Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

FOUR ELECTED VICE PRESIDENTS AT ABC 'Comedy Hour" Minus Lip LEO DUROCHER, former pilot of the New York Giants baseball club and now an NBC executive, has been pulled from NBC-TV's talent batting lineup of the Comedy Hour program. Mr. Durocher was m.c. of the new NBC show which faces (8-9 p.m. EST) the formidable Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV on Sundays. Substitute for still-an-NBC-executive Durocher? Over the weekend the show was slated to go without an m.c, a situation that an NBC spokesman said Thursday may be permanent. Foster leaves CBS-TV to head ABC press relations and advertising. Lewine, Stabile and Weinbach are promoted from within network's ranks. MICHAEL J. FOSTER, manager of CBS-TV press relations, was named last week by ABC President Robert E. Kintner as one of four new ABC vice presidents. Mr. Foster, who has served with CBS since 1938, has been elected vice president in charge of press information and advertising at ABC. The three other new vice presidents are Robert F. Lewine, director of ABC-TV's program department; James A. Stabile, director of the business affairs department, and Mortimer Weinbach, director of labor relations and personnel. Mr. Foster will assume his newly created post on Jan. 30. He will supervise publicity, advertising and promotion activities, according to Mr. Kintner. John H. Eckstein, director of advertising and promotion, and Adolph L. Seton, manager of publicity, will continue in their posts, reporting to Mr. Foster. Mr. Foster, a member of the New York MR. STABILE MR. WEINBACH bar, was a sports writer and reporter with the New York Journal-American and the New York Times before joining CBS. Mr. Lewine was appointed to his present post in September 1954, moving from eastern program director at ABC. Before he joined the network (February 1953), he was director of the radio and tv department at HirshonGarfield Inc., New York. His other associations included that of independent motion picture and tv consultant. ABC credits Mr. Lewine with coordinating various production and programming details between the network and Walt Disney Productions Inc., Burbank, Calif., for the Wednesday evening Disneyland and the weekday Mickey Mouse Club. After joining ABC's legal department in 1951, Mr. Stabile became successively administration manager for the ABC-TV network pro gram department and in February 1954. head of ABC's business affairs department. Prior to the ABC association, he was with the William Morris Agency as an attorney handling negotiations and preparations for radio and tv packages and licensing rights for programs and program titles. With ABC since January 1951, when he was business manager of the radio program department, Mr. Weinbach was appointed national director of tv operations a year later, director of labor relations in July 1953 and earlier this month (Jan. 4) director of personnel and labor relations. His other associations included service with the U. S. General Counsel's office, the legal department of Music Corp. of America and talent and program negotiator at CBS. Tie-Up Package Offered On ABC's Film Programs ADVERTISERS are being offered a tie-up package involving ABC-TV's two feature film programs — Famous Film Festival (Sundays, 7:30-9 p.m. EST) and Afternoon Film Festival (Mon.-Fri., 3-5 p.m. EST). The Sunday show has been on the network since last fall whereas the weekday program series made its debut only last Monday. Called "Package Incentive Plan," the network's proposal permits an advertiser who purchases 13 to 25 participations in Afternoon at $2,500 to $1,600 per 60-second participation, depending on discounts, to purchase the equivalent in Famous Films for $6,000 per participation compared to the usual $6,500 per participation cost. Further adjustments are made as participations increase. For example, 26 to 38 in Afternoon brings cost per participation in Famous Films down to $5,500; 39 or more in Afternoon down to $5,000 per participation in Famous Films. According to ABC-TV's schedule, participations on Afternoon must be ordered on or before next Sept. 1 and Famous Films on or before next Aug. 26, to qualify under the incentive plan. Afternoon offers four 90-second and 12 60-second commercials per day. NBC-TV Plans to Try Color On Seven of Its Top Shows MARKING the second phase of a series of tests with the network's color mobile unit, NBC-TV last week announced plans to originate seven top programs in color during the next few weeks from Hollywood. Personalities whose shows are scheduled for colorcasting include Tennessee Ernie Ford, Pinky Lee, Tony Martin, Dinah Shore, Eddie Fisher, Jack Bailey and Jimmy Durante. At present, none of the programs mentioned is set for permanent colorcasting, but these test programs by the network's color mobile unit will determine what architectural changes may be necessary to convert some of the network's present black-and-white facilities to color studios, according to Fred Wile Jr., vice president in charge of programming for NBC's Pacific Div. and Thomas W. Sarnoff, director of production. Several weeks ago the unit was used to telecast NBC Matinee Theatre's production of "All the Trees of the Field" at Rancho Rinconada in the San Fernando Valley's Woodland Hills. As a result, NBC has assigned Alan Neuman, director-producer of the show, to develop additional outdoor color dramas. ROVING ELECTION-YEAR UNIT SET BY CBS NEWS Twelve-man team to provide on-the-spot coverage of developments preceding and throughout political campaign. A ROVING, 12-man radio-tv reporting team is being created by CBS News to cover political news developments throughout the nation this election year, starting the last week in February. John F. Day, director of CBS News, is announcing formation of the unit today (Monday). He said its members will travel by plane, train and automobile to cover the major state primary elections, the "front runners" and the "dark horses," and the significant political stories as they develop. "Frankly," he said, "this is an expensive, highly complicated venture, and is in addition to our plans for comprehensive coverage of the national conventions. But we're convinced that 1956 is going to be the most exciting and unpredictable political year in American history. It will take a team of the size and calibre of our 'Campaign Cavalcade' to do justice to the story." Two CBS News correspondents, on a rotating basis, will be with the unit at all times. Permanent members include an assignment chief, a reporter, two film cameramen, a lighting technician, a film sound cameraman, a radio engineer to record speeches and interviews, a business manager and two general assistants. Chief responsibility of the unit, which is called the "CBS News Campaign Cavalcade," will be to furnish all CBS Radio and CBS-TV network news programs with a steady supply of political news. Most of the stories will be delivered to CBS News headquarters in New York on tape and on film, but there also will be a number of remote live pickups for both radio and tv. The unit's output also will be available to the 60-some clients of CBS Newsfilm. "We expect the 12 men on this team to develop a good many new and unusual techniques for bringing news of the campaigns to our television and radio audiences," Mr. Day said. "We are not going to be satisfied with the traditional 'newsreel' concept of covering politics, and by this I mean sticking a camera into the candidate's face, hanging a microphone around his neck, and letting him talk and talk. "When our unit covers a candidate, it will not only find out what he said, but why he said it, whether he meant it, and what the effect is on the voters." The Cavalcade's itinerary was described as purposely tentative, so that it will be free to change course and cover developments as they Page 76 • January 23, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting