Variety (Jan 1949)

TfiLEVISIOX SI TV VIEWERS WANT NEW NAMES Tele Sets Hit imOi Mark - Number of television sets in the U. S. as of Jan. 1 numbered approximately 1,000,000. Of these 932,500 were concentrated in the 30 cities which now have 52 stations on the air. Rest of them were in other cities, which expect TV in the immediate future. Metropolitan N. Y. continued far in the lead, with 410,000 sets in- stalled, according to the compilation of the NBC research division. Following is the city-by-city brealcdown: CITY NO. OF STATIONIS NO. OF SETS New York 6 410,000 Philadelphia 3 102.000 Los Angeles ; 5 79,600 Chicago 4 52.000 Baltimore , 3 35,600 Boston 2 35,300 Detroit 3 32,000 Washington 3 30,500 .Cleveland 2 22,300 New Hav0n 1 17,200 -St. Louis 1 15,500 Milwaukee 1 14,200 Schenectady , 1 13,800 Cincinnati 1 11,800 Buffalo 1 9,900 Minn.-St. Paul 1 9,200 Richmond 1 5,700 Toledo 1 5,100 Atlanta 1 5,000 ' San Francisco 1 3,500 New Orleans 1 3,500 Pittsburgh 1 3,500 Louisville 1 3,000 Houston 1 2.500 Fort Worth 1 2,500 Memphis 1 . 2,200 Seattle : 1 2,100 Salt Lake City 1 1,700 Syracuse 1 1,000 .Albuquerciue ....i 1 300 Sub-total 52 932.500 Other Cities- Providence .. ^.. 4,900 ■ Dallas 3,500 Dayton , 1.400 Miami .. - 1,000 Erie 300 Indianapolis - 300 Others 56,100 Total : 1,000,000 Kine Prints Seen as Important in TV Even When Networks Develop Fully Byfield, Jr., East for TV , Hollywood; Jan. 25. Ernie Byfield, Jr., radio and television exec here for the last several years, heads to New York this week to serve as an assistant Kinescope recordings, used* mainly by the television webs until | now for networking shows to non- i interconnected affiliates, will have \ a definite place in TV's future, even when live ^networking .facili- ties are fully developed. The filmed recordings have been found so valuable, according to web, , ^ ... , . „ spoliesmen, that they'll continue to i to NBC television program chief be used in every way that AM ra- Norman Blaclcburn. dio now uses transcriptions. : „ ^yfield is the latest of several Pointing up the Webs' current Hollywoodites brought to NBC's emphasis on recordings, CBS en-! tele department by Blackburn, who gineering veepee William B. Lodge I himself was formerly Coast veepee declared at the CBS-TV clinic in i «>t the J. Walter Thompson ad N. Y. last weekend that CBS now ; agency. uses 31 miles of film in its record-^ —■ ..■ — ~ ings each week'—or more than the 1 combined feature output of Holly-1 wood. Figure includes only tran-1 scriptions, involving either shows | sent to other stations or auditions. I Their similarity to radio tran-1 scriptions is emphasized in the lat-- ter use. | Indicative of the emphasis put i on recordings is the situation at I ABC. According to transcription | chief L. A. Ruddell, the web now I farms out film transcriptions of 10 (Continued on page 54) 'G[TIING TIIEO OF Si[ FIDES' Bearing out the old maxim that familiarity breeds contempt, the fl^st qualitative study yet made on television viewer reaction to TV i performei:s- and programs has con- firmed the belief that a too-familiar face, no matter how entertaining at first, may become irritating through constant viewing. Typical of the actual comments made by set owners surveyed by "The Continuing Study; in Televi- sion .Homes," new research group concentrating on depth interviews!; is: ''Milton Berle is okay but you can get tired, of him, too." - Other viewers raised similar pointed ob- jections to such current tele stars as Wendy Barrie, Dennis James and . Ed Sullivan. And, indicating the same reaction holds true for commercials, one viewer panned; the Philip Morris "Johnny" spot with the observation that Johnny's appearance and voice, when fed too often, can become"offeinsive." Fact that Berle, star of NBC- TV's "Texaco Star Theatre," has, consistently held; down the top tele Hooperating with a figure never approached by radio shows indi- cates such comments: by viewers may be few and far between. OR, the statement was volunteered the viewer with no planting of. the question. Thus,.. trade observers tend to consider it as at least a straw in the wind. "Continuing Study,'.' now offer- ing its services to subscribers, makes 50 case studies among TV families each week under supervi- sion of James-E. Jump & Associ- ates. Entire family is encouraged' to talk about pertinent matters up- permost in their minds. Each in- terview is reported as nearly Ver- batim as possible. Nix Ovedone Plugs Survey reveals that viewers have a definite antipathy to too many commercials in a show. One viewer stated that the Ed Sullivan show ("Toast of the Town") is "inter- rupted; entirely too often for com- mercials." According to another set owner: "The Texaco commer- cials rank with the best, since they season them with a hit of humor. The Ed Sullivan show isn't, like that—Ray Morgan (announcer) is (Continued on page 38) Handicap of N. Y. Latecomer Stations Seen Eased as Sets in Area Increase How to Go Broke Hazards of operating a tele- vision station today were pro- jected by Fort Industry pvez George B. Storer in operation of his WSPD-TV. Toledo, at the. CBS tele clinic last week- '■end. ... On the basis of eight hours of programming per day (in- cluding, test pattern) for six days a week, Storer pays out a total of $15,233 in operating costs each month. His top month for billings in 1948 was December, when the station . took in .