Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1956)

CONVENTION COVERAGE INSPECTING a Westinghouse set in the Cow Palace, used for CBS-TV commercials, are (I to r) Tom Losee, McCann-Erickson vice president in charge of Westinghouse accounts; Betty Furness, who gave the sponsor's commercials, and Jim Gillis, McCann-Erickson account executive on Westinghouse account. DISCUSSING MBS' convention coverage are (I to r) L. L. Smith, Kohler Co. vice president; Virgil Pinkley, MBS west coast commentator; Carroll Marts, MBS vice president in charge of Midwest; William Pabst, KFRC San Francisco general manager, and Milton Burgh, MBS news and special events director. told B*T, "but then realized it had to go under priority because we couldn't tell if the stuff already on the plane would work without the equipment still on the ground." United happened to have a regular commercial cargo plane nearly ready to leave, so Mr. Bryant was able to put most of the surplus on it after distributing 4,000 pounds between the two charter passenger planes. The two passenger planes were off about 5 a.m. Saturday and the charter cargo ship about 6:13 a.m., he recalled, and although one of the passenger planes was forced to refuel in Reno because of extra weight, all priority equipment was in the Cow Palace by noon. "Everybody was able to get set up in time for their Saturday evening pickups on schedule," he noted. Only quirk of the whole massive operation was that some Navy electronic gear destined for Honolulu mysteriously showed up at the Cow Palace in the ABC material, but the network re-shipped it immediately for Hawaii and everyone was too busy rigging the new center to worry about finding out how it happened. Other sources at CBS reported that the network had to "bump" seven Westinghouse representatives off the priority flight but observed it was done with finesse. CBS suggested to the sponsor personnel they would feel much more comfortable getting a full night's sleep in Chicago and then taking other flights later on Saturday. But for Robert G. (Tommy) Thompson, director of technical operations for CBS-TV, the Republican Convention began in August 1954 when he held initial meetings to plan coordination of pool coverage for all networks at both conventions. Later, when the two-city sessions developed, he became chairman of the tv industry pool for San Francisco. NBC-TV handled video pool arrangements and operation at Chicago while ABC handled tv audio and radio pool facilities at both sites. Overall radio pool responsibility fell to Frank Marx, ABC vice president in charge of engineering and general services, with William Trevarthen, ABC director of engineering operations, supervising actual installations. Mr. Thompson told B«T he signed up San Francisco motels for his Cow Palace technical crews as early as last January and construction began May 1. He personally flew to the Coast 21 times in the past year on this project. Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. had begun preliminary installation of its facilities last fall. There was insufficient power at the site so Mr. Thompson arranged with Pacific Gas & Electric to bring in an extra 1,500 kw exclusively for radio-tv use. He also supervised contracts for lighting of the interior hall to provide a steady 150-foot candle power over the podium with capacity up to 200 foot candles. He noted the Democrats failed to allow broadcasters to supervise lighting at the Chicago Amphitheatre with the result that lighting there varied between 70 and 100 foot candles despite promises to meet telecasters' requests for 150. He noted that this made it difficult for some portable tv cameras to function effectively at Chicago. Mr. Thompson felt the Chicago convention put every behind-the-scenes technician in stride for smooth handling of the San Francisco session. He recalled the limited technical facilities available during the 1948 conventions and said the 1952 sessions were "rehearsal" for this year's events. "We're always finding The Melody Lingers On THE major conventions were over last week, but CBS Radio and CBS-TV still had a few rounds of "convention" activity to go. Eric Hass, named as the presidential nominee of the Socialist Labor Party last May, was to make his acceptance speech in a live broadcast on CBS-TV yesterday (Sun.) at 4:15-4:30 p.m. EDT and on CBS Radio, also live, tomorrow night (10:45-11 p.m.). Next Sunday, Darlington Hoopes will make his acceptance speech as presidential nominee of the Socialist Party in a live appearance on CBS-TV; the speech will be recorded for broadcast by CBS Radio on Sept. 4 (10:45-11 p.m.) [At Deadline, Aug. 20]. new ways to do a job quicker and easier," he told B«T. Twenty-seven years with CBS, Mr. Thompson has worked at seven pairs of conventions, since 1932. He has been in tv since before World War II. Although there were a few bad cross-country patches by AT&T, network officials seemed in complete sympathy with the complex switching problems involved and expressed appreciation for the generally good cooperation afforded. ORIENTAL TOUCH • To liven its coverage of a generally unlively convention, Mutual last week brought in a Chinaman with an abacus to keep track of the Republican balloting for the presidential and vice presidential nominations. He was H. K. Wong, a San Francisco accountant. Mutual spokesmen claimed he not only kept abreast of all the electronic computing gadgetry generally in use, but actually was first with the answers. ACTORS' ANTICS • Penchant of Republicans for perfection in their public exposure on tv was brought home to network officials early in the week's activity when Vice President Nixon insisted on right makeup and thorough preparing for his appearance on ABC on Sunday. Mr. Nixon also was select in making his tv appearances, according to reports from network spokesmen who couldn't get him on the air as often as they would have liked. WAYLAID BY BETSY • William N. Greer, owner of WSTA Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands, was listed as sole delegate from that possession at Republican National Convention in San Francisco last week, but he didn't show. His alternate reported that Hurricane Betsy took away his tower, and Mr. Greer, an engineer, was forced to miss convention. He was also member of important Resolutions Committee. CALLED HOME • Another broadcaster-absentee was Eugene Pulliam, owner of WIRE Indianapolis, and Indianapolis and Phoenix publisher, likewise member of Resolutions Committee. Mr. Pulliam was called home, after Page 32 • August 27, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting