Broadcasting (Apr - June 1950)

BMB AREA REPORTS To Giye c°mpiete stati°n c°yera^ COMPLETE statement of broadcasting station coverage will be made available for the first time within a few weeks when Broadcast Measurement Bureau starts publishing state area reports, Dr. Kenneth H. Baker, BMB acting president and NAB research director, told Broadcasting Thursday. Publication of area reports was ordered last Tuesday by the BMB board, and Dr. Baker quickly drew up plans for the project. The new reports are expected to bail out BMB from a near-$100,000 debt to NAB. The board decided to postpone any steps toward dissolution of BMB until next Oct. 1. In making available area reports by states BMB takes a step that is expected to bring Study No. 2 into universal use by buyers of time. The reports will show all the stations heard in every state provided they have 10% or more of the state's audience. Thus buyers of radio time can consult the complete list of area reports for coverage of all 1,800 of the stations on the air in March 1949. Coverage will be shown for 600-plus subscribing stations and nonsubscribers as well. The first BMB study in 1946 had shown data for only 700 of the 900 stations then on the air. Restriction Lifted As a result of the new state area reports BMB subscribing stations need no longer be held to their actual BMB coverage claims while nonsubscribers use various types of millivolt contours, mail reports and similar claims. The subscribers and nonsubscribers will be placed on the same basis through availability of the state reports. A number of stations had complained to BMB that Study No. 2 does not tell "what the competition is doing," according to BMB officials. Board decision to publish state area reports was based on what was described as "a terrific demand," especially among advertisers and agencies. Subscribers will be designated in the new reports by a BMB crest. With printing scheduled to start in about a month, BMB will accept station subscriptions from stations desiring to be designated by the crest. Price for the state books will be prorated on the basis of printing costs, which will vary for each state. A price list will be published soon. State reports will be available to BMB subscribers and their representatives, advertisers and agencies. ' They will not be available to nonsubscribers. Board decision on the project was unanimous. In the discussion it was pointed out that subscribers should realize publication of the reports will be the best thing that can happen to individual measurements at this time, with every sta tion getting a complete picture of all stations having a BMB (10%) audience in their area. In deciding to release all information collected in BMB Study No. 2, the board overrode protests of many individual station subscribers who have, from the time the divulgence of non-subscriber data was first broached more than a year ago, strenuously maintained that such general release of data for all stations would place the non-subscribers on an even basis with those who have underwritten the cost of the study and BMB's other expenses. Users of BMB data have naturally desired full reports on all stations and have argued that this would be a good move for the broadcasting industry as it would provide more information to the buyers of radio time and so would help make wiser decisions about the use of radio which in the long run should increase the use of radio in competition with other media. Area Figures Wanted Agency spokesmen who took part in a BMB-BAM discussion at the NAB convention last month [Broadcasting, April 24] told broadcasters they wanted area reports. BMB published a national area report based on the 1946 survey. The 1949 state reports will consist of separate books for each state. Although designation of Oct. 1 for the transfer of BMB's activities to Broadcast Audience Measurement Inc., organized as the successor to BMB, some four months beyond the July 1 date originally PROSPECTS of a Senate floor fight against President Truman's FCC "reorganization" plan [Broadcasting, March 20] were mounting last week after the plan won slim approval by the Senate committee assigned to study it. With less than a fortnight remaining before the May 23 deadline for Congressional action to block the Presidential proposal, the week produced these developments and repercussions: 9 A scathing blast at FCC by Sen. Homer E. Ferguson (RMich.), who charged the plan "can lead to complete Government ownership and operation of the radio industry," and called for a "complete and thorough" probe of FCC practices and procedures. £ A spirited drive by NAB calling upon member and nonmember stations to flood their Senators with protests against the plan, which would concentrate the Commission's administrative and executive functions in the Chairman. contemplated, the BMB board was unanimous in its decision. Broadcasters joined with advertisers and advertising agencies represented on the board in voting for the later date. One reason for the delay in ending BMB's hectic career is that BAM as yet is unready to take over. Just incorporated, BAM at present has neither board, officers nor staff. No stock has been issued as yet in BAM and no decision has been made as to how it shall be issued, to whom it shall be offered and who will handle its sale. If the issue exceeds $300,000 — and it is difficult to see how an efficient audience research organization could be established on such a restricted financial base — the issue must clear the Securities and Exchange Commission. Data Being Processed Furthermore, the BMB staff is now busily engaged in processing and servicing the data of BMB's study No. 2 for both station subscribers and for advertisers, agencies and station representatives. Several special tabulations already have been made for individual agencies and station representative firms. The handling of non-subscriber data, a process guarded by many special restrictions so that stations which did not cooperate in supporting last year's nationwide survey of the radio audience shall not benefit at the expense of the stations that did finance the study, is another major task for the bureau staff. Agency and advertiser members # Disclosure of a protest by a Federal Communications Bar Assn. member who claimed the FCBA witness against the plan did not appear upon the authorization of the FCBA membership. 0 Development of a move on Capitol Hill to bring the plan up for Senate consideration on Wednesday. These developments came on the heels of a 6-to-5 vote of approval of the President's plan Tuesday by the Senate Executive Expenditures Committee headed by Sen. John L. McClellan (D-Ark.), who said he plans to report it early this week. Outright Rejection Stopped Technically, the committee voted to report "unfavorably" a resolution (S Res. 257) by Sen. Ed C. Johnson (D-Col.), chairman of the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, who urged outright rejection of the plan. The President's proposal would give the FCC Chairman power to of the BMB board reported keen interest in the BMB data by agencies and radio advertisers generally and expressed a general feeling on the part of the users of radio time that there be no interruption in service between the end of BMB and the beginning of BAM. The $95,000 debt of BMB to NAB, now somewhat reduced, is understood to have loomed large in the minds of the board's broadcaster members in endorsing the postponement of the wind-up of BMB. Loan Not Repayed Estimates made at the time of the 1949 NAB Convention that by this time BMB would be in a position to pay off its loan from NAB have not worked out that way, largely because the 100 additional station subscriptions to BMB that were anticipated did not materialize. Present at the meeting were: For NAB: J. Harold Ryan, Fort Industry; Justin Miller, president, NAB; Roger Clipp WFIL Philadelphia; Hugh M. Beville Jr., NBC; E. P. H. James, Steuben Glass Inc. (formerly MBS) ; G. Richard Shafto, WIS Columbia, S. C. For ANA: Paul B. West, president; Joseph M. Allen, Bristol-Myers Co.; Lowry Crites, General Mills Inc.; Albert Dempewolff, Celanese Corp., Alden James, P. Lorillard Co. For AAAA: Frederic R. Gamble, president; Leonard T. Bush, Compton Advertising Inc.; D. E. Robinson, Price, Robinson & Frank; Linnea Nelson, J. Walter Thompson Co.; Melvin Brorby, Needham, Louis & Brorby. Guests were: Kenneth Godfrey, AAAA; Kurt Jewett, ANA; Don Petty, NAB counsel; Laurence Casey, BMB counsel. appoint and supervise FCC employes, subject to the consent of (Continued on page b6) APPROPRIATE is the word for the candles on this cake, made of Ipana tubes, as they're lighted by Niles Trammell (I), chairman of the board of NBC, on the 10th anniversary : Bristol-Myers sponsorship of Mr. District Attorney (NBC, Wed9:30 p.m. EDT). With Mr, Tromw are Lee Bristol (r), president of Bristol-Myers, and Joseph Mcran, a Young & Rubicam vice president. SENATE FIGHT SEEN 0n Trumqn FCC Plgn BROADCASTING • Telecasting May 15, 1950 • Page 25