Variety (Jul 1948)

S4 TKiMVtSWUSi Wolnesdayf July 7, 1949 ABCs Preferential TV Tune Options For AM BankroDers in Web s 1st Major Bid for Share of Tele Plum .1 ABC UDCorJced its first major bid. for a share of the television bank- roUiflg plum in a detailed states ment calculated to reach the desks ct every. Important timebuying ad- vertiser ' and agency exec on his return from the Fourth of July nbUday. As a come-on-in-fast in- ducement, the web offered prefer- ipntlal time options to current AM iiankrollers and a one^fourth-off rate discount to advertisers grab- bing time on WJZ-TV, N. Y., be- fore the iitation starts operation next month. Over the signature of sales vee- pee Fred Thrower, the net set forth the status of its TV network- ing operations, plans for expan- sion, programs currently on the air and available (and their price tags), and ABC's tele rate card No. 1. Web is now programming 12 Iiours M week, Thrower reported, liut will expand this to 28 hours ABC* TV Price Tags ABC hauled out the price tags on its c\irrent tele pro- firams in showcasing its TV Itatus and first rate card over the weekends The seven shows available and their tabs: I "Hollywood Screen Test," t dramatizations starring film ' aspirants from legit, radio and niteries, with Bert Lytell as ' etticee, $1,100; "What's New," ' featuring new inventions and gadgets, $1,000; "Cartoon Tele- tales," showing children how to Sketch characters from dra- matized stories, $500 for the ^l-st 26 weeks, $600 for the next 26; "That Reminds Me," human Interest yarns by Cal Tinney and guests, $1,400; "Hayloft Hoedown," hillbilly .variety, $1,250; "Play the Gitme/' charade quiz^ $9S0, and "You're Invited," variety show emceed by Homo Vincent, $850. Additionally available are 12 Ne\y York Giants pro foot- ball games, nine to be carried live and three by film, and 30 pro basketball games from Madison Square Garden. Pack- age prices were not stated, but are available on request, the net said. ' weekly as soon as WJZ-TV hits the air in August. Four more ABC owned and operated outlets are elated to tee off before the end of the year, at the rate of one a month —WENR-TV, Chicago, in Septem- ber; WXYZ-TV, Detroit, in Octo- ber; KECA-TV; Los Angeles, in November, and KGO-TV, San Fran- . Cisco, in December. Three eastern outlets—WFIL-TV, Philadelphia; WMAL-TV, Washing- ton and WAAM, Baltimore, the lat- ter signed as an affiliate only, yes- terday (Tues.)'—will be connected (Continued on page 26) Priee Fallows Gaxton AsTexaco'sQuondani M.C.; Want Berle Back Television's "T e x a c o S t a r Theatre," in a switch from the original plans, is now signing emcees on a week-to-week basis, Instead of four weeks at a time. William Gaxton, for example, han- dled last (Tuesday) night's show and Georgie Price is slated to em- cee next-week's stanza. Both draw a reported $1,000 for the one-shot out of a $5,000 talent budget. Kudner agency,- which handles the Texaco account, has been fur- nished with several availabilities by the William Morris office and will select emcees for at least the rest of July by the end of this week. Gaxton and Price, inciden- tally, sub for George Jessel, who was called back to the 20th-Fox studios on the Coast for film pro- duction work. Show is aired iii the 8 to 9 p.m. flot on the NBC'TV web. te^aco Is trying to work out a deal for Milton Berle to become permtttiettt .fince«iiithef«ai. Frederic Ziv dlKHtttf "Flint* in Your Television Future*' an editsrlal ftaiiire in tha 3ci Annual Special RADIO-TELEVISION EDITION of USriety ta be published this month Tele Rates Up As Sets Increase In line with Ithe steady iMtost in television set circulation in the metropolitan N.Y. area, both WNBT (NBC, N.Y.) iand WCBS- TV (CBS, N.Y.) announced this week a hike in their time rates, to be effective Oct. 1. NBC, mean- while, will up'its network rates at the same time. NBC also latched on to another affiliate with the inking of a pact to service WJAR-TV, Providence. Station, owned by the Outlet Co., owners of WJAR, NBC's sound broadcasting affiliate in Provi-' dence, expects to take the air about Sept 15, at which time it will receive. NBC net programs via' radio relay from'Boston, which is now connected to WNBT via micro- wave. Despite the boost in. rates, the increase in number of sets makes the time charges comparatively lower, according to' CBS-TV com- mercial manager George L. Moskor vies. He pointed out tliat the pres- ent base rate of $700 per. hour for WCBS-TV was established April 1, when there some 147,000 sets in circulation, making the rate about $4.76 per thousand. New rate of $1,000 per hour, effective Oct. 1, will see more than 300,000 sets in the area, which will make the charges then equivalent to about $3.33 per thousand, a drop of some 43%. WGBS - TV, meanwhile, has boosted its rates for time, signals, effected June 1, to $115 for Class (Continued on page 26) FAIRBANKS STARTS 2D TEIEPIC SERIES Hollywood, July 6. Jerry Fairbanks Productions starts shooting its second 26 week series of television films for NBC this week. „,... Series, titled "Going Places With Uncle George," films will be de- signed for tot viewing along with sight-seing trips to zoos, circuses and places of general interest. Dick Elliott has been inked to play Uncle