Sponsor (Jan-Mar 1963)

" r 'i art \« ina»t h n th GROUPS EMERGE (Continued from page 33) owns WPIX Inc. I serve on that board. "I also am president of KDAL Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary in Duluth-Superior, Minnesota and Wisconsin; a wholly owned subsidiary of WGN Inc." If the commission hoped to start a hare at its hearings, it was certainly disappointed, if only because in the more obvious areas, most stations perform a conscientious and continuing public service. But to industry observers, the underlying concern with local-live programing indicated that the commission might be slightly out of touch with 2«f reality. sponsor put this question to many group heads. A typical response came from RKO-General's head, Hathaway Watson, (none of whose stations were involved). Watson's reply: "I would prefer to survey a community's needs and then find the best way of filling them. It's quite possible that, for a particular situation, an "outside" program will meet the problem better than one originated locally." In Chicago last year, Commissioner Lee asked the question: 'How do you preserve the good ocal programs?" None of the witnesses was able to ive an optimistic answer, although jjvVGN's Quaal shed an interesting idelight on the economics of smallcale syndication. "The only program we've sucessfully syndicated is Great Music," aid Quaal, "and we have yet to ake a profit on it. With Series hree (of Great Music) which has onsiderable variety in it, we'll at in a break-even point when we liave a total of 30 stations under Icontract. They will have to involve RIO stations in the top 25 markets." Some form of cooperative exhange would seem to be the most >romising answer. The idea ocurred to Robert Weisberg three ears ago; after trying unsuccessully to interest NAB and other inlustry groups, he turned to Trans ux and persuaded the syndication roup to launch Television Affili tes Corporation. Weisberg's plan was simple I'nough. Stations or groups would luetic le. ni i i;.L is an h HIKi . SH id pa) a membership lee and submil to the pool their outstanding programs. Every time a show was screened by another member station, it earned a fee; intra-poo] earnings would be shared proportionately by members after TAC withdrew its management lees. Three seasons' growth. Surprisingly enough, the idea has developed almost according to plan. TAC began organizing itself in 1961, and went "on air" in January 1962, with 12 members. At the start of its second operating year, the group now has 50 members and a hand-picked library of about 100 programs. By the end of 1963, it's expected the roll will be 75 stations and 150 shows, in markets ranging from 50,000 to 3,000,000 homes. Annual fees vary from $1,750 to $20,000. Program earnings. What this means in dollars and cents can be gauged from TAC's top six moneyearners in the first half of 1962: — Speedway Through the Years, (WFBM, Indianapolis), $1655; Strategic Air Command, (WBNS, Columbus), $1393; Great Shake, (KRON, San Francisco), $758; Walk Through the Valley, (WGN, Chicago) , $737; Inside the Congo, (WXYZ, Detroit), $735; Smoke Jumpers, (KOMO, Seattle), $729. The full year's earnings are predicted at about double these amounts. In essence, however, TAC doesn't produce windfall revenues for its members. What it does do is amortize a respectable amount of production costs. Weisberg's theory is that this, in turn, leads to higher standards of local production. A somewhat similar exchangesystem is being operated by the CBS-owned stations, within their own group. In the Repertoire Workshop series, each station produces seven half-hours which are seen on all the stations, thus giving each outlet a 35-week series. During the summer months they run the domestic public-affairs program exchange for a 20-week period. Each station submits its best locally produced show, which is seen on all the other stations. CBS is the only network group with a formalized exchange sys tem; both the othei owned station groups have considerable internal liaison in planning of station shows, and continuous reporting systems to apprise station inanagemenl of programs thai may have applica lion Ol appeal to their market. The sales problem. I he leadei of the CBS-owned group, W'CIiS, has had considerable success in attracting advertise! support ol New York market specials. Chock full o' Nuts coffee came in with a bulk. purchase of all quarterly documentaries in New ifork, plus 12 hallhour specials "sight unseen." The station didn't offer a guaranteed circulation, but it's notable that audience lor the shows is at least as predictable as in most timebuys; Spirit of Christmas Presents, in November last year, had about 1,400,000 viewers; December 5's Superfluous People attracted 1,720,000 average; All That Glitters Isn't Deductible, last January gained 1,050,000 viewers; February 27's Bouquet for Rawly had 1,070,000 viewers. Another network-owned station, WNBC, has pioneered a method of selling its original shows which may achieve wider application. Under the Pathways plan, sponsors are offered participations in a complete package of public-service, cultural and other limited-audience shows. Their spots are rotated through the year's programs; the economicsplus-image costing is apparently cogent enough to have secured three sponsors for the full series, since the plan was announced late last year. The other NBC-owned stations are watching with interest, and the principle has obvious application to any group-produced series. This type of imaginative sales approach will command a premium, as stations and groups become more and more involved in their own programing, sponsor's survey of the leading groups across the country indicates that several thousand hours of airtime will be filled with original material in the 1963-64 season. A good deal — possibly as much as half — of this material will be placed within prime time. The result must be some fresh thinking on both sides of the timebuying fence. ^ P0NS0R/11 march 1963 : 61