Variety (December 1954)

Weilnewlay, Defender ^ 1954 What Cost-Per-Thousand DTa Read? \ielseo did a report on all sponsored radio and tv shows as I ,vt spring. It’d have been an ordinary report but for the com- 1 , v s inclusion of "an unusual twist”: Report compared the stanzas !!f Nielsen subscribers with all other programs. u 'I I,e result? Those shows representing Nielsen agency or adver- tiser subscribers cost less per-thousand listeners or viewers than . n non-Nielsen” programs cost on the same basis. ‘ l in >hort, Nielsen subscribers collectively averaged higher ratings t heir shows than the sum of non-Nielsen program interests. RADIO-TELEVISION 37 NBC’s New Act Hitz, McFadden & Shea; Web’s Veep List Upped to 31 MK' handed out veepee stripes to * three of its veteran execs last veek. bringing up the total num- | H . r of veeps at the web to 31. brass are Edward M. Hitz, central division sales chief; Thom- as B McFadden, spot sales top- per and Hamilton Shea, general manager of WRCA and WRCA-TV, tin* web's flagships in New York. Trio now bear the title "v.p. in charge" of their respective depart- ments. Hitz is the oldest of the trio from point of service, having joined the web in 1928 as a sales- man. since then having operated in Philadelphia. New York and Chicago. McFadden is another 20- vear man. having begun as a Radio Citv guide in 1934. moving up the ranks to the general managership ()1 \VK( A 'then WNBC) in 1946 and KHCA. Los Angeles <then KXB11' in 1950. Shea, who joined the web in 1949 after five years as treasurer-comptroller of the Emer- son Drug Co., moved into his pres- ent WKCA spot a year and a half ago. after heading up the Cleve- land oXo's. WTAM and WTAM-TV. Jazzbo Collins to WRCA From WNEW; Set 3 Slots WRCA. the NBC radio o&o in N.Y., grabbed off A1 (Jazzbo* Col- lins from indie rival WNEW this week, with the deejay starting in a 12:05 to 1 p.m. strip replacing Jack LaDelle. WCBS. its CBS rival, last week launched a Satur- day show with d.j. Bill Randle who was drafted from Cleveland. In addition to the customary upped coin lure, Collins decided to switch because he’s also slated for a three-hour Saturday session early next month as well as a reg- ular nighttime stanza sometime thereafter. A lew' months ago, WNEW shift- ed Collins to the midnight-to-6 slot vice Art Ford, and the former was understood to have expressed some dissatisfaction with his new- working hours. WRCA also signed sportsw riter- gabber Jimmy Powers (via WPIX, N.Y.* to an evening cross-the- boarder. Ed Locke replaces Collins on WNEW’s midnighter on Monday <13*. Some day. gabber Bill Wil- liams steps in on Collins’ 9 p.m. segment. Burlington, Vt. — Dean Slack, who had been with W’CAX here tor four years, has joined WJOY. where he will serve as music direc- tor. as well as being a news an- nouncer and disk jockey. NALLE Piano • Organ • Celeste at the I REMEMBER MAMA RCA’s Double Turndown In Zenith Suit Action; ‘Headliners’ in Lineup Chicago. Dec. 7. In the latest move in the legal chess game between Zenith Radio and RCA over radio-tv patents, Federal District Court Judge Michael L. lgoe last week nixed RCA’s request for delay in Zenith’s S16.000.000 treble damage antitrust action against RCA, General Elec- tric and Western Electric. Chi jurist ordered a hearing Jan. 7 on RCA’s petition to dismiss the Ze- nith suit. Igoe’s ruling came on the heels of a U. S. Supreme Court turn- down on a similar bid entered by Adlai Stevenson. 1952 Democratic Presidential candidate, who signed on with RCA in his first return to the law profession. After Igoe’s greenlight. Zenith attorneys made plans to start taking depositions from RCA execs, including board chairman David Sarnoff. * Radio Registry * A $54,000 HOUSE FOR $44,000! Wonderful ranch house on sheltered boy, in Darien, Conn., set back over 200 ft. ; over one acre. Ground level: 24 ft. living room with massive fire- ploce, large dining area facing L. I. Sound, 3 bedrooms, cross-ventiiated kUchen, utility room, 2-car garage, lower level: 44 x 26 ft. entertainment orea w.th 18 ft. wall of windows overlook,ng secluded terrace and bay where waterfowl feed, large bedroom, uxury bath has Belgian glass walls. 