Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1962)

Phil Chess for $1 million. The Chess' are Chicago record company executives. ■ WIRL Peoria, 111.: Sold by Robert Frudegar to Len and Burrell Small for $750,000. The Smalls own the Kankakee Journal (WKAN Kankakee, WRRR Rockford and WQUA Moline, all Illinois). WTEV set to begin Jan. 1 on ch. 6 A new tv station on ch. 6 is scheduled to start operations Jan. 1, 1963, in the Greater Providence, R. I., market. The station, WTEV (TV) New Bedford, Mass., will be a primary ABC-TV affiliate, with studios located in New Bedford and transmitter in Tiverton, R. I. WTEV, owned jointly by E. Anthony & Sons Inc., New England Television Inc., and Eastern States Broadcasting Corp., plans to carry a full schedule of network programs as well as local and syndicated shows. The station is represented by H-R Television Inc., which opened a Boston office to serve it. A WTEV sales and news bureau has opened in Providence. Vance L. Eckersley, WTEV general manager, who was formerly management representative for the owners of WDAU-TV Scranton, Pa., has named five department heads. They are: Maurice P. Wynne, chief engineer, formerly with Puerto Rican Radio-TV Stations; Mann Reed, operations manager, from KBTV (TV) Denver; Francis H. Conway, sales manager, from WDAU-TV and WGBI Scranton; George L. Sisson Ir., public affairs directors, co-founder and former owner of WALE Fall River, Mass., and Walter A. Scanlon, promotion, advertising, public relations manager, who has been with ABC-TV public relations and CBS Films. WMCA's Straus assails 'numbers game' players The "numbers game" is a dangerous one for either a broadcaster or a politician to play, R. Peter Straus, president of WMCA New York and the Straus broadcasting group, declared last week. He told the Greater Buffalo (N.Y.) Advertising Club in a luncheon speech on Tuesday that broadcasters who substitute polls for their programming judgment are like politicians who kowtow to the "faceless, gutless boss" that polls can become in politics. Mr. Straus, who with his family has been prominent in Democratic politics, built his speech around comparisons of the treachery of polls in broadcasting and politics. The broadcaster and the politican both need "the numbers" in one respect but that is "just one part of the job," he asserted. "For both the broadcaster and the politician, the duty to serve the public and the necessity of winning public support are sometimes in conflict. "But the man who resolves this conflict by fixing the poll to tell him what he wants to hear deceives himself and disserves his public. "One of the many good ways to destroy the objectivity of a poll, if you'd like to confirm your wishful thinking about the public taste, is to conduct the poll, not about what people are hearing or watching or doing, but about what they think they would like to hear or watch or do." As an example he cited a Milwaukee poll in which, he recalled, 40% of the respondents said they'd like to see more "serious discussion" programs on the air — but only 4% nominated "serious discussion" programs as the kind they found most useful among those already on the air. KALB joins CBS Radio Affiliation of KALB Alexandria, La., with the CBS Radio Network was an nounced last week by the station's general manager, Walter Melson. The previously independent outlet is scheduled to join the network effective Dec. 30. KALB, owned by T. B. Lanford, began operation in 1935. Other Lanford stations are KALB-FM-TV Alexandria, KPLC-AM-TV Lake Charles, KRMD-AM-FM Shreveport, all Louisiana; WSLI and WJTV (TV) Jackson, Miss. Media reports... Radio too ■ A speech of FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow this Wednesday at the town hall luncheon in Los Angeles will be broadcast live on KLAC-AMFM Los Angeles from its start at 12:45 p.m. to its conclusion. Talk will also be given live tv coverage by KTTV (TV) with highlights repeated on a KTTV news program at 10:30 p.m. (Broadcasting, Dec. 10). Address change ■ Radio Pulsebeat News has moved its New York bureau and executive offices from Jamaica, N. Y., to 222 E. 46th St., New York 17. Telephone: TN 7-8770. Jay Levy is president and director of news operations of the world-wide audio news service. EXCLUSIVE WESTERN PROPERTIES! Daytime-only radio station with excellent coverage of one of the top 65 markets of America. This beautifully-equipped facility needs aggressive owner-operator to realize potential. Priced at $155,000.00 with 29% down and balance out over ten years. Only station licensed to market of over 50,000 in sunny western state. Assets, including land, cost over $100,000.00. Grossing $7,000.00 to $9,000.00 monthly and capable of doubling that. Priced at $175,000.00. & ASSOCIATES, INC. NEGOTIATIONS • APPRAISALS • FINANCING OF CHOICE PROPERTIES WASHINGTON, D. C. CHICAGO Ray V. Hamilton 1737 DeSales St., N.W. Executive 3-3456 Richard A. Shaheert John D. Stebbins ' Tribune Tower DEIaware 7-2754 DALLAS Dewitt Landis Joe A. Oswald John H. Hicks 1511 Bryan St. Riverside 8-1175 SAN FRANCISCO John F. Hardesty, Pres. Don Searle 111 Sutter St. EXbrook 2-5671 BROADCASTING, December 17, 1962 47