Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

NETWORKS CONTINUED with the Yankee Network since 1950 and has worked extensively with advertisers in the food industry in connection with the Yankee Home and Food Show. King Briefs Intermountain Meet On Progress by New MBS Owners Thirty-six affiliates of the Intermountain Network met the week before last in Denver, following the Region 7 NARTB meeting [At Deadline, Oct. 21] and heard Charles King, director of station relations of MBS, discuss the progress and plans of "the new Mutual ownership". Resolutions commending Presidents Paul Roberts and Robert Eastman, of MBS and ABN, respectively, were passed at the meeting. In their business session Intermountain affiliates concluded that they should purchase their own broadcast lines through Intermountain Network rather than through a national network. The network officers v/ere authorized to negotiate new affiliation contracts that would better protect stations from inroads on their national spot business. Balaban Leaves $1 Million An estate valued at $1 million, including substantial stockholdings in American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres Inc., was left by the late John Balaban, AB-PT board member and president-cofounder of Balaban & Katz (theatre) Corp. An inventory approved in Chicago probate court Monday included holdings of 7,300 shares of AB-PT stock, valued at about $105,000 in today's market, plus $77,624 in cash and $400,000 in bonds. He also held 2,250 shares of Denver, Rio Grande & Western Railroad stock worth about $75,000. The largest part of the estate was placed in trust for his widow, Bertha, and his family. Mr. Balaban, a pioneer in television and motion picture exhibition, died at 62 following a heart attack last April 4. MBS Plans Christmas Extra A $7,000 pre-Christmas bonus jackpot has been made available to MBS network account executives by Mutual President Paul Roberts, according to Sidney P. Allen, network sales vice president. The bonus prizes complement the $1,000 sales incentive bonuses (each three weeks) initiated when new management took over the network last August. The pre-Christmas plan runs through Dec. 20. The bonuses will be given to those account executives obtaining the largest number of sponsors in long-range advertising campaigns on the network. New Crosby Show Postponed CBS Radio announced Thursday that the weekly variety show featuring Bing Crosby, which was to begin yesterday (Sunday) in the 7:30-8 p.m. period, has been postponed for the time being. The announcement came one week after the network's original disclosure of Mr. Crosby's plans. CBS said the postponement was decided upon because of Mr. Crosby's "heavy commitments" this winter and cited the singer's Ford Roadshow on CBS Radio and tv appearances. Broadcasting EDUCATION Education Broadcasters to Hear UN Official at St. Louis Parley Tor Gjesdal, director of mass communications for the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization in Paris, will address the 1957 convention of the National Assn. of Educational Broadcasters, being held in St. Louis at the Hotel Statler tomorrow (Tuesday) through Friday. Other speakers announced by Marguerite Fleming, manager of educational station KSLH (FM) St. Louis and convention chairman: Harry K. Newburn, president, Educational Television Center; George R. Town, executive director, Television Allocations Study Organization; Ralph Steetle, executive director, Joint Council on Educational Television, and Harry Bannister, vice president, NBC. Convention delegates will visit Grant's Farm, estate of Mrs. August A. Busch Sr., and will be entertained at a reception by St. Louis commercial stations. St. Louis' educational stations KSLH and KETV (TV) are host stations for the NAEB. Dr. Burton Paulu of KUOM Minneapolis, U. of Minnesota station, is president of the organization. Meredith Scholarships Set Up The Edwin T. Meredith Foundation, sponsored by Meredith Publishing Co. (magazines, radio-tv stations), Des Moines, Iowa, has announced two 4-year scholarships in broadcasting to be offered this fall in connection with the National Merit Scholarship program. The latter organization, established with Ford and Carnegie funds, matches money given by participating organizations. Boys residing in areas covered by Meredith stations will be given preference, according to Fred Bohen, president of the foundation. The stations are WHEN-AMTV Syracuse, N. Y.; WOW-AM-TV Omaha; KCMO-AM-FM-TV Kansas City, and KPHO-AM-TV Phoenix, Ariz. Meredith Foundation also offers six other scholarships through Better Homes & Gardens and Successful Farming magazines. Winners will be selected through nationwide competition conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corp. NBC, ETRC Present 'Survival' Survival: The Story of Man, Resources and Civilization, a 10-week television study, will be presented on the nation's linked-up educational tv stations over NBC-TV's regular network facilities starting Thursday (66:30 p.m.). The series, offered by NBC educational television project in association with the Educational Television and Radio Center, Ann Arbor, Mich., will be produced in association with the Conservation Foundation. The format will be lecture style with visual aids. Albert E. Burke, director of the American Institute of Resource Economics, Hartford, Conn., will conduct the program. EDUCATION SHORT KaJtenborn Foundation fellowship has awarded grant of $1,600 for 12-month study of tv news operations to Alvin Synder, senior in radio-tv department, U. of Miami. The symbol of modern lifeline of American business! -4— SEE PAGE ON LEFT. October 28, 1957 • Page 97