Variety (May 1946)

Wednesday, May 29, 1946 TELEVISION Figures Fly Fast & High At L A. As FCC Hears More Tele Hopefuls Hollywood, May 28. ♦ Jt was five heard and three to go aR the hearings went into their .second week Monday (27). Of eight applying tor seven available bands, Hughes Tool Co., Earle C. Anthony, Don Lee. NBC. and ABC were heard. Television Productions i Para- mount) got-in an opening lick as Friday's <24) session closed, resinned yesterday (27) and was followed by Dorothy Thackrcy and Times-Mirror Co. today (Tuesday). It's still anybody's guess as to wliich'll be franchiscd by. FCC. L.os Angeles Times made, its pitch for video channel here with Norman Chandler, publisher. Estimating that $4,340,000 would .be earmarked for expenditures if license was granted; Chandler also staled that $40,000 monthly would be spent for opera- tions, although no profit was looked lor in at least four to-live years. Cross-examination brought out fact that Times and Pasadena Play- house', have entered' into exclusive lieup for talent on minimum con- tract of five years, with option maxi- mum up to 15. This was eyebrow lifter, inasmuch as Playhouse group has actually been telecasting for past two 'years over Don. L,cc's experi- mental station W6XYZ. but incan- | while dickering wilh.Timcs. _ j •■Outlaw" was brought back into j testimony again when Howard | Hughes . interests slapped at Klaus Laiidsbcrg, Paramount television chief, for having skilled decency with telecasting "Hoolchy Koolchy'' dancer over experimental station WtiXYZ. Mrs. Thackr'ey of KI..AC slated $500,000 was set for initial expendi- tures." and budget of $335,'J00 would be put into operations for first year if granted channel. Least contested of all pleas at FCC hearings, the Thackrcy case is first one in which political philosophy was brought in. Hughes' attorney asked her what political views she adhered to. Her attorneys as well as all others, ex- cept Hughes', objected—aiid objec- tion was sustained. Today winds up the FCC hearing. . KFI, Lee and Par have experience and investment edge, as ditto NBC and ABC. Hughes, Thackrcy and Times are prospectors. N'BC plans greater video activities 'hero than in New York, stated John Royal. Recognizable sponsoring is also distant—possibly three to four years. . Mark Woods says ABC will be in video here, with or without FCC station license. It will continue to produce, and possibly release through an affiliate already licensed. Nets Needed Royal testified that, without' net- works, television cannot exist. Syn- dication would reduce staggering costs and assure great things for greater numbers of people. Only the nets can afford to buy the one-shot bests necessary to television, he said, "radio thinking'* in television, and the difference is marked. The im- liorlance of lighting, costuming, n 11- impoi-tant material sources are not sufficiently regarded—and cannot be ovorsliosscd. Tele demands a new school of writing because it will burn up material at frightening rate, said Royal, adding, it must be well- considcrcd—and acted upon. Estimates to dale arc: Hughes. Initial costs, $1,850,000 plus $109,000 monthly operating nut: operating ex- pectancy. January. 1948; KFI, $90.- (100 spent already, proposed expendi- tures, $504,051, and $421,269 yearly in operations: Don Lcc. $376,973 already invested, $985,564 for initial year if licensed; NBC, $3,000,000 in- vested .to dale nationally, exclusive of Radio Corp. of America's $11,000.- 000 now sunk in video. NBC would alsiv, ladle $1,135,000 > initially here, . and program lo lune of $110,059 in first year. ABC would spend $1,000,000 in setting up, and another $1,500,000 annually in operation. Television Productions (Paramount) is sole in- dependently financed outfit with as- sets, liabilities and capital of $1,285 246. Par has invested $121,095 in equipment alone, plus other existing costs; new equipment would add an other $261,000, and first year opera tion would total $896,000, according - to estimates. Don Lee survey has demonstrated that audience preference run to re mote pickup events, it was stated by Lewis Allen Weiss. Mutual v-p, Animated types of programs rank over the talliy; but, whatever the program, from educational lo enter tainmcnt, it must be showmanly pre: sented for success, he added. Threat or Promise? Hollywood, May 28. Discouraging prophetic note attends FCC video hearings here. Applicants are made very conscious of the millions of dol- lars they are offering on the block. Court room selected tor hearings is number 324—door of which is plainly labeled: "Bank- ruptcy Court." . NBC'S HURRY-UP JOB Pres. Truman's Address to Congress Gels 48-Hr. Video Wiapup Out lo establish ail early public service record, ' NBC television rushed a film cameraman down lo Washington Saturday i25) in the midst of the two-day rail strike, to get pictures of President Truman delivering his history-making speech to Congress. Lenser v sel his camera up in the balcony ot the House o( Representa- tives, where the President addressed the joint session, and filmed the entire sequence of events. Films were then rushed back to N. Y., developed and edited and then broadcast over WNBT, the. web's i N. Y. tele -outlet. Monday (27) night. 