Variety (Apr 1949)

TELEVISIO]^ 29 MULTI-NET TIES TOP NEW SHOWS TV Mfrs. Asai Maps Campap To Offset Sales Dip from Zenith Ads First concerted effort to bring-f the public full and accurate tech-1 nical infCrmation on television to help combat tlie bad effects of Zenith's "obsolescence" ads on video sets is to be made soon by the newly-formed Television Man- ufacturers Assn. Thai the Zenith ads, which claimed tlie Zenith TV set is the [ only one which' won't be rendered , obsolete when and if the FCC' moves tele into the ultra-high fre- ouencies, put a severe dent in the [ sale of sets, was attested to this I weclt bv a TMA spokesman. He j declared most competing manufac- turers believe it is too late to erad- icate llie damage already done but I said the organization wants to' make certain, through getting info i but to the public, that the same 1 situation won't crop up again. TJVtA , thinks the Radio Manufacturers 1 Assn. failed in its duties by not, taking a direct stand against Zen-1 Itli when the controversial ads first appeared. (Zenitli has since scrjipped the J leries of ads with the "obsoles- Graphic Upbeat Illustrating tlie phenomenal growth in television advertis- ing dnrins the last year, 18 hours and 5,5 minutes of time on the NBC-TV web during the first week of April this year were sold, as against only four- and-a-quarler liours sold dur- ing tlie same, week in 1948, ■ Extension'of networking fa- cilities to the midwest last Jan- uary is believed primarily re- sponsible for the upbeat, sincB it ; afforded sponsors the in- creased circulation tliey had wanted. F TIIUIE ABCs Thursday Taking Shape, Ripley Show 1st Casualty Due To - 'Ohsolescence' After six weeks of sponsorship cence" claims in favor of a new ,of the Bob Ripley "Believe It Or format. Tliey're in the form of ;:Not" TV show on NBC, Motorola "teasers,'.' which state : simply that | last week suddenly cancelled out. "Zenith Television needs no 'con-[ Radio -TV manuiacturing outfit verier'to receive the proposed new , asked tor, and was granted, a re-1 desired time open, other stations ultra-high frequencies"). ! lease from its 30-week non-cancelT-1 on the two webs are carrying shows TH[ BIG FIlCTOfI Multi-network affiliations enter- ed into by most television stations are making it increasingly difficult tor the individual webs and ad agencies to clear time for some of the top-budgeted programs now in the works. Situation is unique in that the radio networks, which formed along their pi'esent single- web system early in AM's history, were never confronted with the same problem. Difficulty is pointed up this week by the Kudner agency's trouble in finding a spot for the projected Buick show, which is to star Glsen & Johnson in an hour-long week- ly series based on . the comics' "Hellzapoppin'" format. Kudner originally pitched for the Wednes- day night 8 to 9 period on CBS-TV but was forced to find another time when Arthur Godfrey,, now occu- pying that hour, refused to switch to another night. During the time the agency was dickering with CBS, RCA bought the same slot on NBC-TV. ' ' Kudner is now seeking another slot for the program but has found its hands tied through the inabil- ity of the networks to clear time on their affiliates. While some of the NBC-TV and CBS-TV outlets in cities outside N.Y. may have the With 'Date,' 'Crusade,' 'Stop Music' I able contract, terminating with last I week's videocast. Another Blast In the latest of a series of blasts, ^ . ,. ^, „ , against Zenith, U. S. Television . I" ^lew ot the fact show is pay- prez Hamilton Hoge labeled state- '"8 °f. •'atmfi-wise and Uie format ments carried in the original ads ' has sat'slaetorily jelled, Ripdey w^^ cleared, as "uncalled for and in error." He i continue m the same NBC-TV time , _ Situation, - of any one of the four major webs. Kudner has now set its sights on the Thursday- night 8 to 9 period on CBS-TV but the time still has as it exists today^ Ultra-High Still Cloudy Chicago, April 12. Question of wlien