3 utility rooms. Masonry construction. ^o»y separation of family from enter- tainment. 5 Min. to Darien station, bus passes door. Box 12854, VARIETY, '54 West 46* St., New York, N. Y. Gen. Smith’s RCA Post RC.Vs retention of Adlai Steven- son to defend it in the suit brought by Zenith appears to be the “pre- miere” move by the giant company to bring “headliners” into its line- up for both active and public rela- tions values. Last week, for in- stance, Gen. Walter Bedell Smith was named a member of RCA’s board of directors. General Smith, board vice chair- man of Amercan Machine & Foun- dry. is the former Undersecretary of State and Ambassador to Russia, in addition to his previously held titles in the Defense Intelligence and other departments. EVERY DAY ON (VERY CHANNEL V! BROOKS COSTUMES J W.U M,l St., N Y C. •»•!. n. 7 -MM Peak Price Continued from page 25 of only $612,000 <after taxes* for the first 40 weeks of this year. Outfit has done much better over comparable periods i; the past. Moreover, the network division of DuMont was the only one of the four tele webs to run at a loss, as per October PIB figures (see separate story). All this coupled with the fact that DuMont is call- ing for immediate retooling for tint, made the WDTV sale more urgent than the DuMont sale an- nouncement would indicate. DuMont said that WDTV was sold because profit would be de- creased in Pittsburgh through in- troduction of other tv stations. However, by Westinghouse think- ing, it appears that the station has a number of months to go in mak- ing heavy profit. Westinghouse. it’s understood, figures to get back almost one-third of its $9,750,000 outlay in the next year and as much or more the following year Thinking is based on a belief that it'll be another 10 months before another VHF gets into the Pitt pic- ture and at least another year be- yond that before it can gain enough local stature to give WDTV any real competition. DuMont-Westinghouse Deal in Pitt May Pair WWSW-WJAS on T Merger Same PIB Story: TV’s Dps & Radio’s Downs in October Network billings for October, as reported by Publishers Informa- tion Bureau, continue to tell the same story—television up. radio down. There’s one switch, how- ever, in that DuMont shows a drop in monthly billings for the first time in several months. Web’s SI.426.031 for October was 2.5% below the gross for October of 1953. but its 10-month pull of S 10.267.775 shows a comfortable increase of 14.5% over the same period last year. CBS-TV continues the leader for October, with $14,033,536. up i 46.9%. Web already has $117.- 032.072 in the house for the first 10 months, up 51.3% over last year. NBC-TV trails with S12.307.- J03 for October, up 19.9%, and S100.541.824 for the first 10 months, up 30.7% over last year. Biggest gainer percentagewise is ABC, up 69.3% for the month STUDIO-BARN WITH LOFT * , '>v«lf» | ly t'uixpcj tf (timing * MMX- t |* ’ ani) tv thorlt. tut-iMtwn; $100 ■ •nth High volt*** hookup. it»*«. but M «i»m,„,. Wrt1f B#i v.10654. Variety, 154 ” 4Mb Street, Nrw Verb 36. N. Y. — » * v t lav ABC-TV Manhandles ‘Care’; ‘Soldier Parade’ to Sub ABC-TV has given the axe to "Handle With Care.” the Bernard Prockter package about postal in- spectors currently occupying the Thursday at 8 spot. Show, to which ABC was committed for 13 weeks but which the web couldn’t get off the sustaining roster, bows out after the Dec. 30 show. Replacing it will be the semi- sustaining “Soldier Parade.” the Arlene Francis starrer which of late has been serving as a utility segment. “Parade” is currently in the Monday at 8 slot, serving as a fill-in between the cancelled “Come Closer” and the "Reader s .Digest” telepix series which starts Jan. 17. "Parade” stays on Mon- days until Jan. 10, Dallas—Michael Bushel], former INSer, takes over nighttime news- i casting cht)W*B at KC7BC, Galveston. 