Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1957)

:.;ADE ASSNS. continued RAB PLANS MAJOR SALES EXPANSION • Board sets record budget • More presentations slated A MAJOR EXPANSION in Radio Advertising Bureau's regional and local selling activities was authorized by the RAB board of directors last week, along with approval of a record-setting budget for the last half of 1957. Officials said the enlarged budget, effective July 1, is predicated on an operating income at an annual rate of $890,000 for the final six months of this year, and said current indications point to a fiscal-year budget of $925,000 by Dec. 1. RAB started this ;year with a budget of approximately $820,000 and currently is spending at the rate of about $860,000 annually. The expansion of selling activity, President Kevin B. Sweeney told the board, will enable RAB to double the number of cities in which RAB salesmen now operate, and to increase by more than one-third the volume of personal presentations to be made to major advertisers in these cities. Under the new plan, Mr. Sweeney said, RAB sales teams will visit more than 1,500 advertisers in 65 principal markets during the next 12 months, as compared to 950 advertisers called upon in 31 cities during the past year. Other highlights of the board's semiannual session, held Tuesday in New York: • The board approved an executive committee recommendation that the date of the 1957 annual membership meeting be changed to the afternoon of Oct. 9, to coincide with the third annual RAB National Radio Advertising Clinic, in hopes of boosting attendance at the meeting. In the past the membership meeting has been held the second Monday in November. • RAB management was authorized to negotiate for larger New York offices to accommodate its expanding headquarters staff. The expansion, officials said, will be primarily in the sales department, where the number of salesmen is expected to be increased from the present 11 to about 14 by the end of this year. RAB hopes to move from its present quarters, 460 Park Ave., into new space around November. • Joseph E. Baudino of Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., retiring after two terms as RAB chairman, was presented an illuminated scroll in recognition of his "outstanding service to this organization and to the radio broadcasting industry." The presentation, in behalf of the RAB membership, was made by Kenyon Brown of KWFT Wichita Falls, Tex., incoming chairman. • Robert E. Eastman, American Broadcasting Network, and William E. Rine, Storer Broadcasting Co., were elected to the RAB board. Mr. Eastman succeeds Don Durgin, who has moved from American to NBC-TV, while Mr. Rine replaces Lee B. Wailes, also of Storer. • A five-man committee to nominate members for forthcoming vacancies on the board was named by Mr. Brown: Allen M. Woodall. WDAK Columbus, Ga., chairman; Charles C. Caley, WMBD Peoria, 111.; Frank P. Fogarty, WOW Omaha; John S. Hayes, WTOP Washington, and Alex Keese, WFAA Dallas. • President Sweeney reported that reservations for three of the six regional management conferences scheduled around the country for late summer and fall have been sold out. Six newly elected board members were on hand for the meeting: Richard D. Buckley, WNEW New York; Matthew J. Culligan, NBC Radio; Mr. Keese; Don Searle, Colby, Kan.; Ben Strouse, WWDC Washington, and Adam J. Young Jr. of the Adam J. Young station representation firm. Other members present were Chairman Brown, President Sweeney, Messrs. Baudino, Caley, Fogarty, Hayes, Keese, and Woodall, and Edward Breen, KVFD Fort Dodge, Iowa; John C. Cohan, KSBW Salinas, Calif.; Simon Goldman, WJTN Jamestown, N. Y.; George J. Higgins, KMBC Kansas City; Ward D. Ingrim, KHJ Los Angeles; C. Howard Lane, KOIN Portland, Ore.; Elroy McCaw, WINS New York; William B. McGrath, WHDH Boston; Robert T. Mason, WMRN Marion, Ohio; Gilmore N. Nunn, WLAP Lexington, Ky., and Edward Petry, Edward Petry & Co., station representation firm, New York. Farm Broadcasters Receive Warm Words From President FARM BROADCASTERS "are engaged in one of the greatest efforts for the future benefit of our country," President Eisenhower said Tuesday in greeting 125 members of the National Assn. of Television & Radio Farm Directors, holding their spring meeting in Washington. The President was presented a membership plaque by NATRFD President Jack Timmons, KWKH Shreveport, La. The President said, "I think there is nothing that all of us need to know — including the farmers — so much as the facts. I believe that the information, the statistical, political, commercial, industrial information that a farmer needs today in order to conduct his business properly, in order to associate himself with his fellowmen properly, can be gained only by day-to-day access to the best possible information on these subjects that there is obtainable. "That, as I conceive it, is the mission of you people— to bring forth these facts — not to be an exhorter for any particular plan or idea of anybody's of any political party, or of any individual, but to take the ideas and the facts and analyze them — to bring all the necessary information to the people that have to do with the work and ultimately form the decision. ... As I congratulate you on the work you are doing, I thank you for it." The farm directors took part in three days of programming, including sessions with government and legislative leaders. Final event was a Wednesday trip to the government's agricultural research center at Beltsville, Md. A special committee in charge of a new sales promotion brochure designed to help farm broadcasters in the sale of time re PRESIDENT EISENHOWER is made an honorary member of the National Association of Radio and Television Farm Directors by the group's president, Jack Timmons of KWKH Shreveport, La., at the White House June 18. viewed progress made in these projects. The brochure will be produced by Don Lerch. consultant. It will be titled "Is Your Farm Advertising Balanced for Best Results?" Final action on the project is to be taken at NATRFD's annual convention in Chicago Nov. 29-Dec. 1. Mai Hansen, WOW Omaha, is chairman of the special brochure committee. Bob Parker, WBAY Green Bay, Wis., is vice chairman. Another committee is studying a proposal to hire an executive secretary for NATRFD. It is headed by W. A. Ruhmann. WBAP Fort Worth, chairman, and George Roesner, KPRC Houston, vice chairman. Total attendance at the spring meeting was 250. Patrick New GAB Secretary ROBERT LAWRENCE PATRICK has been named secretary-manager of the Georgia Assn. of Broadcasters, Athens, with headquarters at the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism, U. of Georgia, where he also will have staff duties. Mr. Patrick, an alumnus of the Grady School, has previously been associated with WTAM Decatur, Ga., and Dayton, Ohio, radio and tv stations. He succeeds Ross Shackelford, who July 1 becomes public relations director of West Georgia College, Carrollton. Rastatter to TvB PR Director JOSEPH R. RASTATTER has been named director of public relations for the Television Bureau of Advertising, it was announced last week by Norman E. Cash, president of the bureau. Mr. Rastatter joins TvB today (Monday). He succeeds Sid Mesibov, who resigned to join ABC-TV (story page 75). Mr. Rastatter formerly was general public relations counsel with John T. Casey & Assoc., New York. He also was with CBS-TV Hollywood. MR. RASTATTER Page 56 • June 24, 1957 Broadcasting Telecasting