Broadcasting (Jan - Mar 1950)

TBA Clinic (Continued from Telecasting 3) station this revenue will be substantially reduced. Furthermore, he said, network progi-ams on the cable •Hill knock out the station's most salable local programs, sports events, which in Louisville occur almost entirely at night. A check of the present announcement schedule, Mr. Boyle reported, shows 90 commercial announcements during the station's six-day operating week, counting only those falling in network option time. Admitting that this total is achieved by double-spotting, he said that under network requirements as an interconnected station, WAVE-TV could handle only 43 announcements in the same period of time. "A better than 509c loss in spot revenue represents a sizeable decrease in income in an operation of our type," he noted. "It could be made up only by expanding our daily operation to accommodate these announcements. This in turn means additional engineering and production personnel. Our consideration of this situation leads us to believe that operating as a noninterconnected station for as long a period of time as possible possesses very definite advantages for us as regards revenue." He concluded, "There is only one drawback to my whole argument and that is that when the cable comes to Louisville we can do only one thing — enjoy it." Interconnection Praised Paul Adanti, general manager of WHEN (TV) Syracuse, which recently "went on the cable" after a year of non-inconnection network service, said: "Interconnection is the magic word that opens doors to new business, that breaks down buyers' resistance, that most of all removes the psychological block that everyone, including even agency and network people, seems to have about the non-interconnected station." He noted that improvement in kinescope quality during 1949 now makes possible "a fairly accurate facsimile of interconnected operation of kinescopes" at non-interconnected stations and added that, aside from some sports and other special events shows of timely nature, most TV programs lose nothing by being delayed. "A little consideration of the non-interconnected station as a bona-fide member of the network to bs judged strictly on its merit as a market, rather than as a poor relation waiting for the magic tentacle of AT&T to raise it from rags to riches, would do a lot to promote the growth of TV," Mr. Adanti declared. "Further, it would obviate the terrific hassle that ensues when a station is finally hooked into the cable which results in a complete reshuffling of time schedules, networks and local advertisers. "We are just beginning to emerge from that hassle nt WHEN Page 18 • TELECASTING and, believe me, I know whereof I speak. A non-interconnected station isn't going to shortchange itself by holding out optioned network time against the day when the lords smile and the program that should go into that time slot is finally bestowed and local sponsors who have bought into that time and are getting results show a surprising and justifiable amount of obstinacy in being shoved out when the 'happy to announce firm order' comes through. The net result is a lot of bruised feelings all around unless considerable diplomacy or expensive farsightedness is employed. Strange Situation "To me, the whole situation is unnecessary and decidedly ungood for the industry. It just doesn't make good sense to me to see the horn of plenty opening in a new and mediocre market with a close to zero set population just because it was fortunate enough to be located on a cable run, and see a much better, and further developed market, being stunted in its growth by the mere fact that AT&T is not expanding in its direction fast enough." The three things agencies want most from TV broadcasters, Rodney Erickson, supervisor of radioTV operations for Young & Rubicam, told the meeting, are: (1) bigger and better studios out of the high rent district, giving Hollywood production facilities at a price within the advertiser's budget; (2) better trained personnel so that a million-dollar-program is not at the mercy of an $18-a-week boy who likes to fiddle with the shading; (3) a single price covering the whole cost of a production. Mr. Erickson said that there also is a real need for new programs and new program ideas, stating that Y&R has three clients who are anxious to get into television "but we haven't been able to find the right kind of show for them." On the other hand, he reported that one of his agency's accounts has a video spot campaign that is "getting close to the doUar-a-thousand mark." "Keep your rates at a level local advertisers can afford and your programming at a level that will give them an audience for their commercials," Klaus Landsberg, general manager, KTLA (TV) Los Angeles, advised local station operators. He urged them to take advantage of the flexibility of their position by shifting programs to meet competition in a way that the networks can't do. He reported that by programming top films to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday evenings, KTLA has been able to build an audience which stays with it when Milton Berle comes on at 8 p.m. and moreover it has the program sponsored. Special events, often created