Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

INTERNATIONAL continued VISIONARY MAY BE TV PROTECTRESS Seven hundred years ago St. Clare of Assisi in a vision is said to have seen a midnight mass as it was conducted in the Basilica of St. Francis, a mile and a half distant from the convent bed where St. Clare lay, unable to attend the mass. Today St. Clare is a leading candidate for nomination as the universal patron saint of television. The matter at present is in the hands of the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome, according to the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Washington, which comments: "Something of a revolutionary in her own right, the brilliant, uncompromising and tireless founder of the Poor Clares [order] has been considered by many to be a fitting pro J tecteress for the world's most revolution | ary medium." Canada 4 hours 17 minutes. Listening breakdown reveals 40% from 6 a.m. to noon, 36% noon to 6 p.m. and 24% 6 p.m. to midnight. There are 1.04 million Canadian homes with at least one radio-equipped car while the total number of cars equipped with radio is 1.3 million. Radio set sales have increased 45.6% since 1954. Naming St. Clare the visual medium's special saint was proposed by Bishop Giuseppe Placido Nicolini of Assisi in an Italian radio address toward the end of 1953, the year of the 700th anniversary of St. Clare's death. Support for the bishop's motion came from many quarters of Europe after the broadcast, according to NCWC. Spain asked for St. Clare as national patron saint of tv when the medium came to that country in 1955. For St. Clare to become official protectress of tv all over the world, the Congregation of Rites must pass on the request and submit it to the pope for decree. The Congregation won't do this, however, before it gets what it considers a justifiable number of requests from both religious and professional sectors, a Congregation spokesman has said. CARTB Begins PR Campaign Canadian broadcasters have started a public relations campaign to inform listeners and viewers of the local and national scope of independent broadcasting station operations. Brief messages for use at chain breaks and identification spots have been prepared by the Canadian Assn. of Radio & Television Broadcasters and sent to its 174 member stations. The messages deal with the unsubsidized status of independent stations and their contributions to the local community and the national life. For television stations, slides have been prepared with call letters superimposed on a maple leaf and letters CAB for Canadian Assn. of Broadcasters, the shorter name which is to be adopted next year. Kits for the public relations campaign and for education of staffs of member stations have been distributed to all member stations. Further plans for the campaign include booklets for distribution to listeners and viewers and talks for station personnel. Canadian Legislator Urges That Government Scrap CBC Canadian radio and television were subjected to debate in the Canadian House of Commons at Ottawa several times in midNovember. John R. Taylor (Conservative member for Vancouver Burrard) urged that the CBC be scrapped as a broadcasting network. He stated that private enterprise should be given full scope in broadcasting, with the CBC to provide serious music, drama and other programs "that cannot subsist commercially." He felt that there is no need for a government-operated broadcasting system which lost money last year on a budget of $40 million. Raoul Poulin (Independent member for Beauce, Que.) said the CBC should clean up a serial program Plouffe Family, which is telecast in both French and English, and deals with a French-Canadian family. He specifically took exception to a number of episodes which he described as "scabrous, suggestive, sometimes immoral and even degrading." Quarter Century Club to Meet Plans are underway for the first annual meeting of all members of the Quarter Century Club of the Canadian Assn. of Radio & Television Broadcasters at Montreal next March. New members will be presented at this meeting. Nominations for new members of the CARTB Quarter Century Club must be received by Jack Beardall, CFCO Chatham, Ont., chairman of the Quarter Century Club Committee, by Dec. 31. Eligible are persons who have been employed by CARTB member stations for more than 25 years or who have served the broadcasting industry in sales and allied fields during the past 25 years. Stirling to Revamp CJMS Geoff Stirling, president of CJON St. John's, Nfld., who recently applied unsuccessfully for a radio station license at Montreal, Que., has been retained by CJMS Montreal, Que., French-language station, to help put the station on a profitable operation basis. CJMS had opposed Mr. Stirling"s application for a new Montreal station on ESSO SEALTEST TAYSTEE BREAD BUDWEISER CARTER PRODUCTS PROCTOR & GAMBLE Leading national sponsors are finding consistent, impressive sales power from this man's top rated series. For a full report, contact OFFICIAL FILMS, Inc. 25 West 45th Street, New York, N. Y. II F REPRESENTATIVES: Atlanta • Beverly Hills • Chicago • Dallas • Minneapolis • San Francisco • St. Louis Page 86 • December 2, 1957 Broadcasting