Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

MEMO ■ TIMEBUYERS! INTERNATIONAL CBC SALES REVENUE UP $2 MILLION Commercial revenue of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. for both radio and television was $11,179,940 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1957, compared to $9,134,945 for the previous year. Revenue from television was up almost a third while that from broadcasting was down 26.6%. Total CBC revenue for the fiscal year 1956-57 amounted to $49,288,965 compared to $38,942,402 the previous year. Grants from the Canadian Parliament amounted to $18,250,000 compared to $6,250,000 in the 1955-56 fiscal year. From excise taxes on radio and television sets CBC this year received $18,923,029 compared to $22,799,955 the previous year, due to a drop in sales of tv sets. License fees from independent radio and tv stations during the year totaled $392,250, compared to $378,300. Expenses in the 1956-57 fiscal year were $48,880,422 compared to $38,572,512 the previous year. After depreciation, deficit for the year was $1,561,211 compared to $1,358,621 the previous year. Expenses were up all along the line, with programs accounting for $31,657,314 of the total, engineering $9,451,903, network transmission services $3,115,545, administrative expenses $1,855,089, commercial division $730,625, press and information $920,470, interest on loans $921,725 and amortization $227,751. Depreciation was set at $1,969,754. CBC reported that 2,490,000 Canadian homes, representing 62% of all homes, had tv receivers at the end of the fiscal year. CBC and independent stations, it was estimated, covered 86% of all Canadians with tv service. On March 31, 1957, there were 40 tv stations in operation across Canada, five more than the previous year, and eight were owned by CBC. "Progress continued to be made in the development of Canadian program content," the report stated. "English tv network service totaled 48 hours a week of which just over half was Canadian. In the French language network service of 53 hours a week, about three-quarters was Canadian. Independent Canadian tv stations used about 38 hours a week of network programs. "The CBC continued to emphasize the development of Canadian programs. A great deal of effort, and inevitably increasing costs, during the year went into the improvement of Canadian productions. With tastes stimulated in part by familiarity with expensive productions done south of the border, the Canadian public continued to demand an ever higher standard of output in Canadian programs." CBC pointed out that efforts to maintain and improve the quality of program services were reflected in awards received at the American exhibition of radio and television programs at Ohio State University, where KCRA-tv | SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA . . . the highest rated CLEAR jjga station in the West! I CHANNEL! CBC won more awards than any other network; in the increasing number of advertisers' participations in CBC tv programs; in programs sold abroad; in the well-deserved gaining of international reputations by many Canadian performers, and in a high degree of acceptance from the Canadian public. The report emphasized that during the 1956-57 fiscal year expenditures were confined largely to operations with only limited amounts spent on capital needs. The CBC had to continue main operations in a miscellaneous collection of quarters. In Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto alone, CBC was housed in 50 different locations of which 45 were leased premises. CBC Chairman A. D. Dunton stated in the report that "pending decisions by Parliament regarding the future financing of the national broadcasting system, the CBC was planning to maintain services and carry out essential developments within the limits of resources available. ... In television it faced a situation as the year began in which it would have to reduce the television service considerably unless some special provision for funds were made." (The fall program lineup for 1957-58 shows this curtailment in reduction of number of Canadian live tv shows, and more dependence on imported and Canadianmade film programs.) The bulk of the 64-page 21st annual report of the CBC was taken up with details on the various radio and television program services on all English, French and international networks and shortwave services. It dealt in detail with development of Canadian programs, international exchange of programs with the United States, Great Britain and Australia on radio and television, with technical developments of CBC stations, development of CBC's own audience research departments and its press and information services. Regarding commercial operations, the report pointed to increased use of spot announcements on CBC stations, increased sale of advertising on French-language CBC tv stations, and the sale of 15 feature-length CBC tv shows to the British Broadcasting Corp. In commercial network radio there was a further decline, the report stated, with advertisers increasing their expenditures on tv programs. CBC radio networks use about 120 of Canada's 190 radio stations, plus 54 CBC low-power repeater stations. Independent radio stations use network programs on about 23% of their weekly scheduled time, while tv stations carry about 55% network shows during a week's telecasting. Central Canadians Meet Oct. 21-22 Separate meetings for radio and television station management officials will feature the annual meeting of the Central Canada Broadcasters Assn. at the King Edward Hotel, Toronto, Oct. 21-22. Practically all the first day will be devoted to these separate meetings, following keynote speech by Don Jamieson, CION-AM-TV St. John's, Nfid. The second day will be devoted to a business YOUR BEST TV BUY in Northeast Penna. WILK-TV's V/2 MILLION WATTS (Nation's Most Powerful) brings the best of ABC-TV Network plus The Best of Syndicated Programs.* *Lawrence Welk Frank Sinatra Cheyenne Mickey Mouse Sugarfoot Disneyland Circus Boy Maverick Guy Mitchell Zorro Jim Bowie Wyatt Earp Gunfire Pass The Real McCoys Patrice Munsel Broken Arrow Ozzie & Harriet Pat Boone Walter Winchell West Point Colt 45 Mike Wallace Wednesday Night Fights plus many others * Liberace Texas Rangers Brave Eagle Grey Ghost 26 Men Jackie Gleason Mama Dr. Christian Martin Kane Million $ Movie plus many others Broadcasting Telecasting Call Avery-Knodel, Inc. October 7, 1957 Page 117