Variety (July 1949)

t6 RADIO Vcdnesdayy July 6, I949 I From the Production Centres ii IJS ^EW YORK CITY ... Michael Sillerman, formerly proxy of the Keystone Broadcasting Co , has joined the Fred W. Ziv Co. as special sales rep. headquartering in the transcription outfit’s N, y. offices Heidy Mayer, story teller on WOR’s “Here Heidy,” flew to Israel yesterday (Tues.) for 10-week stay during which she’ll collect tales for her stanza . . Mastic Acres real estate outfit has added three 15-minute Italian shows on WOV in addition to its biz on WHOM and WVN.f, Edith Dick. WWRL station manager, named to board of trustees of Queens Symphony . . Arno Ifuth, expanding activities at New School, will teach two courses on world radio and a seminar in international broadcasting .. David T. Golden, publicity-special events topper of W'PAT, Paterson, has resigned after six years . ABC’s Arthur Gaeth, who gabs for the United Electrical Workers, started a four-month survey of unemployment conditions Monday (4) during which he’ll travel across the country ... Zane Knauss, ex-WMGW, Meadville, Pa., has joined WMGM as assistant night manager Ward Wilson, WMGM sportscaster, celebrates 20th year in radio this week. He started in the WMGM building, 711 Fifth avenue, when it was NBC hdqs Dick Bradley, who left WNEW announcing staff' Friday (U, started at WQXR Monday . Wendell (Scattergood Baines 1 Holmes plays a screen role in “Lost Boundaries” . Parke Levy, “My Friend Irma” scripter, spending summer in Atlantic City Jill Warren, mag record critic, joined staff of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for “Spin to Win”. . . Frank Zuzulo heading MBS flackery while Jim O’Bryan takes three-week hiatus in Colorado . . Joan Henry, of Compton radio department, wed Thursday <30) to Warren Pott, who is associated with the “Believe It or Not” tele stanza. Ed Kobuk to Pine Orchard. Conn., for three weeks Eleanor Butler, secretary to CBS sales veepee Bill Gittinger, weds Charles Eason, of the War Dept., on Saturday (9) . Fran Carton, Ralph Camargo, Grant Gordon, Marilyn Erskine and Charles Penman new to cast of “David Harum”. Dorothy Francis joins “Lorenzo Jones” .. Peter Capell, William Greene, Tony Randall and Leonard Sherer new “Front Page Farrell” . . Jim IJster will produce a new summer replacement for the Coast Guard on Mutual, featuring singers Peggy and Bert Kalmar, Jr. Their father was half of the famous songwriting team of Kalmar & Harry Ruby. i!S HOLLYWOOD ... | “One Man’s Family” will no longer be a Sunday affair on NBC. After j more than a dozen years it moves to a Monday night time. Carlton Morse, headman of the family all these years, taped 13 of the shows before trekking east with his troupe for their tele baptism Broadway department stores, which for 13 years sponsored noon new.scast on KH.I seven days a week, pulled out to channel the coin to other media. ' Within a few hours after the time became available Thompson agency moved in and sold the news period with Sid Fuller to F’ord Dealers i Blayne Butcher of Newell-Kmmett passing the summer in New York until “Suspen.se” returns for Auto-Lite Sept. 1 . Jack Rubin and Jamison Brewer scripting “Chicken Every Sunday” tor Billie Burke and Harry Von Zell on NBC After seven-week hiatus. “Beulah” returns with the .same setup Michael Chapin, a broth of a lad. spieling the commercials for Rexall on the Guy Lombardo cut-ins from here . . CBS transferred Henry Flynn and Ed Buckalew to Radio Sales in the recent eruption. Peter Opp of publicity goes to England to study “the theatre” under the GI Bill of Rights . . Paul Franklin vacationing high in the Colorado Rockies with Fred Harmon, creator of “Red Ryder,” which Franklin writes and directs for radio. .. Thanks, also, to Ampex tape, Jerry Devine is making a motor tour of New England with his family, Robert Tallman and Gil Doud, who did such a hangup job of writing “Sam Spade” for