Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1961)

w_ _J FILM-SCOPE continued Starting today, KHJ-TV, Los Angeles, will schedule a syndicated show at 12 noon that everyone else schedules at 11:15 p.m. The show: P. M. East. The rationale: viewing habits in Los Angeles are unique and there's actually twice the audience available there at noon than there is at 11 p.m. Incidentally, WBC will consolidate and expand the nightly series early in February 1962. P. M. East becomes 90 minutes and P.M. West is being discontinued. They had originated from New York and San Francisco nightly since June, but now the whole show will originate from New York. A factor leading up to the consolidation was the enormous technical difficulty of trafficking two shows daily on tape from cities at opposite ends of the country — the first time such a tape syndication feat had been attempted. WASHINGTON WEEK {Continued from page 59) Nor did Alford appear to make much progress in his effort to build a case. He said he will try again, with more hearings later. Minow didn't appear, though Alford wanted him. Nor did any other commissioner. Kenneth Cox, broadcast bureau chief, appeared for the FCC. Most of his testimony appeared to be aimed at giving the subcommittee facts and background material about the broadcasting and ad media-education it seemed to need rather desperately. Cox was quite cool to suggestions that the FCC might take it upon itself to make sure that small advertisers have access to prime tv time. Some of the witnesses had contended that local and regional brands are frozen out of their own local stations — and hence sometimes out of their markets— by the ability of their national competitors to buy up all the best tv time. Cox said the FCC has no legal power to tell a station that it must sell time to specific advertisers. Nor did he indicate that the FCC wants any such power. He noted that the FCC is considering banning option time, but didn't hold out much hope that this would change the situation very much for small advertisers. On the other hand, the film packagers said the option time plans they had already presented to the FCC would do the trick. Another suggestion heard at the hearings would force the networks to give up a percentage of prime time to local advertisers. Still another would restrict networks to the role of program producers, would bar them from selling time to advertisers, and would reserve this function for the stations. Kevin B. Sweeney appeared, but only as a salesman for radio. The president of RAB told the subcommittee that radio is a better medium for the small budget advertiser in any case. TvB president Norman E. Cash plumped just as hard for tv, but did get to the point of the hearings with his contention that small businessmen can find prime time available on local stations. He provided the subcommittee with case histories of small businessmen with small budgets who became big businessmen through use of tv. The old Barrow Report recommendation that no one company, person, or other single interest should be permitted to own more than three stations in the top 25 markets has been revived. That was the word of FCC broadcast bureau chief Kenneth Cox at the Alford hearings. He said not only is the FCC giving the idea renewed consideration, but it can enter into contests for new stations on a case-by-case basis. By this he meant that when weighing qualifications of competing applicants, ownership of that number or more could be held against a multiple owner. IPONSOR • 18 DECEMBER 1961 61