$10,739. And, the op- erating .costs figure does not ' include such weighty capitali- zation factors as depreciation, taxes, reserve for new equip-, ment, etc. Speaking to delegates at elinic,. Storer pointed out"! that the budget was based on .monthly operating costs with-' out network program source via the coaxial cable. Toledo, as part of the; midwest net- work, is now linked to all.four major webs and, since Jan. 12, WSPD-TV has been running networks shows. Station's bil- lings, : consequently, ^are . ex- pected to-show a hefty upswing for January and during tlie rest of this year. + Difficulty in snaring sponsors confronting the latecomers among the N. Y. television stalioiLS should; be considerably eased as the num- ber of sets in the area increases. That's the opinion of trade; observe' ers, based on the fact that better reception of signals from the older; , stations gives them greater audience' - coverage and thus a distinct ad- vantage in lining up advertistirs. AH three stations that took the air during the last year, including WJZ-TV (ABC), WATV (Bremer Broadcasting, Newark) and the N. y. Daily News' WPIX, are op- erating :it> the so-called higher fre- quency, band. Majority of sets in the area, however^ wero; in use be- fore these outlets went into opera- tion and so: were tuned to the lower channels. Fact that most re-; ceivers now being installed are equipped with an antenna capable' of giving best results on all chan-^ nels, coupled, with the fact thai: many viewers who bought their. . sets earlier are having them re- tuned, should bring the three late- comers up to a reception par with : the CBS, DuMont and NBC outlets in N. Y., it's believed. When that happens, it's expected that the tardy stations! will be able. to establish a reputation onra par with the others, as far as advert tisers are concerned. ABC, it's pointed out, has built as many house packages as the other three webs, but hasn't been able to sell^ them because of the reception difr, ficultics. Some of these, including; such shows as "Actors' Studio" and "Hollywood Screen Test," have drawn good critical acclaim. Be- cause the audience measurement outfits rate only sponsored shows,; the ABC packages don't show in the ratings, thereby : giving the web : a tall hurdle to top in pitching to advertisers. Because more sets are tuned to receive the other stations, it's be- Phjlip Morris In FuU-Scaie Bow Status in Doubt; 126G Over Budget Future status Of the "Philco Tel- evision Playhouse," one of the most costly series of televisioh legiters, remained in a confused stiite this week, .with the show VaW- oiisly reported tc* be eancelling out, movihg froiia JtBC-TV ;t6 cBS or only gistting ready to lake a suni- mer hiatus. Philco veepee James Carminti and: H. Pierson "Mapes, head of the HutcMns agency, which Tn * ji, i • t. J i handles the account, are due back "johnnv" w t"Phammered jj y. from the Coast next Week pttrMorJs^^irs^tfr^^^^^^^ , : . fledged entry into television pro-' Originally budgeted at about gramming. Oddly enough it has '^l^-OOO weekly, the hour-long Sun- latched on to two NBC personali-' day night show has run consid- ties—Tex McCrary and Jinx Falk- i erably over that almost from the enburg—for a .qnce-weekly CBS'Start and is now reported to be hall-hour nighttime show. Con-1 $126,000 over the budget since its trary to general belief, the NBC pi'eem. Indicative of the costly p.ro- Pxclusive on the Mr. and Mrs. team duction is the tact that "Cyrano "oes not apply to video, only AM, de Bergoiac." ino.'