Sponsor (July-Dec 1954)

worth) contribution to cultural enlightenment, I'ui it i almost guaranteed i" i base \ "in .Milium e i" I <l Sullivan. \111l thi -icin to be nluit happened to the last hall houi ol Sunday in limn, which Featured .1 ballet. Spei t"i 1 n"i alone among the sponsors 111 singling <>ui the ballet a a horrid example ol i\ showmanship, and Pal W eavei seemed h Uling t<> live \\ itli the verdict in lii 1 om ei sation with sponsi 1:. But In did not go along « iili :..i on the question "I program |t\ el. I le -1 rongl) defended the effoi 1 !•• c ombine broad mass appeal w itli taste ami intelligence. He cited the image ol the pj ramid, w hi li has a broad base ami tapers to a pinnacle. It i possible, he declared, in devise programs so 1 onceived that the) appeal to both tin broad-based 111,1- and the select few at the top. \n example lie brought tn mind n;h that "I Fred Vllen's old radio show. which could be enjoyed <>n different levels. Weaver is convinced the same thing i possible with the spectaculars. Another <d Spector's criticisms which \\ea\er due nnt accept is aimed at the original musical coined) show. Whal VIm.ui VOl H I'KOUICT BILLION $ SAiX DIEGO MARKET? The Story of these products is being told on XETV Channel 6: Ammident Kelloggs Cereals Nabisco Shredded Wheat Carnation Corn Flakes Dodge Ford Pan-American Airlines I mky Lager Beer 7-UP Kool Cigarettes Folgers Coffee 1 isterine Pontiac Mobil^.^ . . . and look who moved to XETV November l — Mi Favorite Story (Olympia Beer) I In Cisco Knl (Weben Bread) XETV S;iii !M«'«;o. California Represented by WEED TELEVISION Spectoi feels a one-shot ha little chan< e 1. 1 -u' 1 ess, foi in contrast with a Broad ua\ nui-n al. then i im opportuniU to build audience acquaintanceship with tin -j me eilbei through advance roll 1 see •>! pel foi tnance buildup. \\ eavei reje 1 this \ iew. He told sponsor thai \l!( intended to continue w itli originals, but would trv to duplicate to some degree the Broadwaj buildup tei hnique. Tunes might be released about eight week ahead of the -bow. and plugged, so that the) could work foi the program; tin-, however, is cumbersome to work out, In -aid. because of tin nature of the music business. On the -bow it-ell fewer number will be used, and the) will be reprised and staged more in accordance with P.roadwa\ experience. In this wax. it is hoped, the musicals w ill not come into tin living room complete!) cold, but will bring with them the warmth attendant upon recognition and familiarity. I be 7 \o\einber -bow appeared to follow some of Spector's prescriptions. It was a rex ue. rather than a book show, and the numbers were all tried and true. Frank Sinatras musical album sequence from Hollywood bad the elements of simplicity and directness, as well as the heart-appeal of the little girl bit. "^ et the rating storv of this swiftly moving show was no better than the others as far as Trendex was concerned. Weaver appeared willing to accept al least some part of Spector s \ iew thai the time of the program could be limited to an hour. As Spector put it. the hour-and-a-half length is too long to fill with top-qualit) material consistently. Padding and dull stretches are almost inevitable. If the dead wood ol the first two shows had been cut out. and the length limited to an hour, he told a press conference, the resulting shows would have been great. He definite!) wants to limit the program to that length. \\ eaver agreed that for Sundav night an hour length might ha\e merit. There i a sharp rise in sets-in-use at 8:00 p.m.. and the 7:30 p.m. opening, which becomes much earlier as the cable goes we-l. might not be working to the benefit ol the spectaculars. Hut be feels eai li -li"w should be considered indi\ iduall) . \ i.n .1 Saturda) and Monda) nights wiie.. in cined. Weaver argued strongl) the necessit) of the hour-anda-hall length. Reactions to these pro gram-, a revealed at the ageix ies, do not indicate that client disagree. Vmong the points that Spector has iai-ed publicl) i that of color. He feels that too much attention ha been paid to it. not enough to black-and-white. \\ bile clients do appreciate the excitement of color, the) are not happ) about the fact that there ale -i. feu color sets. Some « iili' -a\ that the -bow have been geared to displa\ color attractively, and that black-and-white -bowman-hip ha suffered a a result SPONSOR found a number of contrary \iew-. a well. \\ bat it seems to boil down to iibat NBC i -till convinced of the merits ol the spectaculars. It intendto put mone) and it best effort into making them better and more popular. (Weaver stated NBC ha gone over the budget on spectacular and will continue to do so when necessary.) The clients are willing to go along even where unhappv about the ratings, largelv because of confidence in \\ eaver and the natural de-ire to prove their judgment sound. \ one Bummed it up for SPONSOR: "We are not thrilled b) what has happened. But we are not read) to throw in the sponge yet. Even the spectacular-' severest 1 ritiics among the clients, Ravmond Spector, has taken the long view. '"I admire and like Pat Weaver," he told SPONSOR, "and have great confidence in his ability along with the creative people of NBC. I -till believe that these shows can 1 e made to pay off. So far we have been reviewing the spectaculars onl\ from the limited standpoint of ratings. But the ratingare onlv part of the storv. even if they have received the most publicity. \an\ advertiser knows, you buv more than size of audience with a television show. You may, in fact, not be concerned b) a low rating if your -bow produce other, and equall) vital results. What ha been overlooked in much ol the trade discussion are the plus values accruing to the super-show. The moment you look at the spectaculai from an over-all marketing standpoint, -av admen, the picture changes and the ratings become not quite U significant as at first glance. This is true id all the clients concerned with ime exception, Hazel Bishop. \nd when you examine the marketing problem of the various sponsors <>f the 108 SPONSOR