George. NBCTrialBaDoon On CeUuIoid Web Nix«d by Agencies Looks like the bankroUers are in a mood to nix efforts to set up celluloid networks. It's learned that NBC quietly sent up a trial balloon on this score during the past week and the agencies shot it full of holes with their loud squawks. Word subsequently went out that NBC had pigeon-holed the proposal. Web's idea was to require bank- rollers to take on every new af- filiate the net added, servicing the sponsor's show to them via kine- scoped film at a cost to the client of $180 for the master reel and $25 for each print serviced. Agencies' attitude, according to a typical one, is that such a plan forced the advertisers to pay for NBC's facilities and would have an end effect of "driving every- body into films." "We don't see,-" harped an agen- cy's radio topper, "why we should go to the expense of putting on a live show for a few outlets and have to pay additionally to have it aired on film of inferior qu'ality on the other stations." Thus far, the network hasn't come up with a substitute plan. But if advertisers are going to hold out for live pickups, it means ex- tensive network of commercial TV programming' is off until coaxial and microwave delays are set up from coast to coast. That, accord- ing to NBC itself, is several years away, « SYLVIE ST. CLAIR TO SING ON THE RIVIERA Sylvie St. Clair, the WABD (DuMont), N. Y., chanteuse, clip- pered to Paris last week to play some Riviera engagements. She may be featured with Michel Emer's orchestra which opens the Palm Beach Casino, Cannes, July 10 and remains there until Sept. 9. Emer is the French songsmith who composed a number of Edith Plaf's best known songs. Miss St. Clair has been offered renewal by DuMont but is hesitat- ing until she gets commercial committments. WOR Preps Paul Winchell For Video Sweepstakes WOR, N. Y„ thinlis ft may have some hot television competition for Edgar Bergen if the latter de- cided to enter Charlie McCartlqr in the video stakes. Mutual key has pacted ventrilo- quist Paul Winchell tq stand in for John Gambling on the latter's 1:15 p.m. cross-the-board show while Gambling vacations all this month. Winchell and his ■ dummy, Jerry Mahoney, took over the spot Mon- day (5). Station execs are said to feel that Winchell has strong possibili- ties of developing Into a toprated tele act. Arid, of course, WOR-TV and its Washington, D. C, sister, WOIC, Will be on the air before lootf. Frisco Channel Winners Still Dark; 20th May Get One Via Oakland Setup Mnli Speedy TV ProducticmCode Production code for the tele- vision industry, designed/to impose a system of self-censorship that will eliminate much of the current criticism against performers' use of blue material on the air, is to be developed during the next several months by a special committee of the Television Broadcasters Assn. Code will be submitted to the full TRA membership at tile organiza- tion's annual meeting in December. Committee is headed up by CBS exec veepee Lawrence W. Lowman and comprises NBC tele exec Noran E. Kersta; Robert L. Coe, station manager of WPIX (N Y. Daily News), and Neil Swanson, exec veepee of WMAR-TV (Balt- imore). Code, the first official guide for TV programming on an mdusti-y-wide basis, was suggested by TBA prez J. R. Poppele more than two years ago, but no action has yet been taken ot its formula- tion. Kersta, incidentally, has just been elected a member of the TBA board. He succeeds NBC veepee John F. Royal, recently resigned, and will continue in office until the nej^t election in December. Spicer Quits KSTP Post Due to Lack of Material Minneapolis, July 6. Difficulties in obtaining program material for television brought about resignation of Dorothy Spi- cer as program director for KSTP- TV. She had been KSTP pubUc relations director prior to taking television assignment Hugh M. BeviUe, Jr. Diracfor of Rtstarch «> NBC : goei late Ik* prapesMaii •! TV Rcitnrch: "So Many Want to Find Out So Much From So Few" ■ •-.*■. * *..■•■ ■R editorial fMtim in 3d Annual Special RADIO^ELEVISiON EDITION to be published this month Other televisum news on page 5. WATV Status In State of Flux Confronted with the fact that less than 50% of the television re- ceivers in the metropolitan N. Y. area can pick up its sieaal, WATV, Bremer Broadcasting's tele station in Newark, N. J., has postponed any live studio programming until at least the fall and has halted the majority of station expansion. With the operation's curtail- ment, program manager Paul Bel- anger has resigned, effective today (Wednesday). According to Belang- er, his future plans are still indefi- nite but he has several offers from N. Y. tele outfits, including the TV department - of one of the major ad agencies. Still at a loss to explain the apparently freak electronic situa- tion that's cut into reception of its signal so tremendously, WATV has asked RCA engineers to check all its transmitting equipment during the next six-eight weeks. Reception has been reported at various times from places as distant as Balti- more, but since most of the .N. Y. sets . can't pick- up the signal, WATV has had considerable diffi- culty trying to sell air time. Situa- tion is the first serious one of its kind in the industry. As a result the programming and production staff has