^t ambitjous play The show is still in nrpn.»i"-aHnn ' presented in the series, co.st the th no definLZCat set as ^^^^ the night and time period has also" costs are attributed to the heavier to be selected. , price that Philco now forced Blow agency is currently work-' to spei'fJ fo'" ''"'"'^ ^" "'"^ P'**'*' we out the details. i (Continued on pa^e 40) PROSER STEPS INTO TV; SEVERAL SHOWS SET Monte Proser. operator of the Copacabana, N. Y. nitery, has gone into the video-packaging business ■and has lined up several shows. One of them will be called"Gopa- cabana Revue." a musical with top cafe: and vaude acts. Other pro- grams include"Slice of Life." with narration by Quentin BeynoUls, and another to be done on film and live will be "Punch Lines." touch- ing on provocative subjects. Proser has assigned cameraman Billy Kelly to make a short on the plight of Navajo 'Indians for that series, Proser has also: lined up"Man- hattan Tower." a musical with a score by Gordon .Jenkins, com- poser of the Decca album of that name which has liit the top-seiling lists. Other shows will be done in conjunction with Ulric Calvosa. a Collier's mag editor, and Sam Shaw and Harry. Henderson, pho- tographer - writer team who have done layouts for that mag. ■ The William Morris agency has been named Proser's sales rep. Camel Cancels Fox 'NewsreeF For 'Hot' News Camel cigarets which has been spending $8,!500 a week for its 10-|iieved their task is considerably minute, cross-the-board nighttime ^ easier in lining up sponsors. As NBC "Camel Newsreel" (video ver-, one spokesman put it. they start .sion of Fox Movietone), has de-. ^ith a "Texaco Star Theatre" or cided to cancel out. Final clips,a "Pord Television Theatre',' and will be seen Feb 11, when Camel's establish a good rep with ad agen- contract with 20th-Fox runs out.! cjes their clients. When new It represents the first major casu-; sponsors look for a suitable»outlet ally m film news programming. ] their shows, consequently, they ' naturally turn to the stations thst Instead, Camel has negotiated for a bigger splurge into video and is expanding to 15 minutes (7:45-8) Monday - through - Friday, buying the live-and-film NBC Newsreel program developed by the network. It will also represent a hike in the weekly budget to $10,000. Fox-Movietone cancellation re- portedly stems from the client's feeling that film isn't the answer to covering the hot news of the day, with too much resort to "li- brary" features. New program will can boast a good audience rating for programs already on the airt Radio as TV's 'B^ Brother' Radio is not dead but will con- represent j tinue to flourish and aid materially probably the most ambitious at- jin the development and financing tempt yet to devise a news format | of television. That was the primaiy generic ;;.to television, with NBC point emphasized by top CBS ex- using its full stable of newscasters, I ecutives to the 250-odd delegates with pickups from Chicago and i to the web's .second annual-televi- Washington, as well as New York, I sion clinic last weekend at the and with integrated film sequences. Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y., ^long witli NeW: program is scheduled for a I the pitch that TV Is a going: me- Feb. 14 Camel preem, once the I dium and the time to get .into it: papers are signed, with NBC plan- ning to shake it down in advance via a two-week series of dry-runs. It may also start as a sustainer during tlie two-week period. TO America' for TV Chicago. Jan, 2.1. "RFD America." the fanner- slanted "Info Please" whicli re- cently returned to the air via NBC. preenis as a video attraction this week (28iwith a sneak preview of farm Champion final. It goe,'! on a trial run on VVNBQ hero, with; iikc'lihood oi lictuui* expansion if it cUclis.- : .' Anotlicr" Lou Cov\ ;iiT-packi.iMC'd radio aiicr, "Quiz Kids." also hits the TV camcias hcio via WN'BQ rfor a local briiak-ln. ; No Philly Outlet, Sponsor I Yanks'Mary Kay, John , Off NBC Video Roster i "Mary Kay and Johnny," 20- ■ minute domestic comedy show on the NBC-TV web Sunday nights. . goes off the air after the Feb. 20 ■ broadcast. Spon.sored by the While- hall. Pharmacal Co. through Dan- eel',. Fitzgerald & Sample, the show is being pulled because of NB<3's inahilitv to pj^ovide a Philadelphia outlet. WPTZ. NBC's Philly af- filiate, has a local program siottpd in the"Mary Kay" time. Show features Mr. and Mrs, IS now. -■ • ■■ Delegates, who went back to their-home stations:with consider- able information to help them plan tlieir own TV futures, heard the following points also stressed: 1. Only a war or major economic crisis can halt TV's growth. 2. Radio and tele can be ex- (Continued on page 42) Chewy Show Moves Up For Wider Coverage "Chevrolet on Broadway," half- hour series of dramatic shows bank- rolled by Chewy, has been moved up to the Monday night B:30 to 9 slot on the NBC-TV web to make it possible for the show to be aired simultaneously in both the east and midwest. That half-hour seg- ment on the cable link was open until NBC took it over Mondays (241, Show was previously aired Johnny Sterns. Whether it will half-an-hour earlier Monday night, return to NBC-TV in another time With the time switch, the show segment or move to another net- will now be seen simultaneously work hasn't yet bcien set. , i on 12 NBC stations.