Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1956)

DURING a break in the Republican convention proceedings, Robert E. Kintner, ABC president, points out a feature of an ABC-TV camera to Ray George (I), Philco vice president (Philco picked up the ABC coverage tab), merchandising and advertising, and H. Pierson Mapes, vice president of Hutchins Adv., Philco's agency. THE SAME break found (I to r) R. P. Hoffman, Kenyon & Eckhardt executive; Davidson Taylor, NBC vice president in charge of public affairs, and Vaughn Monroe, who delivered the RCA commercials, discussing their latest advertising pitch in one of the Cow Palace's numerous smoke-free rooms. sure "that your alternate moves into your seat so we have full delegate strength at all times." He reminded them of the bad tv effect the Democrats made in this matter. Even ex-President Herbert Hoover was touched by the importance of proper tv appearance. Following House Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin Jr. (R-Mass.), convention chairman, on Tuesday, Mr. Hoover walked up the ramp to the podium early so he would be sure to complete his address before cameras had to swing away to pick up President Eisenhower's arrival at the airport. The extent of the contagion of free tv publicity was to be seen in the action last week of Thomas J. Callan, chairman of the board of supervisors of San Mateo County, calling for the county to invest $40,000 toward a fund to promote getting future conventions in the area. Although the Cow Palace actually is in San Mateo County, San Francisco got the plugs and Mr. Callan was miffed about being overlooked. He pointed out that tv didn't mention his county at all. The lack of news was perhaps the biggest problem faced by commentators and news media last week in San Francisco up until the arrival of President Eisenhower Tuesday evening. When asked what they were finding to report, network personalities frankly admitted they frequently found themselves "tearing their hair" for copy. The lack of significant controversy produced a dry run, they observed. Many felt that if it were not for Sec. 315 of the Communications Act requiring equal treatment of political candidates and its accepted relevancy to major political conventions, network news coverage could have been limited to a couple of hours a day instead of the long on-the-scene exposure afforded. They reasoned this would have been sufficient in view of news content. One NBC commentator who preferred not be named suggested Sec. 315 should be amended to protect radio-tv from "equal boredom." The networks established elaborate radio-tv studios in downtown hotels such as the Fairmont and Mark Hopkins to be on the scene for coverage of party caucuses and press conferences, but most of those which did materialize were not considered sufficiently newsworthy to merit live pickup. MBS felt its operation was a fair barometer on the San Francisco news pulse. The radio network carried 37 hours during the Democratic session in Chicago but by Tuesday noon could see only 20 hours out of San Francisco. With Kohler Co. as full sponsor, MBS was committed to seven hours daily. Network spokesmen Tuesday morning admitted, "We're really reaching. This convention would fold up in a day if it were not for the radio and television commitments." Ed Pettitt, MBS anchor man stationed in the network booth back of the Cow Palace podium, expressed the sentiments, "you soon feel like you're on a pivot" when news is thin but onthe-scene commentary must continue. Bill Hillman, MBS commentator, told B»T radio is better off during a slow convention because it is more flexible whereas tv "is lost when the proceedings are not dramatic." He favors briefer, interpretive coverage rather than hours of live pickup which fail to give the listener or viewer an understandable summary. Mutual, however, had more people in San Francisco than in Chicago, since the west coast coverage was augmented by affiliated Don Lee and KFRC San Francisco crews. Arthur Wakelee, in charge of NBC's news room at the Fairmont, told B«T the big story Tuesday was the President's arrival, but indicated there were slim pickings otherwise. Ben Grauer, NBC, noted that newsmen's copy generally was loaded with "restaurant chit-chat" so far. Chet Huntley, NBC, said it appeared difficult for newsmen to keep reptitious material out of their interviews. Esther Van Wagoner Tufty, special convention reporter for the network, said, "I just keep on filing, but there isn't much to say." The three tv networks spent an estimated combined total of 173 hours 46 minutes in covering sessions of the two conventions — and pre-empted an estimated 108 hours of regularly scheduled commercial programming in the process. The four national radio networks' convention airtime in Chicago and San Francisco totaled 223 hours 13 minutes. Commercial pre-emptions, difficult to fix in radio, were placed at about 19 hours 50 minutes. Tv pre-emptions thus ran far ahead of original estimates, while radio pre-emptions ran behind. The 108 hours estimated as the commercial pre-emption total in television is more than 60% higher than the 66 hours that had been anticipated [B«T, Aug. 6]. In radio on the other hand, the original expectation was that more than 27 hours of regular programming that is sold or partly sold would be knocked out for the two conventions. Here are the tv networks' estimates of their respective hours of coverage and commercial hours pre-empted for the two conventions (excluding special pre-convention shows): ABC CBS NBC Total TV TV TV Democratic convention Hours of coverage 35:05 33.33 38:00 106:38 Hours pre-empted 7:30 25:00 25:45 58:15 Republican convention Hours of coverage 21:08* 22:30* 23:30* 67:08* Hours pre-empted 11:15* 20:00* 18:30* 49:45* * GOP estimates, compiled Thursday, include figures for probable length of Thursday night closing session. These tv figures could not be exact, not alone because they were prepared before the Republican's final session was held. In some cases, programs were pre-empted in one section of the country and not in others. This was particularly true of ABC-TV's Mickey Mouse Club, which is seen at 5-6 p.m. local time and thus might conflict with convention coverage in some time zones and not in others. Network radio pre-emption figures are even more difficult to acertain with accuracy, because of the varying patterns of selling network radio. In the following table, based on figures supplied by the radio networks, time periods that are partly sponsored were counted equally with those that are fully sponsored. ABC CBS NBC Mutual Total Radio Radio Radio Democratic convention Hours of coverage 35:05 32:00 35:45 35:15 138:05 Hours preempted 1:45 6:45 (1) 2:30 10:20(1) Republican convention Hours of coverage 21:08* 21:00* 23:30* 19:30* 85:08* Hours preempted ... 2:25* 2:45* (1) 4:20* 9:30*(1) (1) NBC Radio spokesmen said NBC commercial time pre-emptions were "negligible," as a result of rescheduling commercial shows. No figure was included for NBC in the total pre-emptions for all radio networks. * GOP estimates, compiled Thursday, include figures for probable length of Thursday night closing session. The main reason for the difference in houn devoted to coverage of the two convention; was the fact that the Democratic conclave rar one day longer than the GOP's. Page 30 • August 27, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecastinc