Broadcasting Telecasting (July - Sept 1951)

a M SET SITUATION Tripartite Meet Held INSISTENT claim of FM stains that set makers will not sup•: [ 7 a pentup demand for FM-tunp receivers was met last week by makers with the claim that rly 200,000 units are on shelves d in factory storage. nThe two groups, often at arm's igth over who wants FM sets and !w many, moved toward cooperate effort at a meeting held Tues,jy at NARTB Washington headjarters. Represented were \RTB, FM Industry Committee lso representing stations) and idio-Television Mfrs. Assn. Presidents of NARTB and 7MA took part, along with the iustry committee's chairman. Out the session came considerable , derstanding of common probms and divergent interests. XARTB and the industry group ed a NARTB survey [Broadsting • Telecasting, May 21] owing shortage of supplies of VI-FM table models in nine-tenths the distribution areas covered in e survey. Large Inventories Cited ;RTMA countered with a survey owing at least 145,059 AM-FM dios in distributors inventories d another 42,872 in factory inntories. These figures apply only RTMA member companies. ^Representing NARTB stations at le meeting were Harold E. Fel,.vs, president; C. E. Arney Jr., :retary-treasurer, and Robert K. chards, public affairs director, spearing for the NARTB FM ■mmittee were Ben Strouse, WDC-FM Washington, chairman; sh L. Home, WFMA (FM) Rocky ount, N. C; Everett L. Dillard, ASH (FM) Washington. For the FM Industry Committee sre Morris Novik, radio consultt, chairman; Raymond S. Green, FLN (FM) Philadelphia; Leonid Marks, attorney. Appearing for RTMA were Robt C. Sprague, board chairman; ( en McDaniel, president, and mes D. Secrest, general manager, ^presenting RTMA's FM Policy !>mmittee were John W. Craig, -osley Div., chairman; J. M. Clem:t, Crosley Div.; Ernest H. Vogel, meral Electric Co.; A. B. Mills, A Victor; Leonard Cramer, Alji B. DuMont Labs. (After the meeting Mr. Novik, eaking for the FM Industry Comittee, said he was impressed with |e sincerity of the manufacturers. IP agreed to hold up a plan to oadcast the slogan, "Unless you ive FM your set is obsolete." This ctic had been approved at the ARTB convention in April. Mr. ,ovik said the committee appreates the cooperative attitude of •esident Fellows and other ARTB officials in promotion of M. Out of the session also came a ■eision that broadcasters report lortages of FM set stocks in their : eas to the manufacturers. Short ages will be reported first to NARTB, which in turn will give them to RTMA for relaying to individual manufacturers each week. Both stations and set makers agreed the problem should be attacked on a market-by-market basis as shortages develop. Presidents of the two associations will form a joint committee to explore the feasibility of cooperative effort in publicizing and promoting the advantages of FM listening. Among ideas considered are issuance of transcriptions carrying comments by name personalities in entertainment, music and sports. Both AM and FM broadcasters would use these promotional discs in their programming, in accordance with a resolution adopted by NARTB FM members at the April convention. RTMA's survey of AM-FM inventories was made in March and April. It indicated some regions where distributors believed additional FM sets might be sold but RTMA insisted there was no general shortage. Mr. Craig said public demand for AM-FM was greatest in the South and Southwest. Answering questions about AMFM supplies since the Korean war started, 15 set makers said they found no serious shortages with three noting minor shortages in limited areas. Two firms said shortages had increased since the Korean outbreak. Replying to other questions, 13 manufacturers reported no "substantial" market for AM-FM table models whereas 10 companies reported they had found such markets. Seven companies said there was a substantial market for AMFM combination receivers but 14 said they had found no such demand. Discussion was heated at times during the Tuesday meeting, especially when RTMA submitted its inventory data. FM broadcasters contended manufacturers showed an inventory of 619 FM sets in Hawaii, where there are no FM stations. They also pointed to New Mexico and Montana inventories and said these states have no FM stations. Distribution Areas In reply, RTMA spokesmen said some of these sets are high-priced phono combinations with built-in FM tuning. They claimed the location of a distributor's headquarters does not indicate extent of the area serviced. Manufacturers conceded their allocations of AM-FM sets