Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

Broadcasters Must Make Own Judgments In Controversial Areas^ Says Dille Detroit — Stressing the "priceless advantage" broadcasters have over newspapers in public acceptance of positions they might take on controversial issues, John F. Dille, Jr., vice chairman of the television board of the NAB, last week said that the only effective means broadcasters have to shake off the shackles of federal regulation is their demonstration of an ability and ' willingness to stimulate public opinion and an exchange of ideas. ' Dille, who is a newspaperman as well as a broadcast executive, declared at the NAB's fall conference in Detroit, "Any newspaper in your area is almost sure to be already labeled as a partisan by its readers. They have preconceived judgments as to their opinions."" You start fresh, Dille told the broadcasters. "Your believability quotient is impressively high. It will stay high in direct proportion to the sense of responsibility and fair play you exhibit in your content supervision. In terms of dramatic effectiveness, in terms of persuasive power, no other media can match broadcasting. . . (and) the time has come when we broadcasters, acting maturely and responsibly as we have pledged ourselves to do, must form our own value judgments on what is fair — and not depend on government to tell us." Dille also suggested that there should be in top broadcasting man agement an executive responsible for what might be called 'non-revenue-oriented thinking," pointing out that any newspaper of "reasonable size and consequence" has an editor or managing editor in the top council whose "sole responsibility and mission is dedicated to the quality and quantity of non-advertising material to be presented to the readers in each day's edition." In contrast, Dille said, far too many broadcasters do not recognize this complete independence between programing and revenue and put such "non-revenue-oriented" thinking on a part-time basis. Bronson Leaves NAB Code Post \Vashin}»toii, D.C. — A veteran of 12 years with the National Assn. of Broadcasters, Edward H. Bronson has tendered his resignation as Television Code manager to pursue private business interests. With Bronson"s resignation effective Nov. 15, Howard Bell, NAB Code Authority director, said a successor will be named at a later date. Bronson came to NAB in June of 1952 as director of Tv Code affairs. He had previously been station director at WBNS Columbus, Ohio. Television Viewing Hits Record Peak New York — Television viewing in 1963 reached a new high of five hours and 13 minutes, with daily usage for 1964 estimated at five hours and 25 minutes, according to figures which were released last week by the Television Bureau of Advertising. The projected total viewing time for 1964 is 279.3 million hours per day, as compared 259.9 million hours in 1963. Commenting on the figures (see chart below for 10-year breakdown), Norman E. Cash, TvB president, said that the "medium is growing both in terms of more Cash . . . "new highs this year" *l TIME SPENT VIEWING Per Tv Home Per Day (1954-1964) Total Hours of Time Spent Viewing Tv Usage Per Day (per Tv home per day) min. (millions of hrs.) 1964 Estimate 5 hr. 25 279.3 1963* 5 hr. 13 min. 259.9 1962 5 hr. 6 min. 248.5 1961 5 hr. 7 min. 240.1 1960 5 hr. 6 min. 230.5 1959 5 hr. 2 min. 223.8 1958 5 hr. 5 min. 218.4 1957 5 hr. 9 min. 207.9 1956 5 hr. 1 min. 182.9 1955 4 hr. 51 min. 156.8 1954 4 hr. 46 min. 134.3 Source: A. C. Nielsen Co. Annual Averages *Nov. 22-28 deleted because of abnormally high tv usage caused by the President's assassination. November 16, 1964 homes . . . now at the 52.6 million mark which means a bigger base for viewing . . . and in time spent viewing. This is a combination that is reflected in continuing record high levels of advertiser investments. Network, spot and local television billings are all reaching new highs this year." Cash added: "The bigger base of television homes and the present level of daily viewing means that a network program, for example, that might receive as low as a 2 rating will still reach approximately 1.0 million homes. This is still a greater number of homes than is reached by all but one of the country's daily newspapers." 25