Broadcasting (Jan - June 1945)

HOPE than any other year in the history of nnankind. w ^^^^ In a world fhaf has more to expect. We continue to give advertisers MORE for their money than any other Memphis Station. 1925— THE FRIENDLY STATION t |935_"this is the friendliest spot on your dial." |945_Your MUTUAL friend. SOUTH'S 24-Hour Statii Your MUTUAL Friend EMPHIS. TENNESSEE Represented by RAMBEAU Page 52 • January 1, 1945 Television as Leading Postwar Industry Visioned by Kesten Pledges CBS Aid to Hastening Its Development; Yearend Review Stresses Wartime Service TELEVISION can become one of America's leading postwar industries and CBS intends to do everything possible to hasten its potential development. That's the pledge made in a yearend statement by Paul W. Kesten, CBS executive vice-president, who declared that his network is "fully conscious of its special obligations in war" but that it had given "serious consideration to postwar operations". Review Stresses War Service While Mr. Kesten's statement dealt primarily with things to come, the annual yearend CBS review pointed out that radio's 1944 accomplishments will be remembered in terms of participation in the war itself, rather than in postwar planning. Nearly 35% of the year's total operating time was devoted to programs directly related to some phases of the war. That represents 3,169 hours, or an average of nearly nine hours daily, including war news. Out of a total of 17,116 separate broadcasts, close to last year's total, 10,404 were heard on commercial time. CBS listening station, which has recorded some 50 million words in from 10 to 15 languages during 1944, calls the plays on the shortwave front, reporting what is in eifect a success story for Allied radio. Sources of Axis broadcasts from Europe dvdndled to one — Berlin, with five former points of Axis broadcasts changing their tunes — Brussels, Bucharest, Helsinki, Luxembourg, and Paris, while Budapest fell silent before the Russian Army. On the domestic front CBS sees a vindication of its pioneer use in 1940 of the controlled mail ballot technique of measuring station coverage, in the establishment of the Broadcast Measurement Bureau. A new degree of flexibility in the advertisers' use of network facilities has been achieved with the addition of two new discounts, both slight variations of the first 15% full network discount plan, according to the review. Of 102 CBS commercial programs, 64 are earning BUT NOT <^ ' . ... Do Ohio Valley folks listen to WSTV in Steubenville? That's a logical question, considering the fact that we are SURROUNDED but NOT INVADED — by some mighty powerful network competition, including two 50,000 watt stations! Here's the answer in our latest Hooper. WSTV STEUBENVILLE, 0. JOHN LAUX, GEN. MGR. WSTV WFPG WJPA WKNV STEUEErlvlLLt O. ATLArJTIC CITf, H J, WASHINGTON, PA, KINGSTON, N. one of the three discounts. CBS signed affiliation contracts with 14 stations, ending up with a total of 143 outlets. CBS' New York television station WCBC resumed live programs last year, increased its staff to 28 and became the first video member of the NAB, having resigned from the TBA. Sees Good Prospects Mr. Kesten's statement cited three proposals concerning postwar television, international shortwave and FM, as suggested during the FCC allocation hearings Sept. 28Nov. 2 and asserted: "There are good prospects that 1945 will see successful demonstration in the United States of the kind of television we can endorse. Much factual evidence uncovered in 1944 supports these hopes." He pointed out that high-definition, 1,000-line television already has been demonstrated in France (Two confiicting reports on the quality of French televisioh, however, appeared in the Dec. 18 Broadcasting). "High frequency, wide-band television, as a world standard, is inevitable, at whatever sacrifice it may mean of present-day equipment," Mr. Kesten said, adding that CBS believed such sacrifices would be smaller now than later. Asks Better Television In asking for better television, CBS has matched words with action, Mr. Kesten's statement continued, having applied for highfrequency video stations, ordered necessary equipment, negotiated for new-type receivers and having appropriated a larger television budget than any other non-manufacturing broadcaster. "Until the public gets the kind of television it expects, an audience that interests advertisers cannot be built, and broadcasters will — and should — carry the cost of programs," said the Kesten statement. "But private resources are limited, and a television audience that ceases to grow will ultimately, of economic necessity, be allowed to die on the vine." BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising