Variety (December 1954)

IIAMO-TELE VISION '55 Target Year for RCA s Billion Biz; Samoff Report Cites Advances Brig. Gen. David Sarnoff, toting up the 1954 statistics in a year-end statement as board chairman of RCA, found that the giant outfit would be only about $70,000,000 short of the magic billion dollar mark in the sales of products and services. Thus, 1955 becomes the target year to achieve the “spec- tacular” round number. As is, the $930,000,000 turnover represents RCA’s peak volume in its 35-year- history, yielding $84,000,000 in net profits before Federal taxes, $40,- 000,000 after the contribution to Uncle Sam, and dividends to stock- holders of $22,051,000 ($18,898,- 000 of that on common stock, the balance on preferred). Gen. Sarnoff pointed to seven major developments during the year: compatible color tv with the introductory specolas; 21-inch color tube and new receiver; magnetic tv tape recorder (actually unveiled for the press last December at the Sarnoff Research Center in Prince- ton, but brought to commercial design development in ’54 with field tests, including color, slated for ’55); electronic light, making possible new forms of illumina- tion and "cold light”); electronic light amplifier, with important ap- plications in tv, X-ray. radar and other fields when further devel- oped, and making possible also what Sarnoff has previously plugged as “flat screen framed and hung on a wall like a pic- ture”; transistors, with designs for commercial use “substantially ad- vanced.” and extended use in 1955 ••certain"; high fidelity, with in- creased popular interest in phonos and records. 420 TV Stations Statement declared that there will be more than 420 tv stations operating as the new year opens, with 140 of them equipped to han- dle network color shows. Some 90 new outlets were added in ’54, and Canada's contribution to the station list will be 26 by early next year. NBC affiliates number 200, five of them owned-and-op- erated by the web. In the radio sphere, Sarnoff had this to say: "During 1954 the competitive im- pact of television upon network radio became increasingly appar- ent. The management of NBC early recognized the symptoms of economic dangers that threatened network radio and resolved to cope affirmatively with them. NBC has been leading the way in developing the patterns of audience and ad- vertiser service for the purpose of building a new' base for success- ful and continuing network radio operation, \yhich is an instrument (Continued on page 40) Crosby Scripts ‘Omnibus’ Looksee at TV Industry The 90-minute “Omnibus”-er training its guns on the television industry will be “exposed” on the CBS-TV Sunday stanza some time in January. It will be a workover of eight years of viedo, with script by John Crosby, radio-tv critic of the N. Y. Herald Tribune. Times’ ‘Man of Year’ To Kick Off WRCA-TV Drama Series Jan. 8 Time magazine’s "Man of the Year” for 1954 will launch WRCA- TV’s series by that name on Jan. 8 as a joint effort with the publica- tion. The New York flagship of NBC will kick off the skein With the "Man” selected by Time, but thrt-eafter will documentize living and dead subjects. Saturday slot will be at 1 p.m. for the half-hour show, with Richard Heffner (Co- lumbia U.) as emcee, Larry Roe- mer directing and Ted Nathanson as exec supervisor. Station also cards another Satur- day package. “Madison Square Garden Filmed Highlights,” for an indefinite ride starting Jan. 1. Sports end will be a recap of up- to-date activities from the arena, while other events, such as the an- nual circus, rodeo, etc., will neces- sarily be in an older vein. First of the series will be a quarter-hour at noon, but thereafter for 30 minutes at 2:30 p.m. Leslie Winik is the producer with Stan Lomax and Marty Glickman narrating. Wednesday, December 22, 1954 WM. KEENE "Wishes You A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS He will play Tom on “Ethel and Albert” on Christmas Day, NBC-TV 7:30-8 p.m. Mull ‘Disneyland’ For London Airing London, Dec. 21. There have been top level dis- cussions within the Disney organ- ization to determine whether their ABC-TV series should be made available on British channels. This was revealed in London last week by Cyril Edgar, head of their Brit- ish releasing organisation, on his return from product conferences in New York. Edgar admitted that this item had been on the agenda but said they were some way from taking a firm decision. Expressing a per- sonal viewpoint, he did not think there was much likelihood of the "Disneyland" programs being made available in the British mar- ket until such time as industry policy had been clarified. He emphasized that their policy in America was to harness televi- sion to exploit their own product, and, while meeting with some ex- hibitor resistance in the first in- stance, they had proved to be a valuable booster for their own product. What was currently hap- pening in America was coiflparable to the results in Britain when ex- cerpts fisom the Disney cartoon feature "Alice in Wonderland” was shown on BBC-TV last year. There was an immediate upswing on re- ceipts throughout the