Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

STATIONS CONTINUED CHANGING HANDS ANNOUNCED The '0"0B"'"« sales of m^iiwwiiwi.v station interests were announced last week. Both are subject to FCC approval. KFOX LONG BEACH, CALIF. • Sold to Kenyon Brown and Kevin B. Sweeney by Arthur B. Hogan for approximately $700,000, of which $100,000 is cash. Mr. Brown owns 68%; Mr. Sweeney 32%. It is understood that Mr. Brown may split his share among associates Harry L. (Bing) Crosby, George L. Coleman and Joseph A. Thomas. The Brown group also equally owns KCOP (TV) Los Angeles, which it bought for $4 million from Copley Press owners in a transaction approved by the FCC two weeks ago [Stations, Dec. 16]. The same Brown group sold KFEQ-AM-TV St. Joseph, Mo., to the Fine theatre interests for almost $1 million late last summer [Stations, Aug. 26]. Last October, Mr. Brown received FCC approval to sell KWFT Wichita Falls, Tex., to F. L. and Geraldeane J. Whan, Ben Ludy and others for $300,000 [Stations, Oct. 28]. He also sold KB YE Oklahoma City to Alfred Zugsmith and associates last summer for $90,000. Mr. Brown owns KANS Wichita, Kan. and 22.15% of KGLC Miami, Okla. Mr. Sweeney is president of Radio Advertising Bureau. KFOX operates full time on 1280 kc with 1 kw. It was bought by Mr. Hogan in 1956 for $536,000. KBYE OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. • Sold to Kevin B. Sweeney, Glenn Griswold and F. F. (Mike) Lynch by Albert Zugsmith and associates for approximately $180,000. Mr. Zugsmith and his group bought KBYE from Kenyon Brown and associates last summer for $90,000. Mr. Sweeney, president of Radio Advertising Bureau, is also 32% owner of a company buying KFOX Long Beach, Calif, (see above). Mr. Griswold was general manager of KFEQ-AM-TV St. Joseph, Mo., and Mr. Lynch is general manager of KBYE. Mr. Sweeney will own 36% of KBYE, Mr. Griswold 18% and Mr. Lynch 28%. H. J. Cole, station accountant, retains his 18% interest. KBYE is a 1 kw daylimer on 890 mc. APPROVED The following transfers of station interests were approved by the FCC last week. For other broadcast actions see For the Record, page 87. WHOO-AM-FM ORLANDO, FLA. • Sold to Ted Estabrook by Edward Lamb for $222,500 cash or $250,000 over a ten-year period. Mr. Estabrook is the former owner of WERI Westerly, R. I., which he sold to William Sweeney for $74,000. Mr. Lamb continues to own WICU-AM-TV Erie, Pa., holds a cp for WMAC-TV Massillon, Ohio, and is the prospective purchaser of WTVQ (TV) Pittsburgh (cp for ch. 47). WHOO operates on 990 kc with 10 kw day and 5 kw night, is affiliated with ABC. KGA SPOKANE, WASH. • Sold to Gran Broadcasting Co. by Bankers Life and Casualty Co. for $250,000. Gran Broadcasting is owned by L. F. Gran (80%) and TRACK RECORD ON STATION SALES, APPROVALS others. Mr. Gran is 11.5% owner of Illiway Television Inc., applicant for ch. 8 at Moline, 111.; 25% partner of Rex Television Co., applicant for ch. 10 at Duluth, Minn. KGA operates on 1510 kc with 50 kw, is an ABC affiliate. WAND CANTON, OHIO • Sold to Dover Broadcasting Co. by P. C. Wilson for $150,000. Dover Broadcasting is owned by Mrs. Agnes J. Reeves Greer (99%). Mrs. Greer is president and 50.841% stockholder of WAJR-AM-FM Morgantown, W. Va., president and 99% stockholder of WJER Dover, Ohio, is licensee and permittee, respectively, of WKJF (FM) and WKJF-TV Pittsburgh, Pa. WAND operates on 990 kc with 500 w day. On this approval, Comr. Robert T. Bartley voted for a McFarland letter. WROD DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. • Sold to Radio of Daytona Inc. by John S. Murphy and James F. McDonough for $145,000. Radio Daytona comprises Morton Bassett, John Blair & Co. (80%) and Mr. McDonough (20%). Mr. McDonough remains in executive capacity. WROD operates on 1490 kc with 250 w. KBTM-AM-FM JONESBORO, ARK. • Sold to Alan G. Patteson Jr. and Matthew Carter Patteson, equal partners, d/b as Patteson Brothers, for $110,000. KBTM, an MBS affiliate, operates on 1230 kc with 250 w. KBTM-FM is on 101.9 mc with 8 kw. WCOS-AM-FM COLUMBIA, S. C. • Sold to George H. Buck Jr. by Charles Pittman for $107,500. Mr. Buck and his father George H. Buck Sr., are majority owners of WJNO West Palm Beach, Fla. WCOS, an ABC affiliate, operates on 1400 kc with 250 w. WCOS-FM is on 97.9 mc with 5.3 kw. San Diego Ams, AFTRA in Talks Negotiations have begun between AFTRA and five San Diego radio stations — KFMB, KFSD, KCBQ, KSDO and KGB— for a new contract to replace the present one, which expires Jan. 31, 1958. Wage demands and the union pension and welfare plan are the main terms of discussion, Claude McCue, western regional director of AFTRA, said Thursday. He added that "there is no progress to report as yet." Negotiations are being carried on jointly with all five radio stations, he said. The present base wage for announcers at these stations is $105 for a five-day, 40hour week. Unfair, KITE Says Of Hooper Exclusion KITE San Antonio asked C. E. Hooper Inc. last week to "get your big heel off our little neck." The statement was in a protest against the omission of KITE ratings from Hooper's October San Antonio report. Hooper deleted the ratings because during the survey period KITE conducted promotion that would tend to inflate them, Hooper said [Advertising & Agencies, Dec. 9]. Charles W. Balthrope, KITE president, wrote Hooper that the station's telephone promotion "does not constitute any efforts to inflate your survey. . . . The exact phrasing: 'When the voice on the telephone says are you listening to your radio and it's KITE calling, you may win a big prize. . . .' "In this, we clearly identify ourselves as calling our listeners and offering them a prize. We do not attempt to confuse listeners by saying we are a survey. We say, when KITE calls you may win a prize. That simply states a broad technique engaged in one way or another by many stations whom you do not penalize by omitting ratings. "I don't see how you can consider it fair to penalize a station by omission of ratings simply because your interviewers get vague replies. This is not a fault of the station, and yet you have hurt us from a business standpoint by omission of the ratings, and more particularly by branding KITE as guilty 'of alleged [unfair] promotions. . . .' " Hooper officials had said, when omission of the KITE ratings was disclosed, that they didn't like survey-week promotions which might produce "typical" results, but that they did not omit ratings if the promotion required people to actually listen in order to win. It is when the promotion is such that WJBF (TV) AUGUSTA, GA., is settled now in its new studios and offices, built to replace studios destroyed by fire in 1956. The $350,000 plant occupies a two-acre plot in downtown Augusta and offers 20,000 square feet of working space. The station also has put up a new transmitter plant and tower eight miles east of Augusta. Page 58 December 23, 1957 Broadcasting