Variety (December 1954)

26 RADIO-TELEVISION Wednesday December 1," 1954 Last week, the fate of network radio was reduced to the simple question, “Who will he the last to abandon it?” Thus a curious nega- tive race was on to see who would be the first to throw in-the towel rather than Who; if anyone, would, come forth positively with a formu- la to maintain network status, com- mercial or otherwise. This switch in thinking, with its unhidden competttive touches, had an NBC-RCA front in board chair? man David Sarnoff’s. letter to N.Y. Daily News radio-tv editor Ben Gross in answer to the latter’s Monday f22).' column theme,. “Is Network Radio Doomed?” particu- larly. to this statement : ..“The: only question on Broadcasting Boule- vard is . which web will be. coura- geous enough to face the realities first and abandon network radio. No ohe seems to know the answer, but this .column will venture a guess. Brig. Gen. David. Sarnoff of RCA, which controls NBC, is an exceptionally, farsighted leader. And the president of NBC, Sylves- ter L. Weaver, is also a fellow of daring. So it would not be surpris- ing if this-^-our first network—led the procession ' taking the plunge.” Gen. Sarnoff’s reply was in the form of a “Dear Ben” general press release last Friday (26) with a facsimile of the Gross column attached. 'Said Sarnoff : “I believe that you may have selected NBC for this role (abandonment of net- work radio) because we have been aufficiehtly farsighted to have -rec- ognized, well in advance, the symp? toms of growing economic dangers for network radio; and because NBC as the nations first radio net- (Continued on page 42) Barry Wood, special events chief of NBC, is using the “suggestion box” gimmick to supply a backlog of ty specials for his department. Intention is to build a larder for the next few months and to execute the cream of ’em over a twelve- month, although > events with a time element attached will be worken on pronto should they shape Up in the visual values. Over 100 letters have gone out. to the. web’s affiliates seeking, area events that wottld have, national stature, for Video purposes.. Within a week after the bulletins went out, over a dozen suggestions were re- ceived. Wood said it doesn't matter how “crazy” or “odd” a given event sounds; he’ll give every contribu- tion attention. Some of the specials will be analyzed for color possibili- ties. On the tint phase, incidentally, the network (Wood doubles as exec producer on the hues) was to de- cide momentarily whether to give the rainbow treatment to the New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses in Pasadena. Burbank studio will not be ready until a few days after Jan. 1, but idea would be to send out the mobile unit. Latter would not be needed in New York for Max. Liebiriaii’s Sunday spectacular on Jan. 2 since the tintery will em- anate from the Colonial Theatre in Manhattan instead of the web’s Brooklyn studio. Staff as WMGM Hyp* Art Tolchin, boss of N; Y, radio indie WMGM, is building his sales department. In the past few days he’ added four account execs to the recently rather limited staff, and he intends adding others to sales as soon as possible. Outlet has eight pitchmen at present, in- cluding Tolchin and sales.manager Sam Faust. Without counting Tol- chin or Faust, the. WMGM sales staff until these additions was at two men. Earlier this month Bert Lebhar 3d ankled the station. His father was boss before Tolchin. Tolchin also, established; a sales promotion department, the first, he says, in the last six years at the station. Hired as promotion boss was Patricia Young, formerly^ of WCAU, Philly, and Dobin Acker? * f N. Y. T’AiriH Cricket Indie stations have per- fected another headache for time buyers. Many stations will f biiy ■ rating service coveting a restricted geo; graphic area-r-usually where the signal strongest or where .previous surveys have shown the most listener- viewer allegiance—but ‘ re- porting the results .to agen- cies, the rating Will mislead- ingly be projected as a city- wide sample. . . The rating services always list the areas surveyed, but the station 1 will either omit names of specific areas or de- pend on time buyers skipping such info in order to get at the figures themselves faster. Pittsburgh, Nov. 30. Both Pittsburgh tv stations, Du- Mont owned and operated WDTV, VHF. channel 2, and WENS, UHF channel 16, well as the. appli- cants for the two remaining VHFers here, 4 and 11, pre- paring to fight tooth and nail ef- forts of CBS to put WSTV-TV, channel 9, in Steubenville on prac- tically a local basis. Last week network asked FCC approval to take Over indie-owned Channel 9, but .application cov- ered several contingencies, and “if’s.” CBS wants to buy the SteubepVille Station and Will; only, however, if the FCC. okays, among Other things, these items: - Relocation of the Channel 9 tower to Troy Hill, within a mile of the WDTV and WENS antennas here; relocation of its studios from Steubenville to Florence, in Wash- ington County, about 15 miles nearer, and a branch studio in downtown Pittsburgh. If permis- sion is granted, CBS would move the WSTV-T.V transmitter to the site now occupied by Pittsburgh radio station WPIT. Local tv operators are up in arms at efforts of CBS to move into Pittsburgh proper with a sta- tion that was originally licensed for the