television would be moved into ultra- high frequencies still remains in the "before many months" realm. Some had been hope- ful that FCC Chairman AVayne Coy, in his address to the NAB convention delegates Monday (11), would be more: exacting on the "unfreezing" time- table, but Coy dismissed the whole thing in the following paragraph: '■I am certain that before many months we can establisli our ultra-high frequency allo- cation and thus open up this new frontier of the spectrum so that 1 it may: be possible, given imaginative leadership rather than Maginot line.lead- ership, to take television serv-- . ice to all of America." CBS-TV Pacts Indie WBKB As Chi Outlet *■ ABC-TV's Thursday night buiJd- ! up will take shape as a .strong ver- ' tical strip, starting . May 5. "Blind Date," Arlene Francis' starrer in which college students will vie for date with models,; will be: skedded in the 7:30 p.m. spot. "Date" will preem as a sustaincr and will hold ■■ the time period until Sept. IS, - when General Mills' "Lone: ■ Ranger'' vidpic series moves ini,' Contract for 52 weekly half-hour? shows at a cost of $'750,000 was ^ signed Thurs. (7) by General Mills; with : Lone Ranger, Inc, and . Jack Chertok, Apex Film . Corp. pro^ ■ducer.'''. ■'Stop the Music" video edition will be on from 8 to 9 p.m., under sponsorship of Admiral and Old Golds. "Crusade in Europe,"■ film ■ based on Gen. Dwight Eisen-/ bower's Doubleday tome, wiU be . slotted from 9 to 9:25 p.m. Time, Inc. sponsorship of "Cru* ' sade" is firm for 26'weelt series, . with options on second, and third cycles. Price of first cycle is re- ported to be around $163,000, witii cost of entire project to be: $400,- 000 if Luce organization also picks up the tab for the two repeat . series; 'Young and Rutaicani is, handling the. deal for the pub- lisher. If Time, Inc.i doesn't exercise its option, the web will be free, of course,. to . sell second and tliird "Crusade" cycles to another bank-; roller. Meanwhile Time will back the vidpic series in every TV mar- ket ABC can line up. In the 9:25 segment, ABC is put- ting a four-minute film program, averred both Zenith and the FCC are "heading for trouble'" with their statements about a move to the UHF, declaring the upper band needs more, testing and that en- gineerH claim it will be impossible finds mostly only the owned-and- operated network stations carrying programs exclusively for a single web. Even that can't be set up i nates here.) as a hard and fast rule, since!, Pact, negotiated WDTV, DuMont's o;&o. outlet in Pittsburgh, takes • feeds from all period on a sustaining basis, Meanwhile, shbw is being pitched up to agencies for. pbtehtial spon- 'sors.' ■•■, ■ Actually, the Ripley show is seen as the initial coiniriercial casualty to get a UHF transmitter" on the I stemming from'the recent Zenith u u air before three years. According vs. "obsolescence" conlroversy, webs, both because it ong- to Ifoge. the ads represented "only which resulted in a general nose- , ,„^^''L.''n!^ ^f'^ul J^hS^' one more of Zenith's unfounded ' diving of tele set sales affecting ming and because of its advantag- gtalenients." I all companies. It's one of the fac- • position as the outlet which Hoge was more optimistic than some, other manufacturers about current set sales, declaring the in- dustry is back in a boom delivery , j,^^ n. annst^nre.s, Ripley show iias a $7,500 weekly talcnt- pfoduetioiJ hutv\:^^ ,:, V Chicago, April 12. CBS-TA yesterday (Mon.) signed with WBKB, . heretofore: staunch t'ele indie, as its outlet in Chicago, i ,.^r : , .^.,„,i..„,..i u., CBS, with its owned and operated j rsto^y ot the Wee . produced by WTJBM 1. ...if h,.