Sponsor (July-Sept 1961)

WHEN TV WENT COMMERCIAL let WNBC-TV in Gotham— then employing the call letters WNBT— to offer its facilities for commercial sponsorship. The station, that day, opened with chimes at 1:29. Test pattern until 2:30. At 2:30 the station switched to Ebbets Field, where Ray Forrest did a play-by-play telecast of a Brooklyn Dodger game with the Phillies. The first commercial was on the .air at 2:29:50, as a Bulova clock nhowed the time, and an announcer announced the hour. Charge to Buli\a was $4 for time; $5.00 for facilities. Total, $9.00. Bulova paid it A'ith the bravado of a faro dealer. The station went off the air at 6:13. Sack on the air at 6:45 p.m. with well Thomas news simulcast by iunoco. Cost for the 15-minute sponorship, $100.00. WNBT signed off gain for two hours returning at 9:01 ) 9:22 with a USO program featurng dignitaries. The station then presented Uncle im's Question Bee, sponsored by .ever Brothers (cost $100.00) . Edith ■pencer did a Spry commercial. From :45 to 10:33, viewers saw excerpts rom "Bottlenecks of 1941," a Fort lonmouth Signal Corps Replacement raining Center show with Ray Forest as announcer. 10:34 to 10:56, Truth or Consequence" simulcast ith Ralph Edwards (cost $100.00) nd sponsored by P&G. At 10:56:30 lother Bulova time signal (charge 3.00 for time; $5.00 for facilities. |otal $13.00) . At 10:57:19 the "Star jangled Banner" was played, and >e station went off the air. Estimated sets in use that day: 500. Dr. Alfred H. Morton was BC vice president in charge of telesion when the FCC gave him the |een light to charge for video comrrcials. Dr. Morton advised clients at NBC would telecast a minimum 15 hours a week and that programs >uld include film shows, studio ows and field pickups. Telecasting in 1941 was of the 'ntier type — arrays of variety turns iron lungs with performers sproutH olive green lips and beige-colored > No. 1 (l»re»»rv» For Posterity) STATION WNBT NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY WEEK OF JUNE 30th JULY 5th. 1941 Audio frequency S5.7S IDCiurw v/idm riT v Video frequency SUS me.;wew roK* C,TT MONDAY June 30th TUESDAY July 1st P.M. 9:00-11:00 2:00-5:00 6:45-7:00 9:00-10:00 Amateur Boxing at Jamaica Arena. ( 2 ) Baseball -Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Philadelphia at Ebbets Field. (3 1 Lowell Thomas. (4) Culmination of U S. O. Drive with: Mr. Thomas E. Dewey Mrs. Winthrop W. Aldrich Mr. Walter Hoving Lt. General Hugh Drum Admiral Adolphus Andrews Mrs. Ogden L. Mills (5) Excerpts from the "Bottlenecks of 1941"— Fort Monmouth Signal Corps Replacement Training Center Show. (6) Truth or Consequences with Ralph Edwards. WEDNESDAY 2:30-5:00 July 2nd THURSDAY July 3rd FRIDAY July 4th SATURDAY July 5th (7i Eastern Clay Court Tennis Championships at Jackson Heights. 9:00-10:00 (8) Feature Film "Death From A Distance" with Russell Hopton and Lola Lane. 2:30-5:00 (9,1 Eastern Clay Court Tennis Championships at Jackson Heights. 9.-00-10^0 (10) Variety. (II) Julien Bryan, Photographer-Lecturer. 2:30-540 (12) Eastern Clay Court Tennis Championships at Jackson Heights. 940-1040 (13) Film "Where the Golden Grapefruit Grows" (14) "Words On The Wing", a Streamlined Spelling Bee. 2:30-540 (15) Eastern Clay Court Tennis Championships at Jackson Heights. I Atl PROGRAMS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE HERE IS the television program schedule for Station WNBT, now WNBC-TV, for the week of June 30-July 5, 1941, 20 years ago, when the Federal Communications Commission advised the station it could go commercial, thus marking another milestone in radio's progress faces. Announcers at WNBT included Ben Grauer, Jack Costello, Ed Herlihy and the aforementioned Forrest. It was apparent that NBC was not out to take advantage of any advertisers, the problem being how to get more people to buy more television receivers. CBS was not yet ready for commercial video on July 1 1941. There were only two time classes when WNBT's first rate card arrived on the desks of timebuyers in the purlieu of Madison Avenue — night and day — with 6:00 p.m. the dividing point. Today WNBC-TV I the station's present call letters) has six classes and in some cases varying OYxil; 17 july 1961 rates within each of these classes. Television homes in the stationrs area have zoomed from 5. (KM) then to 5.000,000 now. So even though costs have gone up 100 times or more, circulation is up 1.000 times. On 1 July. 20 vears ago. an advertiser could buy an hour-long video period for $120. Toda\ it would cost him $10,200. Twent) years ago he purchased an hour of daytime video for $60. Today he shells out $3,500 for a similar period on WNBC-TV. On 23 July 1941. Botany Mills became the first commercial advertiser of a textile product. A contract was l Please turn to page 53) 35