Variety (Jul 1948)

WcJncaday, July 7, 194A 21 CBS SHEDS LATIN HEADACHE Ibioii^n^n fw Royal HiM>ts Tree Ra&' Onference in B. A. Montevideo, Jidy 6, < • Despite the efforts of the Ar- gentine government, the annual convention of the InterrAmerican Assn. of Broadcasters at Buenos Aires finally got a chance Sunday night (4) to express its feelings about 'democracy and freedom from political domination. Having been kept occupied several days by a succession of official enter- tainments and social functions, the delegates broke into an enthusias- tic demonstration for John F. Roy- al, NBC v.p., representative from the U. S., and cheered the setting off of firecrackers to celebrate his • country's Independence Day. The fact that the meetihgs are b^ing held in the Argentine capital, where the government maintains a firm grip on radio, gave particular point to Royal's statements in be- half of the real freedom and re- sponsibility of' broadcasters. Roy- al's contribution to international radio and his aid and inspiration to the free broadcasters of Latin- America were mentioned ixi an in- troductory speech by Alcides Toro, • of Venezuela, and the demonstra- tion was led by Emilio Azcarraga, of Mexico; S. Fantana, of Uruguay. Gear Mestre, of Cuba, and R. Machado, of Brazil. Deleeaies Burned Up Although this is supposed to be a meeting between private broad- , casters, the government's domina- tion of Argentine radio is turning the confab into a government con- trolled confab, with the radio men from the other American republics burned up over the entire setup. The Argentine Postal Savings Bank, adjoining the Casa Rosada Government House, has b e e n placed at the disposal of the con- fab, while furniture and installa- (ContlDued on page 29) Bob Trout .discoarMi on and key* "The Answer on Television News** *. • ■* an editorial fratiir* in 3d Annual Special RADIO-TELEVISION EDITION to b» publidied thh month Prog ram Sinfts Uiqireeedented Shuffles and reshuffles over the past month affecting the nighttime network rosters next season are said by web execs to be unprece- dented. Bearing the brunt of the activity have been the Friday nigJJt schedules on both NBC and CBS. They're still juggling them around, with likelihood that the picture won't crystallize itself for another tliree or four weeks, Another CBS occupant of years standmg is scheduled to move over to NBC this fall, in the wake of IntemaUonal Silver's decision to give Ozzie and Harriet a whirl on the NBC kUocycles. It's the Pet Milk "Saturday Night Serenade" program, currently berthed in the CBS 10 p.m. Saturday spot but Mould like a choicer time segment. Just what segments Ozzie and "Serenade" go into hasn't defl- nitelv been determined. Ozizie may wind" up in the Saturday at 8 pe- riod being vacated by P & G's "Life of Riley," but there's a pos- sibility that it may land the Sun- day 6:30-7 period if Amencan Home Products' "Hollywood Star preview" show agrees to a new spot There's been talk of the lat- ter going into Wednesday night at 30-30 If Ozzie gets Sunday at 6:30, the Pet Milk musical will go into Saturday at 8. Air St. 1. Cops Graduation St. Louis, July 6. For the first time in the history of the St. Louis Police Dept. gradu- ating exercises of the poUce academy were broadcast. Last week KXOK tape recorded the proceed- ings and broadcast several hours later. This was the fli-st class of the academy graduating under the new training system which Is patterned after the FBI. Sneakers at the exercises were Gov Phil Donnelly, H. Sam Priest, Kident of the Board of PoUce Commissioner and Folic* Ohiet Jeremiah O'Connell. >>,.., ■ Overhaul yd to Chi Trib RedliihTVDip Chicago, July 6. Steady flow of red ink from video operations is seen as the main factor behind current re- alignments in the broadcasting do- main of the Chicago Tribune. Lat- est moves include George tlarvey's transfer as WGN's eastern sales manager to the post of WGN-TV sales chief, and the announcement that the FM'er, WGNB, will begin duplicating WGN programs next month. Harvey takes over tele sales .luly 17 with present staffers Ted Weber and Bill Myers staying on as assistants. Less than 50% of WGN-TV time has been sold, fol- lowing the teeoil last April. Sta- tion recently cut five hours from its weekly sked, now averaging 36 hours. Ben Berentson, manager of WGN western sales since 1945, replaces Harvey as eastern sales chief today (6) . DupleaVlon of WGN shows on WGNB will end -Separate staffing and' special programming the FM'er has maintained since its start in (Continued on page 28) Blown Fuse Causes Demo Tops to Blow in Mpls. iliring of Town Meeting' Minneapolis, July 6. WTCN here, carrying "Town Meeting of the Air," caught a lot of heat from its audience last week when it blew a fuse hi the midst of the show that gave spokesmen for the political parties a chance to px-esent their cases. The station went abruptly off the. air shortly after Will Rogers, Jr., speaking for the Democrats, launched an at^ tack on the Republican