Broadcasting (July - Dec 1936)

NBC and five with Columbia. "These are the stations which will lose their network connections if Mr. Paley's prophecy is correct. There are 59 local stations within the present contour and 26 more within the new contour, an increase of 44%. None of these is affiliated with a network and consequently no local will be injured in this respect." Dipping into the financial statements of regional and local stations, as reported to the FCC in applications for license renewals, Mr. Maland quoted statistics on the earnings of those stations to prove his arguments. He set out to show that these categories of stations had not suffered when clear channel stations went up from 5 to 50 kw. but that WWNC ASHEVILLE, N. C. Full Time NBC Affiliate 1000 Watts Bis Crops and Good Prices ! Official estimates indicate North Carolina's 1936 crop values will equal the quarter billion dollars of 1935. Use WWNC and you blanket Western North Carolina — where prosperous agriculture joins with manufacturing, resort business and mining to make a rich, responsive market ! on the other hand they have made a remarkable gain. Taking the last renewal applications of these stations as the source of information he calculated the average monthly profits of regionals and locals within five millivolt contours of 50 kw. clear channel stations and compared them with the average monthly profits of regional and locals outside these contours, as well as the overall averages. The averages were based on returns from 160 regional stations and 130 locals. The average monthly profits of all regionals was $2,534.84. The average monthly profits of regionals outside the five millivolt contours was $1,894.10. Highest Profits THE AVERAGE monthly profits of regionals within the five millivolt contours was $3,675.05. And the average monthly profit of the members of the NARBS was $2,904.33, or almost $400 better than the average for all regionals. The same holds true for locals, he said, with the average monthlv profits of all of them at $535.10; of those outside the five millivolt contours $409.90, and of those within the contours $1,187.99. The highest profits reported by any regional and by any local, he said, "are from stations located in cities having clear channel stations. The same is true of the highest profit reported by any regional belonging to NARBS." Concluding this argument, Mr. Maland said it was difficult to find anv basis in actual experience for the claim that the proposed increase of power of clear channel stations would work injury to regionals or There is no more reason to think of radio advertising only in terms of solid quarter-hour programs than there is to think wiewspaper advertising only in terms of^mill pages. • We at WFBR encourage At use of 5 MINUTE and 1 MINUTE periods and station-break announcements -and we'll show you how they can be used strategically to do a solid selling job. Call on us for details. inBQL 1 ill THEY LISTEN TO I I I / f OWARO PFTRY & CO. \ . ^ r-i 1 HVH TOOK • CH J^^k SAN FRANCIS DETROIT W rr iT!i s vj ki s i mai g m : 1 4 4 sa g siun nma « m i m s i r BASIC IV B.C. RED NETWORK °; Super-Power Costs SOME basic figures on the costs of installing and operating a 500,000 watt station by existing 50,000 watt clear channel stations were given the FCC Broadcast Division Oct. 8 by Louis G. Caldwell, counsel for the Clear Channel Group. He said the expense involved in the installation of a 500 kw. transmitter at a station already having a 50 kw. unit would be $310,000. The overall cost for operation of a 50,000 watt transmitter is $3,500 per month. In the case of an increase to 500,000 watts, this cost would be raised to $12,000 a month. Depreciation on a 50,000 watt job is charged off at the rate of $2,000 per month and in the case of a 500,000 watt installation at $4,630 per month. Thus, he said, the total for the respective units would be $5,500 per month for a 50 kw. and $16,630 per month for a 500 kw. Breaking down these monthly items, the power bill for a 50 kw. station is $1,600 per month and for a 500 kw. $6,560; tubes, $900 as against $4,000; personnel; $800 as against $1,000, and miscellaneous, $200 as against $440. No attempt was made to estimate the increases in program expenses and other costs since under ordinary circumstances there is no reason why these should increase. locals. Then he plugged in a few additional arguments. He said the increase of power necessarily would drive local advertising to regionals and locals; the increased power would mean increased rates with the local advertiser unwilling to pay for coverage that would be wasted on rural markets. "The clear channel station becomes more and more distinct as an advertising medium, less and less a competitor," he asserted. "To use a familiar analogy, it resembles a magazine read over a wide area as distinguished from a local newspaper." For the Clear Channel Group as a whole, he said, a hurried survey indicated that in most cases the national advertising constitutes 90% urusmi wuiwrrovcM /fOTAffORD 70 PASSOP7H£ LARGEST INDEPENDENT STATION in CHICAGO ! 201 N. WELLS ST, CHICAGO, ILL, WEED & CO . 350 MADISON AVE , K.Y.C. or more and the local advertising 10% or less of the total. In only] two cases, he said, does the national business drop below 70% "Manifestly, a regional or local station 50 or 100 or more milesi away from the clear channel station will not suffer with respect] to its local advertising. In face all regionals and locals are more! likely to gain than lose. There if] no greater incentive to local advertising than the interest in ad-[ vertising that is created among prospective local advertisers b\ successful national advertising: They are awakened to its useful-! ness." Attempting further to disprove the "threat" of networks drop} ping regional affiliates if superpower comes, Mr. Maland pointec out that in Chicago two networl clear channel stations deliver signals of an average of six to eight millivolts in Milwaukee. Yet, he said, Milwaukee regionals stil have their NBC and Columbia af filiations. "Suppose, however, that the; should lose their present networl connections. What reason is then for believing that additional net; works will not be established, o for believing that the regional ma; not find a very worthwhile missioi to perform in additional program:^ of a local interest? The apprehen. sion is, however, completely una founded, so far as the independent ly owned clear channel station i concerned. The tendency would in evitably be in the other direction with the clear channel station tak ing a smaller and smaller amoun of network programs and the re gional station taking an increasini amount. This is not guess-work It can be demonstrated from &c: tual experience." Rural Population THE ADVERTISER who want regional coverage in the sense o reaching the rural and small tow population, continued Mr. Malanc will not use a regional or local sta! tion anyway. He does not do s now and he would not do so clear channel stations increase t 500 kw., he said. On the othe hand, the advertiser who wants t cover any city of large or eve: fair population intensively will no-i use a clear channel station 75 c 100 miles away but a regional o local in that city if it has a sta tion. Even in national regions, broadcasting, he said, a tendenc is fast developing which bids fai. to bring substantial revenue t regionals and locals. He referre to the rebroadcastina: by such sta tions of programs disseminated b a high-power clear channel statio some distance away. The possibili; ties of such service will be enoi mously increased with higher po^ er, he said, and in a sense this ca be described as regional networ broadcasting. Diverting from his assigned sul ject of economics, Mr. Malan criticized unnecessary hearings b( fore the FCC in competitive case He referred to those which ai WGH Gives Live Local Representation In Three Prosperous Cities With Studios and Offices NORFOLK — PORTSMOUTH —NEWPORT NEWS Page 68 • October 15, 1936 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertisin