Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan - Mar 1951)

Vol. 40, No. 12 I N WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 19, 1951 7.00 A YEAR— 25c A COPY ANA: ROUND TWO Trys Comeback on Radio Rate Red uctions By RUFUS CRATER THE ASSN. of National Advertisers hauled up its artillery last week for a second blast at radio rates, unveiling a new study which purports to show television has cut evening radio time values up to 60% in some cities. Big gun of the campaign is an analysis prepared by the ANA Radio and Television Committee entitled "Radio Time Values, Supplement I," which brings forward to April 1, 1951, the estimates contained in the original, highly controversial, and at least temporarily ill-fated study brought out last summer [Broadcasting • Telecasting, July 31, 24, 1950]. The new study, released last week, says in effect that events since issuance of the first study have more than borne out the ANA contention that TV is undermining evening radio time values both on full networks and on individual ■r->dio stations in TV cities. Distributing Study Copies of the study are being sent to the four major networks. NAB, BAB and National Assn. of Radio and Television Station Representatives, as well as to ANA members. Employing the same formula used in last summer's report as a gauge to TV's effect on radio values, and using NBC and CBS as examples, the report says: "For the individual stations affected by TV competition, radio time values show declines, when measured in this way, that run as high as 60%. For the two full radio networks, including the stations in non-TV cities, the reduction in time values attributable to the inroads of TV amounts to 19.2% in the case of NBC, and 19.4% in the case of CBS." By comparison, the earlier study had estimated that the full networks' respective time values had been reduced 14.9% each because of television. Like last summer's, the new study presents estimated nighttime radio rate reductions for NBC and CBS radio affiliates in some 53 TV markets each. These estimated cuts range from 5 to 60%. Only one station, WSM Nashville, is given no cutback under the formula. The study covers the period October-November 1949 to Octo ber-November 1950. It was prepared under the direction of George Duram, media director of Lever Bros., as chairman of the ANA Radio and Television Committee. Using data from both A. C. Nielsen Co. and C. E. Hooper Inc., but making clear that the ANA committee's conclusions do not necessarily represent the views of these or other cooperating organizations, the study comes to these basic conclusions: ® Average ratings for CBS and NBC sponsored evening radio programs occupying the same time spots during the interval OctoberNovember 1949 to the same period of 1950 showed "significant and continued declines." $ At the same time "the cost per thousand homes reached by these programs increased 24.6% for CBS and 27.7% for NBC," as against 21% for CBS and 18.4% for NBC in the original report covering March April 1949 to March-April 1950. 9 Radio listening in TV homes "has stood up well as compared with listening in radio-only homes" in morning hours, but "has suffered progressively in the face of television competition during the course of the afternoon, and still approaches elimination during the evening hours." @ In TV cities surveyed by C. E. Hooper Inc., television's share of the total radio-TV evening audience "continued to increase sharply between April-May and November December 1950, to a point in excess of 70% in one city" (Philadelphia, 70.5%). The new study, coming on the heels of a CBS research project showing radio still reaches more people per dollar than any other medium [Broadcasting • Telecasting, March 12], does not mention the relative effectiveness or the costs of other media. It is slated to reach the ANA spotlight in a closed session — and perhaps other sessions — at the ANA spring meeting March 28-30 at Hot Springs, Va. The report specifies, perhaps in deference to anti-trust laws, that "no trade group should attempt to dictate to the radio stations and neworks a formula for pricing radio time." "However," it continues, "it is only appropriate that advertisers, in making plans for the effective marshalling of their advertising (Continued on page 72) RADIO SET PRODUCTION UP &l» By J. FRANK BEATTY PRODUCTION of radio sets, on the upgrade for two years, continues to show a heavy increase, according to Radio-Television Mfrs. Assn. The rate of increase promises to go higher as manufacturers find a steadily rising demand for radio sets. At the same time a number of individual TV makers find demand slowing up ■ — with television dealers starting to resort to cut-price devices — after turning out TV sets at a record pace. Both AM and AM-FM radio receivers, particularly in the table models, are in short supply in some areas. This has caused some factories to concede they missed the boat in 1950, and this year as well, by failing to make more AM and AMFM receivers. Accordingly some of them are showing revived interest in the radio market, though the unit price and the profit aren't as attractive as in the TV field. Here is the radio set (AM and AM-FM) situation thus far this year : 1,203,591 radio sets turned out in January 1951, compared to 934, (Continued on page 73) FM RECEIVER problems were discussed by station-manufacturer group last Tuesday. Seated (I to r): Leonard Marks, attorney; Lewis M. Clement, John W. Craig, Crosley Division; Ben Strouse, WWDC-FM Washington; E. H. Vogel, General Electric Co.; Frank U. Fletcher, WARL-FM Arlington, Va. Back row, K. A. Chittick, RCA Victor; Edward Sellers, NAB; A. J. Rosebraugh, Philco Corp.; Everett L. Dillard, WASH (FM) Washington; Harold Hirschmann, WABF (FM) New York; M. S. Novik, consultant; James D. Secrest, Edward K. Wheeler, RTMA; Josh Home, WFMA (FM) Rocky Mount, N. C; Hugh Boyer, Zenith Radio Corp.; Henry W. Slavick, WMCF (FM) Memphis; Raymond Green, WFLN (FM) Philadelphia; Joseph Martin, WDSC Dillan, S. C. (guest). BROADCASTING • Telecasting March 19, 1951 • Page 23