Congress' record. It was off for the rest of the program. Angry Democrats called up by the dozens, accusing the station of "prejudice." Many couldn't be con- vinced that a mishap caused the program's termination and that it wasn't choked off purposely. Much was made of the fact that the Re- publican had gotten off his pres- entation without interruption. In an effort to smooth ruffled feelings, WTCN had a tape record- ing of the program sliipped in from New York and broadcast it Sun- day night. Some disgmntled Dem- ocrats still beefed because the he- publican spokesman had two whacks on the air. DiiOPPIiU2i STITIi 5ETIP CBS last week reversed its long- time opposition to government operation of shortwave radio and went along with tlie David Samoff philosophy that private operators should get out, of the deficit-and- headache branch'of radio. CBS is now not only discontinu- ing (as of Oct, 1) its foreign lang- uage service to Europe and Soutli j America, but it is also dropping t and forgetting its Central and South American affiliated Cadena de los Americas, a network of 126 stations put together in- 1941 by William S. Paley personally. The CBS board chairman at that time toured South America with Paul White and others and set deals in every country. Paley-later hired a Latin expert from the Associ- ated Press, Edmund Chester, to head up the CBS shortwave divi- sion. John Hundley, former musi' cat comedy singer, has been sec- ond in command. Switch on Plans CBS' sudden decision last week to join NBC in quitting shortwave and foreign language operations altogether is a switch on plans originally projected only a few months ago when Paley returned from his winter holiday in Florida. At that time it was intended to expand rather that cut down or abandon DX. An additional State Department subsidy was then in prospect. Meantime the teacup tempest about shortwave wise- cracks on Texas hit NBC and in the resultant flurry of Senatorial "indignation," NBC was provided with a welcome out. Withdrawal of CBS and NBC comes at a time when one Inter- national frequencies meeting is in progress at Buenos 'Aires and an- other scheduled (November) for Mexico City. Presumably there will now be extensive relaxations of pressure for desirable short- wave channels. Insiders think this will please (a) a longtime clique in the State Dept. itself who are now closer to the fixed commercial point-to-point companies tlian to either the "'Voice of America" or U, S. shortwave Interests general ly, and (b) the British Broadcast- ing Corp., still dominant in DX operations and reluctant to £ive up or share any of its choice air- lanes. The United Nations organization radio division under Peter Aylen at Lake Success is anxious to move into shortwave operations on an expanding basis and may or may not benefit from the happen- stance of CBS and NBC lockmg policies. FBI 0.0. iig 225 m, CBS hs^m Pnt St^ D^L liksmt of 'Vdce' Alan Lipscott whoM iilctrs dot* 'way back tp radiO) ciNiNiiMi tclmifien and ebsMvm that it's ''Still the Same Ulcer** in 3d Annual Special RADIO-TELEVISION EDITION to bo publtdtod soon VICK IN EARLY START ON BUYING PROGRMIS Vick Co. is buying local pro- grams for the 1948-49 season some- what earlier than it has in' past years. The guest, tlirough the Morse International Agency, this time for three Id-minute daytime shows a week. Contracts will be for 26 weeks, starting Sept. 13. In dishing out its budget for the season Vick will operate on the ba.sis of three different lists. First consideration will be given to major markets contained on list No. 1. After that account will be taken of availabilities in secondary markets, and if there^s any money left over it will be divvied up among the markets on the third list. Demos Cour&$ B^gerAM-Tde Play Than GOP Philadelphia, July 6, Conti'ary to the recent prevailing belief that radio and television would pay less attention to the Democratic convention than to the GOP powovv, owing to the ap- parently cetftain nomination of President Truman, it now appears that even more broadcasting per- sonnel will converge here next week than turned out for the Re- publican confab. According to Kenneth Fry. radio director for the Demo national committee, more than 1,000 radio and TV people are being assigned to the -convention—tele engineers alone accounting for from 150 to 200. Radio-TV turnout for the GOP meet totaled about 850. Fry is expected here tomorrow (Wed.) to set up headquarters at the Bellevue-Stratford. He has sent out an informal letter to all delegates and Other principals ad- vising them to be wary of the "merciless"' tele eye, cautioning them against reading newspapers during speeches, advising speakers to be clean-shaven, etc. Fry will advise speakers on dressing most effectively for tele and WiU offer makeup to those wishing it. Whether President Ti-uman will wear makeup before the video cameras Isn't known, but it'll be there for him if he wants it. So far, 128 networks and indi- vidual stations have been accredit- ed