69.3% with S3.890.802 and 65.2' r for the first 10 months with $26,584,163. In radio. ABC continues to show the most comfortable position, its October billings of $2,502,439 be- ing down only 0.63% from last year and its 10-month total of S24.199.694 up by 0.1% over last year. Mutual was the biggest Oc- tober loser, its SI,570 952 being 28.1% down from last October. CBS’ S4.131.628 is dow n 24.6% from last year, while its 10-month total of S45.567.675 declined 11.4%. NBC. though showing j only a 21.7% drop in October with S2.735.080—less than CBS and Mu- tual decreases—is still the biggest loser in the 10-month returns, its $28.106.616 representing a 26.3' c drop from the first 10 months of 1953. Total four-networks billings in tv are up 35.2% for the month, to a total of S31.657.772. while the 10- month total of S254.425.834 is even higher, a 41.9' c increase. In radio, it’s the reverse, with the October | total of S10.940.099 down 20.9% i from last year and the 10-month ; SI 15.015.098 dow n an average of 13.3%. Jan Murray Joins TV’s ‘Comedy Is No Fun’ List As Hosnital Casualty Strain of television comedy, which hospitalized Milton Berle and Red Buttons a couple of weeks ago, has also put Jan Murray in the hands of the medics. Star of "Dollar a Second” collapsed at his home last week <2*. a day before the ABC-TV quizzer was due on the air, and was rushed to a New' York hospital for what the web described as "complete physical ex- haustion.” Bud Collyer subbed for Murray on the show, and there was no in- dication whether Murray would be back in time for this week’s seg- ment. Both Berle and Buttons had indicated before they were hospi- talized that the strain of doing a live show had decided them on switching to film next season. There’s little likelihood, though, that Murray can do the same. Apart from the fact that he doesn’t have a property interest in "Dol- lar” that Berle and Buttons have in their shows, there’s the question of the spontaneity that would be lost by filming the audience partic- ipation quizzer. RCA’s Double Divvy RCA declared an extra dividend of 25c per share as well as a quar- terly dividend of 25c per share on common stock, with both payments ready as of Jan. 24 to holders of record as of Dec. 17. Along with this, it was disclosed that future quarterly dividends will be paid by RCA on April. July, October and January, meaning that payments will be coming a month earlier than before. The RCA board also set a divvy of 7^c per share on the firm's first preferred stock for the period Jan. 1 through March 31, '55. Pay- ments will be made in April to holders of record on March 14. Pittsburgh. Dec. 7. With sale of WDTV here by DuMont to Westinghouse for $9,750,000, insiders expect a mer- ger deal to be consummated any day now between WWSW and WJAS on their application for channel 11. one of the two remain- ' ing V's allotted to Pittsburgh. KDKA and Westinghouse also had' applied for the channel, and of course their acquisition of chan- nel 2 eliminates them from the 11 picture. If the merger goes through, and according to information available it seems likely, Pitt will get an- other V station far in advance of expectations. Before the DuMont- Westinghouse deal, it looked as if WDTV *the call letters are to be changed to KDKA-TV) might be the only operation locally for at least another two years. WWSW is owned by the Post- Gazette. morning daily, and WJAS by H. K. Brennen. A deal for a tv merger would mean that one of those two radio stations would have to be disposed of, and on basis of speculative calculations, it’s figured that the "For Sale” sign will go up on WJAS when and if the two remaining applicants for channel 11 get together. On the DuMont-Westinghouse front, Harold C. Lund will remain as general manager «f KDKA-TV, Chris J. Wittting announced with news of the sale. NTED: OUNT EXECUTIVE We’re a long-established, prosperous advertising agency in New York City, with an important list of clients. A We’re looking for a “hep” TV man with current TV billing. If you fill the bill, we'll make it irresistibly interesting to you financially. Here is an unusual opportunity to increase your Income and work with congenial, competent associates in an agency known for its stability and integrity. Your reply will be held in the strictest confidence. Our staff has seen this ad. Address: BOX 2496 VARIETY 154 West 46th St., New York, N. Y.