Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1959)

$190,000,000 >MOBILE SALES MOVE ON AIR . . . in the DOLLAR-RICH CHANNEL 5 Viewing AIR-ea! More than 190 million dollars a year are spent on automobiles in the 680 automobile dealerships operating in the 25-county air-ea served by WNEMTV. It's your move to Channel 5 when you want to sell cars to the rich and abundant market served exclusively by WNEM-TV. Ml wmm EASTERN MICHIGAN'S FIRST VHF TELEVISION STATION AFFILIATES BUY NBC'S PLANS New 'Program Service' to begin Jan. 1 NBC Radio officials wound up their five-city series of affiliate meetings on the network's new program plan last week and announced that, assured of full affiliate support, the plan definitely will go into effect as scheduled on Jan. 1, 1960. The plan is to present Monitor, news and special events on the conventional network basis (with compensation to stations) and to offer entertainment programs which affiliates may buy or not, according to their needs (Broadcasting, Oct. 19 et seq.). Matthew J. Culligan, executive vice president in charge of NBC Radio, told Broadcasting after the wind-up session in Chicago on Wednesday, that more than 1 60 affiliates had been represented at the series of meetings; that approval of the plan had been put to a voice vote at each session, with not one "nay" being registered, and that consequently "I don't have a single doubt" that most affiliates will accept the plan. Football Conflicts • A number of stations had protested any request for clearances that would interfere with their local football and baseball broadcasts. Mr. Culligan confirmed that this subject was raised at all five meetings. But he said a solution had been devised permitting stations to delay Monitor — the weekend service which is in conflict with such sports events — for 60 or 90 minutes as necessary to avoid interference with the local broadcasts. George Harvey of WFLA Tampa, chairman of the NBC Radio Affiliates Executive Committee, who himself had made the cross-country swing with Mr. Culligan and other network officials, said he was confident that virtually all stations would go along with NBC's request for 100% clearances. He said the meetings also produced "a lot of good, constructive ideas" about the handling of network programming — none of them major in itself, but all adding up to substantial improvement. "I think this plan will revitalize all stations," Mr. Harvey said. "With it, they can build any image they please. If they want to be extreme they can sound just as independent as the screamer down the block. Or, if they wish, through the new NBC Program Service — which lets them buy entertainment programs to fit their needs and wishes — they can sound just like they've sounded for the last 25 years. This plan lets them be what they want to be." Heavy-Traffic Times • Mr. Harvey observed that 7 and 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., for example, are important local-sales 74 (THE MEDIA) times for all stations and in the case of big outlets represent "hundreds of thousands of dollars." If stations are willing to give up these local revenues in order to clear for hourly network news analyses as well "they must like the plan." Harold Grams of KSD St. Louis said the plan "fits us perfectly — if they had asked us to blueprint it ourselves, we couldn't have done it better." He said KSD considers news "the best service we can provide" and that the new NBC format both perpetuates and strengthens the NBC News service. He acknowledged that the NBC plan was somewhat akin to what he and a half-dozen other affiliates had in mind when they held a separate session of their own a few months ago. But he indicated that this was not otherwise related to that, and suggested the earlier meeting might best be forgotten now. The regional meetings were held in Atlanta, Dallas, New York, San Francisco and Chicago, starting Oct. 19 in Atlanta. Mr. Harvey made the swing with NBC officials to all sessions except the one in New York. Tv expose in Miami brings vice crackdown Two half-hour news programs on WTVJ (TV) Miami, Fla.— a filmed one showing minors buying liquor, playing pinball machines and purchasing obscene literature in violation of city laws, and a "live" one featuring a "B-girl" who described how she and other Bgirls fleeced "suckers" — have resulted in a proposal by the Miami City Commission to close down all strip-tease joints and B-girl hangouts, the station reports. The two WTVJ programs — "Honky Tonk" and "Honky Tonk No. 2" — are the first two of a 12-part series being telecast by the station's news department under the title of F.Y.I. (For Your Information). WTVJ's "Honky Tonk No. 2," in which a B-girl interviewed "live" told how she and her co-workers "relieved suckers" of as much as $3,000 in one night, proved to be more than the City Commission could stand. After the first program it had called a special meeting to investigate non-enforcement of laws by Miami police, but found no "proof" of non-enforcement. Second • But when the second program, featuring the B-girl, was telecast, another meeting was hurriedly called BROADCASTING, November 2, 1959