Steubenville-Wheeling, W. Va., area, and an FCC decision permitting such a relocation would set a precedent. WSTV-TV’s sig- nal now reaches Pittsburgh but only a small percentage of set- owners, those on the fringe areas or in high places, can get it. Emerson Pacts ’Chance’ Emerson Drug Co.’s (for Bromo Seltzer) , alternate-week sponsor- ship of DuMont’s “Chanbe of a Lifetime” is official now, with the new pactee picking up on Dec. 10 where Old Gold leaves off. Ank- linfi of OG and the start of Bromo Seltzer were both handled through Lennen & Newell; Lentheric, the alternate spon- sor has inked a renewal as of the Dec. 17 Show. Gross-Baer Skiffle .. r .i Gross-Baer packaging outfit hit undergone several exec shuffles with Arnold Peyser being upped to exec-producer of all the company's shows and with Sandy Sheldpn, un- til now producing “Junior Cham- pions” , and “Maggi McNeills Show,” made production manager. Other‘ shift involves Allen Stan- ley, jacked.; from spot sales boss to general sales manager. New. addi- tions include Bob Claver, replac- ing Peyser with the Morey Amster- dam, outing, and Gladys Berger as production assistant: Having set its Saturday morning house in order with a threesome of kid stanzas and a fourth soming up to anchor at the noontime mark, NBC-TV is now 'intent on the segueing hour. The moppet line- up Was launched week ago Sat- urday with 90 minutes of such back-to-backings as the Happy Fel- ton Gang, Paul Winchell arid his wooden partners, and the: Ralph Edwards package, “Funny Boners,” with “Space Cadets” upcoming. Now the web is intent on the noon to 1 p m. fill-’er-up with a blue print on the way that has the earmarks of a “kidult” catch-all; meaning a switch on kid-appeal shows in that, whereas many, an adult finds interest in the stanzas slanted for the moppet mob, like- wise many a youngster is a viewer potential for. programs angled toward the older element, notably parents. NBS’s latest “kidult” spectacu- lar is in the “how to” class-— latching on to the latest “do it yourself” big trend that’s sweep- ing the country and creating ail altogether new and dynamic in- dustry. That the web is not join- ing the Handy Andymen parade with a mere hope and a prayer is indicated in the talent components. It’s figuring on such reliables as. Wally (“Mister Peepers”) Cox and Dave (“Mister Everything”) Gar- roway with which to stock the show. And that they’re both tink- ers supplies the realistic fillip. ’Darkness at Noon’ Okay for ‘Omnibus’ Despite Previous Nix It looks now like “Omnibus’- Will get a crack at the “Darkness At Noon” ex-legit vehicle as a CBS- TV Sunday afternoon entry this season, despite the fact that it was suddenly nixed a couple of weeks back, resulting in the last-minute substitution of Sophocles’ “Anti- gone.” Director Sidney Lumet was just about going into rehearsal with “Darkness” (with Claude Rains reprising his legit role) when au- thor Arthur Koestler’s agents wired from London that, because of a pending film deal, it was im- possible to turn over the tv rights. As result, it left Lumet with only eight days to : whip “Antigone” into shape. Last week “Omnibus” received assurance theft, despite, the pre- vious nix, it would probably be okay to do “Darkness” later in the season. In addition to Rains, Mai Zetterling may be co-starred, With Lumet ejecting; Indianapolis, Nov. 30. Sarkas Tarzian, who parlayed a smalltown,(Bloomington, Ind.) tv station into a bigtime financial bonanza (through the simple expedient of getting.in first with the only VHF for miles around* and then knowing what tq do with it), has now shot off into another “first time” tangent that may well write soine kind bf tv history for this, “one-man industry.” It’s no secret that Tarzian as the manufacturer of selenium rectifiers and, now tuners has had almost as fabulous a career as a; station operator. This year Tarzian Will gross estimated $3,000,000 in station billings, which for a property having its roots id a toWn normally * populated by less than 25,000, Is something to shout about. But the real snapper is the fact that WTTV is becoming the basic and exclusive affiliate of NBC-TV in Indianapolis despite the fact that it is headquartered 50 miles from Indiana’s key city and in the face of two other established Indianapolis VHF’s, with still another on the Way. Tarzian’s new transmitter. (35 miles from Indianapolis) now gives WTTV a tri-area identity practically blanketing Indianapolis, Terre Haute and Bloomington (and for those sections thab fail to get the desired , signal Tarzian has had all available ty repair ■men working at breakneck speed over the past six months installing auxiliary rooftop antennas for set owners at practically cost. Now conies Tarzian with his newest—a tuner capable of 82-channel pickup designed for mass sale at lower cost than any- one else’s (thus far 600,000 have been sold). Tarzian is so convinced that some day practically every manufacturer will embrace his Compact $10 tuner (because, he says, all its U features are com- parable to V in quality) that he’s ordered full speed ahead on production. .. Brewenes Pressured to Get Off Advertest ran a survey among about 1,000. New Yorkers during Oct. 11 to 18 re new fall tv shows With the following results: Although rankihg second and fifth respectively among the stanzas most seen since