Variety (Jul 1948)

WetfaesdaUt July 28, 194S 87 Westinghouse Seeks Pitt's Channel 8 For Stratovision in New FCC Hearings Washington, July 27, The television channel realloca- tion and redistribution hearings re- sumed yesterday (26), with West- inghouse urging the FCC to allo- cate channel 8 to Pittsburgh and allow them to experiment with stratoviislon on that channel. E. T. Morris, Stratovision man- ager, said the proposal was made at this time because "experimental flights show that the major tech- nical problems in the stratovision broadcasting system have been solved." , ' ^ The question of weather inter- ference was brought up. One enr gineer testified that he did not be- lieve weather would affect Strato- vision with planes flying at 25,000 feet where only thunderheads are encountered. He pointed out that "aerial video" was not restricted to a flight schedule, such as airlines use, and therefore would .be an easier operation. If one; field was aboui, to be weathered in, the plane could take off for another field and still reach its objective. Channel 8 was requested because it would cause less interference to a station on the same frequency and also to stations on adjacent channels. A radius of 250 miles has been proven, ' Westinghouse said. A Westinghouse man told Varietv that it would be possible with- Stratovision for light air- planes to carry programs of nine network across country between New York and Hbllywood. System is just projected at this time.. ABC testified on tropospheric ef- fect, asking the Commission to i-e- vise its tele rules to regulate and limit the permissible radiated power of stations. Still to be heard are television Broadcasters Assn., DuMont, CBS and NBG. Attorneys estimated the hearing' could be' completed in three days. TBA will probably re- quest the commission to drop this whole proceeding from the record In view of the September hearings on: high frequency television^ Kinlner Projected As ABCsTopkickinTV Administrative Setup Trade is noting emergence of Robert E. Kintner, ABC's exec veepee, as the top' figure in that webs rapidly materializing tele- vision setup, in much the same way as Frank Mullen was identified as topkick of NBC's TV operations ^ before his r e c e n t departure. Whereas important announcements and pronouncements on ABC's AM operations have always come from prexy Mark Woods, all major dis- closures on the net's video expan- sion now are being issued by Kint- ner. • Also, it's learned that while .Charles (Bud) Barry until recently carried the title of vei^ee in charge of programs "and tele- vision," he is now over only the programming side of the TV pic- ture and Paul Mowrey, director of television, reports directly to Kintner except on programming matters. Fred Thrower is veepee over sales for TV as well as AM: Murray , Grabhom is v.p. over AM ftud TV owned-and-operated sta- tions; Tom Velotta is veepee over news and special events for both TV and AM, and so on—all repoi t- Jng to Kintner. . ■ While Kintner all along has been the top-level operating executive of the web, his new position as top spokesman for ABC-TV suggests that he will be projected into executive limelight much mote con- spuuously in the days to come than he has been in-the past. Whether this development pres- ages some kind of realignment in ABC's upper echleon as the dual AM«TV operation expands, how- ever, hasn't been indicated. Frieda Takes Over Washington, July 27. FCC Commissioner Frieda B. llermock sat in on her first hearing yesterday t26) when the television channel reallo- cation and redi.slribution hear- ings resumed. Miss Hennock was chic in a navy outfit. She voinoved her hat during the sessions and ' seemed self- conscious on-the rostrum. The entire Commission; with the exception of Robert Jones, were present in tribute to the first woman Commissioner. The hearing was so dry and technical that Miss Hennock's first session was uninteresting, although she attempted to seein engrossed in the exhib- its^ hiding her yawns. DuMont Scoffs At $33.0M Sale Persistent trade reports that the Crosley Broadcasting Corp. had purchased a majority stock interest in DuMont Television for $33,- 000,000 were denied this week by top executives of both companies. They emphasized that the only tie- in between the two companies is a cress-licensing agreement under which Crosley makes use of Du- Mont tele patents in the manufac- ture of receiver sets. According, to Commander Morti- mer Loewi, exec assistant to Du- Mont pre? Allen B. DuMont, stock control in his organization is not for sale, lie pointed out that any organisation might buy stock across the counter, but declared there aren't enough shares avail- able to permit an outside outfit to take over control. "Why should DuMont sell out now, after 15 years of struggle, when'television is just shoM'ing signs that it might pay off soon?" Loewi said. He stressed that DuMont's re- fusal to sell is not a question of price, quoting Dr. DuMont as de- claring that he's "having too much fun" running the organization to pull out at this time. It's noted, meanwhile, that any sale of a con- trolling interest in DuMont would have to take into consideration Paramount's holdings in the com- pany. Par owns all the B stock, plu.s an undisclosed number of A shares, which gives it a reported 40% interest in the organization. THOMAS TO WOIC AS