Broadcasting (Apr - June 1950)

ATTENDING a CBS color TV demonstration in New York are (I to r): William Lodge, chief engineer for CBS; Ina Lindman, dir. of home economics. United Fruit Co.; Herb West, head of BBDO's TV unit; Chiquita Banana (Helen Bosshard); Frank Silvernail, head of BBDO timebuying; W. A. Pleuthner, BBDO v. p. FIRST anniversary of Mohawk Showroom (NBC-TV Mon., Wed. and Fri., 7:30-7:45 p.m.), is the occasion for this cake cutting by (I to r) Charles R. Denny, executive v. p. of NBC; Roberta Quinian, seen on the show; Herbert Shuttleworth, executive v. p., Mohawk Carpet Mills Inc. DETAILS of this transmitter, made by General Electric for Zenith Radio Corp. and its experimental Phonevision broadcasts in Chicago, are discussed at GE's plant in Syracuse by F. P. Barnes (I), GE broadcast equipment sales manager, and Charles Probeck, Zenith transmitter engineer. THE NBC-Hofstra study on television's sales effectiveness is discussed by (I to r) Ernest B. Loveman, v. p. and gen. mgr., WPTZ Philadelphia; James Spillan, v. p., Benjamin Eshelrtin Agency, and pres.. Poor Richard Club; J. B. Conley, gen. mgr. Westinghouse Radio Stations. "^^P" VIEWING a kinescope of NBC-TV's The Jack Carter Show are (I to r) Paul Levinger, v. p. -gen. mgr., Speidel Corp., sponsor; G. William Anderson Jr., account executive, SSC&B Agency, and Harold Rosenquist, Speidel's advertising manager. Speidel is sponsoring the show for three weeks (started May 27). SPOT TV Clinic luncheon held early this month in New York by National Assn. of Radio Station Representatives brought together this quartet (I to r): C. A. (Fritz) Snyder, advertising director, Bulova Watch Co.; Norman Farrell, Weed & Co.; Jack Brook, Free & Peters; James LeBaron, RA-TEL. HIGH VOLUME DuMont Sees $2 Billion For TV This Year BUSINESS VOLUME of the television industry generally will reach $2 billion in 1950, compared with an estimated $1 billion in 1949, Dr. Allen B. DuMont, president of Allen B. DuMont Labs., predicted at a joint luncheon meeting of the American Television Society and the Sales Executives Club last Tuesday at * the Hotel Roosevelt in New York. Television sets for the year will reach six million units and these, plus installation fees, the sale of network and station time, would bring the volume up to $2 billion or more, he said. Sales of products on television have increased, Dr. DuMont said. He referred to the recent survey by McCann-Erickson which showed sales of merchandise in television areas were up 19 to 37% compared with non-television areas. Mark Woods, vice chairman of ABC, said that "television is rapidly becoming the greatest force for sales, entertainment and education that the world has ever seen." Urges TV Use Glenn Gundell, advertising manager of National Dairy Products Corp., said that although the cost of television advertising is high "large national advertisers cannot afford to wait until television comes of age." He predicted that no other media except radio will be affected by television and that within five years radio and television would be a single unit. Sound radio would be used without pictures during most of the day and video at night. He reported that Kraft sales from television expenditures were successful and that 12 more stations were going to be added next fall to the Kraft TV Theatre, now carried in 27 cities on NBC-TV. G. Bennett Larson, vice president and station manager of WPIX (TV) New York, told the group COMBATS STRIKE Rich's Sells Via WSB-TV 'MODERN' selling plan was employed last week by Rich's Inc., Atlanta, one of the South's leading department stores, which turned to WSB-TV Atlanta when the city's transit strike tied up merchandising activities of local retailers. Since shoppers were unable to get into town to see the merchandise, Rich's management decided to use TV to bring the merchandise into the shoppers' homes, via a TV program called Rich's In Your Home. WSB-TV cameras and production staff originated at Rich's the 11 a. m. and 2 p. m. periods of "television selling" on heavy shopping days — Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Viewers were urged to call the store's personal shopper and indicate their merchandise desires. An assortment of each item was then placed before cameras and the viewer allowed to make a selection, calling the choice in to the store. that live television commercials could sell better than film. He said WPIX was planning to maintain a fleet of mobile units which could bring advertising merchandise to the viewer from the point of sale. Hugh M. Beville Jr., NBC director of plans and research, said television has been the subject of gloomy forecasts which have all been subsequently proved untrue. In 1947, it was eyestrain; in 1948, the doom of movies; in 1949, disastrous effect on sports gates, and in 1950, the degenerating effect on children's school marks and their home work. All of these actually have failed to materialize according to scientific research, he said, except for the effect upon school children, and we still haven't a really definitive study on that, he noted. But recent studies by school officials in Chicago and Washington have revealed numerous beneficial effects of TV. KBTV NOW WFAA-TV Change Marked by Simulcast' WFAA-TV Dallas, owned and operated by the Dallas Morning News, began operations under those call letters May 21 marking the event with ceremonies attended by close to 900 employes of the newspaper and WFAA AM FM TV. The TV outlet formerly carried the call letters KBTV [Telecasting, May 15]. E. M. (Ted) Dealey, president of the News and WFAA, and Martin B. Campbell, general manager of all WFAA operations, were heard in speeches that formed part of a simulcast from Dallas Fair Park. Event also was marked by NBC, and the station's $95,000 telecruiser was used to handle the remote program. The TV outlet was purchased last January from Oilman Tom Potter who built it in 1949. WFAA-TV is licensed for Channel 8 (180-186 mc) with power of 13.5 kw aural, 27 kw visual. TV Bulletin Issued TELEVISION BULLETIN, bimonthly series released by The Advertising Council to inform agencies, advertisers, networks and stations of the Council's campaigns, has been released for the May-June period. The eight-page folder lists the public service campaigns to which The Advertising Council will give special emphasis and includes a list of materials available free of charge for each campaign. BROADCASTING • Page 60