Broadcasting (Apr - June 1960)

We’re concerned Leo Burnett’s Co.’s concern with the rate situation was voiced last week by Len Matthews, the agency’s vice president for marketing services. National agencies, he said, are “becoming more and more concerned” with stations’ uncertain application of rates. Speaking at a meeting of Quality Radio Group stations (see page 86), Mr. Matthews called upon stations to “help clean up” the situation for their own good. “With few exceptions you can’t rely on a rate card anymore,” he declared. “You never know whether you’re buying at the lowest rate or not.” He was speaking primarily of radio but said the situation was also creeping into television. He singled out “indiscriminate” application of local, national and regional rates, co-op deals that amount to time brokerage, “squeakywheel one-time-only deals” and other instances in which independent contractors or direct representatives of advertisers are able to negotiate special deals to the embarrassment of agencies who buy time on rate-card terms. “Many of us,” he said, “would like to see you go to a single rate” for all spot business, whether national, local or regional. ( tunate thing ... I don’t think tv in anyway, shape or form owes anybody anything, certainly not an apology. I hate to see television, as a medium, knuckle under and sort of give in.” These other viewpoints were expressed by the agency conferees: ■ That tv is not yet a mature medium. Mr. Leonard said it wouldn’t be until it has a competitor like paid television, which “is coming faster than people expect.” He advanced the interesting idea that radio didn’t mature until tv arrived to compete with it, and that tv was the biggest thing that happened to radio, making it realize where it fits into the community’s daily life. ■ Tv cannot have freedom of programming choice because of the scarcity of channels; as long as there are only a few stations on the air, those stations must cater primarily to the general taste rather than to minority tastes. ■ Viewers have not yet accepted public service programming. Mr. Wasko noted that Journey to Understanding (NBC-TV) started with a Nielsen-counted audience of 4,565,000, dropped in succeeding broadcasts to 3,480,000, 2,802,000 and 2,441,000. ■ Tv will have an increasing rate advantage over print media as it already covers a certain area and need not add to its costs as more viewers move in under its signal, whereas print media will have to charge more for more readers. Mr. Leonard also said that “a person now pays 19 cents for a copy of Life. He gets 22 cents worth of magazine and the advertiser is charged the difference. If Life must go to 9 million [circulation] to keep a certain degree of penetration of the population, the day will come when it will have an $80,000 black and white page.” The broadcasters have all the best of it, he said amid general agreement. Mr. Vitt qualified this stand by saying that broadcasters will be ahead if they don’t take advantage of the situation in terms of rate increases. Bell & Howell buys ABC-TV’s ‘Churchill’ Bell & Howell has signed with ABCTV for (1) co-sponsorship of a weekly series taken from Sir Winston Churchill’s memoirs and (2) 20 special public information programs in prime evening time — both for the 1960-61 season. The package was announced Friday (June 10) by Oliver Treyz, ABC-TV president, and Charles H. Percy, B&H president. They called it the “most extensive” nighttime public service series undertaken by a network and a single sponsor. The agency is McCann-Erickson, (USA), Chicago. Scheduled are one full-hour or two 30-minute programs each month — a minimum of 15 shows from September through June. They’ll be produced under the direction of John Daly, ABC vice president in charge of news, special events and public affairs. ABC-TV gets game ABC-TV has obtained exclusive telecasting rights to the new American football leagues games in a $10,625,000 five-year deal. The announcement was made last week by Thomas W. Moore, ABC-TV vice president in charge of programming and Joe Foss, AFL commissioner. Under terms of the agreement, the AFL will collect $125,000 for each of 17 games to be televised during the season. This amounts to $2,125,000 a year which the league will collect. Mr. Moore said that co-sponsors for the 17-telecast 1960 season will be General Electric and Sinclair Refining Co. = CINCINNATI 3 stations 19.2 Rating 50. Share SYRACUSE stations 38.1 Rating 73. Share CHARLESTON, S.C. 2 stations 43.0 Rating TOPS EVERY OTHER SYNDICATED SHOW IN THE MARKET! § INDEPENDENT TELEVISION CORPORATION 488 Madison Avenue • N. Y. 22 . PL 8-2100 BROADCASTING, June 13, 1960 (BROADCAST ADVERTISING) 51