preeming, NBC’s “Caesar's Hour” arid the “Imogene Coca: Show’’ were the two that: viewers decided they dislike the most among the new ones. Yet the show they’d niost like to see back is “Show of Shows’^the ex-Coca-Caesar eritry. WOR-TV’s “Million Dollar Movie,” was, the show most viewed since beginning this past fall (based on 16 weekly exposures). “Medic” and “Tonight,” also NRC, rounded out the top five among the season’s new entries; CBS didn’t place until the ninth spot With “Father Knows Best,” but ABC managed a sixth place with “Stop the Music.” Another confusing twist is that the Advertest survey gave “The Web” (once sponsored in the same time by the same bankroller as the reasonably popular “Father’’ casing), second choice for the show most desired again. Dorsey Bros, were in the three spot among programs now off but 'again wanted. Batorters return for “limited engagement” (two weeks) while Jackie Gleason takes a hiatus in January. -4\ Pressure from civic, government and industry groups is finally cut- ting away the last strands of active New. York. Editor, Variety: Your reporter did a good- job of reporting my talk at the recent American Assn, of Advertising Agencies in New York, hut perhaps he did not see my release from which I read with care the 12 points which I hoped might help the future of radio. Point One should have been; “Media should make a real cost study of networks and stations.” Your story said “buyers”/ should make that study. It is. riot their job to do this—they have enough to study on their side without do- ing one. for media. 1 did say that those who do not believe in the future of radio broadcaisting should get. out of it. I am sure, however, that I did ijot use the phrase “get the . . . out of it.” I try to follow the Broad- casters’ Code of standards for the air in my own . public statements. That box entitled “Candor,” re- ferring to my station in Thomson, Ga., was good reporting. Yes, our station is doing well and so Is our weekly newspaper. Edgar Kobak. Maurice Evans, appearing on Ed Murrow’s “Person to Person” Fri- day (26) night on CBS-TV, disclosed during the interview that he holds the tv rights to Bernard Shaw’s “Man and Superman” and “Devil’s Disciple.” Evans further revealed that he would do “Man and Superman” as a two-hour show next: March, with "Disciple” scheduled for the in- definite future. Whether pr not “Superman” would be done as a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” special (such as the Evans-Judith. Ander- son two-hour “Macbeth” last Sun- day) was riot stated. TV rights were acquired by Evans from Shaw’S estate. During his lifetime the Irish playwright wouldn’t countenance ariy such ac- tion, to* which Shaw testified in a letter written to Evans and which the latter read on the “Person” stanza. BAUER & BLACK'S 'TNT 1 BUY Chicago, Nov. 30. Latest grab by the NBC-TV “TNT” sales net is a bundle of nine participations for Bauer & Black * the “Today-Home-To- night” trilogy.! B&B splurge occurs In Febru- ary, resistance on the part of the brew-, eries to eliminating (1) the “ca- lorib kick” and (2) the/showing of drinking of the product on tv. Beer makers, for the most part, feel they are in no position to stir up. a foam, but they passively re- gret “not being able:'to show our product in the best light,” The Bryson Bill has made itself felt on the NARTB, according to one report, which in turn, as far as the drinking-on-tv-commercials sit- uation is involved, has now asked member video outlets to play down such advertising. Directly attribu- table to the station support of the NARTB view is the fact that within the next few weeks Ballantine, han- dled through J. Walter Thompson, will eliminate all drinking scenes from commercials. Others have done same or will shortly follow suit. The unique angle is the switch from the “caloric kick” because of gripes expressed largely by inde- pendent viewers. Ballantine isn’t completely getting off the stay-thin spiel, but the brewery is modifying cojpy. Drinkers can still stay thin by drinking-BaUantine but it’s not clear how. That brewery, as well as others, is forced to clam up on the number of calories less one al- legedly has against another. Carry; ing it one step further, Piel’s states very Clearly now that “all beers have about 150 calories” per 12- ounce bottle, but “Piel's is light and dry.” A rival agency took a swipe *at Piel’s Young & Rubicam for “less non-fermented sugar** statements. It was said that no beer has .a measurable amount of sugar. It was. further declared that Piel’s was responsible, “through implication,” for starting the weight-consciousness of brewery copy writers. I A hassle between ,radi station WLIB, N. Y., and performer Bill Edmundson sprouted during the past few days over his axing, thus kicking off the second furor in as many months in N. Y.’s specialized radio field. A Negro newspaper feeding most of Harlem reported that Edmundson ended up calling a station exec a “liar, and a crook” after station chief Harry Novik suggested that the ex-gabber meet with the station spokesman to clean up difficulties. Edmundson, 23 years a member of the Southernaires, was hired by. Novik some months ago to replace Larry Fuller as . emcee of “The Gospel Train” show, Fuller had left to take up as Sporti Life in the travelling “Porgy and Bess.” (Continued on page 50^