GENERAL MANAGER Eugene S. Thomas, sales mana- ger of WOR. N. y., for the past 10 years, is returning to his former home in Washington. D. C, this Fall to become general manager of WOR's D. C. television station, WOIC. Appointment, announced yesterday (Tues.) by Theodore G. Slreibcrt, WOR proxy, is effective Sept. 1. WOIC is slated to put its te.st pattern on the air Sept. 1 and to begin programming Oct. 1. Thomas, who is prcxy of the Sales Executives Club of N. Y. and a past prez of the N. Y. Advertis- ing Club, has been with WOR since 1934. lie lived in Wasliington for 23 years, during which time he was successively a reporter on the Washington Herald and the Daily News and a feature writer on the Washington Star. At another period he managed the Atwater Kent national radio auditions. Blodgett'a Philco Post Philadelphia, July 27. Robert Blodgett, former man- ager of product design in the ac- cessory division, has been ap- pointed television product manager for the Philco Corp. Blpdgett joined Philco In 1936 IT ill BEPENiS iili GIllLS SHOTS By DICK DOAN Showdown is inevitable, as tele- vision's coverage of news and special events progresses, on ques- tion of whether newsmen or pro- gram directors shall have final .say-so on the way such TV shows are done. It's inevitable, too,, that the medium soon must determine how it is going to avoid criticism that it editorializes via its camera angles, choice of shots, etc. While coverage of the recent political conventions brought nei- ther of these questions to a head, it pointed both up in the minds Of many concerned.; It's generally acknowledged that tele is so novel at this point that viewers will for- give i( most of its .sins and slip- ups. And it's generally felt that a formula for smooth-working co- ordination between • commentators and camera directors will have to be evolved before long. But the twin problems of edi- torializing and say-so, linked up in the minds of the newsmen be- cause they feel they • are better qualified than directors to judge news and to play it impartially, are looming up more and more in shoptalk. . Harried Time In Philly Operation of the TV pool at the Republican and Democratic pow- wows highlighted the two prob- lems in several ways: The TV pool director (the as- signment was rotated, day to day, between the networks) .sat before monitors showing what five differ- ent cameras were picking up and called the "takes" tot the pool feed. In a separate booth, with only a monitor of what was going on the air and no way of telling what .scenes were coming up next or of cueing the director, sat the pool commentator. The director, concentrating on the visual pick-. up, and wearing inter-cora ear* phones and mike ito direct the- cameras, couldn't follow the com- mentator. ResuU was that the gab- ber had a harried time of it, rac- ing to keep up with the camera switches and often finding him- self midway through a remark about something showing on the screen when a different shot flashed uito view. He was left to try to squeeze in his commentary, catch as catch can. The director, concentrating on visual effectiveness and variety in contrast to static pickups, couldn't be blamed for constantly shifting camera angles and views. For viewers, one of the most enliven- ing aspects of the TV coverage was the camera's intimate, prying eye, wandering over the hall and spotting delegates, spectators and others, sleeping, reading papers, etc. Nevertheless, this camera ambling often distracted from the proceedings, It was almost as if, in effect, TV wasn't paying any more attention to the speakers than the delegates, even though the aural pickup remained at the rostrum. It was possible, as far as viewers were concerned, for TV virtually to nullify the effect of a speaker's remarks by switch- ing to shots of the gallery or floor during a speech. (A woman prom- inent in politics cracked at one point during the Demo convention that she felt a Republican must be directing the TV pickups.) Still another means of editori- alizing observers noted, was the use of unflattering closeups. In one case, comment was aroused by the use of extreme doseup shots in an interview of a prom- inent legislator Whose complexion is unattractive, even in makeup. Newspapers, magazines and newsreels have never had to wor- ry particularly about impartiality in their selection of pictures. But TV, presumed like radio to do a straightaway reporting job and beholden to the ECC if it doesn't, is seen as being in need immedi- ately of some rules of practice which will safeguard it from view- ers' beefs in news and special events coverage. Field Day for TV Camera'StdBes At Progressive Party GMiv^tion Goscli's 'General Store' 5G Package for Ives "General Store," situation com- edy with music, to star Burl Ives, is being readied as a filmed tele show by Martin Gosch. It'll be bud- geted at about $5,000 and will be submitted to agencies in presenta- tion form. Hiram Sherman has been set as m.c. of a dramatic series built | around the Neighborhood Play- house drama workshop in New York, also being produced by Gosch. Ruth Adams Knight will script the series. MuH TV Only' Writers Guild Whether to set up a new Tele- vision Writers Guild or continue to handle the video medium through 4ts special.television com- mittee will be one of the questions considered today (Wed.) at a meeting of the