Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

NEW SERIES VOL. 3 No. 17 TELEVISION DIGEST— 5 RATINGS REVERBERATE AT 4A: Fallout from ratings explosion triggered by Chmn. Harris’s House hearings could be easily detected at annual 4A meeting last week at W. Va.’s Greenbrier. Voiced publicly in speeches or discussed informally during coffee breaks and cocktails, rating question was very much on mind of top brass of nation’s leading ad agencies & media guests. Keynote speech by Marion Harper Jr., head of Interpublic (McCann-Erickson) & retiring chmn. of 4 A, put immediate spotlight on problem at opening-day (25th) lunch. Reaction stirred by Harris hearings. Harper said, was “excessive,” and was leading to “misunderstanding of the nature of good research practice.” Failures, he added, arose “when design of the research project is poorly related to its purpose.” Joint research activities involving advertisers, agencies & media were, in his opinion, “doomed to failure” since they evolved “techniques that are compromises” and put prime focus on “participating interests” rather than knowledge to be uncovered. Harper also warned against “the organization of a govt, research system” which, he said, “could be used to support a policy after it was no longer a reflection of people’s preferences.” Real progress in research. Harper said, will be achieved mainly “by individual practitioners when they’re free to develop their own techniques and to succeed or fail in the business marketplace.” C. Wrede Petersmeyer, pres, of Corinthian Bcstg., said he felt that a major problem in audience research involved specialized breakouts of information, which “become less reliable as you go further into the data.” He sided with Harper in wanting to keep govt, out of research business, and he told us: “A govt, attack on ratings is a step toward govt, control of programming. Relationship of ratings to programming is same as relationship of a thermometer to a patient. Ratings don’t control programming; it’s programming that controls ratings. I feel there are forces in govt, which would like to do away with the indices of programming which reflect popularity of certain entertainment shows like Beverly Hillbillies. It’s not a matter of improving ratings; it’s an attempt to superimpose governmental program thinking through an attack on ratings.” In other 4A news areas, members approved public ownership of 4A agencies (which have increasingly sought outside capital) “as long as the employes are in effective control,” but voted to prohibit any ownership of ad media — including large holdings in broadcast firms by agencies. Arthur E. Tatham & Norman H. Strouse, chmn. of Tatham-Laird & pres, of J. Walter Thompson, respectively, were elected chmn. and vice-chmn of 4A, with Tatham succeeding Harper. Transrontinent TV sale to Taft Bcstg. & Midwest TV didn’t come up for formal discussion at TTC stockholder meeting last week in Buffalo. And here’s why: Negotiations are said to still be in progress; special stockholder meeting will be called when board believes shareholder action is necessary. Incidentally, there’s no bar to contingency of Midwest purchase on Taft’s — in FCC proposed rule-making (Vol. 3:16 p4). Contingency involved in FCC proposal would affect multiple owner planning to buy & sell simultaneously while remaining within FCC ownership ceiling. Annenberg $1.5 Million ETV Gift: Complete facilities of Triangle Publications’ WFIL-TV (Ch. 6) Philadelphia, worth about $1.5 million, are being donated to ETV WHYY-TV, which now operates on uhf Ch. 35, holds CP for vhf Ch. 12. WFIL-TV is to move in Fall to new plant at City Line & Monument Ave., turning 46th & Market St. facilities over to ETV at that time. New WFIL-TV will also house radio WFIL and all Radio & TV Div. offices. Said Walter Annenberg, Triangle pres.: “I couldn’t think of a better use for the facilities. The difficulties of educational TV in New York, I believe, highlight the need for people to step out and help educational TV.” Gift is largest of its kind to date. Dormant newspaper-monopoly investigation by Rep. Celler’s (D-N.Y.) Judiciary Anti-trust Subcommittee is due to resume in June. Celler originally announced there’d be 4 continuous weeks of hearings, but he became ill ; now, he plans civil rights investigation before resuming newspaper probe. Publishers with broadcast holdings will be asked to testify at resumption. Also on tap is Prof. Harvey Levin, Hofstra College, author of book Broadcast Regulation & Joint Ownership of Media — generally opposed to TV-newspaper combinations. Dropping of competing newspapers in Los Angeles by Hearst & Chandler was a major stimulus for investigation; now, it’s understood Justice Dept, is studying history of Los Angeles Newspaper Publishers Assn., looking for anti-trust violations in exchanges of advertising & editorial information among publishers. NBC bought TV-radio rights for NFL championship game Dec. 29 for $926,000; for each of last 2 years it paid $615,000. NBC has been carrying game since 1955. CBS carries regular season games, paying $4,650,000 a year. NBC also signed Gulf Oil to full TV-radio sponsorship of 1964 national conventions & elections at reported $3.5 million. At same time. Gulf renewed for 4th year sponsorship of NBC News specials, at estimated $1.5 million. New stereo modulation monitor — claimed a “first” — introduced by Collins. It measures main channel, subchannel, pilot carrier, SCA carrier insertion, stereo separation, cross-talk, pilot phase. It provides stereo & monaural output for proof of performance, has output connections to measure AM noise & distortion. Collins also introduced new stereo limiting amplifier. Errata: Following changes should be made in pocket directory of stations issued as Special Supplement with Vol. 3:15: Add WOOK-TV (14) to District of Columbia; add WTEV (6) to Providence, R.I. (New Bedford, Mass.) ; add WJMY (20) to Allen Park (Detroit), Mich.; delete WNTA-TV, New York-Newark; change channel of WJAR-TV Providence to (10). National spot radio totaled $201,575,000 in 1962, a 2.1% increase over 1961’s $197,350,000, according to Lawrence Webb, managing dir.. Station Representatives Assn. He also reported that SRA & RAB plan to compile spot radio dollar volume by market. License fees are due to be finalized by FCC in week or so — TV-radio charges unchanged from last proposal (Vol. 3:13 p2), safety & special services to be cut somewhat. Total take is estimated at $3.8 million annually.