for the conclave, according to Harold McGrath, superintendent of the Senate radio galleries. One reason for the expected increase in radio-TV personnel is the South's greater interest in the Demo pro- ceedings. I&M'S 3 NEW VEEPEES Three new vice-presidents have been appointed by Lennen & Mit'- chell. They are Thomas P. Bough- ton, executive assistant to Ray Vir Denj president; Darnlel M. Daley. Jr., account executive, and Peter V. Keveson, radio copy head, , ^11 are effective immcdiateljr. Thelma Ritter's Pic Thelma Bitter winds up her radio assignments today (Wed.) and leaves for tlie Coast tomorrow (Thurs.) for a comedy part in the 20th-rox picture, "To Three Wives." She'll be jfone about a month. Actress, who made her screen debut last fall in the same studio's "Miracle on 34th Street," is the wife of Joseph A. Moran, vice-pres- ident of Young & Rubicam. NBC's Denny Qevatbn Further Accentuation Of Web's Accent-on-Youth Naming of Charles R. Denny, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission who joined NBC about eight months ago, to the executive vice-presi- dency of the network, is seen as further reflecting the web's accent- on-youth stance in which, over the past year, a number of youthful minor execs were boosted into prominent policy-making posts; At 36, Denny takes over the exec post held by Frank Mullen, who resigned recently to head up the G. A. (Dick) Richards three-station operation. As such, Denny will be the web's No. 2 man; second only to prcxy Niles Trammell, Succeeding Denny as veepee and general counsel will be Gustav B. Margraf, who has been NBC's legal rep in Washington. I The Denny-Margraf appoint- iments were announced Friday (2i [following a meeting of the web/s Iboarfl of directors; •" - FBI m^n have been around Man- liattan. radio circles in increasing numbers in recent weeks, asking questions. These questions, it's re- ported, primarily concern many of the 225 persons currently on the NBC and CBS payrolls as part of the two webs' "Voice of America" programming setups. The Government sleuths hava stepped in because, effective Oct. 1, the tm> networks are relinqtiishintl the "Voice" programming func- tions and turning them back to tho State Dept. In return, the Stata Dept. is planning, to absorb a» many of these 225 people «s1ts ap> propriation will permit <the two networks hope to find jobs for fh» remainder) ' but before patting them on the government payroll, the State Dept. wants to make sure it won't be inviting any further Congressional investigatUms and. hearings. NBC's Latin-American "Voicif" broadcasts touched off the recent D.C. alarm and subsequent healings which resulted in the webs' de- cision henceforth to confine them- selves to renting its facilities and operating the engineering aspects of "Voice" broadcasts for the State Dept., with the latter taking over the international program- ming functions. During the interim period between now and Oct. 1 the webs will continue to supply the State Dept. with the "Voice" programming service, but on a curtailed basis, with the govern- ment assuming responsibility for program content, and meanwhile building its own staff. Oddly enough, most of tlie 225 programming aides employed by NBC and CBS during the eight- month period they took over the ."Voice" programs, were originally in the State Dept. employ. The -two networks were each given $1,300,000 a year app)ropriations to program and service the "Voice'" shows, amounts which just about defrayed the .cost of operation. Counter WOV Bid Tlie Involved WOV-WNEW (N. ■¥.) duopoly situation of years standing has moved another step forward, with counsel for Herman Bess' General Broadcasting Corp., which seeks to buy WOV, filing a motion with the FCC asking for' dismissal of the competing applica- tion. Latter application has been filed by the Victory Broadcasting Corp., comprising Ralph Weil and Arnold Hartley, manager and pro- gram manager, respectively, of WOV. Bess, asking the FCC to nix the Weil-Hartley application, claims that the latter's bid is an illusory one; that actually no real compet- ing application has been offered; that the only thing offered by Vic5- tory has been legal commitments, involving transfer of Richard O'Dea's stock. As siich, It's ar- gued, the bid only matches the on« originally made by. Bess, Bess has affixed sworn affidavits by O'Dca alleging that the latter has had no dealings with Weil and Hartley and points out that O'Dca is a member of Bess' General Broadcasting Corp, Damon Vamps Soaper For Strawhat Fliiig After several years in the part, Les Damon is quitting one of the lead.s of the "Big Sister" daytime serial and may do summer stock. Auditions for a replacement ar^ being held this week by the Comp^ ton agency. Procter & Gamble is the sponsor, and Mitchell Grayson directs the show. Damon formerly played Nick Charles, the suave sleuth in "Tliin Man," but was replaced by Les Tremayne. He continues in run- ning parts on "Right to Happiness" •'"■',;] and "FfiftiSi faces lp|e," ,