Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

WDBJ for almost 33 years OUTSTANDING in ROANOKE and Western Virginia RADIO by any measurement1. N.C.S. No. 2 Spring, 1956 WDBJ has more than TWO TIMES the DAILY N. C. S. Circulation of Station "B"; more than THREE TIMES the circulations of Stations "C" and "D". The one they listen to MOST is the one to BUY! Ask your Peters, Griffin, Woodward "Colonel" for the whole wonderful story! NETWORKS Sarnoff Tees Off on 'Top Tens' In 'Letter' to Radio-Tv Editors RATINGS are here to stay, but "'top tens" out'ht to be abolished. So said NBC President Robert W. Sarnoff last week in the third of his series of "letters" to radio-tv editors. "If I had the power — which I don't and never will have — to govern the treatment of ratings, I would start off by abolishing the Top Ten, because of a long-standing distaste for fractions," he wrote. "The second March Nielsen had CBS with six shows and NBC with four. The 1 1 th rated, our Tennessee Ernie Ford, was five-tenths of one point behind No. 10. From there on down, fractions were rampant. The No. 15 show was less than one full point in total audience behind the No. 10 show; the No. 20 show less than one full point behind the No. 15 and less than three full points behind No. 10. ". . . Rating services admit they are not precise within fractions of points. In fact, any difference of less than two or three rating points is not significant. Yet the top ten has. become an almost exclusive symbol of success in some circles." Ratings, Mr. Sarnoff said, do have a "real" value in showing broad trends that help planners to chart programming and sales courses, but are not "the end-all of television." He recalled that NBC stopped issuing overnight ratings last fall (but later relented insofar as sponsors, agencies and talent were concerned) and took a slap at the practice of "rushing out victory claims, based on one show in one night." NBC still holds to the policy of "not going to the press with individual show ratings," he pointed out, at the same time acknowledging that this doesn't keep newsmen from getting the ratings elsewhere. Keystone Adds 16 Affiliates THE Keystone Broadcasting System last Monday announced the following 16 new station affiliates: WPFA Pensacola, Fla.; WPCO Mount Vernon, Ind.; KWBG Boone, Iowa; KVHL Homer, La.; WDON Wheaton. Md.; KBMO Benson, Minn.; KHAM Albuquerque, N. M,; WNYS Salamanca, N. Y.; KBCH Oceanlake, Ore.; KABR Aberdeen, S. D.; KLEN Killeen, Tex.; WRKE Roanoke. Va.; KXLE Ellensburg and KAPA Raymond, both Wash.; WCEF Parkersburg, W. Va., and WRFW Eau Claire, Wis. The additions bring the KBS affiliate list to 948 stations, according to Blanche Stein, station relations director. Writer Sues 'People are Funny' DAMAGE suit of $1 million has been filed by writer Donald W. Weed against the NBC-TV program People are Funny, the network and a number of individuals. Mr. Weed's suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, charges material he submitted was used on the program with no compensation to him. He alleges he presented his idea in May 1956 under the title of "Meet Your FOR REAL THOSE tense moments on Panic (NBC-TV. Tuesday, 8:30-9 p.m. EDT) are not all make-believe. Things often are pretty frightening on the other side of the camera, too. For the May 7 telecast, McCadden Productions, Hollywood firm which produces the series, had to arrange a milliondollar policy with Lloyd's of London covering the story"s hazardous location for a 24-hour period. The climactic scene showed a man trapped inside a tall oil tank with Los Angeles Fire Dept. personnel and equipment trying to reach the perilous site. The action was so dangerous that the city of Los Angeles had to be indemnified at a million dollars. Lloyd's, because of the large amount involved, placed the policy with companies around the world. Date," and that it has been used since September with no payment to him. Other defendants include Art Linkletter, the NBC-TV program's master of ceremonies, and various sales and production executives connected with the program. NBC Took His Idea, Says Revnes DAMAGE suit for $200,000 against NBC was filed in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles last week by Maurice Revnes, tv and motion picture producer, who charges the NBC-TV series Festival of Music is based on an idea he submitted to the network in 1954 under the title Cavalcade of Music. NBC turned down his idea at that time, Mr. Revnes states in his complaint, but subsequently "secretly delivered his property" to Showcase Productions, which produced the Festival of Music programs telecast by NBC-TV. NETWORK SHORTS NBC-TV has pencilled two film series into definite time slots for fall: Costume drama now being filmed in England, 7:30-8 p.m., Tuesday, and Pony Express, which network describes as "adult outdoor drama," at 7:30-8 p.m., Friday. CBS-TV announces that Strike It Rich will be telecast on West Coast same day it is aired in East, via Ampex Tape. Series has heretofore been shown with seven-day delay in West via kinescope. Strike It Rich also gets new West Coast time, 3:30-4 p.m. PDT, Mon.-thru-Fri. ABC reports its Vine St. radio studios in Hollywood will be converted to tv production for four daytime audience participation programs scheduled to start on ABC-TV in fall. Quartette includes three shows formerly on radio or tv: Glamour Girl, What's the Name of That Song?, and Bride and Groom and new program Parlay, to be packaged by Bill Burch and directed by Joe Landis. CBS Radio reports it has renewed Robert Q. Lewis Show contract for next season. WDBJ AM • 960 Kc. • 5000 watts FM • 94.9 Me. • 14,000 watts ROANOKE, VIRGINIA Page 96 • May 13, 1957 Broadcasting • Telecasting