Variety (Jan 1949)

98 RADIO Forty •Ihitd USXSSitiff Amuversary ■ . . t , . ■ . . .'I'- Wfdneaday, January S,, I949 THE NAK ED MP THE DEAF Kadio Scripter Speaks His Mind on Radio and Radio Criticism By HAL KANTER Hollywood. Oiup of the first tilings a radio comedy writer must learn in order to maintain his digestive system and ward off dampness in the wnsts ot his sports shirt is the deceitful art of ignoring all teletypes from New York." Once he completely masters this, he finds that he is either out of a job or Don Quinn. Speaking as a radio comedy writer whose stomach groans at the approach of anything more complicated than a GobU salad (a fieadish. Admix- ture of pfe-digested vegetables and Jack Hellman cigar ashfes) find whose shirt-cuffs ate Soggi^ir .t^^^^ a pair of rented howling - shoes,, the: second most important thing a r. c. w. must lieai-ii is how to rekd a daily newspaper's .radio critic without bristling. ; Present company inspected, allow ; m*: ^^'>% once around this exercise ring idespondencies. , ■, ', ■;' The man who shot Mayor Cermak probably said eVefyone's entitled to his own" opinjoii, arid radio critics are ipaid to congeal opinions about radio programs and then couch those opinions as best they can for their read- ers. That's fine. Radio needs good critics and those among us who sit with our backs to America and toss things over our shoulder for Ameri- can consumption can learn from them. When a good one comes along, f that is, Unfortunately, there is more vituperation than erudition among 1 their ranks. But vituperative or erudite, accoutred or barren, my yelp | is directed at all of them who have been guilty ol a cardinal sin in their 1 reviews, That sin is the reviewing, of a radio program they have , never | h«ard. _ I It is comparable to a blind judge. pinning a mi Kantcr LURENE TUTTLE RADIO Red Skelton Show, Ozzle and Harriet Sam Spade George P'Hanlon : Suspense PICTURES IN RELEASE "MacBeth"—Republic ''Mr. vBlanding's Dream House" RKO A Bit of Doing best of breed" ribbon on a Bedlington Terrier because he smells less offensive than any other 1 at the show. It is quite obvious that the radio critic cannot review fairly a radio program by reading the script some zealous press agent has couriered to his cluttered cubicle. It is not so much lilce the book reviewer who scans the dust .iacket extollings and then hammers out a critique as it is analogous to the man who receives an empty frame and then criticizes a Grandma Moses. Scripts Need Plus Fa ctors This may shock my fellows in the Radio Writers Guild, but I firmly believe that the script is only a portion of a radio show. It was written ■■■ to be heard and an entire program cannot be praised or condemned on the script alone. Many a script that afi'ronts the eye falls pleasantly on the ear when it is blown to life by the director, the musicians, the sound men, the goburras m the audience and the mummo's. Conversely, many a passage of beauty that lies enchanted on- a sheet of paper rises stifl-leggedly and topples on its asterisks when infused with the in- tended elements. Can an honest man look over the score of a Bizet opera and then^ pass judgment on a Metropolitan performance? Or read a wire story^ a.s it chatters out of a teletype machine and then pass judgment on the Sunday edition of the Kansas City Star? Few members ot the radio critics circle can honestly say they are not guilty of this abuse of their office. Some of them have said in print ' that they read ft script without having heard the broadcast. Most of tnem quote lines which they couldn't possibly have taken down in short- hand, so exact is the .warding, the spelling and even the punctuation. If these men—andi dewey-eyed ladies, too—are going to do the kind of a job that will eventually raise them to the status first string drama critics enjoy, they might do well to be honest with their readers, fair With radio itself. Alid they'll still find time to do outside magazine l>ieces and radio scripts on spec. No fingerpointing. Not necessary! In Jack Douglas' masterwork en- titled, ."No Navel to Guide Him,'' there is a chapter called "Famotis Bastards in History." Under the title is printed; "What's the differ- ence? You all know who you are." ' Amen. ' '. ' ': , ' Tele Acad's 'Ernmys' To Be Awarded At Jan. 25 ATAS Shindig Hollywood. Four "Emmys," video's equiv-1 alent of the film industry's "Os-1 cars," will be presented Jan. 2r) 1 at the first annual awards banquet i ari seminar of the Academy of I Television Arts and Sciences. Pro- gram announced by Acad prexy Charles B. Brown calls lor a full day of activity at the Hollywood Athletic Club. Awards will be made tor the best vidfilm produced in Holly- wood, for the most outstanding tele personality, for the most pop- ular program, and for the out- Standing technical achievement in 1948. In addition, a plaque will be awarded a local station in recogni- tion of the best overall achieve- ment during the year-. Seven speakers have been lined up tor the morning and alternoon seminar sessions. They mclude Television Film Producers' Assn. priixy Hal Roach Jr., who'll di.s- cus.', producing pix for video: Wil- liam R. Watson of the Herbert Horn Co., who'll talk on installa- tion and servicing of tclcsets; and AI Wager and Bernie Tabakm of MC.V, w^ho'll dwell on the me- diums talent pioblem. Other speakers lined up are Paul Lewis, veepee of the D'Arcy agency, and Len Erickson, Ken.von & Eckhart veepee, to talk on ad agencies' relationship to tele; Mike Stokey of Stokey and Ebert, who'll discuss production problems. The Year of Decisions — By WAYNE COY— '(Chainuoii, Federal Covwiunimttcms Coimim-sion). ' Washington. This will be a year of decisions by the Federal Communications Comraisston-^decisions destined to I affect almost every phase of broad-r casting. Holding the spotlight at this- time is the proceeding to deter- mine how to deal with the problem ot tropospheric interference in the television low band and to deter-; mine the feasibility of employing the high band channels. The complexity of these prob- lems makes it difficult to predict when decisions can be made. If, as a result of the interference prob- lems in the recently-allocated tele- vision bands, the Commission finds it necessary to provide greatei!