been trimmed, with.production designer Lawrence Goldwasser already gone,, as well as several minor' production staf- fers. To date, no painters^ camera- men, stagehands or studio cfimera- men have been hired. Situation is further complicated by WATV's union difficulties. Sta- tion *■ signed a blanket contract about a year ago with the Inter- national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, giving that union juris- diction over all TV jobs. Inter- national Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees has since slapped an injunction on WATV, charging unfair practices. Station has stayed aloof from the dispute,: but the jurisdictional battle has not been settled. CBS, DUMONT CONTINUE EXEC RESHUFFLING Both CBS-TV and DuMont con- tinued to' indulge in the favorite midsummer sport of exec reshuff- ling during the last week. CBS assigned Edmund Chester, hereto- fore director of snortwave broad- casting and Latin American affairs for the web, as director of news, special events and sports. He's to coordinate all these facets of pro- gramming in a move designed to further the web's TV network ex- pansion. DuMont, meanwhile, switched stations lelations chief Halsey Bar- rett to the post of manager of the newly-created sales service depart- ment, In a local move, Lynn Cleary, with DUMont for a year, was assigned as a special assistant to handle continuity, literary and ;IrH^r,^^''*^ programs for WABD, the web's key N, Y. outlet. Jack Rayel, meanwhile, has been named assistant to network., pro- grammmg chief James L. Caddi-s By BOB STAHL Washington, July 6. Which of the five applicants will win the fight for the two hotly- contested San Francisco television channels remaining is anybody*8 guess, following the windup here Friday (2) of 20 days of gruelling testimony both in D.C. and Frisco, Decision isn't expected to be ren- dered to the FCC for at least six months by FCC examiner Jack Paul Blume, who ran the entin four weeks of hearings. Out of the morass of conflicting testimony offered by the appU« cants, including CBS, KROW (Oak- land, Cal., indie AM station). Para- mount, Ed Pauley's Television California and 20th-Fox, one thing seemed certain: that much of the case may revolve around the avail- ability of transmission facilities in the East Bay (Oakland) area. Three construction permits already grant' ed in Frisco covei: the metropoli- tan area only,; meaning that if the remaining two are assigned to Frisco, Oakland'wUl have no local coverage. In a surprise move, 20th dis- closed on the stand that it planned a separate studio in Oakland. Op^ posing counsel: tried valiantly to prove this was a mere straw-in^the* wind, proposed by 20th after lis* tening to the previous testimony of otibier applicants. If 20th can make its case stick, it's believed to stand a good chance of drawing ' one of the TV assignments. Radio manager Irving Kahn testified Friday (2) that he'd been advised by KROW general manager Wil- liam Gunzendorfer about the im- portance of an Oakland operation as far back as April, before the hearings started. Objection was raised,' however, about including 20th's Oakland plans in the record.. Blume declared that, if after furt ther study the objection was up- held, all such reference would be stricken out. Closing two days of the hearings' were sparked by 20th's big guns, including 20th prez Spyros Skouras, National Theatres prez Charles P. Skouras, research chief Earl Sponable, tele chief Alfred H. Morton and Kahn: Skouras freres provided the same highlights they did during the eal-lier sessions in Frisco, proving again their innate personal showmanship. They both drew plenty of laughs from the hearing room (crowded for the first time) with their answers, hut still socked across several impop* tant points. Spyros Skouras, in a surprise , move, revealed that 20th is work-. ing on color tele for home re- (Continued on page 26) Elsa Maxwell as a 5G Telehostess in Package On Berg-Eikel Agenda Gertrude Berg and Vera Eikel are packaging a fall television series starring Elsa Maxwell and built around her party " staging. Miss Maxwell is currently in Europe filming intervie\^s with celebrities in London, Paris and Italy for the opening sequences of the weelt]^ show. It's understood that before she sailed several weeks ago, she laid plans for the show before two friends and pros- pective buyers, David Samoff of RCA (NBC) and William S. Paley of CBS. It's learned, too, that her close association with several film indus- ti-y toppers has won her some back- ing for* her new tele-pix activities Cpoperation of Jack Warner and Darryl Zanuck is already in effect on the summer shooting abroad, it's said. . Following the filmed interviews, the show will turn to Miss Max- well's parties, with her typical bevy of name guests, originating; from various points such as her own apartment, the homes ol prominent friends, and places of national interest. Her daily syndi- cated "Party Line" column will lie in with the tele format. Cost details will be unfolded this week when Miss ■ Berg and Miss Eikel huddle with several inter- ested agencies, but the estimated price tag on the package is $5,ouii weekly. ThC ' producers report they've had several participating sponsor offers, but no commii- meuts liave been made.