Broadcasting Telecasting (Jul-Sep 1960)

tionally to sponsors or networks or market-by-market to individual stations. These include, he said, The Adventures of Marco Polo, to be taped abroad with a second mobile tape entourage following the route of the early adventurer all the way from Venice to China; Society As I See It, with Cobina Wright as the seeing "I"; The Adventures of Junior, based on the "little kid" Skelton character created on radio, and 20 Years in Sing Sing, based on the memoirs of Warden Lawes. All of the tv programs will be made in color, Mr. Skelton stated, commenting that they will be sold for network use in black-and-white at black-andwhite prices. Skelton Studios will get back its color production costs when the programs are rerun in color, he said. NRLB to investigate cartoon firm charges Animation Inc., Hollywood, has charged violation of the LandrumGriffith Act against lATSE Screen Cartoonist Local 839, in a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board by Earl Klein, Animation president. Mr. Klein said he lost a cartoon subcontract when the union's business agent pressured UFA Pictures, Hollywood, against doing business with Animation which has no contract with the local. UPA subsequently cancelled the deal, Mr. Klein said. Ralph H. Kennedy, regional director of the NLRB, said the complaint will be investigated. Animation Inc. was involved in a six-week long strike called by the Screen Cartoonist Guild several months ago. The strike was called when Mr. Klein refused to incorporate a specific clause which would limit his business dealings to firms having guild contracts, according to the company announcement. ■ Program notes Ziv-UA business upbeat ■ Ziv-UA reports that domestic sales in the first half of 1960 are running about 18% over those for the comparable period of 1959, with 1,080 market sales completed between Ian. 1-Iune 30, 1960. The report shows that Ziv-UA product is carried in more than 90% of the nation's 269 markets and on almost 89% of the 528 commercial stations. The compilation does not include sales of re-runs by the company's Economee division, which is said to be "enjoying its greatest year since its inception." Knock the rock ■ WICO Salisbury, Md., took a survey and discovered that BROADCASTING, August 22, 1960 only one out of five families in that city listened to all three radio stations combined. Three years ago — "before rock' 'n' roll," according to WICO's manager Robert Doyle — four out of five families listened to radio. Mr. Doyle decided a good music format was the answer. The schedule features 12 minutes of uninterrupted music, followed by two or three minutes of product-mentions, then back to 12 minutes of music. ABC news is presented hourly. 'Ledger' entry ■ NBC-TV has announced a new hour-long series titled The New York Ledger for presentation in the 1961-62 nighttime schedule. Created within the NBC Program Development Dept. by Ross Donaldson, director of creative services, the series will "give an authentic but fictional treatment" to stories about people and situations in New York City as reflected on the pages of a mythical New York daily newspaper, Tlie Ledger. Besides two permanent stars, each episode will have a major guest star, portraying a resident or transient in New York and caught in a "poignant or suspenseful situation." Plans for Dan ■ Young Productions Inc., Philadelphia, will produce the new Diver Dan tv series in association with Brain Cartoons Inc., that city. Diver Dan is a children's underwater fantasy that uses a combination of live characters and live and animated fish. It is photographed in color in 7-minute episodes with the entire series in a 104episode package. Segments can be combined to make shows of varying lengths. The series can be used as a separate show or part of an existing one. It is also in black and white for tv stations without color facilities. Scheduled for release in late September, Diver Dan has been sold in 15 domestic and 1 foreign markets with sales over $500,000 to date, according to executive producer Hal Tunis. Okay! ■ The Chipmunks, Ross Bagdasarian's novelty characters, whose first Liberty record sold 5Vz million copies in the fall of 1958, will be starred in a new half-hour tv series. The Alvin Show, scheduled for release in the fall of 1961. Series will be cartoons, produced by Format Films with Mr. Bagdasarian, who created the characters under the name of David Seville, providing the voices of the chipmunks and other characters for the tv series as he did for the records. AshleySteiner has been signed as exclusive agent for the series. Capsule radio feature ■ Creative Services Inc.. Chicago, has added six one-minute and two five-minute cap sule radio features to its library. The properties, announced by G. Edward Riley, vice president and sales director, are: Titus Moody, Senator Claghorn, Ann Thomas, This I Predict, Fascinating Facts and The Money Man, all 60second features, and The Lew Parker Show and Al Heifer Sports Show. The programs are now being made available to radio stations in the U.S. and Canada and three more will be added by September. Creative Services (75 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago) supplies complete merchandising kits and contests to stations in the interest of resales to local and regional advertisers. Ping-pong ■ Producer Larry Stusser, who currently has a series on bridge on KTLA (TV) Los Angeles, has started video-taping a pilot for a half-hour series of championship table-tennis matches. The pilot is being made at Paramount Television Productions, where both male and female pingpongers will compete. Henry Schrage is co-producer; Tip Corbin directs and Cleve Herman will provide commentary. Double buy ■ KGMB-TV Honolulu has purchased a complete film library of 130 features and the color and black-and-white cartoon series Q.T. Hush, Private Eye from M&A Alexander Productions Inc., L.A. Get 50% more FM power per dollar 5 KW FM5000B (Converts to 7.5KW FM7500B1 This new ITA 5KW/7.5KW FM transmitter will deliver a full 7.5KW output — no strain! You get higher efficiency . . . more watts per dollar . . . less power waste — yes, longer tube life. AND LOOK AT THESE BONUS FEATURES: * Multiplex and Remote Control Design * Modern Ceramic Tubes * No Neutralizing Required * Occupies Only 9 Sq. Ft. of Floor Space Get details on ITA's complete FM line — all powers from 10 watts to 50KW A SPECIALISTS IN FM BROADCAST EQUIPMENT INDUSTRIAL TRANSMITTERS AND ANTENNAS • lANSDOWNE. PA. CL 9-8200