^ separation between co-channel sta- tions, we will likewise find that our allocation table will have to be re- vised to allow fewer station assign- ments than the plan now. in effect. Possibilities for some relief may be afforded through the synchro- nization process, developed by RCA and still in an- experimental stage. Even under the most favorable cir- By NILES TRAMMELL {President, National Broadcasting Co.) Radio enters 1949 with a greater assortment of problems--.ari(i brighter vista of opportunities—than it has ever faced during the tw' dycades of network broadcasting. ' r™ ; How rough or smooth the going will be will depend, of course n the vision, work and courage of the nation's broadcasters. Ii will rl! quire doing. *" Th« ferment in this seething industry, naturally, is televi.sion w, have seen the beginning with television astride the airwaves in sevpn league boots. Many of the problems which brought such turmou in thS thinking .of the broadcasting industry as 1948 ended were mere svmn toms of the growing pains which the lusty infant of sight and sound hai brought to radio. First and foremost, is the fact that the new member of the radio family adds another insatiable maw for creative entertainment to feed I have every confidence that the writing, acting and producing talent in our industry will meet the challenge and will fill television's vora. clous appetite with popular fare lor the millions of viewers, Second, is the relation of television to the great structure of sound broadcasting which today penetrates practically every home in the land Television cannot fully replace overnight, or within the immediate future, the more than 70 million radio sets now in the hands of our vast listening public. It cannot at this stage go beyond the horizon except by inter-connection which presents mountainous problems, eco- nomic and technical, that must be met. Only future events Will tell us how these problems will be solved and only the future will fuUy reveal the part which the advertiser will play in iheir solution. In pioneering in lelovision as it did in AM networking, NBC has embarked on a long-term policy to be there "fust with the mostest " The details of our long-range policy will be made public from time to tune as they are fully developed and approved. It's not too great a secret that much more effort than in the past, and much more investment in the future ,will be necessary to meet ail ti e problems confronting the industry. That's how it will have to he. I, for one, have every confidence that experiment and experietic« will shake down the relationship; of AM to television. 1 have every confidence in the great and growing talent pool of the nation. ^ All in all, the opportunities, as well as the problems, are challenging indeed. Broadcasters have a medium second to none to attract enter- tainment ideas, discover enlertainment personalities, and to introdtice' new talent quickly to almost unlimited audiences. It's a job, it is trtie, faced by no other industry; for in radio the show must go on almost 24 hours a day, 36,'> days in the year, and with Sundays and holidays more of the same. We must, therefore, keep our pool of talent for radio and television well filled at all times and constantly enlarged with new ideas, new techniques and new performers. The maturity of sound and the emergence of sight places these prob- lems right square in the broadcasters' lap. It will take a bit of doing to solve the problems, but there will be plenty of excitement for all in the trying. cumstances it is a certainty that there Will be an insufficient num- ber of channels in the Very-High Frequencies bands for a nation- | wide system of television in this country. Whether or not the Commission will be in a position to determine that UHF can be-used at a time when it has cleared up the inter- ferencs problems in the ■ VHF bands is a question that cann'ot now be answered. If the Commis- sion finds, on the basis of the hear- ing already held on the question of utilization of the UHF, that it can utilize these frequencies for tele- vision and the Commission-deter- mines that It will utilize'those fre- quencies for black and white tele- vision under the present stand- ards, then the Gonvmission will face the question of allocating those frequencies together with, the VHF frequencies so as to pro- vide for a nation-wide competitive system of television. Freeze Extension Liketr If the course outlined in the pre- ceding paragraph is the Commis- sion's decision; It is probable that the freeze on television applica- tions might be extended beyond; the minimum six-month period which was anticipated: when . thts freeze was announced on Sept^iU'' ber 30. There are other; questions th«t the Commission will face before it Can reach a decision as has been outlined. They are the pos-' sibilities of utilizing the UHF for high definition black and white television, and for color. If tlie decision should be to utilize the UHF frequencies for either high definition monochrome or colori the standards for either of those services would not be compatible, with the present black and white standards and, therefore, an al- location plan combining the VHF and the UHF would become im- , possible. Another possibility by way of « Commission decision would be to adopt new standards ol sood en- gineering practice lor the VliF; revise the allocation plan lor tli« 12 channels and perhaps hold fur-■ thcr hearings on the utilization of : the Ultra-High frequency band. This possibility would mean too few television assignments lor » nation - wide television -system. OZZIE and HARRIET FIFTH SEASON FOR INTERNATIONAL SILVER 'NBC-—Every Sunday Evening A bow to our current writing staffi Bill Davenport, Frank Fox, Ben Gershman, Riqk Vollaerts, Pag! West I 40% Within TV B ange J Television is snow-balling, Wi have 50 stations on the air. With- in another two years wf may hav« as many as 400 on the air 01 nrai- ing completion. About 40*^0 ol the. population is now within range ot at least one station. Now let's take a loolc at other broadcasting devices, 13\ the eno. ot this year we should have 3,1«« AM stations and 1,100 FM stations on the air. This will give us a total of 3,200 sound stations. Wlin that many sound stations, as weu as 100 TV stations, on the air n will behoove all of u.s—the indus- try as well as the Commission-- to start thinking about the even- tual future of AM service at leasj in the metropolitan areas, ll"' will not be a matter of decision this year but I mention it in pass- ing because sooner or later we ai» going to have to face up to tii» problem of employing two syste»»i of aural radio where one systeM- the technically superior system- would suffice.