Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1952)

6 Network Accounts: French Sardine Co. (Starkist tuna), in buying Tue. & Thu. 10-10:15 segments of Arthur Godfrey Time on CBS-TV, Mon.-thru-Thu. 10-11 a.m., thru Rhoades & Davis, San Francisco, raises total quarter hours sold on that show for fall to 14 — with Frigidaire and Owens-Corning sharing 10:15-10:30 Mon.-thru-Thu. on alt. days. Lever Bros. 10:30-10:45 Mon-thru-Thu., Pillsbury Mills 10:45-11 Mon.-thru-Thu. . . . P. Ballantine & Sons (beer & ale) reported buying 8-8:45 portion of Songs for Sale on CBS-TV, Sat. 8-9, thru J. Walter Thompson . . . RCA will sponsor Kukla, Fran & Ollie alt. weeks when it starts in fall on NBC-TV on weekly basis, Sun. 6-6:30 . . . Ford Dealers replacing Ford Festival July 3 with Mister Peepers starring Wally Cox on NBC-TV, Thu. 9:3010, thru J. Walter Thompson . . . Procter & Gamble (Ivory soap, Crisco) using Boss Lady as summer replacement for Fireside Theatre on NBC-TV, Tue. 9-9:30, starting July 1 . . . Procter & Gamble will sponsor 3 segments weekly, probably Mon.-Wed.-Fri., of Welcome Travelers starting Sept. 8 on NBC-TV, Mon.-thru-Fri. 3:30-4 . . . ColgatePalmolive-Peet Co. using Big Payoff quiz show as summer replacement for Colgate Comedy Hour on NBC-TV, Sun. 8-9 . . . Serutan Co. moving Battle of the Ages Sept. 6 from DuMont to CBS-TV, Sat. 10:30-11, thru Franklin Bruck Adv., N. Y. . . . Canada Dry continuing sponsorship of ABC-TV’s Super Circus, alt. Sun. 5-5:30 p.m., leaving every other Sun. open for cooperative sponsorships; Mars Candy Co. on Sept. 14 resumes 5:30-6 p.m. weekly, in meantime that period is available for cooperative . . . Gillette to sponsor All-Star Baseball Game from Philadelphia July 8 on nation-wide NBC-TV, plus WOR-TV, WGN-TV, WNAC-TV, KHJ-TV, thru Maxon Inc. Biggest theatre-TV “network” ever assembled will carry exclusive closed-circuit telecast of June 23 Sugar Ray RobinsonJoey Maxim light-heavyweight championship bout from New York’s Yankee Stadium. At week’s end Nathan L. Halpern’s Theatre Network TV had 39 theatres in 25 cities lined up, with more expected if new theatre-TV installations can be completed in time. Mr. Halpern said that more than 20 additional theatres expressed interest in bout but couldn’t be connected because of unavailability of AT&T facilities. Cable-microwave circuits couldn’t be cleared west of Omaha. Advance ticket sale — generally at $2.40 & $3 a seat— was reported good, and Philadelphia’s 3000-seat Stanley Theatre reportedly had sold out 4 hours after tickets were placed on sale June 16. No New York theatres will carry the fight, nor will there be any radio or TV station coverage. High cost of time and talent prompted decision by Celanese Corp. of America not to renew its award-winning Celanese Theatre (ABC-TV, alt. Wed. 10-11 p.m.) after June 25 show. Company statement said: “It’s getting so that only fellows like Ford, General Motors, Procter & Gamble and Lever Bros, can afford these shows.” Sponsor estimated that presentation of 20 dramas a year cost it considerably more than $1,000,000, or from $55-$60,000 a show. Company spokesman said Celanese advertising budget is more than $3,000,000. Canadian Westinghouse one of first sponsors to sign on new CBC-TV, Toronto, and CBS-TV, Montreal, due on air by Sept. 1. It will place kines of its CBS-TV Studio One, thru S. W. Caldwell Ltd., Toronto. Turnabout is fair play — and this week New York’s 7 TV stations with New Haven’s WNHC-TV threw party and presented plaque to TV Guide, program weekly, for its contribution to the industry. Civil defense theatre-TV presentation, biggest yet, will give disaster instructions to more than 32,000 municipal policemen in theatres in 10 cities June 26 at 10 a.m. Slsiion Accounts: “Commercials are successful when delivered by salesmen, not announcers.” Thus Paul Adanti, mgr. of Syracuse’s WHEN, before recent BMI-TV Clinic in New York. “Some announcers are excellent salesmen, others are merely good voices. Send your ‘voices’ back to radio and replace them with people who can sell effectively.” Top-hole manager Adanti, with no radio affiliate, takes dim view of radio precedents, suggests this method for TV (call it “heresy” if you like) : “Whenever practicable, use the client himself or one of his store people to give the sales message. This accomplishes 2 things — it enables the viewer to get better acquainted with the man with whom he will do business, and it allows the one who knows the most about the product the opportunity to put it across” . . . Pacific Borax Co. has Gene Autry’s Flying A TV unit, Hollywood, producing 13 half-hour Death Valley Days, to be placed thru McCann-Erickson . . . General Petroleum Corp. (Mobilgas), which sponsored 37-hour coverage of recent Los Angeles floods on KTTV, has signed with that station for all “unscheduled” special events, paying annual base minimum of $75,000, thru West-Marquis Inc., Los Angeles . . . John B. White Inc., Philadelphia used car dealer, drives his wares into big new WCAU-TV studios to demonstrate them “live” on 15-min. News with John Facenda program following weekend baseball, thru J. Cunningham Cox Adv. . . . International Harvester Co. sponsoring INS-Telenews daily newsreel and This Week in Sports on WOI-TV, Ames, la.; Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. sponsoring weekly newsreel on KSD-TV, KRLD-TV, KRPC-TV, WOAI-TV . Bristol-Myers (Vitalis & Bufferin) to sponsor new 15-min. Sports Parade in 22 markets, filmed by United Artists TV and placed thru Doherty, Clifford & Shenfield . . . Hoffman Radio has signed 12 Fri. night junior college football games next season on KHJ-TV, Los Angeles Among other advertisers reported using or preparing to use TV: Cocilana Inc. (Cloro-Nips chlorophyll cough drops), thru A1 Paul Lefton Co., N. Y.; Stevens & Thompson Paper Co. (Softspun napkins), thru William Warren, Jackson & Delaney, N. Y.; Frank Bownes Co., div. of Unexcelled Chemical Corp. (paint), thru Frederick-Clinton Co., N. Y.; J-A Corp. (Lemon Quick powdered lemon concentrate), thru Buchanan & Co., Chicago; Pervo Paint Co. (paints), thru Hixson & Jorgensen, Los Angeles; National Cranberry Assn. (Ocean Spray cranberry sauce), thru BBD&O, Boston; Zippy Laboratories Inc. (Zippy liquid starch), thru Roberts, MacAvinche & Senne, Chicago; Shell Oil Co. (gas & oil), thru J. Walter Thompson, N. Y.; Singer Sewing Machine Co., thru Young & Rubicam, N. Y.; Jamison Bedding Inc. (Sweet Slumber texlite mattress), thru Noble-Dury & Assoc., Nashville; Pacific Can Co. (tin containers), thru Roy S. Durstine, San Francisco. Subscription-TV proponents appear to have new convert, O. H. Caldwell, editorial director of Tele-Tech Magazine, who writes in July issue: “The whole question of subscription TV, as we see it, is still considerably up in the air. But with our present sponsored TV so frequently discrediting itself in the public mind, as well as outreachnig top advertising appropriations (while all the time dependent on a stop-and-go up-and-down advertising economy), the only alternatives left are: (1) Subscriberselected, subscriber-paid TV programs, bringing outstanding plays, films and sports events, and (2) Educational, discussional, and neighborhood programs of constructive value, financed by public and private endowments, on the uhf channels now provided.” Miller Brewing Co. (Miller’s High Life) to bring March of Time back to TV next fall as half-hour feature, with Westbrook Van Voorhis again narrating; will place film in about 50 markets.