just by taking the camera someplace the viewers would like to go, comprise another type of good local TV programming, he said, which will attract viewers and sponsors in the face of net POPPELE ELECTED Is TBA President For Sixth Term J. R. POPPELE, vice president General Teleradio Inc., operator of WOR-AM-TV New York and WOIC (TV) Washington, was elected to his sixth term as president of Television Broadcasters Assn. Wednesday by the TBA board. Ernest B. Loveman, vice presi ^ dent, WPTZ (TV) Philadelphia, was elected TBA vice president; Will Baltin was re-elected secretary-treasurer for the seventh time, and Paul Raibourn, president Paramount TV Productions, was re-* elected assistant secretary-treasurer. Earlier, the annual membership meeting of TBA re-elected Mr. Loveman, Mr. Raibourn and F. M. Russell, NBC vice president, as directors for three-year terms. To fill vacancies on the board, George B. Storer, president. Fort Industry stations, was elected for a two-year term; Joseph A. McDonald, ABC vice president, and Richard A. Borel, general manager, WBNSAM-TV Columbus, Ohio, for a oneyear term. Service Expanding In his annual report, TBA President Poppele noted that while "the advent of 1950 found television knee-deep in prosperity," this was one-sided as "the financial return to the manufacturer greatly outweighs the income of the TV broadcasters." Estimating today's video audience as more than 12 million, based on about four million TV sets in use, Mr. Poppele predicted that with an additional four million sets to be turned out this year, by the end of 1950 there will be video sets in one in three homes throughout the TV service areas. This rosy outlook is bulled by the 16-month old freeze, he said, noting that it "presents a problem for the entire industry that must be resolved in the very near future if we are to avoid reaching a point of stagnation." He pledged that TBA "will do its utmost to bring this protracted and costly impasse to a close." Mr. Poppele's report included an analysis of replies to a TBA questionnaire on the freeze sent to TV broadcasters, construction permit* holders and applicants. The survey showed the majority opposing a mixture of UHF and VHF channels in the same service area, preferring a reservation of space in the UHF band for continued experimentation to immediate full assignment of the band and favoring separation of the color issue from that of allocations. Most stations and applicants said, however, that the freeze had not worked to their disadavantage. The TBA membership meeting unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing their president to "protest the proposal of the U. S. Treasury Dept. to impose the manufacturers' excise tax of 10 9<: on television receivers and to do all things necessary and required to evidence the association's disapproval of such proposal." work competition. Competitive selling of AM and TV, even if under the same ownership, was urged by Kenneth W. Stowman, sales manager of WFILTV Philadelphia. "Television calls for an educational job beyond the capacity of the combination salesman," he said, noting that the man who tries to sell both media at the same time wastes his time talking about TV and fails to get the radio business. WFIL-TV Solution Backing up Mr. Landsberg's remarks about the danger of pricing station time out of the reach of local advertisers, he said that WFIL-TV had met that problem by building participation shows with 30-second demonstration spots that local clients can afford. The results, he reported, have been good, both for the advertisers and the station. Television has adopted many radio practices too eagerly and without nearly enough thought, Linnea Nelson, chief timebuyer of J. Walter Thompson Co., told the clinic. Taking rates as an example, she noted that TV stations generally follow the radio pattern of pricing a half -hour at 60% of the full hour rate, a quarter-hour at 407c, etc., without stopping to consider whether this formula is right for TV. February 13, 1950 "Perhaps a half-hour on TV should cost 75% of the hourly rate," she suggested, commenting that if this were done more advertisers might be encouraged to sponsor full-hour programs, which might be a good thing. Film package shows offer the TV station operator programs of network quality at prices he can get from local advertisers, and he can net a lot more than by passing 70% of his card rate back to the network, the three members of a panel on TV packages unanimously agreed. Russ Johnston, of Jerry Fairbanks Productions, expressed his firm conviction that "television film programs, properly prepared by qualified people and properly exhibited, will be the salvation of the TV broadcasting industry. We can no more afford a coast-to-coast cable on a regular basis than we can afford to jump out of the window. "Sooner or later, advertisers are going to measure TV as they do all other media, on a cost-per-something basis. If television is five times as effective as any other medium but costs 10 times as much, it will not be an economical purchase. Costs, therefore, become very important and advertisers must be able to amortize very high program costs through repeat show BROADCASTING • Page 68