were faulty at times. FM interests claimed manufacturers making diversified appliance lines might allocate FM receivers to an area on the basis of demand for all appliances, disregarding the area's FM situation. Here again the manufacturers agreed they might be at fault some of the time. When FM stations charged that the inventory was loaded with "dogs," or sets that were of poor quality and could not be sold, the set makers contended there was HORACE SCOTT (r), account executive, WGBS Miami, Fla., retiring president of the Advertising Club of Greater Miami and a director of the Fo-JFth District, AFA, receives a plaque from AFA President Elon Borton. The plaque represents the First Award in the national competition for activities of the Miami Club in public relations for advertising during the past year. Presentation was made at the AFA St. Louis convention. only one such model that had appeared in any quantity. They readily agreed that now and then a manufacturer will have a batch of sets with flaws but claimed these are hastily pulled back to the factory. Mr. Dillard commented that the District of Columbia distributor inventory of 1,226 sets actually would move in a relatively brief interval, adding that Washington had 130,000 FM equipped radio and TV sets as of last May 1, according to American Research Bureau figures. The figure was based on verified set ownership data. FOOTBALLCASTS NCAA Unit Meets July 6 ALL PROPOSALS submitted to the NCAA TV Steering Committee for telecasting of football this fall will be presented to the full TV committee in Chicago July 6 (Friday) for its consideration, a spokesman for the committee said last Thursday. The announcement followed a * series of conferences held by the TV Steering Committee last Thursday with various groups interested in effecting compromise plans with the original NCAA-TV decision for limited television. Members of the committee present were Thomas Hamilton, committee chairman and head coach of the U. of Pittsburgh; Max Farrington, George Washington U., and Ralph Furey, Columbia U. Representatives from N. W. Ayer & Son, Phiadelphia, submitted a plan which called for amplified telecasting of the games and CBS was known to have had an official at the conferences. Central topic of the NCAA group's discussions Thursday was the N. W. Ayer & Son compromise proposal, based on 15 years experience by Atlantic Refining Co. in sportscasting. The Ayer plan points to the FCC proposal to open new TV channels, with 900 applications on hand. Basic objectives of the Ayer idea are to find what type of live telecasts would benefit the largest number of colleges and bring a fair return to colleges as well as sponsors. While the scheme is based on Atlantic's 18 TV markets in the East, it offers many ideas applicable to the national picture. Limitations Seen The Ayer proposal suggests NCAA's proposal to limit live telecasting to one or two games a week makes it impossible to study a wide range of questions inasmuch as many factors affect attendance and the results would be worthless. At the same time the National Opinion Research Center analysis indicated local telecasts hurt an individual college's attendance most. Any decisive test must be based on the community issue, N. W. Ayer contends. Several types of tests were proposed to NCAA. In the first, the home community test, four to eight markets would be picked to show the effect of complete telecasting of local colleges'games, using different types of situations. For a large market, the agency suggested Philadelphia with its 60-70 % TV set saturation, highest of any having a million or more families. This city has the highest percentage of owners out of the novelty period and football has been telecast 11 years. It has the highest paid admission total for college football of any similar 60-mile area in the world. Games of U. of Pennsylvania, Villanova and Temple would be carried. Baltimore was suggested as a possible test site. For small centers the agency suggested Lancaster, Pa., with Franklin & Marshall and several high schools. Richmond, Va., also was proposed. Suggested as an average community was Providence, R. I., with Pittsburgh as another site. Binghamton, N. Y., was proposed for high school and secondary school tests. A series of games was proposed for a test of the effect of network telecasts. Special studies would survey the effect of TV in large centers on travel attendance to games. This test would telecast Princeton and Yale games in New (Continued on page 70) ROADCASTING Telecasting July 2, 1951 Page 25