Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1953)

14 Cotmi oi TV Seis-in-Use by Cities As of April 1, 1953 Estimates are sets within .1 Mv/m contours (80 ml.), excluding overlaps, as established by NBC Research. LAST “SET CENSUS” to be made on monthly basis by j NBC research shows total of 23,256,000 sets-in-use as of April 1, increase of 704,500 over March 1 (Vol. 9:14). Hereafter, market-by-market figures will be released quarterly, says NBC research chief Hugh M. Beville Jr., next count to show distribution of TV sets as of July 1. Reasons for change from monthly to quarterly figures are obvious — as stated by Beville, step was made necessary “by the greater number of TV stations and markets which has greatly increased the work-load and the administrative details in collecting, checking and verifying figures.” Beville’s statement again points up vital necessity foxset survey service by all-industry group (Vol. 9:5). NBC network says, however, it will “continue to release, on a monthly basis, an estimate of total U. S. TV installations and other pertinent figures regarding the growth of the U. S. TV audience.” April 1 tabulation adds Sioux City (19,000 sets) to interconnected list, Amarillo (10,000) to non-interconnected, lumps Altoona with Johnstown for total of 240,000 sets, omits 17 TV areas where NBC has no affiliates. Largest increases are credited to New York & Chicago, 50,000 each; San Francisco & Pittsburgh, 30,000 each; Detroit, 25,000; Los Angeles, 24,000. No. No. Area Stations Sets Interconnected Cities No. No. Area Stations Sets Interconnected Cities — (Cont’d) Ames (Des Moines) 1 Atlanta. 3 Atlantic City l(t) Austin 1 Baltimore 3 Binghamton 1 Birmingham 2 Bloomington 1(a) (see Indianapolis) Boston 2 Buffalo _ 1(b) Charlotte 1 Chicago 4 Cincinnati 3 Cleveland 3 Columbus 3 (Dallas 2 (Fort Worth 1 Davenport Rock Island 2 Dayton 2 Denver 2 Detroit 3(c) Erie 1 Grand Rapids 1(d) & Kalamazoo Greensboro 1 Houston 1 Huntington 1 Indianapolis 1(a) & Bloomington Jackson. Miss l(t) Jacksonville 1 Johns town Altoona 1(g) Kalamazoo 1(d) (see Grand Rapids) Kansas City l Lancaster i Lansing i Los Angeles 7 Louisville 2 Memphis 1 Miami 1 Milwaukee 1 Mlnneapolls St. Paul 2 Nashville 1 New Haven 1 148.000 330.000 8,000 26,800 410.000 95,500 159.000 1.043.000 353.000 267.000 1.510.000 379.000 751.000 261.000 272,000 203.000 224.000 119.000 848.000 105.000 214.000 120.000 221,000 173.000 400.000 14,400 112.000 240,000 288,000 183.000 145.000 1,434,000 195.000 202.000 148.000 427.000 363.000 111.000 360,000 New Orleans 1 162,000 New York. 7 3,450,000 Norfolk 1 167,000 Oklahoma City 1 160,000 Omaha... 2 180,000 Philadelphia 3 1,233,000 Phoenix 1 58,500 Pittsburgh 1 640,000 Portland l(t) 82,800 Providence. 1 299,000 Richmond 1 157,000 * Roanoke 2 60,800 Rochester 1 Rock Island-Davenport 179,000 (see Davenport-Rock Island) Salt Lake City 2 94,500 San Antonio ... 2 124,000 San Diego 1 143,000 San Francisco 3 630,000 Schenectady 1 266,000 Seattle Kf) 254,000 Sioux City 1 19,000 South Bend l(t) 41,000 SpringfieldHolyoke 2(t) 15.000 St. Louis 1 502,000 Syracuse 2 186,000 Toledo 1 226,000 Tulsa 1 100,000 Utica 1 86,700 Washington 4 451,000 Wilkes-Barre l(t) 55,000 Wilmington 1 128,000 Youngstown 2(t) 30,000 Non-Interoonnected Cities Albuquerque 1 19,200 Amarillo 1 10,000 Bangor. ... 1 11,000 Brownsville (Matamoros, Mexico). 1(e) 11,100 El Paso 2 22.200 Mobile 2 22,500 Peoria l(t) 26,400 Spokane 2 28,400 All Others* 62,200 Grand Total 23,256,000 (a) Bloomington separately 220,000. Indianapolis separately 341,000. (b) Does not Include sets In Canadian area reached by Buffalo station. EARNINGS OF RADIO stations and networks climbed 9% in 1952, in sharp contrast to 15.7% dip in 1951. Only one in 6 operated at loss last year — smallest percentage since 1946. Total AM-FM revenues increased 5%. This is the 1952 radio financial story as summarized in FCC’s preliminary figures released this week as companion piece to earlier audit of telecasting business (Vol. 9:13). Total