„f it. I 20th-Fox. tor which IMarch of Crusade;" The film short series is available " for sponsorship,: accordin|! to Fred WBBM, is without its own video, ,-. , , station in Chi. (Only one ea.st-'produced bound CBS-TV program now origi- tors tha? prompted Motorola'to ask [ the east and midwest net- out, with NBC and Doug Storer i ^orlvS tor all tour webs. Associates, joint packagers of the ! Despite the apparent network program, noddin? an assent in hptween Tnhh I Thrower, ABC sales v.p., with like- „ 1 u t wDT^D J 1 1 lihood of its being quickly snapped ^'^t^rLi°J ^^r rSs-iv because of its position in the Volkenberg for CBS-IV, was jj^p^p ,1,,,^ 9.30 era now. For the first time, he said, the public during the first quarter this year could select from a wide variety of sets. As a tc-{ suit, he said, those manufacturers . rvn h/iamt OPIMMm PrrM turning out good sets could .sell all 1 UU MUNI blANNtK ittW they could deliver, while the sets nim »11 nniiirmiT im of- lesser quality died._ Sets with , SMALL STATION AID e-new-45-inch-ttibe;-he -said—are-;- ~ . selling at the manufacturer's ca-1 Chicago. April 12. pacity to deliver ' DuMont's new Monochrome UST prez agreed with other'Scanner will allow small tele sta- , manutacturei^ that baseball would ^'""•'' ^" P'"''"''"' cheap ■j prove a great impetus to set sales ' again this year. In addition, he noted that the projected TV debut next fall of some of the top radio , stars, including Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor, will push sets throughout the year. According to Hoge. S0% of all radio sets have traditionally been sold during the last four months each year and the same situation should hold true for TV. confident the alTiliation pattern will settle down eventually into the same system now employed by radio, in which outlying stations will be linked exclusively to only one of the four nets. That time; of coursie, will have to wait for the opening of more networking facilir ties, and for the launching of more xratlTrts-t)n-1he-air?^—^— ■■ — -■ — — for CBS-TV ■much more favorable than those previously offered'- the station by the web. For the past several months, WGN-TV has been a CBS-TV af- filiate. Now, it will be exclusively j DuMont, until June, when it's ex- I pected Mutual will have a tele network, and WON, a Mutual stockholder, wiH of course, be the Chi outlet. WBKB will become the CBS-TV Chi mainstay just as soon as WGN- TV will step out of the picture. In no case will it be later than Oct. 11, the day after CBS' contract with WGN'TV expires: — CBS,—naw„ hea-vxLy-^westihound slot is still open. ABC picked Thursday for its big TV program guns because it has ■ cable allocations and theatres available on that night, at tlie I same time not cutting into its ! AM audiences on Friday and Sun- i day; when the web's audiences are. I strong. In the TV picture, NBC has Tuesday, sewed up with Milton Berle's Texaco show and CBS leads oil Wednesday with Arthur Godfrey's stint,' ■ " DuMoiittoAir Amsterdam Show ly. and relieve more expensive camera equipment tor other studio. 1 usage, according to Roger Thomp-' son, DuMont project engiseer. j Thompson told NAB engineers '■ here that the Scanner, a cathode ! ray tube aflair. Will handle color] slides adequately, and can be a; .simplified source ot test and pro- gram material. 1 Dr. Howard Doolittle, Maehlett. Lab development engineer, told the convention that ultra-high fre-' quency equipment can be devel- ■ oped by tele set manufacturers, whenever the demand for it arises, ! Doolittle's reinarks sidestepped I the recent slambang be'tween; Zenith and opposition manufac-, t!.ircrs concerning the obsolescence of present-day sets. TV Setup Within NAB Loommg conscious" in network origination; anticipates a "substantial" east- bound network origination sked from WBKB, with 11 hours mini' mum agreed upon. CBS spokes- men, citing WBKB's eight years' video operation "a comparative lifetime in tele," hopes that the station will come up with a few "Kukla, Fran and Ollie.s," such as P&G Buying Chicago, April 12. ; the station now originates While most : station members ' NBC. here for the N.