Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

GOVERNMENT continued STATIONS Keyes, Madden & Jones. This agreement was filed with the FCC. More recently WTVW has been opposing an FCC show cause order to relinquish ch. 7 and accept ch. 31. The FCC has proposed to move ch. 7 to Louisville. A prehearing conference on this case took place Dec. 2, and the full hearing is scheduled to commence Jan. 27. Other parties to the hearing are WEHT (TV) Evansville, WKLO-TV Louisville and ABC, all in favor of the proposed FCC move. In their pleadings they have raised the question of hidden WTVW ownership because of the voting trust. Although the FCC has denied their contentions that the station should be penalized, it asked WTVW to submit a formal application for approval of relinquishment of control by Mr. Schepp and his associates. This was accepted by the Commission last week. Potter Queries Justice Dept. On Political Broadcast Sponsors Interest in the Corrupt Practices Act as it relates to sponsorship of political broadcasts has been revealed by Sen. Charles E. Potter (R-Mich.), who announced during a New York symposium that he has asked the Justice Dept. to clarify the intent and enforceability of the act. Justice replied that the matter is under study. The request came after a Detroit jury acquitted the United Auto Workers of violating the act during the 1954 campaign, when, Sen. Potter stated, the union produced nine tv programs featuring candidates for federal office. "The Detroit decision . . . opens the way toward flagrant offenses," Sen. Potter stated. He said observers have declared that corporations now are free to similarly support candidates with stockholders' funds. Attorney General William P. Rogers replied that the Justice Dept. has had several similar complaints and currently is studying these as well as a report on the Detroit case. "Until this analysis has been completed, we shall not be in a position to advise you whether further prosecution under the statute will be practicable without further legislation," Mr. Rogers wrote the senator. Sen. Potter is a member of the Senate Interstate & Foreign Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC. KCOR-TV Asks Reserved Ch. 9 KCOR-TV San Antonio, Tex. (ch. 41) has asked the FCC to permit it to share time with educational organizations on reserved, non-commercial ch. 9 there. Alternatively, the uhf outlet asked FCC to redesignate ch. 9 as a commercial station, permit it to be shared with educational organization, or, to assign ch. 2 to San Antonio from Piedras Negras, Mexico, for commercial use. The last would require changes in other tv allocations along the U. S.-Mexican border and also a waiver of the mileage separation rule with Houston's ch. 2 (KPRC-TV). Stations now operating in San Antonio, in addition to KCOR-TV, are WOAI-TV on ch. 4, KENS-TV on ch. 5 and KONO-TV on ch. 12. Also assigned to San Antonio but not yet in use are ch. 9 and ch. 35. Page 70 • December 16, 1957 Radio Audience Quality High at Night— Dietrich • NBC Spot Sales makes claim • Pulse study results cited The quality of nighttime radio audiences, which has been questioned by some sponsors and their agencies, was characterized last week as "equal to that of daytime audiences" by George S. Dietrich, national radio director of NBC Spot Sales. Mr. Dietrich based this conclusion on a special survey made for his organization by the Pulse Inc. in New York, Chicago and San Francisco Nov. 6-13. He outlined the significance of the results of the survey which he said was a "pioneering effort," in these terms: "The 'inferiority' of the quality of nighttime radio audiences is now nothing more than an exploded myth. Sponsors who previously held off buying evening radio time can now plan their campaigns with the certainty that the nighttime audience consists of people of the same economic level, education and family status as daytime listeners." Mr. Dietrich said the industry "long has known that the quantitive difference between daytime and nighttime audiences is not vast." He pointed out that numerous surveys in the past have shown that the nighttime audience is about 85-90% of the daytime group. But many advertisers, he said, shied away from using nighttime radio because of a belief that it was composed substantially of persons who could not afford to buy goods or services. The survey involved a total of 1,620 interviews in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Its results show, Mr. Dietrich said, "a remarkable consistency between quality of morning and nighttime radio audiences from market to market, even though these markets are widely separated." The survey was designed to measure the audience characteristics in the 6-9 a.m. and 7-10 p.m. periods. A question on the socio-economic level of the audiences showed that in the morning group, 25.4% were "upper," 26.5% "upper middle," 24.8% "lower middle" and 23.3% "lower." These figures compared (in order) with the evening audience: 26.0%, 24.5%, 23.6% and 25.9%. Mr. Dietrich noted there was "virtually no difference" in groupings for morning and evening audiences. On ownership of television receivers, 93.2% of the morning audience and 92.0% of the evening audience replied in the affirmative. A similar question revealed that 77.4% of the morning listeners and 75.3% of the evening audience owned automobiles. A question on the education of the head of the household disclosed that the level of schooling was approximately the same for the morning and evening listening groups, with 21.1% (morning) and 22.8% (evening) having attended college; 53.2% (morning) and 54.3% (evening) having attended high school; 16.7% (morning) and 15.7% (evening) having attended grade school. Other questions centered around the age of the housewife, seeking to learn the percentage for those under 25, from 25-34, from 35-49 and 50 and over, and on the size of the family (one child, two, three, I four, five, six or more). The pattern of answers, according to the survey, showed again there was scant difference between composition of morning and evening audience. Mr. Dietrich observed that with the upgrading of radio programming, both by networks and by local stations, nighttime radio should be "a better buy than ever for advertisers." In addition, this new information on the quality of the night audience, he said, should result in increased buying of evening radio. He reported that on stations represented by NBC Radio Spot Sales, nighttime business in 1957 is 15% over 1956 and "about 80% over 1955. He expressed the view that a "sold-out" status in evening segments is a possibility in three or four years. Mr. Dietrich voiced the belief that the survey is the first to attempt to examine qualitative characteristics of the evening audience. He said he plans additional surveys to ascertain the impact of nighttime radio. The result of the survey, he said, are being incorporated into a presentation that will be sent shortly to advertising agencies. Kearney to Direct Sales For Corinthian Broadcasting Don L. Kearney, vice president in charge of sales for ABC Film Syndication Inc., has been named director of sales for Corinthian Broadcasting Co., officials announced Friday. Mr. Kearney will take his new post around Jan. 1 . Corinthian officials said he will work closely with the general managers and sales managers of the Corinthian properties and with the stations' national sales representatives and advertisers and MR. Kearney agencies to give the best possible service to advertisers using the stations. Owned by J. H. Whitney & Co., the Corinthian stations are KOTV (TV) Tulsa, KGUL-TV Galveston, WANE-AM-TV Fort Wayne and WISH-AM-TV Indianapolis. Mr. Kearney has been sales vice president of ABC Film Syndication since the organization was formed and before that, from 1951, was with ABC in a number of posts including assistant sales manager for the tv network, national sales manager for owned tv stations and manager of tv spot sales. Before that, he was with Katz Agency, station representative, where he was credited with being the first tv salesman and subsequently became assistant sales manager for tv. He entered radio in 1936 with municipally owned WNYC New York. Mr. Kearney's appointment is the fourth to the Corinthian central staff this year. Others named by President C. Wrede Petersmeyer were George G. Jacobs, director of engineering; Charles H. Smith, director of research, and Robert H. Salk, director of programming. Broadcasting