Sponsor (July-Sept 1962)

RAHALL RADIO STATIONS Staffed by \\IM.-\W VKE PKRSO.NAUTIKS dedicated to PUBLIC SERl ICE in the communities a hich i!ie\ sei i el No. 1 RADIO Tampa St. Petersburg, Florida Sam Rahail, Manager No. 1 RADIO Allentown-BethlehemEaston, Pennsylvania "Oggie" Davies, Manager No. 1 RADIO Beckley, West Virginia Tony Gonzales, Manager No. 1 RADIO Norristown-Philadelphia Area John Banzhoft, Manager above stations represented nationally by H-R . . . New York a/so WQTY our station coming up fast in JACKSONVILLE, Florida National Rep., The Boiling Co N. Joe K.ih ill President 'Oggie" Davies, Cert. Manager by Joe Csida Sponsor kstage Broadway on tv: a painful undertaking It must be considered a publicity coup of no small dimension when a broadcasting group is able to come up with a page one story in the New York Times, not to mention virtually every other paper of any consequence in the country. And that is precisely what the Westinshouse Broadcasting Company achieved, Thursday, 16 August. The fine North Shore hands of Richard Pack, WBC's vice president for programing and Bill Kaland are mightily evident to me. Both are old masters of public relations. They garner space of this magnitude because they know how to put together a situation which may or may not actually work out at the moment, but which must be considered trail-blazing, and/or at the very least thought-provoking. I do not really think that, right this very minute, they can actually make their plan to tape Broadway dramatic shows a few days ahead of their openings and present them on the six WBC TV station come to successful life. Ever since the opening of the 1960-1961 season I have had the responsibility of trying to secure original cast album rights for Broadway musicals. When you acquire such rights you win the privilege of living with the show, from the first rehearsal until the opening. Difficulties galore In the past two seasons I have had this experience with the following shows in chronological order: Tenderloin produced bv Harold, Prince and the late Bobby Griffith, book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott, music and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, directed by Abbott; The Unsinkable Molly Broun, produced by the Theatre Guild and Dore Shary, book by Richard Morris, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson, directed by Shary and starring Tammy Grimes; Smiling the Boy Fell Dead, a little Off-Broadway thing about which the less said the better; Kwamina, produced by Alfred DeLiagre, book by Robert Allan Aurthur, music and lyrics by Richard Adler; Sail Away, produced by Bonard Productions, book, music and lyrics, as well as direction, by Noel Coward; The Gay Life, pro duced by Kermit Bloomgarden, book by Fay and Mike Kanin, music and lyrics by Arthur Shwartz and Howard Dietz; No Strings, production, music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers, beok by Samuel Taylor, directed by Joe Layton; and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, produced by Harold Price, music and 1\ ripe by Steve Sondheim. book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, directed by George Abbott and starring Zero Mostel. I go into this much detail about these shows to make several points. It was Westinghouse's idea to secure tv rights to Broadwa\ dramas by financing shows in whole or part. Even for as affluent a company as WBC, this could be a staggering deal. In the above (Please turn to page 16 M'MNMIK 3 SEPTEMBER 1962