Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1962)

Collins aims at $134-million customer CIGARETTE AD VIEWS STIR INDUSTRY FROM PORTLAND TO MADISON AVE. The broadcasting industry and Madison Avenue were locked at the weekend in an exchange of conflicting views on the moral standards of cigarette advertising. At stake are $104 million in national television and $30 million in radio billings (see table, page 25). Source of the conflict v/as a Nov. 19 comment by NAB President LeRoy Collins at the final NAB fall conference in Portland, Ore. In his speech to the conference Gov. Collins, voicing his personal views, spoke critically of cigarette advertising directed at school-age youngsters (see his reaction comments below and text of his Portland remarks page 26). Industrywide reaction increased in intensity — and in financial overtones — as the week progressed. Here are some of the high spots: ■ Some agency and advertiser executives were indignant. A few hints about the future of their radio and tv business were heard. ■ The Tobacco Institute strongly denounced Gov. Collins for what it called premature and unsupported statements about unsolved problems. ■ Television Bureau of Advertising sent its members a confidential and detailed report that speculated on the outcome of the matter (see below). ■ Radio Advertising Bureau disavowed Gov. Collins's position, it was indicated, quickly trying to calm angered tobacco manufacturers. ■ One leading station rep was agitated on a national scale but refused to speak openly on the subject. ■ Major networks were officially silent but William B. Lodge, CBS-TV vice president and an NAB tv board member, phoned Gov. Collins to voice a strong protest against the criticism of cigarette advertising. ■ Gov. Collins told Broadcasting later in the week that he would bring up the matter of code amendments when the NAB Tv Code Board meets Dec. 11 in Washington. He said he might make a specific recommendation designed to control cigarette commercials so they do not influence children to take up cigarette smoking. ■ Some NAB members felt the NAB board committee negotiating a new contract with Gov. Collins should weigh his cigarette statement in considering contract renewal. ■ A number of members felt Gov. Collins should not voice personal views on sensitive industrywide problems without checking with the board or the board chairmen and vice chairmen. ■ But Gov. Collins vehemently defended his right to express personal opinions on broadcast matters. ■ John H. DeWitt Jr., WSM-AMTV Nashville, Tenn., approved Gov. Collins's stand. He said he had expressed similar views in a July letter to Robert NAB President Collins Moral responsibility demands it D. Swezey, NAB Code Authority Director. ■ Mr. Swezey remained aloof from the controversy pending the tv code meeting in December. In Portland, Otto T. Brandt, vice president of King Stations broadcast division, who was the NAB tv board member presiding when Gov. Collins spoke, made this off-the-cuff comment at the end of the address: "Governor, your speech was courageous and provocative. That rumbling you hear is not Portland rainfall but comes from Winston-Salem and Madison Avenue." In New York the Television Bureau of Advertising kept a reserved silence in public but, it was learned, sent mem bers a Nov. 21 memorandum from President Norman E. Cash. That memorandum carefully sidestepped a head-on collision with Gov. Collins's remarks, though Mr. Cash noted that "fortunately" the governor's remarks had not been widely disseminated immediately. Mr. Cash also cautioned that "repercussions can be expected locally (by station members) as well as nationally as various groups attempt to bring new pressure on broadcasters to curtail cigarette advertising." TvB reminded its members that this group of advertisers spent $104 million in gross time for tv last year and will spend about $120 million this year. Position Important ■ He said he thought the tv industry ought to "let a major tv advertiser know where we stand so he can properly plan future use of our medium. Network tobacco activity scheduled before 9 p.m., January-August, 1962, shows 58.9%, or $34.5 million." For station use, the bureau attached several statistical reports, including research summaries on smoking including reports of the tobacco industry's Tobacco Institute Inc., tv billing figures and the like. Radio Advertising Bureau's thinking was at opposite poles from the governor's, although RAB tried to hide it. RAB officials said they had no comment on Gov. Collins's statement and that they would have none. Late in the week it was learned, however, that RAB President Kevin Sweeney had taken pains to disavow the Collins statement. Some tobacco companies were known to have received a telegram from Mr. Sweeney saying that Mr. Collins's "remarks . . . concerning tobacco advertising do not in our opinion represent opinions of even [a] small segment of radio stations." Industry Opinion ■ The RAB telegram, which presumably went to all leading tobacco manufacturers, said that "if we interpret correctly feelings of 1,200 radio stations that support our organization, they believe there's no need for further controls than yours and radio broadcasters' good judgment and sense of public responsibility have currently dictated." The manufacturers were alerted to expect word on stations' reactions from stations themselves. One station rep stated he believes "the last thing the tobacco industry 24 BROADCASTING, November 26, 1962