Variety (December 1954)

26 RADIO-TELEVISION Wednesday, December 22, 1934 Hooper Parlayed a Rating Service Into a National Household Word C. E. Hooper, killed by a boat<> propeller on Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City last Wednesday (15), originally entered the radio audtence measurement business at the behest of print media. It was a sort of “draft” of him by news- papers and magazines which, 20 and more years ago, were becoming alarmed at the inroads made by a broadcasting industry with scarce- ly a decade of network history be- hind it. ^ What bothered the m black and white” boys was that the “upstart” sound medium was making claims on its listenership that, it was al- leged, actually represented the number of radio receivers in dis- tribution. Many a program would blandly claim an audience of. say 20,000,000 simply because there were that many sets believed to be tuned in, regardless of the fact that the show was competing with others. Some went so far as to claim the entire radio listening population as their “audience.” Archibald Crossley had preceded “Hoop”'as the “Mr. Big” on'the radio nose-counting scene. Crossley and Hooper were the two house- hold words in the measuring firma- ment at radio’s height, but Hoop- er’s fame was greater. When com- ics and commentators started to mention Hooper and “Ilooperat- ings” in their stints^ Claude Ernest Hooper was “in.” Hoop’s intra-trade name was made as an employee of Daniel Starch (Starch Reports), a pro- fessor under whom Hooper sat at Harvard. Starch achieved his rep- utation as an analyst of magazine readership and radio audiences. Hooper joined Starch in 1931 and was assigned to supervise the de- velopment of the company’s syndi- cated services. He established the firm of Clark-Hooper Inc. in 1934 to bring more “reality” into AM listener polling and became noted for the origination of the “coinci- dental” method, whose Innovation gimmick w r as to phone persons at random to ask what programs they were listening to at the time. Hoop started a 32-city market for his sampling, and introduced numer- ous supplementary services. Hooper was praised and blasted by the trade in general and per- (Continued on page 40) Dozier Shifts To Coast for CBS-TV William Dozier, CBS-TV’s exec , producer over live dramatic shows, was tapped this week for the new post of director of network pro- grams, Hollywood. He’ll report on the Coast to Harry Ackerman, CBS veep in charge of Coast operations. Move is believed designed to re- lieve Ackerman of some of the cre- ative load there. Dozier has occupied his present exec producer spot in New York for nearly three years. He moved over to the web after a tour as assistant to Samuel Goldwyn, which he preceded with production posts at several major motion pic- ture studios. Dozier’s had a hand In independent telepix production too, via his Cornwall Productions, In which he’s partnered with Ella Raines. Cantor Telefilm Show Also as Radio Series Ziv Television Programs is cut- ting tapes of its new Eddie Cantor telepix series to be sold separately as a radio entry. Show will bear the same title, “Eddie Cantor Com- edy Theatre.” Firm, via its radio arms, is already peddling the ET series. Ziv, of course, has done this be- fore, in the case of “Mr. District Attorney,” for example. But the project reflects a trend on the part of telefilm distributors and pro- ducers to get more mileage out of their film by the sale of taped ver- sions for radio. Guild Films is do- ing it with Liberace and plans to extend i'u radio Operations to in- clude shows by Florian Zabach and Frankie Laine, along with an AM version of “Life With Elizabeth.” TV-Modi* Strip4»r Charles Isaacs hat an interesting reminiscence on Eddie Coarer’s debar la rkar new* fangled medium called televlsiea dried Through Every Medium tvith Burnt Cork and 5 Daughters * * * aa amusing byline piece In the forthcoming 49 ih Anniversary IS umber of I'K&IETr OUT SOON Philco Facing Anti-Trust Rap Philadelphia, Dec. 21. U. S. Justice Dept, has accused Philco Corp. with violations of the Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust Acts in a civil suit filed in U. S. District Court here which charges the company with controlling the sale of its product right down to the ultimate purchaser. The action was filed for U. S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell by William F. Rodgers, attorney in the Justice Dept.’s anti-trust divi- sion. The complaint charges Philco violates the law by requiring whole- sale dealers to restrict sales and shipments of Philco products to a designated territory. Retailers in return are required to sell only to consumers and not to other re- tailers. The charges, which cover the whole Philco line, claim the com- pany has effected a sales control of its products at Both wholesale and retail prices. The complaint fur- ther charges that Philco sells its complete line of products to whole- sale distributors on the condition the wholesalers wiR not deal in any products competing with Philco. ' James M. Carmine, president of Philco, described the suit ‘‘as a sweeping attack on an established system of distribution which has been widely used for years by man- ufacturers of brand name products to protect the public. The Govern- ment is attempting to impose an entirely new concept of antitrust regulation and business control.” ‘Medic’ Doing Repeat Of 1st Stanza, Figures 