Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1952)

3 L00KING-AN9/GR-IISTENING AT 7-9 A.M.? Program-wise , Dave Garroway and * Today* offer superb fare for most part — no doubt about that — and initial response has been quite favorable. But NBC-TV v.p. Pat Weaver, originator of early-morning show — now carried on 30 affiliates, none of which before signed on that early — must yet prove that he can change the habit patterns of America sufficiently for 'Today' to pay off for sponsor, network and station. Two more participating sponsors have been signed (see Network Accounts), more are said to be on the hook, and some of the local outlets (notably in New York and Chicago) say they're selling local cut-in spots so readily that they look for same nice revenues from 'Today' that radio has long enjoyed from disc jockey spots. Accepting the enthusiasm of the trade journals, discounting the skepticism if not outright antagonism of many newspaper critics, there's still this puzzler about the show that Variety's George Rosen refers to (in quite favorable review) as "gargantuan coin-splurging" and "unorthodox programming" : It's not as easy to hear-without-looking as it was projected to be; and it isn't as convenient for anyone in the family to look-and/or-listen as it is merely to listen to radio. Simple reason is that the TV set usually isn't as handy. Is the show so good, then, that the American public will go to all kinds of inconvenience to hear-and-see , in whole or part, during rising-thru-breakfast hours? Will the show "put most TV sets on wheels," as suggested by enthusiastic critic Herschell Hart, Detroit News (WWJ-TV)? Or will people buy an extra set for the dining or breakfast room? Or will a new market open up for "slave units" -extra picture-&-sound boxes that can simply be extended from the main set? We don't profess to know, nor is Mr. Weaver himself sure. "Only time will tell," says he, in the meanwhile pointing pridefully to a 9-city Trendex audience rating of 2.6 & 4.6 first 2 days. That's higher, he notes, than most TV daytimers. Kiplinger's magazine "Changing Times," first of starting sponsors, offering sample issues in one spot daily, got 16,000 requests up to Friday afternoon — an excellent response which he tells us pleases him no end. 'Today' is most significant experiment in programming since TV began, merits whole industry's closest attention — telecasters and manufacturers alike. We aver says fan mail has been consistently favorable, quite natural for a show that offers such a pleasant potpourri of news dispatches, newsreels, special events, personalities of day, latest records, time, weather, play & book reviews, etc. etc. And with the very agreeable Garroway using some of techniques of Ed Murrow's 'See It Now'. * * £ * What do we think of it ourselves? Well, it will take a lot of doing to get us to change a 20-year habit of listening to radio's splendid 8-8:15 news roundups while shaving or dressing or breakfasting — with radios handy all around the house. It will take still more doing to persuade the wife that TV should intrude upon the dining room. And a teen-age daughter, who says she and her schoolmates all "simply love" Eddie Gallaher's 'Sun Dial' disc jockey show, when we asked her to forego it one morning and watch 'Today' instead, had this to say: "Yes, it's very good, but who's going to dress in the library in order to watch TV so early in the morning?" We polled our staff for reactions and, almost invariably, comments were prefaced with remark: "Well, we saw only a little bit of it, but..." Sample quotes: "It's like beefsteak for breakfast." "Too fast, too much — too good, in fact, for that time of the morning." "Why not just a plain disc-jockey show with Garroway?" NPA RECONSIDERS THEATRE-TV COLOR BAN: Under the prodding of Sen. Johnson, NPA is exploring whether it should exempt color theatre TV from its ban on commercial production of color TV equipment (Vol. 7:47). It's calling TV manufacturers to second "special conference on color TV" to discuss this question and any gripes they may have about color order M-90. Conference will be held in Washington Feb. 8. NPA sent invitations Jan. 18 to substantially same list of TV manufacturers who unanimously agreed, at meeting