Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

VOL. 15: No. 41 5 ment that he had not given answers to contestants,” said Ervin. “He said he couldn’t, and upon his refusal, we fired him.” And Felsher was promptly implicated in rigging charges by testimony from 19-year-old Kirsten Falke, a Dec. 1956 Tic Tac Dough player. Felsher subsequently admitted to the subcommittee that in 1958 about 75% of performances on the show were fixed — and that he urged 25-30 persons to lie about their knowledge of the rigging when they appeared before the N.Y. grand jury. NBC’s “security” statement, as read to the subcommittee by Ervin, said “The National Broadcasting Co. regards rigging of TV quiz shows as a breach of public faith and a blight on a program type that otherwise can be both entertaining & instructive. No such practice can be justified and none has ever been countenanced by NBC.” The NBC statement applauded “full public exposure” of any fraud, said it had instituted “new steps which might additionally safeguard the integrity of the programs” — procedures which were recommended following an outside study by Arthur Young & Co. The subcommittee didn’t get around last week to another recently-on-air daytime quiz — CBS-TV’s For Love or Money which was jerked by the network Jan. 30 this year after a 6-month run. But CBS-TV v.p.-gen. atty. Thomas K. Fisher was ready with a statement that the show was cancelled after the network’s “internal surveillance” disclosed a “dancing decimal machine” was being manipulated. Fisher also said. “It is clear that there were behind-the-scenes, improper practices of one sort or another in a number of the quiz shows created & managed by the independent producers and broadcast by the networks — some of them over the CBS-TV network.” Chief heavies of the week’s testimony — as they had been since the quiz stories broke into newspaper print — were Dan Enright of packager Barry & Enright and producer Albert Freedman of Twenty One which was bought by NBC from Barry & Enright in a $2.2 million deal in May 1957. Enright’s partner Jack Barry, who M.C.’d the show, wasn’t accused of direct participation in any rigging scheme. (NBC announced just before the hearings started that it had completed “negotiations to terminate relationships” with the packaging firm.) Such Twenty One contestants as Herbert Stempel ($49,500) and James Snodgrass ($4,000) testified that Enright and/or Freedman had directed their show appearances through questions & answers down to the timing of heavy breathing into the mike to build up suspense — and when to “take the dive.” It was Stempel, who “lost” to Van Doren in what he said was a “fix,” who pointed a finger of suspicion at Van Doren. He said he always knew in advance what Van Doren’s quiz score would be. CBS-TV’s and NBC-TV’s Dotto, the first of the quiz shows to fall after the 1958 scandals started, was similarly exposed again by the subcommittee. Witnesses in this phase of the hearing (whose agenda embraced all of the many quizzes) included Edward Hilgemeier, Antoinette DuBarry Hillman, David Huschle. The philosophy of at least some of the contestants who said they willingly played along with question-&-answer scripts may have been expressed by Mrs. Hillman. Asked if she thought she was abetting frauds on the air, she said : “I really didn’t. I was perfectly blithe about it. They were having a happy time. I was. Everybody was.” Senator Leverett Saltonstall (R. Mass.) ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, will speak to the Mass. Bcstrs. Assoc, annual meeting Oct. 13 at the University Club, Boston. The FCC NBC i PHILCO SQUARE OFF: Said Philco last week: NBC should have its licenses for WRCV-TV & WRCV Philadelphia taken away from it so that it has only “real estate” left to sell, despite the fact that Justice Dept, has agreed to permit NBC to sell the whole package (Vol. 15:39). Philco’s position was submitted by counsel Henry Weaver, in oral argument before FCC. The reason. Weaver said, is that NBC & its parent RCA have such a record of monopolistic behavior that they don’t have the requisite character to be broadcast licensees. What he sought last week was a full evidentiary FCC hearing in which to prove his allegations. Philco faces an uphill struggle in attempting to persuade the Commission, because FCC once before threw out Philco’s charges on the grounds that they were “vague & insubstantial . . . remote & speculative.” However, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled FCC to the extent that it had to give Philco an oral argument, at least. NBC’s position in the oral argument, as expressed by counsel Bernard Segal, was that Philco is getting what it originally asked for (the removal of NBC as a station owner in Philadelphia) but has now changed its position to seek a more drastic penalty — the cancellation of NBC’s licenses. “The real interest of Philco,” Segal asserted, “is the harrassment of RCA through NBC.” He stated that Philco is trying to use FCC to help its $150-million anti-trust suit now pending against RCA. Segal said that Philco’s protest had merely listed anti-trust suits in which RCA was involved, but hadn’t gone into the charges “with particularity,” as required by law. Furthermore, he said, Philco had listed a number of network practices — option time, must buy, etc. — terming them “monopolistic.” Such practices, he said, are properly being considered by the Commission in separate rule-making proceedings. Basically, Segal said. Justice Dept, has concluded that forfeiture of the Philadelphia stations is not in the public interest, hence there’s no need for FCC to go further. He also noted that if the Commission were to go into all the allegations made by Philco — including “patent misuse,” etc. — the hearing would be endless. Weaver asserted that the Justice Dept., NBC consent decree specifically stated that no conclusions had been drawn as to whether RCA & NBC were guilty of any monopolistic activity and that it was FCC’s duty to draw such conclusions in order to determine whether NBC is a fit licensee. FCC Chmn. Doerfer asked Weaver how long such a hearing would take. Weaver first estimated 2-3 months, then 6 months, then concluded that FCC must look into the allegations even if the hearing “takes 20 years.” Comr. Ford asked Weaver whether NBC would have to forfeit all its licenses if Philco’s charges were proved. “It’s up to you,” said Weaver. However, he added: “The bad character of NBC was evidenced more formidably in Philadelphia,” referring to the charges that RCA-NBC had forced Westinghouse to turn the Philadelphia stations over to NBC in exchange for the latter’s Cleveland stations. Segal brought up the fact that Philco had once owned WRCV-TV (as WPTZ). It had an investment of $38,000 in it, he said, then sold it to Westinghouse for $8.5 million. “And Westinghouse,” he said, “is bigger than RCA and Philco combined — a more serious competitor than RCA.” FCC counsel John Harrington asked that Philco’s request be turned down. There was nothing new in its protest, he said, that hadn’t been rejected previously by the Commission— particularly at the time NBC’s purchase of