^B convention are —— ' r— :— — trying to stave off the inevitable Martifl PaClS MusIcal; Pix for $4,11 Hollywood, April 12. Contracts are being drawn by Procter & Gamble tor signing by Irving Asher and Garleton Alsop to supply the soap firm with 13 for television. fori 27-minute pictures i Each subject in two "Should We Build a Tele Station Skoves Ckev Show Back Now" and are still fending off a .separate section of television in I singer Tony Martin has been the NAB, the board of directors signed for a weekly half-hour tele- itself is finally making definite vision program on NBC-TV, strides in setting up a full-fledged 1 scheduled to preem May 2 under .,. . . , '■ ■ I sponsorship of the Mohawk Carpet "'^^'■"C"' ; Co. Show will be an intimate musi: Within the past month. Justin cal. with Martin' bringing on dif- Miller,- NAB topper, has inter-, fgrent show biz guests each week; viewed Phil Merriman, NBC; Jack, 'w^ith the introduction of the Hartley. WEWS; Nick Kersta, tele-1 new program, the "Chevrolet on j vision director of the William . Broadway" series, now .aired MoH-1 . , . , . , . „ Weintraub agency, and Eugene! day nights from 8:30 to 9, Will be ' Jf*-''^""ic'gn "J^'J'^i^. " .Thomas, WOlC. Washington., moved back a half-hour to make , cJ^arging Zo7o for distribution and ' Miller has several other people in wav for thp Mnriin slio« The « foreign market is bus only hope mind, all of top calibre, As The Morey Amsterdam show nil' ■'^"oi''^*',!" DuMont video: Globe Democrat Eases net April 21 at 9 p.m., sponsored _ , ^ cj. r rrir r» by DuMont tele sets division, via ' Out Ot St. .LoO 1 V KaCC Buchanan agency. Washington, April 12. ^ , .. The comic's 30-minute show had Competition for television sta-' M^'lcr l^ff '*cvc''«l otlier people in , way for the Martin shov. The 8 been set by the DuMont web a tlons in St. Louis was reduced to , P.,V. ^*_,? 'to 8:30 period is now occupied by parts to allow for middle commercial carries price tag of $4,000. Asher will . produce abroad while Alsop re- mains here to look after the busi- ness end. : Gordon Levoy'S' General Tele- vision Enterprises has wrapped up: a seven-year deal witji P&G for 30- minute vidpix. Levoy is budgeting $8,500 for each film, which will run in two sections of 13 minutes each with rest of time open for com- mercials. P & G is paying $3,600 for use of each film on any video station at any time up to a year after the release date. Lcsyoy re- tains the right to release the sub- month ago, but inking was condi- five applicants la.st week with the 1 spokesman of the NAB told an NBC-TV sustamer. titled "Song tional on his release by CBS. The vrithdrawal of the St. Louis Globe I VARreTY. the job would be of, and Dance." Rest of the Monday latter liad dropped Amsterdam at Democrat. The newspaper inform-1 equal importance to that ot the night lineup will continue as now the end of February because of ed the Federal Communications ! NAB prexy and probably the sal- set up. with "Colgate Theatre" in some MCA contractual obliga- Commis.sion it is purchasing a; »«>' would be equal to that of the 9 to 9:30 slot and "Americana" lions, but clung to a 45-day option stock interest in Thomas Patrick, , Millers, on his services which prevented' Inc., another applicant. i Such thinking indicates a Shift him fiom going elsewhere. In the; Others in the race for the four \ in board ot directors' policy, with interim the web tried to woo hjm, outstanding channels arc St. Louis ; the possibility of a separate tele- feeling he would be a natural tor Uni' .. Star-Times Publishing Co., vision ori'snization, within NAB, the snmincr. but Am.sterdam elect- New England Television Co., and , with its own board being in the ed to switch to DuMont, i 20th-Fox. 1 works. of coming out in the blue on the P&G deal. going from 9:30 to 10. Martin is' another in the list of guests appearing originally on TV on Milton Berle's "Texaco Star Theatre" who were subsequently given a crack at their own pro-, grams. Milwaukee Set Rise Milwaukee, April 12. Tele sets in Milwaukee rose to 21,589 total April 1, according to' WTMJ-TV survey- This represents an increase of 2,574 over, .previous month. • Only 8% were listed for public places, with the remainder in pri' vate homes.