Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Section of RADIO DAILY. Tuesday. December 20, 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright TV IN MEXICO GETS GOV'T OKAY TELE TOPICS A WISE-CRACKING private eye who ** cheerfully gets the villain despite a bashed-in head is the central figure of "TV Detective," a Washington origination recently added to the NBC web. The only difference between the show's hero, named Steve Black, and the private eyes who operate in countless other Class D epics is that Mr. Black is unseen, his person being occupied by the subjective camera. Use of this technique adds nothing to dramatic quality and because it is not employed with great facility it makes things rather confusing at times. But the main faults of the show were the script, which was as trite as only a bad whodunit can be, and the acting, which was on just about the same level. . . . Action is stopped just before the denouement to give three "guest detectives" (last week a judge, a Congressman and an Assistant Secretary) an opportunity to guess the outcome, but neither the winner nor the others are given a chance to explain their choice. ... A Leon S. Golnick package, program is produced by Vance Hallack. • VA/ONDERFUL THING happened in * ^ Akron, Ohio, last week when TV solved a big City Hall mystery — "Where's Mayor Slusser?" Seems His Honor, Charles E. Slusser, went on a trip and the few persons who knew where he had gone refused to comment, except to say he was out of town. If the Mayor wanted to keep the fact that he was in New York a secret, he never should have attended the "Voice of Firestone" show — the cameras picked him up sitting in the front row. Commented the mayor's secretary: "Everybody in Akron must have been watching television Monday night. We got hundreds of calls from viewers letting us know where we could find the mayor." . . . Former Hit Parade singer Bill Harrington debuts a semi-weekly show of his own over WOR-TV tonite. . . . John McGowan, president of Hollywood Television Productions, will be a candidate for Congress as representative from the 13th district of New Jersey. • J. WALTER THOMPSON planning newspaper and magazine campaigns to tie-in with a new series of six Lever Brothers commercials to be aired on "The Clock." Produced by United World Films, the oneminute spots feature six Universal-International femme stars plugging Lux soap. . . . Omitted from yesterday's column because of space limitations were predictions for 1950 voiced by Jerry Danzig, of CBS, at the ATS meeting last week. The things to watch for in TV, Danzig said, are more lower cost shows; development of daytime programming; emergence of the bigname personality, and decline of the gimmick stanza. Import-Limit On Receivers To Be Fixed By Law; Azcarraga Has Plans For Video-Theater Circuit To Help In Paying The Bills For Tele Production (Continued from Page 1) ators who can comply with the , establishing a chain of television Mexican communications law and will also fix the number of television receivers which may be imported during 1950 and 1951. The quota for imported TV receivers will probably be set next month. Two leaders in the Mexican radio and television fields are reported ready to launch new stations. Emilio Azcarraga, who heads the radio and movie industry here, expects to complete his TV station installations by September. The second station, sponsored by Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena, Mexican TV inventor, expects to be ready to go on the air the second week in February. A third group is also reported readying a TV station for launching during the coming year. Azcarraga's plans for launching a TV station are being watched with much interest. Don Emilio, who has made a close study of TV operations in the United States, has plans for AZCARRAGA theaters which will be served by the transmitter. These theaters, charging nominal admission, will make available to the masses TV programming in the comfortable surroundings of modern movie theaters. He has already completed a theater building especially constructed for television with a number of food, drink and other novelty concessions. Revenue from the concessions, Don Emilio points out, will help pay the bill for TV production and programming. The Azcarraga plan for TV theaters is result of an economic study of TV potentials in Mexico, He believes that the families who can afford a receiver are limited in numbers and that theater TV will bring the sight and sound media within the reach of almost everyone. From an advertiser's point of view, Azcarraga is certain that the theaters will bring the sponsors a greater audience than could be procured through private reception in the homes. Azcarraga is expected to make another trip to the States in February at which time he will consummate his plans for equipment. In the meantime he has sent TV technicians to New York and Hollywood to get practical experience in the new art. Raytheon Denied More Time To Build Its Video Station Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — Throwing a third channel open for competing applications in the Boston area, the FCC yesterday announced it has refused to grant the application of WRTB for an extension of completion date. In effect, the Commission retires the license — which CBS had*', contracted to purchase from the Raytheon Corp. as part of a deal including physical equipment at an overall cost of $242,000. Technically, what the Commission did was deny Raytheon's request for extension of the completion date from January 16, 1948, to July 16, 1948. Hearing was held on this application in February, 1949. In June of this year hearing examiner Hugh B. Hutchinson recommended a grant of the extension, but a-'tougher FCC policy is now in force. The Commission found that Ray theon "has not been diligent in proceeding with the construction of its proposed television station and was not prevented from completing construction of such station by causes not under its control or by other matters sufficient to justify a third extension of its construction permit." Channels 2, 4, 7, 9 and 13 were originally proposed for Boston, but in July it was proposed by the Commission to cut this allocation to channels 2, 4, 5, and 7. WBZ-TV is now on channel 4 and WNAC-TV on channel 7. WRTB holds a construction permit for channel 2, which will now revert to the Commission for reassignment. In its decision, the FCC bore down heavily on its contention that Raytheon's financial difficulties cannot be considered adequate reason for the failure to construct the station on schedule. WPIX To Broadcast Marathon Benefit An all-star marathon program to raise funds for the United Hospital Fund will be aired by WPIX beginning at 6:45 p.m. Christmas Eve. Program will continue until at least midnight and may run longer if contributions to the fund continue to arrive beyond that time. Art Ford will emcee the show. Talent lineup will include Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, Lionel Hampton and his band, George Shearing, Eddie Condon, Eddie Peabody, Joan Morgan and the cast of "Born Yesterday." Ed Sullivan and Jimmy Powers will interview visiting celebs. Bank of 20 telephones, staffed by models and showgirls, will be installed to handle contributions to the benefit. Shows, Comm'ls Good, Miami Survey Reveals Miami— More than half (53 per cent) of the set owners responding to a survey by the University of Miami Radio and Television Department, believe that "all things considered" the output of WTVJ, this city's only station, is "good." Only seven per cent thought it "poor." TV had been seen elsewhere by 44 per cent. Asked what they thought of commercials, 86 per cent answered "good" (56 per cent) or "fair" (30 per cent). Only 13 per cent thought them "poor" (8 per cent) or "irritating" (5 per cent). More than half of the respondents said they were satisfied with the present operating hours of the station. Questioned on amount of viewing, 55 per cent reported seeing all the programs and 90 per cent reported viewing two or more hours per day. 87 per cent said they watch TV every night. About three quarters had owned their sets before July of this year and 95 per cent of all sets were purchased locally. Two WJZ-TV Renewals For "Market Melodies" Two of the initial sponsors on WJZ-TV "Market Melodies" daytimer have signed 13-\veek renewals for four weekly participations in the show. Pacts were signed by StahlMeyer Co., through Blaker agency, and Hills Brothers, through Biow Co. I