10,000,000 New Viewers NBC-TV’s “Medic” appears headed to do a repeat show some time in January (probably the 10th) within only a few months of its premiere. That would be unique as a retread stapza since the MD telepix series is scarcely past its first cycle. By the web’s reckoning, the widely acclaimed show has picked up an additional 4.500,000 in homes reached since its opening in the fall and there’s been a tremendons flood of newspaper and magazine stories stemming from the Monday nighter. Thus* perhaps up to 10,- 000,000 additional viewers have latched on to the program since the initial exposure, story then be- ing titled, “White Is the Color.” Latter, about an expectant mother afflicted with leukemia (with the baby saved) will be the rerun ve- hicle if plans on "Operation Re- peat” jell. Murphy’s Albany Post Albany, Dec. 21. Thomas S. Murphy, formerly with Lever Bros, and Kenyon Si Eckhardt, is new manager of WROW and WROW-TV. He is the son of Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Murphy of Brooklyn and former president of the New York Advertising Club. Harry L. Goldman, former vee- pee and general manager, is now station's manager. DROP OP THI TILOP Imogens Coca's Worried Look on TV Guide' Cover Provokes Nix WRCA-TV, New York flagship of NBC, has rejected use of the cover of the Dec. 18 TV Guide (Triangle Publications) as s station telop. The o&o’s objection was to the cover of Imogene Coca, showing the performer with a “worried look’’—with the word worried used as the caption. Understood this the first time a TV Guide cover has been nixed for plugging on the exchange ad- vertising setup between stations and the publication. Miss Coca and various NBC execs are known to have expressed their displeasure at the “wrinkled brow” photograph. Set Gosed-Circuit 'Medical Journal’ Chicago, Dec. 21. American Medical Assn, and the Smith, Kline & French pharmaceu- tical house are prepping an “Amer- ican Medical Journal of the Air” for coast-to-coast beaming to 30 cities Feb. 9 along a closed-circuit i hookup arranged by Theatre TV’s Telesessions adjunct. It’s another in the medical pro- fession and drug industry’s experi- ments in the use of tv for post- graduate instruction to keep the nation's medicos up on the latest developments. SK&F is under- writing the 90-minute session deal- ing with heart disease. The show will originate in New York, and will be lensed by the drug firm’s own production unit headed by Fred Roll, the company’s tv spe- cialist. If response warrants and the costs can be kept within rea- sonable bounds, the “Journal of the Air” may become a regular monthly project. Tennessee Ernie, NBC Resolve Hassle Over Control of TV Slow Hollywood, Dec. 21. Long drawn out hassle between NBC and Tennessee Ernie over control of his upcoming morning strip for the tv network has ended in draw. Both will have sayso as to who goes on show and how it is conducted. MCA. acting for Ernie, de- manded what amounted to auton- omy in choice of performers and material but the net refused to yield and finally agreed to a col- laborative settlement. With new half-hour teleshow airing five times weekly, Ernie will be one of the busiest performers on the networks, second only to Arthur Godfrey. He will continue his five half-hours a week on CBS radio. NBC series starts Jan. 2. At CBS he does one live’ and one tape broadcast daily which allows him time for recording sessions. ALL WESTINGHOUSE STATIONS JOIN NARTB All the Westinghouse radio and tv stations are joining the Na- tional Assn, of Radio & Television Broadcasters as of the first of the year. Two of the Westinghouse tv properties and one radio outlet are already members, > with one more tv’er and fdur AM outlets new to the NARTlp rolls. New members will be WBZ-TV, Boston; WBZA, Boston-Springfield; KWY, Philadelphia; WOWO, Ft. Wayne; and KEX, Portland, Ore. Already members are WPTZ, Philly; KPJX, San Francisco; and KDKA, Pittsburgh. WDTV, Pitts- burgh, which Westinghouse has contracted to purchase from Du- Mont, is already an NARTB mem- ber. Decision to enroll the other stations was that of Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. prexy Chris Witt- ing. who said it was an endorse- ment of NARTB’s program and Harold E. Fellows’ leadership. L & M TRIMS 'GUNSMOKE' Liggett & Myers, which had un- derwritten the two Saturday air- ings of CBS Radio’s “Gunsmoke,” has dropped the 12:30 to 1 p.m. edition. Ciggie outfit will continue the 8 o’clock version, plus the tri-weekly I Perry Como show on the web. Canadian TV’s Drama Upbeat *. Toronto, Dec. 21. Canadian television drama has shown a remarkable improve- ment in the last two months and it is a definite possibility tRe Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s drama stanzas may reach the same high level of quality as CBC’s standout *adio plays, particularly it’s “Stage” series. When CBC-TV drama preemed this autumn, performances were mostly ragged and unconvincing and scripts were only adequate. . There were exceptions, but no series can exist on exceptions. Besides, CBC scheduled shows like “Studio One," “Dragnet,” “Medic,” other imported high-standard dramatic airers for viewers to compare the Canadian shows with and the comparison was not good. Sydney Newman, theatrical producer for the National Film Board who became CBC’s video drama chief, has upped general drama quality on the v/eb. Scripts have shown improvement but