Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

GOVERNMENT continued DOLPH DISCOURAGED Robert H. Dolph, KFTM Fort Morgan, Colo., and president of the Colorado State Broadcasters Assn., last week was discouraged from pursuing an association plan whereby all am radio stations in Colorado would remain silent from 7-8:00 a.m. to remind the public of the importance of the medium. The Commission wrote Mr. Dolph that the FCC isn't at all sure the idea would be in the public interest. On the contrary, it said, a cessation of broadcast activity might in itself create the impression that a radio alert is in progress and could seriously hamper radio's "alerting capability." Comrs. Rosel H. Hyde and Robert T. Bartley. Each of them has been studying the report, but no meeting of the committee has yet been held. This may be soon, it is believed. One section of the network study still is being . prepared. This is the report on programming which was delayed by litigation. This separate report *s being written by remaining members of the Network Study staff now established as the Office of Network Study under the head of Dr. Warren Baum. Mr. Hansen expressed admiration for the Barrow Report. "It was much more complete than I expected," he said. He stated he had read the report, but had not studied it in detail. He mentioned that he had had several conferences with Dean Barrow While the report was being written. The report actually contains little new to the Justice Dept., Mr. Hansen said. The Department has been investigating network practices more than a year, he recalled. This has been an outgrowth of congressional hearings before the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Judiciary subcommittee. No member of the broadcast industry has shown any interest in the department's investigation of network practices, Mr. Hansen said. Justice has filed two antitrust suits involving the broadcast industry. One is against RCA-NBC charging coercion in last year's stations swap whereby NBC got Westinghouse Broadcasting Co's Philadelphia stations, and Westinghouse got NBC's Cleveland stations and $3 million. The Department also filed a suit against several tv film syndicators, charging block booking of films to tv stations. It alleged that tv station buyers were forced to buy groups of films in order to acquire the pictures they really wanted. Both of these suits are still in the initial stages of litigation. SUBLIMINAL SCARE STIRS CONGRESSMEN • Doerfer letter sets off alarm • Fears of hidden tv ads allayed Subliminal projection — invisible advertising— had some official Washington circles alarmed last week over a sentence in FCC Chairman John C. Doerfer's letter to a congressman. The chairman sent a progress report to about 20 congressmen and senators who had expressed fear about the technique of instantaneous, "quick-as-a-wink" advertising messages on tv. In the letter, the FCC chairman mentioned that, according to some trade reports, SP already had been used on tv. This was enough to raise the outcry. Rep. William A. Dawson (R-Utah) called immediately for an FCC injunction against the use of SP. A check in Washington and in New York disclosed that no television station has used the split-second advertising technique. James L. Vicary, inventor of the new technique, said the only thing his Subliminal Projection Inc. company had done in this line was to develop some closed circuit tv equipment for possible use in a demonstration. All three television networks denied using subliminal advertising on any of their owned stations or in network programs. Subliminal projection is a method of flash A MARKET lets... STANDARD RATE AND DATA says Amarillo is the 157th market in population among the nation's markets, but * /r's/iFAor! That KGNC is blessed with a fabulous sales area encompassing 882,100 people, more than in the nation's 19th metropolitan market. There is no market within a 250 mile radius of Amarillo rated in the first 100 markets. That each week more than one-half million people in and around fabulous Amarillo listen to KGNC. $2500 REWARD In order to help us tell this story, we are going to pay $2500 to the person who comes up with the right solution to this problem. WE DON'T BELIEVE that advertisers know the whole truth about KGNC marketland. WE DO BELIEVE that advertisers ought to know the whole truth about our gas and oil and their byproducts, about our cattle, cotton, wheat, grain sorghums and other stable income sources. WE DO BELIEVE that advertisers ought to know that for the past 5 years Amarillo has consistently ranked among the top 10 metropolitan areas in the nation, with the highest per capita retail sales. Let your entry be in any form you desire. It can be a suggestion for a trade publication campaign, an oral presentation, a brochure — whatever way you think best to get the story across. It's up to you! Amarillo is a sprawling, growing, thriving area loaded with untold wealth. It's an old story to us. We want other people to know. In many ways Amarillo is equal to the nation's top metropolitan markets that are bought almost automatically by national advertisers when they want to blanket the country. Unfortunately, many of these advertisers study only metropolitan areas with a tendency to overlook the wealthy, healthy Amarillo metropolitan area. This is an opportunity for you to become $2500 richer merely by giving us the right solution to our problem. Our judges are 5 of the most important advertising executives in the country. Because some of these people may be acquaintances of yours, and because we don't want personalities to be a factor in our contest, each entry will be identified only with a code number. Mail your entry to the attention of Jack Liston, Manager KGNC Amarillo, Texas and be sure it's in the mail before midnight December 1st. Page 72 • November 11, 1957 Broadcasting