Sponsor (Nov 1948-June 1949)

the country there will be live presentation^ instead of kinescope recordings, will help. Whereas there has been just one coaxial cable up to this spring, and that has made it dillicult for the four networks to compete as networks that's no longer live. \\ itl' three cables available most the da) and night, even though they are one-wa\ network-. summer fare will be far better technically than it was during the winter season. The Midwest hasn't been given much opportunitx to produce "greal video, except with Kukla. Fran, and Ollie. and comparatively few \BC presentations. Two-waj coaxial cables are important when both ends of the cables are important. That isn"t true. This will be the first summer test of TV. Prior to 10 10. TV wasn't a real Factoi in the humid-weather months. This summei will be a real test for the medium. Will viewers continue to concentrate as they do in the summertime'.-' Will TV compete with the many outdoor attractions and other leisure appeals of the vacation period? \ \ ear from now most of these questions will seem infantile. Today they're the great TV question marks. BASEBALL (Continued from page 30) most of the costh games i where rights are high i have dual sponsorship. In New York only Chesterfield is without a co-sponsor of games. The Dodgers have General Foods and Schaefer Brewing; The Yankees. While Owl Cigars and P. Ballantine and Sons. In Pittsburgh, Sealtest Ice Cream joins the Atlantic Refinding. The almost 200 stations presenting major league baseball are of course but a drop in the bucket of radio's presentation oi America's favorite sport. There are hundreds of cities where farm teams of the big leagues or local nines have even more faithful fans than the big teams. There was a time when regional and local sponsors did not realize this, but today the good word has spread far and wide, and the San Francisco Seals, Norfolk Tars, Lynchburg (Va.) Cardinals, Rochester (N. Y.) Red Wings, Baltimore Orioles, and Amsterdam (N.Y.) I! ii g makers get just as intense, if not more faithful, listening than major league teams. The difference is that the fame of each team is restricted to a STUMPED! She says she'll marry me but refuses to leave town to go on honeymoon. Says she won't risk missing her favorite KXOK programs. What'll I do? Anxious Dear Anxious: No reason why your bride should miss ANYTHING on her honeymoon. Go on your honeymoon anywhere from west-central Missouri to Indiana, from Iowa to Arkansas. KXOK's powerful signal can reach her any hour of the day or night, even into Tennessee and Kentucky. Any John Blair representative will gladly help set your itinerary. KXOK, St. Louis 630 on your dial mix h smaller area than that of the majors. A few of the smaller teams have widespread folio wings. The Orioles and Seals are typical examples of such teams. Play-by-play broadcasts of the smaller teams extend the baseball air figure from 200 to nearly 1.000. This is still not the end of the summer impact of the game. Another thousand or more stations have baseball roundups, forecasts, and hourly score broadeasts. The scores, inning by inning, are available from most news association wires, and all wire services have special baseball services which permit stations to do a good baseball show or series of programs without woiking too hard. Thus some stations attract, at certain hours, all the diamond fans in their areas simply by bringing the fans up-to-date on the scores of all games. Play-by-play broadcasts do not neglect this detail, but the handling of live games precludes establishing specific times at which scores of all the teams can be aired. While most games are still daytime presentations, more and more games are being played under lights. In some areas, the teams will not sell the rights to the night games but they are aired in most sections of the country. This is an added reason why network stations find it practically impossible to carry baseball. It means disrupting station schedules both day and night. Only an independent station is in a position to do this. This is as true of television as it is of standard broadeasting. Thus far. the daytime games have presented no problem to telecasting schedules, for most T\ stations are not regularly scheduling daytime visual programs at this time. However, when it comes to night games, the problem is just the same with tele\ i-ion as it i^ with regular broadcasting. Thus some network stations are already farming out to independents — or other network stations with schedules which are not as tight — the night game-. Baseball is on the visual air w hereever there are team .nu\ stations. In a few areas nighl games are restricted. Thus far, onlj major league and a few big mi league team games are being telecast. The number of maiket eo\ ered l>\ telei ision i» comparatively small (34), and man) of these are not majoi league markets. Baseball sponsorship (play-by-play) is not an inexpensive advertising 66 SPONSOR