Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

VOL. 15: No. 33 9 Floating radio audience numbering into the millions has been spotlighted by RAB in a survey which establishes “for the first time” that 70.1% of the nation’s more than 7 million pleasure boats are radio-equipped, that listeningafloat ranges to more than 20 hours weekly, that offshore listenership is multiple, with some 77% of those surveyed reporting they usually sail with 3 to 5 persons. Says RAB: “It’s clear that listening aboard pleasure boats represents an important part of the total radio audience, though it’s rarely been considered by advertisers, never been counted in most ratings.” Approximately 77% of the radio-equipped craft carry portables, including many which also have huilt-in equipment. Still in a marine & playtime mood, RAB last week also issued survey results to show that 4 out of 10 summer outdoor groups have portable radios with them at beaches, parks and picnic areas in 10 major markets. At the time of the interviews 75.3% of the radios were tuned in, with each group averaging 4.2 people. WABC-'TV N.Y. reports record-high 2nd quarter earn' ings, with profits up 13% over the 1958 quarter, and substantial nighttime audience gains: up 24% during 7:3010:30 p.m. prime time. Station v.p. & gen. mgr. Joseph ‘ Stamler pointed out that: “This is the 2nd consecutive j quarter in which we have topped all-time records. This 1 latest profit success is especially significant in light of the I fact that the 2nd-quarter of 1958, our previous all-time i high, showed 63% profit increase o\er that period in 1957.” Seeking to prevent temporary use of Baton Rouge’s II new Ch. 9 by WAFB-TV (Vol. 15:30), radio WIBR appealed for a stay of the grant in the Court of Appeals for D.C. last week. Alleging FCC’s grant was “arbitrary & ,1 ; capricious,” WIBR said that temporary operation by ( j WAFB-TV would cause “irreparable injury to the public & , any competing applicants.” Oral argument is slated Aug. 20. * Allocation petition filed by KTWO-TV (Ch, 2) Casper, Wyo. for assignment of Ch. 6 from Casper to Lander, Wyo. “ in place of Ch. 17 now allocated there, cites the demise of •• KSPR-TV (Ch. 6) as proof of the inability of 2 stations to survive in the Casper market (Vol. 15:30). KTWO-TV be-jj lieves it could provide needed service to the Lander area if •[ the unused channel were to be assigned there. t Consolidated Sun Ray Inc., retail drug & variety chain 3 . which owns radios WREN Philadelphia, WALT Tampa & WSAI Cincinnati, has acquired Williams Electronics Mfg. Co., Chicago maker of electric & electronic amusements, J,)'; vending machines & recorders, and Vita-Safe Corp., N.Y. jgj i vitamin product producer. ^ ! Identification of WLOS-TV (Ch. 13) Asheville, N.C. ! with Greenville & Spartanburg, authorized recently by FCC, : continues after last month’s action by the Commission turn^ ing down the objections of WFBC-TV (Ch. 4) Greenville. Comrs. Lee & Ford dissented; Comr. Bartley abstained. I RCA’s largest non-network TV buy will be one-third sfti sponsorship of Great Music from Chicago, WGN-TV’s 26j4( ‘ week Sun. 7-8 p.m. series starting Oct. 18, featuring the [liS Chicago Symphony, operas, popular music and jazz. iss’S * ^ WNDU-TV (Ch. 16) South Bend, Ind., Notre Dame U.’s TV outlet, is scheduled to receive 2 Ampex Videotape recorders this month. Lester W. Lindow, Assn, of Maximum Service Telecasters exec, dir., is one of the principals of Grelin Bcstg. Ii_; Inc., purchasers of radio WWOL Buffalo for !f250,000 from jfi: owner Leon Wyszatycki. Auxiliary Services TELEMETER’S TORONTO TRIAL: Paramount-controlled Famous Players Canadian Corp, will have the active cooperation of Bell Telephone Co. in a mid-winter test of Telemeter pay-TV in a Toronto suburb. That’s the gist of an agreement announced last week that calls for Bell to provide 84 miles of cable to feed pay-as-you-look movies, sports and highbrow entertainment to 5000 homes in suburban Etobicoke from studios Famous Players intends to build in metropolitan Toronto. The first full-scale test of the coin-box Telemeter system will have an immediate potential of 13,000 Etobicoke households, and can be expanded to serve 40,000 homes in Toronto, Telemeter says. This is essentially the same target announced by Telemeter in June (Vol. 15:25), with the main difference being the Bell participation in the plan. With many details still to be worked out. Inti. Telemeter’s N.Y. headquarters was understandably vague to us about details of the test. No dates have been announced for (1) cable installations, (2) completion of studios, (3) commencement of service. But at week’s end. Famous Players was moving on another Toronto front, reportedly planning to file an application for Ch. 5 and thus joining 12 other applicants including Standard Radio Ltd, (radio CFRB Toi'onto). Although Telemeter has been granted an FCC green light for an on-the-air test of its pay-TV system in the U.S., it has gone on record as stating that a closed-circuit test is “more economic.” TelePrompTer isn’t counted out on a closed-circuit Patterson-Johansson return match this fall, and is holding a contract for such a bout with Patterson Enterprises, a spokesman for pres. Irving Kahn told us in N.Y. last week. Earlier in the week, Johansson himself had stated in Stockholm that he believed he was “not tied to the Rosensohn enterprises” and that he hoped that TV & other ancillary rights would be “offered on the open market.” The running dispute between the various parties involved in the June 26 fight promotion (Vol. 15:32) is by no means settled. TV property rights suit filed by Salt Lake City stations against Twin Falls (Ida.) CATV operator W. L. Reiher’s plan to bring in their signals via microwave (Vol. 15:18, 20) should be dismissed because it makes no legally valid claims, Reiher said last week. Challenging specific allegations in the suit that his proposed expansion of the CATV system would deprive them of program property, Reiher told U.S. Dist. Court in Boise that the case ought to be tossed out. Moreover, he said, the plaintiffs should pay his legal expenses for contesting it. Reiher’s defense in the landmark-CATV case is being directed by gen. counsel E. Stratford Smith, National Community TV Assn. Bing Crosby & Phil Harris are v.p.’s of new CATV system in Rancho Mirage, Cal., according to Charles Trimble, pres, of Cable System Inc. The system has 200 subscribers & a potential of 2500. The town is located between Palm Springs & Indio. Trimble recently sold his interest in a system in Oceanlake, Ore. Fire destroyed offices of Edward E. Stout’s TV Microwave & Cable Co. in Shelby, Mont., but he was able to save business records from the flames, which swept most of one block. CATV service to 400 subscribers was not disrupted. New CATV brochure explaining how the community service is financed & operates is available from Community TV Systems of Wyo. Inc., 451 S. Durbin, Casper, Wyo.