radio broadcasting revenues went up to $473,100,000 from preceding year’s $450,400,000 (Vol. 8:40), and income before Federal taxes increased to $62,600,000 from $57,500,000 but failed to touch 1950’s peak of $68,200,000. Added to TV’s $336,300,000 revenue and $54,500,000 income, it means TV-AM-FM broadcasting was $809,400,000 business in 1952, with total earnings of $117,100,000 before taxes. You can get full report by writing to FCC for Mimeo 89912, or we’ll get one for you. Other salient AM-FM statistics: (1) In the 63 pre-freeze TV markets, the 108 TV stations took in as much revenue as the 529 AM stations in same markets. “In Los Angeles, Columbus and Cleveland, more than 3 out of every 5 broadcast advertising dollars were spent on TV.” AM stations in TV markets totaled 2% increase in revenues as opposed to 11% increase for those in non-TV markets. (2) Revenues of radio networks (national & regional) and their owned-&-operated stations dropped 3% to $101,000,000 in 1952, but lower expenses boosted their income 11% to $11,200,000. (3) The 814 old-line stations licensed before 1942 accounted for almost two-thirds of total revenue and threefourths of total income of all AM stations, although numerically they comprise little more than one-third. Three quarters of the 2276 AM stations reported increased revenues in 1953. Only 3 applications this week, all vhf, included one by ex-U. S. Senator C. Wayland (Curly) Brooks (R-Ill.) and his wife, for Peoria, 111., Ch. 8. Other 2 were for Providence, Ch. 12, by group of business men, including Charles G. Taylor and Robert T. Engles, each 12%% owner of WHIM, Providence, and 25.5% owner of WORC, Worcester, Mass.; and for Oak Hill, W. Va., Ch. 4, allocated to Fayetteville, by WO AY owner Robert R. Thomas Jr. These bring total pending to 620, of which 212 are uhf. [For further details about foregoing applications, see TV Addenda 16-Q herewith; for complete listings of all post-freeze grants, new stations, hearings, etc., see TV Factbook No. 16 with all Addenda to date.] Add TV maladies: Malocclusion, “an abnormal arrangement of the teeth likely to be caused by Junior’s cradling his jaw in his hand as he watches TV,” warns Atlanta dentist Dr. Spencer Atkinson. (g) Johnstown separately 212,000. Altoona separately 133,000. (t) Uhf sets. (*) Cities not listed here but having stations testing or in commercial operation as of April 1, 1953 are Reading & York, Pa.; Galveston, Lubbock & Wichita Falls Tex.; Lincoln, Neb.: Lynchburg, Va.; Bridgeport & New Britain, Conn.; Tucson, Ariz.; Colorado Springs & Pueblo. Colo.; Tacoma. Wash.: Springfield. Mo.; Lima, O.; Lawton, Okla.; Green Bay. Wis. Also not listed is Honolulu (where NBC estimates 16,000 sets-in-use as of April 1, but does not include them in total). Set estimates for stations may be added together for network purposes. Where coverage areas overlap, the sets have been divided between the stations Involved. Therefore, the estimate for each station is an unduplicated figure. Stations with overlapping coverage have total TV Installations higher than the unduplicated network figures shown here. For spot & local purposes, anyone Interested in total number of sets reached by an individual station should consult the station or its representative. (c) Does not include estimated 55,000 sets in Canadian area reached by Detroit stations. (d) Grand Rapids separately 180,000. Kalamazoo separately 180,000. (e) Estimate for Texas area. Estimated 2500 additional sets in Mexican area of Matamoros station. (f) New station in Tacoma went on air Feb. 22. Note: TV sets sold in Canada totaled 275,104 up to Feb. 28, 1953. according to Canadian RTMA. Since nearly all of these sets are in border areas, they add appreciably to audiences of stations in nearby U S. cities. The CRTMA area count as of last Feb. 28: Windsor 55,278. Toronto-Hamilton 109,000, Niagara Peninsula 38.952, Montreal 52,203, other areas 21,327. In addition. Cuban sources claim 70,000 sets-in-use in Havana, 20,000 in rest of Cuba.