country. BRITAIN TAPS GILLETT FOR COMM’L TV POST Roland Gillett, British film and tv producer who for the past eight years has been active in American television, has been tapped for the key program job in Britain’s new commercial system. Gillett was named controller of programming and production for Associated- Rediffusion Ltd., the new setup which has the Monday-through- Friday franchise in London. Gillett, who’s in New York for Christmas but who returns to Lon- don to begin operations after the first of the year, will have the re- sponsibility of supervising all As- soeiated-Rediffusion (the Associat- ed Newspapers Ltd. tv arm) pro- grams from script stage to per- formance. For 16 years a film pro- ducer in Britain and Hollywood before entering tv in 1947, Gillett has at one time or another worked on such shows as "Toast of the Town.” "I Love Lucy” and "Pu- litzer Prize Playhouse." Among his film productions was a trio of , Charles Laughton Dix. one of which : was "Jamaica Inn.” Camel Axes ‘Mile’ , R. J. Reynolds (Camel Cigarets) is cancelling out on NBC Radio’s "Walk a Mile” w'hich it’* backed for several years. Web will re- place it in the Wednesday night at 8:30 slot with William Gargan’s "Barrie Craig” private eyer. Camel will continue to ride along with the Saturday night "Grand Old Opry” on the network. Radio and TV Gagman Ed Simmons and Norman Lear have written a fantasy (without music) on The Last of the Sami notvs * * * one of the many briqht byline pieces in the upcominq 49th Annivertary Number of TeTy DUE SOON Big Chi Play For ’56 Conventions; TV Talking Point Chicago, Dec. 21. Although the national political conventions are still some 19 months away, Chicago civic leaders are readying their bids to the party chieftains. Committee has been set up to raise a $500,000 kitty to help lure the GOP and Demos back to the Windy City in ’56. The Chi boosters recognize they have a potent ally in their corner in the person of Doth the television industry and tv-conscious politicos. And they're expected to play the video theme for all it’s worth. Reason that tv figures so promi- ( nently in the Chi convention pitches is that the expansive inter- national Amphitheatre layout suc- cessfully passed the tv test of fire as the site of the ’52 conclaves. Also the midwest time factor gives Chi an edge over the both coasts with the home tele gallery upper- most in the minds of the vote hunt- ers. Just prior to the 1952 gath- erings of the political clans, the Amphitheatre was equipped with permanent cable installations to handle the radio-tv hookups. Initial pitch by the Windy City contingent will be made to the Re- publican convention committee whose sessions traditionally pre- dates the Democrats by a few weeks. It has become the custom the past several decades for both parties to use the same site, to share costs. The half-million dol- lar fund being raised here has be- come the standard convention sub- sidy from the host city and is split between the two parties to hlep underwrite the costs. It’s known that J. Leonard Reinsch, managing director of the Cox stations and the Democrats’ radlo-tv consultant is personally pretty much sold on Chi’s Amphi- theatre. His advice and that of his GOP counterpart will undoubtedly have a bearing on the final choice. Sheaffer Pen Baying TV ‘Who Said That?' In Switchover to ABC ABC-TV has resolved its Wednes- day night lineup with the inking of Sheaffer Pen Co. as alternate- week sponsor of the onetime NBC panel show, "Who Said That?” Over and above the Sheaffer deal, the network has a firm commitment from the Russell M. Seeds agency of Chicago, which reps Sheaffer, for an every-week order, which means that Seeds must come up with a biweekly client to be drawn out of its own stable. "Who Said That?” goes into the 9:3( slot Wednesdays, starting Feb. 2, with ABC veep John Daly as mod- erator. Panel will be picked by next w'eek. Series will be produced by Ann Gillis, who produced it at NBC, but the show becomes an ABC package by virtue of the deal. Sale gives the web an SRO status up to 10 p.m. Wednesdays, with “Disneyland” kicking the evening off at 7:30, Frieda’s Tall Beef on Low Power Washington, Dee. 21. To stimulate construction of more tv stations in small cities, the FCC has called for comments on a proposal to permit low power <100 watt) operations in communities of under 50,000 pop- ulation. The agency wants information on plans and costs of such opera- tions. It wants to know whether low power stations should be limited to towns without tv, whether they should be at least 50 miles from operating stations, and whether licensing them to existing stations w'ould involve monopoly problems. The proposal, a drastic departure from existing minimum pow'er and antenna height requirements, is in line with a recent order w'hich permits establishment of stations which do not plan to originate local programs. An authorization for a satellite VHF station in Lufkin. Tex., was issued by the agency last month. As in the Lufkin grant, the proposal was issued over a sharp dissent by Comr. Frieda Hennock. With “insuperable competitive difficulties” already discouraging