the greatest advances have been in direction, production and performances. Newman has wisely avoided comedy since Canada has little if any adequate comedy talent, either in scripting or performing categories, and emphasis has been on tense, heavy material. As a result, CBC, which produces all tv dramatic shows, sponsored or sustaining, is developing an effective stable of players, both new and drawn from radio. At the moment, all English-language drama originates in Toronto, with French-language plays coming from the Montreal studios, and there is the danger of CBC bypassing considerable dramatic talent in other Canadian centres much as it has done on its radio webs. The danger is not in depriving its viewers of top talent but in confining production to one centre it is compelled to use the same players over and over again to sacrifice a considerable amount of reality and conviction. A. D. Dunton, CBC’s chairman, said last year such a concentra- tion'of production w r ould be avoided but so far there has been no apparent effort to decentralize it. An example of a bypassed pool of talent is Ottaw r a w-here a six-year-old repertory company and a quarter-century-old drama league operate to clicko business regu- larly. Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax and other major Canadian cities also have good supplies of dramatic producers and artists who could be advantageously used by CBC video. Norman Cash Named to Top-Level TvB Post as Double Threat Man’ Humoritt H. I. (Hi) Phillips has written his awn show bla perspective en The Medical Hour e e e ene of the many byline pieces In the apcomlng 49th Anniversary Number oC tsfiSnETr OUT SOON Chi Tele-Cheivers In Teenage Buildup Chicago, Dec. 21. Under the guidance of the high command at ABC-TV’s WBKB, a novel new tele packaging “firm” tagged The Tele-Cheivers is being launched. Outfit, with all the cor- porate trimmings of a regular com- mercial setup including stock capi- talization, will be manned exclu- sively by teenagers as a WBKB- sponsored Junior Achievement project. It’s the Junior Achiever’s first entry into tv and thus it’s believed the first time the “learn by doing” juve program has touched any phase of show biz. Like the group’s other ventures, usually in the handicraft and manufacturing field, a formal company has been set up, only this time it’ll be for the production and selling of a tv show. WBKB has set aside a Tuesday night half-hour starting in Febru- ary which the Teile-Cheivers will program and staff from general manager down to studio techni- cians. With the supervision of the station's pro staff, the youngsters will be in complete charge of all phases, including sales and pub- licity. As the project is being projected, it’s hoped a major com- munity advertiser will underwrite the show on an institutional basis with the T-C’ers peddling partici- pations to other Junior Achieve- ment groups as blurbs for their own wares. As proof that the teenage enter- prise is no fly-by-night affair, ABC veep Sterling (Red) Quinlan, busi- ness manager Matt Vieracker, sales manager Jim Beach, and publicity- promotion chief Ell Henry all have pieces of the company via the stock purchase route. Appointment of Norman (Pete) Cash as director of station rela- tions for the new Television Bu- reau of Advertising, not only marks the beginning of the official membership drive, but indicates that the organization hasn’t the least intention of letting a single tele station get the impression that the industry-wide promotion outfit will ignore the indie’s needs. When Cash, lately of ABC, was last week given the “station rela- tions” tag, obviously TvB’s No, 2 post, his new boss Ollie Treyz and org treasurer and member- ship committee chairman, Lawr- ence (Bud) Rogers of WSAZ-TV, Huntington, W. Va., were on hand to Draise his virtues as a “friend of ’ie stations” as well as a top salesman. Treyz made it clear that Cash was his “double threat” man, who, once all the stations were signed on for the ride, could turn some - of his attention to other things. Rogers, though not once putting the big city boys in the back seat, stressed need of TvB among the small town television operators, “who are spending as much for building and operation as others’* but w'ho don’t have all those mil- lions in revenue of the big mar- kets to draw on as quick compen- sation. He reiterated the new out- fit’s stand on giving these hereto- fore disassociated stations a cen- (Contlnued on page 34) Claim Sabotage In S. F. Walkout San Francisco, Dec. 21. Amid charges and denials of sabotage of technical equipment, 47 engineers and production as- sistants walked off the job at the Westinghouse tv station KPIX last week, taking the station off the air for 13 hours. A threatened tleup of the tele- cast of the Bobo Olson fight Wed- nesday (15) did not materialize although a CBS unit was flown up from Hollywood to handle the re- mote. The station has been operating even since last Tuesday with net- work shows and one-camera live programs with executive personnel handling the engineering chores. The strike was called by the Na- tional Assn, of Broadcast Engi- neers and Technicians as a result, a union spokesman says, of dead- lock on the union’s demand for a new contract to replace the old one which expired Nov. 1. Although American Federation of Musicians members and also the American Federation of Radio and (Continued on page 34)