Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

IstourT BEST BUY In The SCRANTON MARKET Chart based on average Pulse ratings for 12 quarter ! hours . . . 6:00 to 9:00 AM ... November, 1956 li W A B C D E all £ OTHERS J For 27 years, Scranton's top salesman, Bill Pierce domI inates the audience in eight Pennsylvania counties served by WEJL. fidfeMEEKER W£JL H\\t Jkrairtirn (limes ax an sponsor, too! Miss Sally's Romper Room, delight of the small fry set in Washington, is the apple of the advertiser's eye, too . . because it produces rich fruits in the way of adult response, by way of moppet demand. Romper Room (11 a.m. to noon weekdays) has room for a few more apple-seeking advertisers who want results. § real lively daytime programming wmal-tv channel tT Washington, D. C. AN EVENING STAR STATION 8" Represented by H-R Television, Inc. INTERNATIONAL CONTINUED TV: THE INTERNATIONAL PICTURE Representatives of 14 nations attended the First World Congress on Commercial Television in London. Sparked by Gen. Robert W. Johnson, chairman of the board of Johnson & Johnson, the congress was sponsored by the firm as a public service to television. It was held in September in conjunction with a junket promoting Johnson & Johnson's Robin Hood. Those attending, including 66 U. S. tv editors, viewed commercial samplings from Luxembourg, France, Great Britain, Monte Carlo, Iraq, the U. S., Cuba, the Philippine Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. George N. Thomas, KDKA-TV Pittsburgh news editor, reported his impressions to Broadcasting: How does a Pakistani prefer his pitch? Serious, if the informal survey taken at the First World Congress on Commercial Television bears any weight. Although commercial television is not yet every country's meat, the question of what type of commercials the public likes was a major topic at the congress. Representatives chose a "typical" commercial from a sampling session. Some of the results: Mexicans take to a humorous sell; British and Americans prefer commercials brief and "sincere." Japanese audiences vote for a restrained and indirect selling message; in Pakistan, where tv is seen only in theatres, the serious approach sells best. Although France is blacked out to commercial tv, French-made commercials tend to be artistic and beautiful. From all reports, the American sell has had its impact on world tv, but an American viewer would find some differences. In Monte Carlo, in Great Britain, in Japan, there's no such thing as the familiar "and now a word from our sponsor . . ." The commercial is woven into the program, perhaps by an actor who holds the product in his hand as the camera dollies in on the label. The actor keeps right on going with his lines. In Great Britain, sponsors' products are sold one after the other in "commercial programs" from a minute to 15 minutes long. Wherever there's tv, the viewer wants to be entertained. News shows with a flexible "roving reporter" format are popular everywhere. In France, news shows open and close the broadcasting day. In Monte Carlo, Brazil and Luxembourg, they are the most popular viewing fare. Children's shows are programming features in half the countries with tv. In Iraq, the children's story-teller is so popular he is on the air seven days a week. Most of the popular children's shows are U. S. commercial products. General consensus of opinion at the congress was that in nations where both government-owned and commercial stations compete, dials seem to turn more often to commercial programming. In other sessions of the meeting, delegates discussed the potential of television as a medium of peaceful communication between nations. Robert E. Button, chief of the International Broadcasting Service of the U. S. Information Agency, reported on U. S. aid in developing tv in Iraq, Sumatra and Lebanon. At a luncheon session, delegates heard Charles E. Wilson, president of the People-to-People Foundation, urge tv executives to use the medium to promote friendship and international understanding. Television, he said, "is truly the window of the world," and he asked for television's aid in "leaping governments," if necessary, so that the people of East and West can learn more about one another. Canadian Am Bid Planned International Radio & Television Corp. Ltd. plans to seek a license for a new radio station on 1140 kc with 1 kw at Kitimat, B. C, at the Dec. 6 meeting of the board of governors of CBC at Ottawa. The station will be located at a new aluminum smelting town 400 miles north of Vancouver. CKTR Three Rivers, Que., will request the CBC board of governors to allow a change of ownership from CKTR Limitee to Paul Aboud of Three Rivers, who plans to form a new company to buy out the present owners. Canada Radio Sales Up, Tv Down Radio receiver sales continue upward while those for television are still on the downtrend in Canada, according to the January-September figures of the RadioElectronics-Television Mfrs. Assn. of Canada. In the first nine months of this year, radio set sales totaled 389,509 units com pared with 370,370 for the similar 1956 period. Television set sales amounted to 295,338 sets compared with 411,562 in the 1956 period. The province of Ontario accounted for the largest number of radio sets, 179,420, and tv sets, 111,206, in the January-September period. Quebec province followed with 90,027 radio receivers and 84,289 tv sets. Howard E. Stark RADIO and TELEVi 50EAST5S» STREET EL 5-0405 NEW YORK 22. N. Y \AI1 Inquiries Confidential] Page 118 November 18, 1957 Broadcasting