building of new stations, said Miss Hennock, “the Commission is now opening the way to the use of satellite stations which will not only enable the large ‘parent’ stations to invade deeper into the markets of the smaller outlying stations, but also will serve as a device for preempting unoccupied channel assignments and thereby blocking the construction of additional independent stations for which these channels were reserved for an indefinite period under the allocation plan . . . "The desperate need <?f numerous tv stations which are built and still to be built, is programming and revenues to enable them to operate profitably. The possibility acquiring satellites offers little comfort to the small stations which are unable to obtain * programming and cannot find revenues sufficient to offset their mounting losses. "Satellites, whether owned by the ‘parent’ stations or inde- pendently, in practice simply provide an opportunity to the larger stations to create local and even statewide or larger networks, obliterate effective competition from existing stations, and block the way to the building of additional competing stations ... In other words, they will serve to enhance the strong monopolistic trend which is visibly on the march in television.” ’54 TV Profits Top Radio Forge Ahead for First Time as 22% Revenue Gain Is Racked Up M of 0’s Godfrey Buy Mutual of Omaha latches on to Arthur Godfrey’s daytimer on CBS Radio with a skip-week approach. Insurance outfit will back the 10 to 10:15 segment on alternating Thursdays starting Jan. 13, alter- nanting Mondays as of the 17th and every fourth Friday begin- ning on the 21st. John McNeil Quits Huckstering to Raise Cattle Down Ga. Way John McNeil last week resigned as an officer of the Berminghan, Castleman & Pearce acr*ertising agency in New York, sold his sum- mer home in Westchester, closed out his apartment 6n Park Avenue and packed to depart for a farm near Athens, Ga. McNeil proposes to raise Angus beef cattle and re- ports purchase of his first cow’. Cattle project is fulfillment of a plan long in contemplation by Mc- Neil since the death of his wife, Loire Bropby, famed woman con- sultant to big business. McNeil’s long career in New York broadcasting and advertising includes six years as manager of WJZ and 10 years with NBC. He also served with ABC and DuMont prior to his recent ad agency link. In staking himself out as an east- ern operator in the cattle trade, McNeil has taken a five-year lease on the Georgia property. It’s pos- sible, however that he’ll shortly close a consultancy arrangement with an Atlanta television station. As a sentimental gesture before leaving New York McNeil acted as Santa Claus last Saturday (18) for the Salvation Army post on Domi- nick St. — role he’s performed every Christmas for the past 10 years. Washington, Dec. 21. Television is now definitely king of the broadcast n#edia. If there was any doubt of it, the official fig- ures of the FCC last week on 1953 radio-tv operations dispelled it. They showe that for the first time, tv profits exceeded those of AM and FM. The score was $68,000- 000 (before Federal taxes) vs $55,- 000.000. Although the number of radio sta- tions increased by 1 10 last year, gross revenues of the AM-FM in- dustry rose only 1.1% over 1952 to $475,300,000. This compared with a 22% gain in tv revenues which totaled $432,700,000. With the apparent levelling off of radio's gross and the continuing rise in tv revenues, the FCC fig- ures show quite conclusively that 1953 was the last year in which AM-FM revenues topped those of video. Should the rate of increase in video operations last year be maintained—a likely event in view of new VHF markets opened up— the tv gross in 1954 will exceed $500,000,000. It’s thus evident that radio-tv broadcast revenues for 1954 will hit the $1,000,000,000 mark for the first time and threaten the number one position of the motion picture theatres in the entertainment field. Gross theatre take for this year is estimated by COMPO at $1,- 191,000,000. The FCC data is based on re- ports from 2.434 radio stations. The largest concentration was in the (Continued on page 40) NBC Prodvcar-Diractor Max Liehman details his own reasons why Audience Reflexes CmiC Make or Break a T elecast * * * an interestlnq editorial feature in the forthcominq 49 th Anniversary Number of VARIETY IHIE SOON ‘Kukla’s’ Yule tide Co-op Bonanza Looks as if ABC-TV is going to walk off with a profit on the co-op Christmas Day Kukla, Fran & Ollie one-shot, "Many Moons.” At ! last count, the w'eb had received acceptances for the show from ; some 65 stations, 17 of which had also reported sponsorship. Under the somew’hat novel co-op payment plan of taking 30% of whatever the stations decides to charge for the show instead of the customary rigid percentage of the hour rate, the w'eb now looks to come off in the black on the venture. Addi- tionally, it hopes that many of the bankrollers latching on to the KFO one-shot may pick up the strip on a I regular basis. Sponsorship list submitted by the stations shows a high propor- tion of institutional or otherwise (Continued on page 34)