'Chime Time' Via Tele As Buildup for Air Show Pulling a switch on its usual formula of building tele shows from successful radio programs, the ABC television staff inaugurates a new idea June 6 when it prcems its new •'Chime Time" show, sponsored by the A: E. Rittenhousc Co. Show will be aired from 8 to 8:15 p.m. for four successive Thursdays over WABD tDuMonl, N. Y.) and the one that goes over b&st x^-ill then be adapted for a radio show. Program will spot Jean Tighe, for- mer Guy Lombardo vocalist, in a format designed to highlight Ihe Rit- tenhousc door chimes. Art Rivera, iele director for the Donovan and Thomas agency, which handled the account, will direct the show, with Harvey Marlowe serving as exec producer tar the web. Another ABC tele show received a personnel change last '(Tuesday) night as Johnny Grant, disk jockey for WINS, N. Y. indie, replaced John Reed King as emcee on •'King's Rec- ord Shop." Show will now be knoSvn as "Grant's Record Shop." King was forced to bow out because of his heavy radio'schedule. Three New Permits, Total Now 16; What Cooks on Hearst-WBAL-Balto? ' Canton—Julius Glass and Danny Landau, formerly of Cleveland, have joined WI1BC, Canton, as promotion director and announcer, respectively. Glass was formerly with WGAR, Cleveland, as continuity editor. Washington, May 28. FCC is expected to dribble out a few more grants for black and white television stations this week, but is hitting the bottom of the barrel, with few other bids in its files con- taining sufficient up-to-date info to enable it to pass oh them. Three more television permits went out of the commissions offices last week to Hearst Radio, inc., and Radio- Television Co. of Baltimore, for Baltimore: and to Albuquerque Broadcasting Co. iKOB) tor .Albu- querque. N. M. With these actions, low-band video is ready lo go into 16 communities. Hearst Radio, Inc. won its permit over the strong dissent of FCC Com- missioner Clifford J. Durr, ' who wanted a hearing. Action of FCC in handing a television channel lo Hearst is arousing comment here, in view of the fact that Hearst's stand- ard outlet, WBAL, Baltimore, is slated for a July hearing on its license renewal. Big questions here arc: Does, this mean FCC is ready to give out video permits to anyone brash enough to brave the mob and stay-in the low-band picture? Or does it mean the commission is leaning toward renewing the WBAL license, despite the upcoming hear-, nig'-' .Meanwhile, Westinghousc Radio Stations last week yanked, its bid lor a monochrome station! in Pills- burgh, on the ground that it hopes to experiment with "stralovision" on the higher wavelengths. This leave* only DuMont Laboratories, Inc.,'Mill pushing for a Pittsburgh station.- In Cleveland. Scripps-Howard in- dicated it is still in the market for a low-band outlet by calling on FCC ;o grant immediately its bid there. Only DuMont and Scripps arc still •n the running for Cleveland's lour remaining channels. NBC received a grant there May 17; TEXAS TELE BID Fort Worth, May 28. . Carter Publications, Inc.. ha.- ap- j plied to the FCC for license to oper- ate a commercial television station j here to be operated on channel ; number five. I Group own and operate WBAP ! here and own half interest in KGKO here. Raleigh—Aii application has been made to the FCC by Ralph- D. Ep- I person to establish a standard radio I station at Mount Airy. 800 kilocycles, ■ 2. r >0 watts power, daytime hours. JIM BRITT SPORTS ROUNDUP • Tuesday • Thursday •Saturday 6:15 — 6:25 p.m. A ten-minute resume of scores and highlights of major league baseball and other headline sports events. Jim Britt is Yankee's ace sportscaster whose exclusive daily play-by-play descriptions of Brayes and Red Sox games are presented for the eighth consecutive year by The Atlantic Refining Company and co-sponsored f,or the second consecutive year by Narragansett Brewing Company, Cranston, R. I. r There's greater interest than ever in this program as New England rocks with baseball excitement THE YANKEE NETWORK, inc. Member of the Mutual Broadcasting System 21 BROOKIINE AVENUE, BOSTON 15, MASS. «« P r.,.n..d Not^-iiy by EDWARD RETRY & CO., INC.