Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

LUCKY LAGER sells beer to L. A. via KM PC • Lucky Lager Brewing Company sells more barrels of its fine beer in California than any other brewer. Has for years. In Los Angeles, where nearly half the State lives, Lucky's nightly 21/4-hour "Dance Time" KMPC program has helped it reach a vast swath of L. A.'s population at a minuscule per-thousand cost. • You don't need to be "Lucky" to sell Southern California. Place your schedule on KMPC. Its 50,000-watt coverage, its popular personalities and Music-NewsSports programming, will give you a tremendous entering wedge. Proof? Ask your AM Radio Sales or KMPC representative for success stories and latest ratings. ...If You Want To SELL Southern California . . . BUY KMPC 710 kc LOS ANGELES 50,000 watts days 10,000 watts nights Gene Autry, President Robert O. Reynolds, v.p. and gen. mgr. REPRESENTED NATIONALLY BY AM RADIO SALES CO. our respects to OWEN LESLIE SADDLER IT IS Owen Saddler's off-the-cuff observation that, considering the many attributes of the really "good" television station manager, he has "yet to meet one, but I'll continue by Diogenesan search until I lose my lantern." By his own standards, at least, and probably those of much of the industry, Mr. Saddler would seem to qualify eminently. With characteristic modesty, he would be the last to hold the lantern up to himself as executive vice president and general manager of the May Broadcasting Co. (KMTV [TV] Omaha, Neb., and KM A Shenandoah, Iowa). Mr. Saddler's early career as an English instructor would seem to belie his practical aptitudes as a broadcaster in a key midwest market now very much excited over color tv. He is credited with a "clean" operation at KMTV, reflecting a basic idealism, an instinct for promotion and showmanship, and a workable public service philosophy. These qualifications should serve him well in deliberations involving color tv, the Television Code, public service, and myriad other activities in which he has manifested a keen interest. Owen Leslie Saddler, a native of Wilmington, Del. (born Nov. 6, 1911), claims to have had an uneventful young life with a mixture of legal work, newspaper reporting and an instructorship in English. As a youth, he labored in the legal confines of E. I. duPont de Nemours from 1930 to 1934, then turned his efforts to the Journal-Every Evening, a Wilmington daily. He attended Bucknell U., where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree and became an English instructor. Mr. Saddler's pursuit of the English language as an instructor ,at Northwestern U., in Evanston (111.), where earlier he received his Master of Arts degree, proved to be the social opportunity for his entry as a broadcaster. Earl May, founder of the May Seed Co. and KMA Shenandoah, was casting about for an idea man and troubleshooter at his pioneer farm radio station. They met while Mr. Saddler was teaching English at Northwestern U. in 1938. Induced to join KMA as production manager that same year, Mr. Saddler set about to build on the station's acknowledged reputation for public service activities. By 1940, KMA had taken on additional commerical time commensurate with that of a basic network affiliation. Two years earlier, it could claim only one network program. Mr. Saddler was appointed general manager of May Broadcasting in 1945 and KMA "firsts" continued to pile up. The station made headlines with a direct line to the United Nations in San Francisco and sent its farm director to Europe to cover a UNRRA shipment story as part of Mr. Saddler's concept of what a world-conscious rural station should be. KMTV (TV) began operation Sept. 1, 1949, after a two-week test period the previous luly. KMTV then aired network kinescope and live programs and Mr. Saddler launched a publicand-dealer indoctrination campaign that paid rich dividends almost immediately. Mr. Saddler is credited with buying out Omaha's Municipal Stadium for a "free baseball party," and with originating a program (Playground Champions) designed to lure "youngsters away from their television sets and into the playgrounds." The gimmick: much of the competition was televised. The program has been copied in other cities. Mr. Saddler became executive vice president and general manager of KMTV (TV) and KMA (as well as director of May Broadcasting Co.) in 1950. Under his direction, KMTV pioneered in color television and today claims to be the area's only outlet completely equipped for tinted tv and the fifth non-network-owned station to maintain two color cameras. Appropriately, KMTV's "Color Television Center" slogan gained impetus with the affiliation switch to NBC-TV Ian. 1. Mr. Saddler is as articulate on the Tv Code as he is enthusiastic about color and its potentialities. He espouses more "self-control" by stations lest "the power that ancient monarchs despaired to hold" somehow be wrested away by government. KMTV maintains its own code as a supplement to national standards, inviting advertising agency representatives to periodic KMTV staff meetings. Mr. Saddler is a member of the NBC Tv Affiliates Group and belongs to the Iowa Broadcasters Assn. and the Nebraska Broadcasters Assn. He married the former Elizabeth Rankin. They have three children — Barbara, 15, Tuck, 11, and David, 7 — and live in Omaha, although Mr. Saddler divides his time between there and Shenandoah. His hobbies: woodworking, photography and fishing. Page 20 • March 19, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting