Sponsor (July-Dec 1952)

It is in the practical development stage now. 3. Trans-oceanic broadcasts which are being studied with the idea of using regular commercial planes for airborne relays without any significant change in airline scheduling. It has been conservatively estimated that Europe is about 11 "hops" away — each hop being from one plane to another. 4. A mobile unit capable of being carried in a flying boxcar. It is a possibility because of the work being done today in smaller cameras and relay transmitters. Dimensions Q. What are the present dimensions of network TV? A. As of today, there are 108 U.S. T\ stations on the air. They are distributed among 63 markets, two-thirds of them having only one station. This one-station market factor colors almost every aspect of telecasting and has been a prime causal force in many of TV's how important is WSAZ-TV to you? WSAZ-TV, with its HOMETOWN PROGRAMING, is close to the hearts and the purse strings of over 2,000,000 persons in the rich Ohio Valley — 67 counties in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia. 1 ' " -^ These loyal WSAZ-TV viewers spent $1,446,895,000 in retail sales in 1951. Gould your sales be better in this area? Sales can always be better! So WSAZ-TV is very important to you! WSAZ-TV sells more goods to more people more often than any single medium in West Virginia. Let WSAZ-TV sell for you! Affiliated with all four Television Networks WSAZ-TV HUNTINGTON, W. VIRGINIA represented by the KATZ AGENCY h a n n 148 important trends. (An additional TV station in Mexico covers part of Texas so that there are actually 109 U.S. stations. ) Q How many listeners can a national advertiser figure on during the remainder of the year? A. The figure for 1 October, based on past deliveries of TV sets by manufacturers, will be about 57 million listeners. By the end of the year, it will be about 60 million. This is derived by the rule-of-thumb estimate that each set has an average of three viewers. These are projected figures that carryforward a known sales trend and so cannot take into account such intangibles as the effect of the political campaign on TV set sales. New TV set brands and some extremely heavy ad budgets by present set manufacturers will also affect the fall sales picture. And finally, there is the matter of viewing by those who don't own sets but who will be planted in their neighbors' living rooms during the Presidential campaign. Post-freeze TV Q. What is the long-range picture in network TV? A. For those who like to polish a crystal ball, there is the prediction by Edward D. Madden, vice president in charge of TV sales and operations at NBC (details in Television Basics section ) . Madden expects 80 new TV markets to be opened next year and a total of 315 markets three years from now. By the fall of 1955, he said, there will be around 600 TV stations and about 95 million viewers. The national advertiser can well imagine that once this year is gone the crescendo of change will be deafening. He will have to be fast on his feet and well-equipped with the latest research data, for day-by-day decisions will be the rule for a long time. In a recent speech to the Life Insurance Association of America, David Sarnoff, RCA chairman, carried the prediction of TV sets on the air some two years further into the future. By mid-1957, he stated, there will be 1,500 stations and 50.000.000 TV sets in use in the country. These figures were topped by C. E.'s Dr. W. R. G. Baker who forecast an "eventual" 2.000 stations and 53.000.000 TV sets in use in the United States. SPONSOR