Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

NETWORKS Says New Contract Is Winning Affiliates MUTUAL officials reported last week that their new affiliation contract [B»T, Jan. 28, et seq.] not only is winning affiliates but influencing independents, too. Station Relations Vice President Robert W. Carpenter said 12 independent stations have made overtures toward affiliation and that four already have been accepted, including one that disaffiliated 20 months ago. The returnee is KSET El Paso (1340 kc. 250 w) which left MBS in September 1955. The three other independents accepted are KRES St. Joseph, Mo. (1550 kc, 5 kw). WFOX Milwaukee (860 kc. 250 w, day), and KLCB Libby, Mont. (1230 kc, 250 w). They join June 2, effective date of Mutual's new style of contract, under which the network is switching to a primarily music and news operation. Mr. Carpenter pointed out that with the addition of WFOX Mutual will have a local outlet in Milwaukee for the first time in the network's 23-year history. Nor has it had local representation in the three other markets in recent months. He said action on the eight other applications of independents must be deferred until Mutual sees whether current affiliates in those cities adopt or reject the new contract. Other officials meanwhile estimated they already had received new signed contracts from about 40% of the approximately 400 Mutual stations which are not owned by the network or are not members of its Yankee or Don Lee regional networks. These stations also will operate on the new contract but their connections with Mutual, either through ownership or through affiliation with Don Lee or Yankee, made acceptance of the new terms more or less automatic, authorities said. The new contract forms were sent out by Mutual to all current affiliates about three weeks ago. Officials expect to start analyzing the returns in about a week. Overall, they appeared pleased with the pace of returns thus far (see picture). Under the new contract. Mutual cuts its option time to a half-hour a day Monday through Friday, and six and a half hours on Sunday. In addition there are certain periods of "swap time," including five-minute newscasts on-the-hour which will be available for local sale in return for five minute newscasts on the half-hour which Mutual may sell. Mutual in turn will supply the stations with a minimum of 57 hours of programming per week for local sale. MBS officials acknowledge that their sales potential, with option time so severely reduced, is "limited." But Mr. Carpenter pointed out that "we feel that the network will be in a secure position with respect to any clearance and can command the top rates for time and talent due to the coverage, clearance and ratings obtainable only FOLLOW THE LEADER IN SACRAMENTO... 1 "i y.':\ Kin * s * I-. ✓ * * ✓ * • * * • o • • . STA. C mr\ NOV. '55* FEB. • 56* NOV. '56' STA. D ■ * * * mm FEB. 'STgljj [ K12 A graphic demonstration of KCRA-TV's rise in Share of Audience from Sign-on to Sign-off, Sunday-Saturday. Ask Petry about The Highest Rated NBC Station in the West. 'ARB. Sacramento CLEAR KwKA'TV CHANNEL SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA Serving 28 Northern California and Nevada Counties NO ONE would object to being swamped in a situation like this. Robert W. Carpenter, Mutual station relations vice president, has cause to smile, surrounded as he is by the first batch of about 200 signed contracts returned by MBS affiliates under the new "music and news" formula effective June 2. The network distributed some 400 contracts several weeks ago. through such an operation." In a letter to affiliates he said the plan will permit Mutual "to continue services to you on a profitable basis" — without which, he said, "economics would dictate either a severe curtailment in services or the end of network services as known today." Unofficially, it has been estimated that the network's sales potential strictly within the time periods specified as Mutual's in the new contract, is about $8 million a year. This does not include any sales made by Mutual and cleared by the stations outside of Mutual time, such as the 11 Notre Dame U. football games which the network will carry again this fall. Pontic Div. of General Motors will sponsor half of each game and the other half will be available for sale by the stations, as last year. Mutual's gross on the Pontiac sale has been estimated at around $190,000. CBS Radio Plans Milestone In Hour Crime Documentary PLANS for what they called "the most detailed examination of a criminal case ever attempted by broadcasting" were announced Friday by CBS Radio officials. The program, a tape-recorded documentary with newsman Edward R. Murrow as narrator, will explore The Galindez-Murphy Case: A Chronicle of Terror. It will be presented next Monday at 8-9 p.m. EDT. Spokesmen said the show will make public for the first time much new information bearing on the triple mystery of ( 1 ) the disappearance in 1956 of Dr. Jesus De Galindez, Columbia U. instructor and outspoken enemy of the Dominican Turjillo regime; (2) the subsequent death of Gerald Lester Murphy, a pilot who told friends he helped kidnap Dr. De Galindez and (3) the purported suicide of Octavia de la Maza, Mr. Murphy's fellow-pilot, in a Ciudad Trujillo jail. The mystery of Dr. De Galindez has never been cleared up and the U. S. State Dept. has officially expressed dissatisfaction with the Dominican account of the deaths of Messrs. Murphy and De La Maza. The Chronicle of Terror program was produced by CBS Public Affairs." Page 92 • May 13, 1957 Broadcasting • Telecasting