Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1954)

COVER NORTH CAROLINA'S Rich, Growing "GOLDEN TRIANGLE" a 24-county market with a population of 1,303,700 (Sales Management 1954 Survey of Buying Power) NOW SHOWING1-ALL NBC COLOR SHOWS Interconnected Television Affiliate National Representative: The Headleij-Reed Compang system with each of its editors for this very purpose. For example, if one station lists Badge 714, chapter 17, for the week, the Philadelphia office tells the local TV Guide editor exactly what the plot and action of that segment is about. A corollary of this practice has been that recently more and more newspapers have been using a new organization known as TV Keys which furnishes condensations of programs to tv program log editors. These are used generally in the highlights boxes on the radio-tv pages. Advertisements in the national section of TV Guide in the Oct. 30-Nov. 5 issue numbered only two. These were Pall Mall (American Tobacco Co.) and Seagrams. Other national advertisers who have appeared in TV Guide include big names in American business — Borden Co., Chrysler, Dow Chemical, Florida Citrus Commission, GE, General Mills, General Motors, Green Giant, Household Finance, Lanolin Plus, Liebmann Breweries, Miles Labs, Parker Pen, Philco, RCA, Singer Sewing Machine, Standard Oil, Texas Oil, U. S. Steel, Whitehall Pharmacal. Note that all are good tv sponsors. On the local level, TV Guide carries station advertising for local programs and some institutional advertising from local sponsors, plus tv set sales and service ads. In several editions there also have been some motion picture ads. National advertising is paid advertising. The local station program advertising, however, is on an exchange basis. Instead of paying cash for this promotion, stations give TV Guide spots on house shows or during station breaks. TV Guide's big advertising pitch is based on a simple fundamental: Every reader is a tv viewer; ergo there is no waste circulation. A black and white page in TV Guide costs $4,200. Four-color page is priced at $6,300. The editor of TV Guide is Mr. Annenberg. lames T. Quirk, former promotion manager of the Inquirer and of WFIL, is the publisher. Merrill Panitt, former Inquirer radio-tv columnist and Hollywood correspondent, is managing editor. TV Guide employs 300 people in its operations. About 100 are editorial workers. As of now, TV Guide does a better job for telecasters than do newspapers, Mr. Quirk believes. The program listings are more accurate and more detailed than those run in newspapers, he says. At the same time, the future seems assured, Mr. Quirk reasons, because more and more newspapers are giving less and less space to tv. Firstly, the broadcast medium is competitive and newspapers are getting touchy about that. Secondly, with newsprint prices going higher and higher, publishers are looking for ways to cut down space eaters. Tv and radio logs are in that classification and the time will come when such information will be in limbo, he is sure. In another sense, TV Guide has been a boon to telecasters, Mr. Quirk believes. It has taken the place of station mailing lists, which are a headache to station promotion people. Mr. Quirk is fiercely proud of TV Guide's editorial policy. It is not a fan magazine, he asserts with emphasis. All its material is "factual." Although the content seems to follow the fan magazine, it does not have the "puff" aroma which hangs so heavily over other tv consumer publications. Reviews of TV Guide are serious compositions. No review is published until the reviewer has seen three consecutive programs. Also, Mr. Quirk instituted a procedure for reviews that he feels lifts TV Guide out of the possible danger of propinquity. Hollywood originations are reviewed by the New York office, and East Coast shows are reviewed by the Hollywood office. Heading the New York office of TV Guide is Bob Stahl, former Variety mug. In Hollywood sits Dan lenkins, ex-Hollywood Reporter radio-tv editor. Up in New York City, the TV Program Week executives are beginning to meet the buzz-saw that is inherent in the launching of a new publication. Not much more than the fact it plans to start this competition to TV Guide has been announced by Curtis. First issue of the new tv program guide is due to contain program listings for the week of Jan. 8. TV Program Week will be similiar in size and format to its Philadelphia opposition. R. D. Wheeler, formerly New York metropolitan area district manager for Curtis sales, is editor and publisher. Jonathan Kilbourn, ex-Look, Quick, Yank and New York Times, is managing editor. Initially, TV Program Week will be issued in four editions — New England (Boston), New York City, Philadelphia and Washington-Baltimore. Pre-publication circulation guarantee is 250,000. Like TV Guide, the new book will have a national section, to be printed at the Curtis plant in Philadelphia, and a local insert to be printed locally. Price of TV Program Week will be 15 cents. And, according to Mr. Wheeler, the magazine will be "readable, streamlined and with clean-cut layout." There will be no subscription list, Mr. Wheeler says. Just why Curtis decided to enter the tv program field has not been explained. Speculation in the distribution trade leans toward this theory: Curtis has for years led all magazines as the top seller in newsstand sales; in fact, at one time three of its titles ran 1,2, and 3. Now only the Ladies Home Journal sits on top, and TV Guide is pushing hard in second place. Curtis fears, it is believed, that it is only a matter of time before TV Guide will rank number one. Prestige-conscious Curtis cannot allow this to happen. This is said to be why it has decided to enter the field. With Curtis' entry into the tv program log field, there will be two national publications devoted to serving the tv viewer (and concurrently the tv station, advertiser and agency). But even so, there are still some 70 or 80 local program logs being published in various parts of the country. Their future is dubious, undoubtedly. And, dubious, too, is the future of most of the fan magazines. That there will always be some such periodicals cannot be doubted, but just as the Hollywood fan publications have shaken down to the dozen regulars now being published, so will the tv books. That's the consensus of most news distributors who know their business. Page 56 November 22, 1954 Broadcasting Telecasting