Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Section of RADIO DAILY, Monday, December 12, 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright COLLEGE GROUP ASKS GRID TV BAN TELE TOPICS THE AIM of "Portrait Of America," the NBC handout said, is to join a "family in a typical evening at home" to "capture the true spirit" of its members "as they engage in ordinary, everyday activities." Last week's debut of the Chicago origination certainly succeeded in showing ordinary, everyday people in ordinary, everyday activities. In fact what was seen was so ordinary and so everyday that it was completely uninteresting. Television reflects reality, sure, but that reality must in itself be interesting or else it isn't worth reflecting. . . . Program opened with film clips of the Chicago "L" which narrator Norman Barry was riding to visit the program's typical family. Film took viewers up the front steps of the house and then video cameras took over from the living room. In this cluttered, tasteless parlor were a grandmother, two granddaughters, their husbands, a bachelor cousin and a ten-month-old baby girl. They talked about ordinary, everyday things, the baby squealed and every few minutes an "L" train roared by. There were some clips of their church and its basketball team and a couple of good shots of the baby, but that's all — nothing else happened. It was like a visit with pleasant but dull neighbors. . . . Ben Park, whose radio work acknowledges the value of drama in a documentary, is editorial supervisor of the show and Reinald Werrenrath, Jr., directs. • CROSLEY WILL DROP "Who Said That?" at the end of the month, but NBC will sustain the show, probably moving it to another time to make room for a stanza to buck Ed Wynn. . . . Oklahoma City's WKY-TV has inaugurated a novel station break designed to keep all concerned informed of the growing circulation. Announcement reads: "This is WKY-TV, Channel 4, welcoming the 2,753 new television set owners who have joined our audience since November 1." . . . Hank Ladd will emcee the Texaco show tomorrow nite, the first of two that vacationing Milton Berle will miss. Supporting him will be Bert Lahr, the Ink Spots, Gil Maison Dogs, Connie Sawyer and Mary Hatcher. • RONSON, WE ARE TOLD, is selling so many lighters as a result of the "20 Questions" simulcast that they're considering keeping the show on TV beyond the current five-week holiday drive. . . . Despite rumors to the contrary, Philco will renew its dramatic series on NBC next month. . . . Chesebrough will add three more non-interconnected stations to its expanding "Greatest Fights" coverage Jan. 1— KGO-TV, San Francisco; KSTPTV, Minneapolis, and WMCT, Memphis. Twenty-six week pacts were placed through Cayton agency. Heller, Of AFRA, Exec. Secy. Of TVA First steps to implement organization of Television Authority were taken last week when the executive board of TVA, in its first meeting, elected George Heller, of Afra, national executive secretary. Chairman, vice chairman and treasurer will be chosen at the board's next meeting, this week. After his election, Heller said, "We shall do our utmost to explore all possible methods of arriving at a peaceful solution of differences with the Screen Guilds." Board Members Present Board members present at the meeting included Dennis King, Margaret Webster, Mady Christians, Ezra Stone, Aline McMahon, Ben Grauer, Clayton Collyer, Conrad Thibault, Virginia Paine, Mildred Dunnock, Marc Daniels, John Kennedy, Winston O'Keefe, Frances Reid, Philip Coolidge, Paul McGrath. Thomas Calmus, Mary Patton, Philip Loeb. Paula Purnell, Neil Hamilton Robert Spero, Philip Bourneuf, Nat Briggs, Henry S. Arthur, Beatrice Tompkins, Elissa Minet, Herbert Graf, Donald Dame, Jerry Baker, Dewey Barto, Margie Coates, Alex McKee, Alan Brunce, Vinton Hayworth, Staats Cotsworth, Carl Frank, and William P. Adams. Producers Merge Hollywood — Membership of the Television Producers Association on Friday unanimously approved merger with ITPA, New York, into a new organization to be known as the National Society of Television Producers. Both groups will retain their physical organizations with autonomy on the local level and the Society will have jurisdiction on national affairs, it was said. AIEE Group Schedules Three-Day Tele Meet A three-day joint session on TV will be sponsored by the New York section of the AIEE at the 116th annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sessions will be held in the Hotel McAlpin, Dec. 28-30. Initial session, on the technology, will be presided over by John V. L. Hogan. Others participating include F. A. Wankel, of NBC; R. M. Bowie, Sylvania, and T. T. Goldsmith, Du Mont. W. L. Laurence, of the New York Times, will preside over a session on the impact of tele, with Sterling Fisher, NBC; Ricardo Muniz, Du Mont, and E. Finley Carter, Sylvania, among the speakers. Comm. Jones Asks Raibourn For NTSC-Meeting Minutes Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — Hinting broadly radi'o leaders have consciously tried to hoodwink the FCC on matters of color development and other TV progress, Commissioner Robert F. Jones on Friday asked Paul Raibourn, president of Paramount Television Productions, for "unexpurgated" minutes of meetings held by the extinct National Television Standards Committee just before it was represented at hearings before the FCC. Jones released an exchange of letters between himself and Raibourn, with Raibourn having written him Nov. 15 to assure of his willingness to testify before the FCC and declare himself on the important TV matters of current interest. Statement By Raibourn "I wish to advise you that while I have no new engineering data to offer on the subject of color TV, I certainly have some opinions after perusing the 6000 pages of testimony and almost 300 exhibits," he wrote. "If it is your desire that I submit these opinions in connection with this first phase of the television hearings, I would be glad to appear." Jones Replies In his reply Jones said he did not "think it worth while to urge you to develop a re-hash of archaic engineering data in the present color TV record," and took Raibourn to task for not having independent engineering data to offer on the subject. He also scored Raibourn sharply because of the fact that Allen D. Du Mont Laboratories has not offered more positive information on color, since Raibourn has been for many years a director of the company. ECAC Asks M'b'rs To Make No 1950 Commitments (Continued from Page 1) man of the committee, said the 38 schools sent out questionnaires to 30,000 alumni. About 7,500 have been returned with additional replies arriving daily in large quantities. "While it will take considerable time for final compilation of the survey material," Furey said, "the committee made a preliminary sampling and on the basis of this information feels grave concern in regard to television's effect on intercollegiate football in this area." The group urged that ECAC's "entire membership support the recommendations" at the NCAA annual meeting, Jan. 14. Pointing out that ECAC members are in the area with the heaviest concentration of receivers, the report said that "a large majority" of the colleges "have been and will continue to be seriously affected by this new medium. While a minority of member institutions may not be immediately affected," it continued, "your Committee is primarily concerned with the future welfare of the majority of members of the Conference rather than with the present position of a favored few." Foster Esty Veepee In Charge Of Television William Esty Company, Inc., has announced the election of Kendall Foster as vice-president in charge of television. Ruth Jordan and Harold T. Bers, copy supervisors, have also been elected vice-presidents. Renew 'Fireside Theater' Renewal of the contract for "Fireside Theater" on the NBC Television network (Tuesdays, 9: 00 p.m. EST) . was announced yesterday by NBC. The 52-week contract will take effect Jan. 3. Procter & Gamble Co. sponsors "Fireside Theater" for Ivory Soap, Crisco and Duz. Agency is Compton. WFIL-TV Signs "Q-Ball" Philadelphia — To further interest of the game, the National Q-Ball Congress, through Philip Klein agency, has signed with WFIL-TV for 13 weekly programs showing competition in the indoor sport. There will be no direct commercials, but sponsor's phone number will be aired to promote installation of the machines in neighborhood centers.