Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1956)

EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL 'Ding Dong' P-TA FORMATION of a nationwide Ding Dong School Parent-Teacher Assn. was announced last week by Dr. Frances Horwich, supervisor of children's programs for NBC and creator-star of Ding Dong School (NBC-TV, Mon.-Fri., 1010:30 a.m. EDT). During the last five minutes of her program, Dr. Horwich customarily talks to parents. Membership is open to anyone who works or lives with children. Members will receive a monthly news bulletin, entitled "From Miss Frances' Desk." which will contain a variety of features of interest to children and parents. NBC-TV said it is expected that at least one PTA group will be organized in each of the 109 cities in the U. S. in which Ding Dong School is telecast. WJZM Clarksville. Tenn., gave scholarship at U. of Tennessee to Lurton Lyle, Slayden, Tenn. Award represents first of annual presentations to be made to Montgomery County High School students by WJZM. WKNO-TV Memphis, Tenn., announces Memphis State College and U. of Tennessee as first institutions to offer college credit courses on new education station planning to go on air July 1. Other institutions are expected to follow. KFAB Omaha has given scholarships to U. of Nebraska College of Agriculture to top boy and girl 4-H speakers in station's 14th annual public speaking contest. Winners were David Spence, Gage County, and Marilyn Mendenhall, Cass County. WBNS-TV Columbus, Ohio, has presented $1,000 Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Award to Ronald F. Caldwell, 18, of Caldwell, Ohio, for his high scholastic average and participation in extra-curricular school affairs. The scholarship, to be used for Mr. Caldwell's college education, is part of the Edison Foundation Award to WBNS-TV last December as "television station that best served youth in its community in 1955." Marketing Research Councils has named twelve college students winners in third annual competition. Eight winners were given cash awards, ranging from $25-100 and four were awarded certificates of honorable mention. Winners were chosen on basis of papers submitted on various phases of market research. CBC COMMERCIAL POLICY UNECONOMICAL, ADVERTISERS' BRIEF TELLS COMMISSION ACA says that advertising costs in Canadian tv are more than twice as high as U. S. charges and cost of live production does not justify return. Toronto labor unions support present programming. to, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver are inadequate to meet the demand THE COST of producing live television shows in Canada is not yet justified by the commercial return, the Assn. of Canadian Advertisers said in a brief presented to the Royal Commission on Broadcasting during its Toronto sittings early in June. The association, representing 169 national advertisers, reported that proportionate advertising costs in Canadian tv were more than twice as high as in the U. S., and in most cases were higher than comparable figures for other media. Representative total cost per 1,000 homes reached per commercial minute for a nighttime tv network program was approximately $2.50-$3.00 for the U. S., $5.00-$8.50 for English-speaking Canada, and $7.00-$15.00 for French-speaking Canada, it said. At the same time, complained the ACA, many advertisers cannot get national network time at suitable hours, or in the best markets at all. Advertisers were also placed at a disadvantage by Canadian Broadcasting Corp. policy, which demands that to secure network discounts, all the network must be taken. With no list of supplementary stations which the advertiser can take and pay for at his option, sponsors find themselves paying to reach audiences they do not want to reach, or spending money they could use more effectively in other media. The ACA noted that the CBC has attempted to offset high prices by offering substantial network discounts and by offering separate but related inducements to individual advertisers. On the other hand, it continued, the CBC refuses to disclose its costs, denies the advertiser or agency an effective voice in the production or personnel of shows and rejects financial advantages to be gained by competition. "In the result," commented the ACA, "the advertiser has no assurance that he is getting what he is paying for and is restricted to supporting only that talent which is recruited by the CBC. The development of Canadian television has proceeded on the topsy-turvy principle that trade and commerce, which are the center of our national economy, should be the one peril from which our national television broadcasting should be protected." The ACA also complained that: 1. CBC tv monopolies in major centers such as Halifax, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toron IN CINCINNATI . . . LOOK AT AUDIENCE LOOK AT COST LOOK AT POWER ITS OBVIOUS . . . FOR MORE AUDIENCE LESS COST HIGHEST POWER Page 114 June 18, 1956 for tv advertising. 2. There is insufficient control by agencies over the production of live commercials for which they are responsible. 3. Lack of definite regulations covering the content of tv programs and commercials is confusing to both advertisers and agencies. 4. Agencies and advertisers are unable properly to estimate costs and conform to budgets because of delays in obtaining accurate cost estimates from the CBC. In many cases, the brief charged, final corrected billings were over six months late. In another brief to the commission, the Toronto Musicians' Assn. urged that private Canadian tv and radio stations be required to devote at least 5% of their gross revenue to the employment of Canadian talent. At present, such stations do not do enough to encourage native talent, it stated. Protest Free Music The musicians expressed concern over the CBC policy of providing, without charge, thousands of hours of program material to private stations, on a network and non-network basis, which failed to employ local musicians. The CBC policy, it suggested, constituted a breach of contract. CBC programming was supported in a brief from two federations of Toronto labor unions, urging that any new tv outlets in the Toronto area be operated by the CBC. The labor federations (Toronto & District Trade & Labor Council and the Toronto & Lakeshore Labor Council) criticized, however, the lack of adequate public relations in the CBC organization. The U. of Toronto urged that more CBC time be allotted universities to carry out adult education programs. Adequate time, it suggested, would be from half an hour to five hours per week for each Canadian university during the six-month academic session. The Canadian Wire Service Guild, representing CBC newsroom employes, favored extension of CBC news-gathering facilities abroad, both for radio and tv. The Canadian Mental Health Assn. charged that some tv programs drive viewers to doctors for mental treatment. It said that psychiatry is frequently misinterpreted in tv dramas and that some programs seem "to capitalize on the public's fascination with the evil, morbid and twisted patterns of psychopathic behavior." Following such programs, it said, clinics report an increase in calls from patients who have been disturbed and made worse by the programs. SPONSOR PRESSURE NIL, ROYAL COMMISSION FINDS Chairman Fowler answers to complaint of Canadian temp erence group. Cooke renews offer to pioneer color tv. THE Royal Commission on Broadcasting, after six weeks of investigating Canada's radio and television industry, has found no evidence of pressure by sponsors on Canadian broadcasters. Commission Chairman R. M. Fowler made this statement during the commission's Toronto Broadcasting • Telecasting