Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

PROGRAMS & PROMOTIONS Sullivan Develops New Strategy As Warner Notes Trendex Score As an obvious pitch for a bigger share of the youthful audience, CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show (Sun., 8-9 p.m. EST) last week announced it has signed "a host of singing stars whose recordings have captured the interests of the nation's youth" for appearance during the first half-hour of each program. Artists include Sam Cooke ("You Send Me"); Eberly Brothers ("Wake Up Little Susie") and the Rays ("Silhouette") among others. The Sullivan announcement came as Warner Bros, announced that its western Maverick on ABC-TV in the same period had "won a stunning double victory over both the Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen shows (NBC) in the weekly Sunday evening Trendex battle." Warner Bros, said Maverick hit 22.1, Sullivan 16.7 and Allen 13.8 Nov. 10. Warner boasted Maverick achieved in eight weeks on the air "what no other show has been able to accomplish in almost nine years." KYW-TV Marches for MGM Movie A live lion was used to lead a street parade in Cleveland honoring the MGM film, "Thirty Second Over Tokyo" shown on KYW-TV Cleveland Nov. 6. The Civil Air Patrol gave a display of precision marching, while CAP aircraft flew overhead. Also in the parade through the city were an Air Force color guard and vehicles, a bevy of models in 1958 convertible cars, an MGM float, drum majorettes and an Irish wolfhound. The commander of Cleveland's Air Force Recruiting Office presented a certificate of merit to KYW-TV for showing th& film about the Air Force. KPHO-TV Promotes With Twins Identical twin girls appeared on behalf of KPHO-TV Phoenix at the opening of the Arizona State Fair Nov. 2. The 17-year-old brunettes distributed bright green lollipops imprinted with the station's "Channel 5" as they toured the fairgrounds. The girls wore short white flared costumes trimmed with green "5's" and carried banners identifying them as the "KPHO-TV Twins." ABN Runs Affiliates Contest American Broadcasting Network last week circulated a plea for promotional ideas to ABN affiliates in the form of a contest. Each month ABN promotions and exploitations department will award $25 to the promotion director submitting the "best promotion or exploitation idea of the month." Contest will be repeated each month with winning ideas being circulated among other affiliates. Entries will cover station promotion, personality promotion, merchandising tie-ins, stunts and gimmicks. Romeo & Juliet Opinion Asked WTIC-TV Hartford, Conn., presented J. Arthur Rank's 2-hour, 20-minute "Romeo and Juliet" film without cuts Nov. 3. The station undertook this so students of Shake speare could see the film in its entirety. The station circularized colleges and secondary schools inviting faculty and students to render individual critiques of the movie to assist in formulating future program, concepts. The House That WOOD-TV Built For four months viewers of WOOD-TV Grand Rapids, Mich., have been watching progress of its building plan. The promotion was designed to familiarize the public with the "Flexibilt" homes the station has been constructing at Lansing, Mich. Viewers saw the houses grow from one-bedroom dwellings to homes with 3-4 bedrooms via remote telecasts and daily five-minute film reports. More than 20,000 visitors have been attracted to the building site. The WOOD-TV houses also were built in Muskegon and Grand Rapids. WRBL-TV Tells 10th About Home The Army's 10th Infantry Division, now stationed in Germany, is slated for assignment to Fort Benning, Ga., so nearby WRBL-TV Columbus has sent Rozell Fabiani, its women's director, to Germany to give the 10th Division a view of the area to be their new home. She will show a film, prepared by WRBL-TV showing Columbus areas of interest to the military man and his family such as recreational facilities, schools, churches shopping centers, housing and other places. Upon returning, she will present similar information to personnel of the 3rd Division prior to its replacement of the 10th in Germany. KOBY and KITE Air Space News KOBY San Francisco and KITE San Antonio have instituted newscasts solely devoted to space news. KOBY's is produced by its news staff with special rrfaterial from the Stanford U. News Service, the American Rocket Society and AP. Both the station's Spacecasts include: recordings from satellites, answers to listeners' question and news on developments of man's exploration of the universe. KOBY's Spacecast is aired at 7:55 a.m. and KITE'S at 5:33 p.m. seven days a week. 'Educated Man' in Three Lessons The Educated Man, a three-program tv series which raises the question, "What is an educated man?" has been produced by Columbia U. and the Metropolitan educational Tv Assn., for telecasting on Meta Presents (WPIX [TV] New York Nov. 12, 19, and 26, 11:30-12 noon). Two Columbia U. professors, Charles Frankle, department of philosophy, and Quentin Anderson, department of English, will participate in the three programs, discussing theories and ideas, past and present, that "dominate our thinking about the educated man." KICD Spencer, Iowa, is doing something about the weather. The station has installed its own radar equipment to keep listeners within a radius of 60 miles informed of the movement of violent weather. The set is surplus naval equipment modified for stationary use, with a larger radar scope installed. AT LEFT, the console has original equipment receiving bay with radar scope above; below, engineeradded controls, remote panel and larger radar scope. The latter spreads details of the received "pips" over a larger area for better interpretation and easier correlation with maps. AT RIGHT, Chief Engineer Eldon Kagano (1) and assistant engineer Verne LaBrayere, who installed the set, boost the "blister" to show "dish" sending-receving antennas. These are mounted atop a 50-foot tower. KICD decided to install the radar after tornadoes swept the county last June. The station has been running practice tracks since last month, checking rain predictions with the U. S. Weather Bureau at Sioux Falls and through listeners in the areas checked who call in to verify the prediction. In this way, KICD personnel expect to be "on the beam" when more violent weather hits in spring and summer. Page 106 November 18, 1957 Broadcasting