Authors League of America council. There has been some agitation in favor of forming a new guild, but the expense of such a project may be a deterring factor. The problem of handling the video writing field has two aspects. As yet, there is relatively little script- ing done directly for tele. There are few staff TV writers and, with the medium still in its infancy, not many originals authored directly for it, Much of the dKamatic ma- terifil for video is adapted from stage plays and short stories, par- ticularly the former; Thus, the Authors League prob- lem is .still largely a matter of try- ing to control the sale of TV rights to material originally written for other media. The League tele- vision committee is working on this, chiefly by trying to educate the organization's membership to lease single-performance rights to. their material, instead of selling it outright. An effort is also being made to raise the general level of prices for video rights to written material. When enough staff writers are employed in TV, and enough origi- nal material is bought, the League will presumably have to organize a new Guild to represent the script- ers. Meantime, the video commit- tee, including representatives from the Dramatists Guild, Screen Writ- ers Guild, Radio Writers Guild and Authors Guild, may continue to deal with the situation. Philadelphia, July 27. The Television pool gave the Progressive Party virtually the same inquisitive attention it had .spent upon the Republicans and the Democrats. The TV setup Was coverage for- mula by this time and followed the identical pattern it-established in the earlier meetings. - Video found in the Wallace adherents a rich field for individual investiga- tion. •■. Younger and more vociferous than their elders with the' more established political faiths, the:' Wallace delegate's were also vastly more spectacular. The television cameras caught it all, the beardless youths, the girls in the batik blouses, peasant skirts and sandals, the seU-appointed saviors of the cotmtry, with'a hun- dred and more nostrums—^the cameras ■ picked up everyone of them. The pool used WPTZ equipment at Shibe Park to cover the Wallace acceptance speech. At a meeting of the TV networks it was agreed that WPTZ .technicians and equip- ment w6uld handle the entire tele- casting of the giant rally. The WPTZ setup is used t6g»- larly to cover the home game,<; of the Phillies and Athletics, ball clubs. Immediately following the Athletics-Detroit game, Saturday afternoon, WPTZ began setting up new camera positions on the play- ing field, microphones and pool hookups. According to Adolph Schneider, coordinator of tele and news for NBC, evei-y word and gesfure of the Progressive Party's candidatcji was carried to the same stations that covered the earlier confab. In addition^ to the lighting Shibe Park employs for its nfght hall games, the newsreel .and video men had an additional lyiO0,000 watts in floodlights on the field, placed . by Charley Ross, New York light- ing expert, engaged by the Pro- gressives. Ross said Shibe Park required three times as much lighting us the hall. Much of the lighting, was-for the use of the newsreel boys. Of all the units who worked aU three conventions,-the news photog6 re- mained most nearly the same. There were 35 men covering the Progressives' show, a difference of about to less than at the first two conventions. AUDIENCE SEES PLAY LIVE AND ON TELE Ann Arbor, July 27. The audience at a three-set dra- matic show at the Lydia Mendels- sohn theatre at Michigan Univ. last Saturday (24) also saw the play si- multaneously by television. The performance was picked up by a mobile unit from station WWJ-TV, Detroit, sent by coaxial cable to the college's carrillon tower and transmitted by microwave 40 miles to Detroit. The WWJ telecast was picked up by a special antenna erected at a local TV store and piped to various receivers in the theatre auditorium. It's believed such a stunt has been done only once or twice before. Setup for the demonstration was worked out by Garnet Garrison, associate professor of speech at the college; Harry Bannister, WWJ-TV general mariager, and Thomas Riley, production manager of the station. The play used for the oc- casion was an original dramia, "Walls of Glass," by Vance Si- monds and Patricia Merritt Liquor Control Board Modifies 10-Yr. Lawyers TV for Detroit Bars Detroit, July 27. So long as patrons -continue to watch TV shows in an prderly. fashion, no attempt will be made to regulate or exclude the sets from bars, the Liquor Control Commission ruled Friday (23). In reality the action was modi- fying a 10-year-old policy outlaw- ing films in bars. Meeting: with officials of the Police Chiefs Assn. and enforce- ment oft'icers from various com- munities, the commission an- nounced it had no case on record of any disturbance in a bar in con- nection with a TV broadcast. The policy on TV may be altered, ; Commission Harry Henderson said, if the size of pictures is increased so greatly that they attract un-. controllable crowds Inside or out- ° side the bars. "But we will m«et that problem if and when it comes," he said. Luckman Mulls TV Danny Thomas Show Chicago, July 27. Charles Luckman, Lever Bros, topper, has Danny Thomas in mind for a possible television feerles* Pair will huddle sometime in August with video uppermost' for mulling.