting stations, and by 1923 there were 550. Interference was intolerable under the loose reins of Commerce Dept. guardianship. The radio conferences recommended allocating frequencies and classifying stations to bring order out of chaos, and the Commerce Dept. began to implement the suggestions. At the third conference in 1924 Hoover predicted the unlimited importance and growth of an industry in which "sales of radio apparatus had jumped from a million dollars a year to a million dollars a day." Those were the days of the birth of networks, NBC in 1926, CBS in 1927, and the unforgettable call letters like WEAF, WGY, KDKA that held listening Americans glued to their sets. Schroeden More Independent Thinking in Radio' Detroit — Although admitting that radio is generally profitable, Willard Schroeder, joint board chairman of the NAB, sees a "cloud of some magnitude dulling the radio picture." Speaking before the Institute of Broadcasting Financial Management, Schroeder pointed out that of the 3685 radio stations making 1963 financial reports to the FCC, 33 percent of them were loss operations. He also said that "as a result of present programing practices, there has been a shrinking of the total radio audience — the sets-in-use figure is not large enough to enable a healthy radio business." Conceding that formula radio has proved successful in many cases, Schroeder said: "Unfortunately the very sheep instinct that initially caused so many stations to embrace formula radio stimulated them to narrow the choice. If the rock-and-roll formula seemed to produce the most rating points, it was the one to copy." Schroeder cited exceptions to the trend such as WSB Atlanta, WGN Chicago and WCCO Minneapolis. They and some others like them, he said, have evolved their programing on the basis of their "own independent thinking, their knowledge of their respective markets, the general savvy of their staffs. The result has been a consistent history of audience leadership and the resulting benefit of strong advertiser support." Schroeder added: "Perhaps, if there is to be emulation, it's this kind of approach that should be copied by other, less successful stations." CONTlNUiD ON NEXT PAGE October 26, 1964