Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

NOVIK ATTACKS 'FAST BUCK' MEN • WOV head would limit licenses on radio grants, sales • He charges medium is being debased by 'business men' STATIONS out reporters just as able to ask their own questions as those from the newspapers, Mr. Richardson replied that "lots of the boys who come out for tv haven't enough knowledge of the subject" to ask the right questions. And the camera itself is annoying, he felt. "When the cameras are on you, you feel self-conscious and freeze up. We can get much more out of a man when we can talk to him when the cameras aren't on him. And there are some questions you can't ask before the camera." In answer to Mr. Stout's questioning, Mr. Richardson expressed the realization that tv news, only 10 years old, should not be expected to have achieved the same expertness in handling its problems as newspapers, with some 300 years of experience. He said that sometimes, watching tv's coverage of a news story, he feels the tv reporters talk too much about themselves, how long they've been there, how cold it is, etc., instead of sticking to the story. "They need a good city editor," he asserted. But he predicted a great future for tv news, with its ability to give a full pictorial account of a continuing story, without being limited like newspapers to a still picture that freezes the action into one brief moment. Returning to the immediate problem of interview coverage, Mr. Richardson said: "The answer is for tv to send out some competent reporters of its own." 'Harvester' Contest Winners WINNERS in the "International Harvester's Golden Anniversary Party" promotion contest for radio station promotion managers were announced last week by Young & Rubicam, New York. The agency arranged the event for its client, International Harvester Co., Chicago, celebrating the 50th year of its truck division. The winners, chosen for outstanding promotion in connection with International Harvester's sponsorship of a one-time only musical spectacular on NBC Radio April 4 (9-10 p.m. EST) were: Sam Lawder, WIRA Fort Pierce, Fla. (up to 1 kw); Don McLean, KFYR Bismarck, N. D. (up to 5 kw) and Worth White, WPTF Raleigh, N. C. (up to 50 kw). They were presented with trans-oceanic portable radios. M. S. NOVIK, radio consultant and president of WOV New York, struck out last week at radio's "fast buck operators" who he said not only are debasing their own programming — by neglecting public service — but are forcing their competitiors to follow suit. He recommended that FCC limit licenses to one year in the case of all new grants and station sales, "so that program performance can be measured against promise before a renewal is granted," and that it not extend the present three-year term to five years "without providing an effective annual method" of comparing promise and performance. Speaking Thursday at the Ohio State Institute for Education by Radio-Television (story page 102), Mr. Novik said, "Radio today is making more money, and has more listeners and commercials; and it also has less public service programming, less community action programs, and has weakened its identity with its communities. It seems to me that the time has come to take a sharp look at radio as it is today." Years ago, he said, the network affiliates generally were "the top stations," but "when the road for radio got rough the networks lost advertisers" and "cut back programs." When the affiliates "lost these pres HOW TO AID USIA IF THE nation's 5,000-odd radio stations shipped their old phonograph records to the U. S. Information Agency for use in Voice of America broadcasts and for other purposes, USIA might save $1,750,000 a year. This is the thinking of Bill Jorgensen, WTVN Columbus, Ohio, news editor, who has suggested that each station send 500 records a year. If all stations contributed, he said, "USIA would have some two and a half million records available for use." tige network shows," he continued, "the affiliates began to lose audience to the independents" and started to compete more directly. "It was a case of the bigger station fighting the smaller station, and in the fight the stations and networks became cannibals," Mr. Novik asserted. "They ate up their public service programs, they forgot all about their forum shows, they ignored the public interest, necessity and convenience. The record, the music on a plate, once the backbone of the smaller, non-network stations, became the backbone of all stations — network and independent." Where magazines and newspapers sharpened their editorial treatment, became more active in their communities and came back "more vital than ever before," he said, "radio went the other way. Many of the pioneers sold out. Many new stations came into being. And a new breed of operator came into radio. They were business men; they had no training or background in radio; they were trained for just one thing; to make money." He continued: "They didn't know, and no one is telling them about their responsibility to the community. They were interested in just one thing. They kept their staffs small, their overhead down, they became music and news stations, and they made money. . . . ". . . As the sharpshooting broadcasters expand their operations, so do more and more stations have to lower their program standard." Mr. Novik cited this example as "typical of many others": "The only station serving a one-county market. It is 90% commercial. The music it plays comes from records it gets free. Once a week it has a sustaining hour of popular operatic music. These records come from a listener. Public service is strictly transcribed spots. And once a week a transcribed quarter-hour that is distributed gratis by a foreign country. There is nothing controversial on the station; no talks, no discussions, no forums, and nothing local except the commercials and any news that shows up on the ticker." Stations are able to do this and get away with it. he said, because FCC "has stopped enforcing the public interest, necessity and convenience portions" of the Communications Act. "Because of its work load," he said, "the FCC is unable to properly check and review" the program reports which stations are required to file. He proposed: "1. The FCC, because of the many newcomers in this business, shoud reaffirm its interest in local public service programming. "2. The FCC should, before approving the transfer of a license, require a statement of program policy similar to that required for a new grant. "3. The FCC should license for one year only, all new grants and all transfers so that United Press Facsimile Newspictures | | and United Press Movietone Newsf ilm r^_b Build Ratings Page 114 • May 13, 1957 Broadcasting • Telecasting