Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

STATIONS CONTINUED College, was conferring with government officials last week on a plan to use surplus ships as floating colleges. Mr. Biederman said he will ask support of educational foundations if a ship is made available. If the plan goes into operation, he said, 400 students could be given college work on one cruising vessel, which would visit foreign ports as part of the curriculum. He predicted the plan would help ease the present shortage of college facilities. Revenue $9.9 Million, Up 12.3% For Meredith's Nine Stations Meredith Publishing Co. and subsidiaries, in the company's annual statement, reports the "most successful year in our 55-year history" with revenue from its nine radio and tv stations alone increased 12.3%. The company, which also publishes homemaking and farming books and magazines, noted its broadcasting revenue was $9,971,000 of a total revenue of $53,072,000. Total revenue was reported up 9.5% over last year. Meredith's earning per common share totaled $3.59, compared to $3.14 a year ago; dividends were $1.80, compared to $1.50 in 1956. Inventory of radio and tv plant and equipment showed the company had $6,437,583 invested in 1957, compared with $5,517,377 last year. Meredith stations are WHEN-AM-TV Syracuse, N. Y.; WOW-AM-TV Omaha, Neb; KCMO-AM-FM-TV Kansas City, Mo., and KPHO-AM-TV Phoenix, Ariz. is now the number 1 cost per thousand station in Providence Get out the slide rule, figure again . . . Providence is no longer an automatic buy because WICE is on the move! Up and up the ratings go in just eleven months of Elliot management. Do nothing 'til you see Hooper, July-September. Akron, Ohio WCUE /WICE Providence, R. I. National Representatives The John E. Pearson Co. ISADORE PIZITZ, president, Pizitz Department Store, Birmingham, signs a contract to buy all remaining newscasts on Bartell Group Station WYDE Birmingham, nearly 300 over a period of 16 weeks. Standing around Mr. Pizitz are (1 to r) Ted Levite, general merchandising manager of the store; Morton J. Wagner, Bartell Group executive vice president and general manager of WAKE Atlanta and WYDE, and George Bush, Pizitz assistant merchandising manager. Biederman Seeks Ship 'Colleges' Les Biederman, operator of Paul Bunyan Network in Michigan and president of the board of trustees, Northwestern Michigan $175,000, Not $17,500 A typographical error devalued the battery of electronic equipment being used by Peters, Griffin, Woodward Inc., as reported last week [Stations, Oct. 7], by approximately 90%. The story placed the value of the equipment at approximately $17,500. The correct figure is approximateiv $175,000. WDEB, KJFJ Sales Announced WDEB Gulfport, Miss. (1 kw daytime on 1390 kc), has been sold by Denver T. Brannen to John Caraway, electronics engineer, for $80,000. Mr. Brannen continues ownership of KCIL Houma, La., and has an application pending for FCC approval in purchases of WCOA Pensacola and WDLP Ocala, both Florida. Blackburn & Co. handled the sale. KJFJ Webster City, Iowa (250 w on 1570 kc), has been sold by Charles V. Warren and wife to Don Treu and Glen Barnett, salesman and chief engineer, respectively, of KAYS Hays, Kan., for $55,000. The Warrens retain ownership of KSMN Mason City. Iowa. The sale was handled by Allen Kander & Co. and is subject to FCC approval. McCoy Named Blair Executive V.P. Arthur H. McCoy, vice president and national sales manager, has been named executive vice president of John Blair & Co., station representative, in an announcement being released today (Monday) by President John Blair. Mr. McCoy, treasurer and sales manager of AveryKnodel before he joined Blair as an account executive in April 1955, was MR. McCOY elected a vice pres ident and national sales manager last May. Before his AveryKnodel connection, Mr. McCoy was an account executive for six years in the New York and Chicago offices of Free & Peters. Four Broadcasters Visit RFE Four broadcasting and advertising executives are among 60 prominent Americans currently on a 10-day inspection tour of Radio Free Europe broadcasting center facilities in Munich, Germany. The group left the U. S. Friday. It includes Donald H. McGannon, president of Westinghouse Broadcasting Co.; Robert Keim, account executive. Advertising Council; John Lyden, executive vice president, Ted Bates & Co., and Robert K. Richards, public relations counsel. Sponsored by Crusade for Freedom, the tour will include side trips behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin and to SHAPE headquarters at Paris. Page 78 • October 14, 1957 Broadcasting