Television digest and FM reports (Jan-Dec 1949)

Personnel notes: Clifford J. Durr, ex-FCC commissioner, now Washington attorney, elected president of National Lawyers Guild . . . Frederick R. Kappell, exoperations v.p. of Northwestern Bell, elected v.p. in charge of AT&T Long Lines . . . Paul deMars, Washington consulting engineer, off for Iran for 6-mo. communications study, part of over-all survey by Boston consulting engineers Jackson & Moreland . . . Ernest Marx, DuMont sales chief, off for West Coast Feb. 25 to look over distributing-merchandising field; will be at Town House, Los Angeles, for about 10 days, then at San Francisco’s Fairmount Hotel . . . Kendrick H. Lippitt, ex-consulting engineer with George C. Davis, now chief engineer of Technical Appliance Corp. (Taco antennas) . . . Allan B. Mills named gen. sales mgr. of RCA Home Instrument Dept., H. M. Rundle taking his place as merchandise mgr. . . . Wm. E. Neill, ex-WFIL-TV, named sales engineer for TV-microwave engineering dept., Raytheon . . . Stanley M. Abrams named TV division sales mgr. of Emerson Radio, Harold E. Karlesruher, sales mgr. for home radios . . . Donald J. Mercer, new director of NBC Radio Recording Division, succeeding Robert Friedheim, who becomes sales mgr. of World Broadcasting System (Ziv) . . . Richard Steele, ex-WBKB, now production facilities supervisor of WNBQ, Chicago . . . Edwin R. Peterson, exABC, named MBS Central Division manager in Detroit. Much more than mere dropping of Avco procedure on sale of stations is involved in FCC proposals to revise methods of handling applications, as made public this week (Docket 9061, Mimeo 81593). Proposals include 3week advertising of applications for new stations or for changes in facilities transfers renewals; also 90-day cutoff of competing applications after date of first ad. Commission asks for comment will decide after April 14 whether oral arguments should be heard. Another telecaster moves into sports promotion with Crosley announcing formation of Telesports Inc., capitalized at $100,000 to “assure availability of [sports] events for TV.” CBS recently bought 25% of Tournament of Champions Inc. for same purpose (Vol. 4:49); WFILTV owns Philadelphia Arena; Chicago’s WBKB puts on own boxing from Michigan City Arena. RCA’s new life-size projection TV system, throwing pictux-es up to 6x8 ft., now comes so projector can be hung fi’om ceiling. Set sells for $2,500, is substantially same as I’eported last summer (Vol. 4:32). Also in bigpicture projection field, new Electronic Controls Inc., 69 Glenwood Place, East Orange, N. J., announces “packaged unit” that permits use of any TV set to throw pictures up to 6x8 ft. Company also produces remote control device pei’mitting set opei’ation from distance, is owned by Tele-Video Coi'p., Philadelphia (Vol. 4:44). TV facets of RMA’s “Spring Conference” March 15-17 in Chicago’s Hotel Stevens: sei'vicing, by committee under A. T. Alexander (Motorola); receiving antenna problems, by group under A. D. Plamondon (Indiana Steel Products); set statistics, by Set Division Executive Committee under George M. Gardner (Wells-Gardner). Magnetic recording of pictures on tape was one of many ideas explored by big magnetic tape maker Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co., St. Paul. Company figured that it was theoretically possible, but forgot it in a hurry when costs “just to investigate possibilities . . . ran into several millions.” Reminiscent of old DX cards is “Television Pioneer Club” card mailed by San Francisco’s KPIX to people sending in reception reports. Zoomar and Balowstar lens inventor Dr. Frank Back will work with ABC as optics consultant. Variety for Feb. 23 publishes “Scorecard on NBC Casualties,” estimates 11 name-program defections to CBS are losing NBC $6,965,000 in annual billings. It also speculates on possible defections next of affiliates with superior facilities, notes: “. . . while TV might be bigtime in New York, Chicago and a few key markets, for the majority of the broadcasters radio is still the big noise and will be for the next few years . . . the rank and file NBC affiliate operator — Seattle, Duluth, Dallas, etc. — won’t go along with the concept that topflight radio pi’ogrammirtg can be fought by video . . .” Burden of placating stations falls on NBC president Niles Trammell, at affiliates meeting in Chicago’s Stevens Hotel, Feb. 28 and March 1. He’s quoted in off-the-cuff comment to effect that even with 6,000,000 TV sets at end of 1950, “you can’t minimize radio and its 70,000,000 receivers and 38,000,000 homes as the more potent of the two media.” Perhaps 5 or 10 years hence, “but NBC at this stage of the game doesn’t intend to sell radio short.” Advertising Age of Feb. 21 lists 44 ad agencies whose ovei’-all 1948 billings ran $10,000,000 or more, mostly estimated, top 20 being (000,000 omitted) : J. Walter Thompson, 115; Young & Rubicam, 75; BBDO, 72.1; N. W. Ayer, 67; McCann-Erickson, 54; Foote, Cone & Belding, 52.6; Dancer-Fitzgei’ald-Sample, 37; Gi'ant Adv., 37; Ruthrauff & Ryan, 36; Benton & Bowles, 34; Wm. Esty, 30; Blow, 28; Newell-Emmett, 26.4; Kenyon & Eckhardt, 26; D’Arcy, 24; Ei’win, Wasey, 23; Compton, 22; Maxon, 21.6; Fuller & Smith & Ross, 20; Kudner, 20. All 44 billed $1.1 billion. Dollars and cents figures on TV production costs make 6-page “Television Today & Tomorrow” feature in Feb. 25 Tide Magazine informative reading. Story reveals Milton Berle getting $7,000 a week for Texaco Star Theater, which itself costs $14-15,000 although originally budgeted at $10,000. Facts and figures on what advertisers are paying for rights to sports events, film costs, etc., are authoritatively detailed. Seeking “practical, realistic” data about TV for benefit of investors, Barron's Weekly is currently suiweying telecasting executives with 12-point questionnaire asking about Stratovision, polycasting, synchronization, phonevision, costs of operation, color, sets, etc. Observation on “record war” by the New Yorker (Feb. 19) : “With the prospect of three kinds of records, and with paper-tape and ware recorders already being sold for home use, it seemed to us as if the industry might have gone and invented itself to a standstill. . . .” New 216-p. TV set servicing manual. Photofact Television Course, has been issued by radio manual publisher Howard W. Sams Co., 2924 E. Washington St., Indianapolis. Book is based on lectures by A. C. W. Saunders, edited by B. V. K. French, sells for $3. “Getting back to radio after perhaps too pi'ofound an immersion in television is an experience not much different from seeing the Museum of Modeim Ai't’s old silent films.” — John Crosby, New York Herald-Tribune, Feb. 24. Petition for 10-watt religious FM stations was filed this week by Southern Baptist Convention and Baptist General Convention of Texas (Vol. 4:50). Request is for rule-making to amend non-commercial educational FM rules to allow gi-ants to churches. First group says it represents 6,750,000 Baptists. Second reports 180 Texas churches indicate they’re “definitely interested” in FM. New York’s 6-station Rural FM Radio Network and Cornell U are working on “merger” of some sort, not sale of network, to stiffen network’s financial backbone, pare down costs. Coimell operates WHCU and WHCU-FM, aims at same farm audience to some extent.