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THE WEEK IN WASHINGTON
Ratings favor rural tastes, says so Ion
Ford urges closer TV tie
WASHINGTON BUREAU Washington, D.C., Feb. 21, 1964
Rep. Paul G. Rogers (D. , Fla. , and not to be confused with Texas' Rogers) says Nielsen sample homes may be "disproportionately" in favor of rural areas. He urges tv advertisers to run polls in large metropolitan markets. The Florida congressman was considerably irked during House Commerce subcommittee hearings on broadcast ratings, when a Miami station protested that rating services claimed to have tallied homes where no door-to-door soliciting was allowed.
Rogers seized on a Los Angeles Times survey which polled readers and found "Beverly Hillbillies" was program least liked, although Nielsen rates it top.
Rogers ties the findings of the urban and suburban L.A. Times in with Census reports that 69% of total U.S. population lives in urban areas. He comes up with an accusation; Nielsen's sample homes must be favoring rural tastes. Rogers does not question accuracy of L.A. Times poll.
A propos of the rural versus urbansuburban weight in American affairs is last week's Supreme Court decision on Georgia redistricting. Experts estimate that the decision will start the ball rolling for truer population basis for the House, possibly giving urbansuburban areas 27 seats now held by representatives of rural areas.
The prospect makes some broadcasters thoughtful — particularly those whose congressional champions have been elected from the wide open spaces of rural areas.
Educational TV and commercial TV should knit close bonds for mutual aid, FCC Cmnr. Frederick Ford warns. He particularly advises educational TVers not to fall into print media trap of harsh criticism of commercial TV, but to make their comments constructive.
In a talk before Philadelphia chapter of AWRT, Ford profiled a comparatively healthy outlook for TV — 86 operating stations are serving a potential 110 million viewers in a total of 58 states. Part of the good outlook stems from the new matched-grant setup for federal aid. Snazzy L.A. educational TV station will cost over $1 million, and serve a metropolitan population of 8 million on Ch. 28.
But lion's share of help comes directly and indirectly from commercial tv, which keeps 60 million TV sets alight across the country.
Networks have helped to the tune of $250,000 from ABC to N.Y. station, plus money, programs, and equipment to TV in other cities. CBS has donated $1.5 million plus programing, and NBC has given $850,000 in cash and equipment, plus $800,000 in program material, says Ford.
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