Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1962)

Volunteers on way to hospital to entertain Leaving headquarters in N. Y. to entertain vets arc (1-r): Arthur Wagner, Kleinert promo, dir.; Mar) Bechtel, NBC bus. affairs dept.; Elizabeth Pennell, CHS stafl writer: Kae Watson. NBC art dept.; Richard Schneider, NBC producer-director. Volunteer drivers arc needed for transportation as well as entertainment, talent Executive and patients hear playback Singing and reading by patients is often taped for amusement and learning. George Graham, |i.. (c) v.p., NBC Enterprises, listens with V \ patients teers do anything and everything they, can, from directing performances in locked mental wards to typing scripts, raising money. .Audience participation is more important to the Bedside Network than it is to, let's say. NBC. For the entertainment factor is sometimes dubbed "music therapy." Patients are encouraged to produce and perform in all-patient shows, taped lor broadcast over the hospitals' closed-circuit systems. Exploring new services. Lately the participation concept has been expanded to the new geriatrics participation program, which draws elderly veterans together to communicate with one another, relate past experiences, and comment on the day's happenings. The Bedside work has expanded, too, into participating in the recreational therapy program of the Out-Patients Clinic of New York's \'A headquarters. Such a program helps veterans with readjustment problems, aiding the men in communicating with one another, easing them into renewed responsibilities. Last year the network struck on an idea to encourage hospitals to record their own productions: a national contest to select the best patient-produced shows. This yeai it was judged by some big showbiz names: Arthur Godfrey, actor Jason Robards, Jr., and actress Margaret Hamilton. Expansion brings needs. As the work of the Bedside Network expands, so, naturally, do its needs. A fund-raising campaign is now under way, guided by board members Bennett Korn, president of Metropolitan Broadcasting Tv; George Graham, fr., v.p., NBC Enterprises; Stephen C. Riddleberger, president of ABC o&o stations; fohn Moler, president and general manager, WHN, New York; and Willard Schroeder, general manager, WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids. But money is not the only need. Needed, too, are contributions of equipment (tape recorders, tape, mikes, sound ellects and music records, radio and tv show scripts) and services of volunteers (pianists, music programers, actresses, directors, writers, and drivers) . What the Bedside Network seems to have plenty of is the active interest of an astonishing number of high-level executives in the broadcast, advertising, and entertainment worlds. On its three boards, in addition to the men named above, sit these men: Stanley Adams, president of ASCAP; Howard Bell, vice president for industry affairs, NAB: Donald F. Conaway, national executive secretary, AFTRA; Carl Haverlin. president of Broadcast Music Inc.: Arthur Hull Hayes, president, CBS Radio: columnist and tv star Ed Sullivan: Claude Barrere, executive Music selected, equipment checked Bedside Network's sound effects and equipment are donated. L-r: Terr) Ross, ABC sound elicits. Schneider (NBC), and Miss Pennell (CBS) Board maps network's "programs" Bedside's board ol directors (l-r): Steve Riddleberger, pies. \iu: Radio oRros; 1 haine Engle, NBC l\ adv. and promo.: Alex Kramer, son writei and Bedside pics.: |ohn Moler, pres., gen. mgr., WHN, New York; Bennett Korn. pres., Metropolitan B'casting I \ director, IR IS. Donald B. Curiam manager. K.FO, San Francisco: and B. B. Randolph, manager of Alcoa's radio and television department. ^ SPONSOR/ 17 DECEMBER 1962 35