Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1960)

Business climate down South Sit-down strikes in lunchrooms and demonstrations by Negroes demanding civil rights in the South have caused a small flurry of cancellations by local advertisers on Negro programming stations in the affected areas. On the whole, however, the stations tend to be optimistic and predict no long-range effects. In a sampling of major Negroradio chains owning stations in the deep South, Broadcasting found the belief that the Negro community had confidence in their stations. None of the stations takes editorial stands on the integration problem, though WDIA Memphis reported programming forums on the question with both Negroes and whites participating, as well as opinion programs of listener telephone calls. Some cancellations by local advertisers were reported in at least four trouble spots. One explanation of this was: "There is always a percentage of businessmen who get scared quick. It's an emotional thing with them." A Little Rock station found that local advertisers who had cut their schedules during the first integration crisis there soon returned to the station and that subsequent crises in that city have produced fewer and fewer cancellations. "The advertiser who uses a Negro station shows that he is interested in the Negro market and realizes that he is possibly less likely to be boycotted and more likely to be patronized by Negroes than [one who uses another station]," was a common opinion of station management. All sources pointed to Negro public service programming as another incentive advertisers should recognize. One manager predicted that although some temporary loss of business had been incurred, the trouble would benefit Negro radio in the long run by producing a more closely-knit Negro community, with its own particular interests and identity. Television Assn. said WCYB-AM-TV were judged on quantity and quality of 277 stories made available to other AP members. WKY Oklahoma City took second place for supplying the greatest number of stories, 438, and KNUZ Houston won third for a single breaking story providing AP with a "42-minute beat" on the explosion aboard a tanker last November. New Texas network A new network, to be known as the "Big-K", is being formed to link KLUE Longview and KMHT Marshall with additional stations in east Texas. According to H.A. Bridge Jr., vice president of KMHT and KLUE, the present programming plans of the new network call for "a diversified schedule of local and regional news, plus onthe-spot broadcasts of major events that occur in the east Texas area." Earl Godwin award Keith S. Glatzer, director of news, special events, WFOR Hattiesburg, Miss., has been named winner of the third annual Earl Godwin Memorial Award. Mr. Godwin died September 1956, after more than two decades of radio newscasting. The award goes to an NBC affiliate newsman who distinguishes himself in covering a news or feature story for NBC Radio. Mr. Glatzer won the award for his coverage of the Mack Charles Parker kidnapping and murder case in Poplarville, Miss. The award includes a six-month assignment as an NBC news correspondent in London. WMAK staff resigns in r V r protest A policy switch from "good music" to rock 'n' roll at WMAK Nashville resulted in an estimated 4,000 phone calls of protest, over 1,000 letters and telegrams, and the resignation of entire staff including the commercial manager. According to WMAK's report, this "melee of fantastic proportions" was triggered by a decision by Fred Gregg, president and general manager, to switch to rock 'n' roll. He said, "I've found you can build audience more quickly with rock than with anything else." The phone calls followed him all the way to his home in Lexington, Ky. By midnight, the resignations had come in, spurred by a disc jockey who resigned on the air. Mr. Gregg sent telegrams at 6 a.m. the next day announcing the station would go back to the good music formula and rehiring all hands. All the rebels returned but one, he said. Mr. Gregg last Thursday summed up the incident: "We were the low-rated station in the market on Pulse. That's why I decided to make the change. As a result of publicity and the fantastic hubbub created, I would guess our listenership has tripled." t o dominate Rockford am -Area Viewing./ • AT NIGHT 45 of the Top 50 Shows . • IN THE DAYTIME All 20 of the Top 20 Shows *Source ARB Oct. 25 Nov. 21, 1959 IN FACT ... All Day and All Night! . . . Every Hour of the Week is "Good Time" on . . . WREX-TV. J. M. BAISCH Vice Pr«s.-G«n. Mgr. R«pr«i«ntad By H-R Taleviti -HOWARD E. STARK, Brokers and Financial Consultants Television Stations Radio Stations 50 East 58lh Streel New York 22, N.Y. ELdorado 5-0405 ADVERTISING BUS.NESBPAPERS MEANS BUSINESS In the Radio-TV Publishing Field only BROADCASTING is a member of Audit Bureau of Circulations and Associated Business Publications BROADCASTING, March 28, I960 135