the pa.st three years, are no longer doing it . . . Around KNX they’re saying that Howard Meighan and J, Kelly Smith will alternate for the first few months as Coast head of the network after Don Thornburgh hits the trail for Philly, where he will proxy WCAU Bob Landry’s “This Fascinating Radio Business” will get a lot of vacation reading by the home horde. One of the local book stalls sold out a dozen copies fast . . Frank O’Connor called cast by the illness of his father . CBS is discontinuing its western division station relations department to meet the budget cutback. . . .Bob Bums auditioned a half-hour show for Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample with Shirley Ross as vocalist’and George Wyle’s music. Procter & Gamble is interested . . . Alan Rich, radio ed of (San Fernando) Valley Times, sold a quizzer on KGIL called “Managing Editor.” Contestants start as copy boys and move up through the city room ranks on the right answers . .Jim Burton now directing “Green Lama” on CBS . . Charles Bevis, topper of NBC’s owned and operated radio and teevee stations, looking over the local tele operation. '.IIS CHICAGO . . . ' I.ots Hallowell of WBBM sales to wed John Madden of Quaker Oats this summer . , NBC new's ed Fred Whiting to bow out in fall to take teaching post at Northwestern U . Contralto Helene Hekman heads Chi Theatre of the Air program July 9 . . Elise Fargo, asst, to producer Ben Park, wed July 2 to Mitchell Kapland. . . Ralph J. Wood, Jr., of WMOR elected prexy of FM Broadcasters of Chicago. Other officers are Edward Wheeler, WEAW, Evanston; Harold Benton, WILA, Woodstock: Jerry Keefe, WFJL; and Ted Leitzell, Zenith Radio .. . Anita Cassidy new WBBM sales staffer . Mutual account exec Carrell ' Marts on Wisconsin vacation . . Wilfred Pickles, BBC comedian, made guest shots w'ith Welcome Travelers via ABC and Gold Coast Rhythm on WBBM .. Needham, Louis & Brorby agency has added Frederick Mitchell to account staff and Dick McClaubhry, ex-NBC writer.^lo copy | staff WBBM emcee Patrick O’Riley to head Frontier Celebration at Villa Park, 111. .. Osborne Putnam Stearns. WMAQ Food Magician, leaves for European tour July 10. His show will be transcribed for 30 days . . Temptones quartet started new WGN 15 min. musical show 1 July 4. Format w'ill be mixed vocals and instrumentals ... United ' Nations mediator Ralph Bunche and family guested on Welcome TravI elers by Tommy Bartlett . Drummer Bobby Christian makes bow on • I WBBM’s Melody Lane tonight (5)... Julian Bentley starting weather , news service via WBBM for small boat operators. I Continued from page 31 Wilson, ABC program veepee who’ll discuss “So You Want to Program a Network?”; Ted Cott veepee of WNEW. N. Y.. speaking on “New Frontiers of Musical Pre^ gramming”; Don Norman and Clay Daniel, assistant manager and prtw ductibn director, respectively of WNBC and WNBT, N. Y.. demonstrating “How to Make a Wax Program Appear Lifelike”; Sylvan Levin, WOR, N. Y„ music directorand Gordon Grimm, assistant pro^ gram manager of WCBS. N. Y., reviewing the relation between the librarian and the program director. More than 190 station staffers have attended the BMI courses since they started this year. Registration is cuffo, provided by the BMI station relations department as a service to the industry. The summer session, for which several station managers and program directors have already enrolled, may be followed by another two-day school in August. The clinics Include visits to studios of Veb outlets. Schwerin’s *Don’t Be Half Safe’ Continued from pase 28 CBS Streamlining I Continued from page 28 director of CBS news under the integrated setup, over Church, whose new title is editor-in-chief of the news division. Director of special events is Bob Bendick, with Lee Bland as his assistant. Werner Michel’s new title is chief of the documentary unit. Lyman Bryson becomes head of the division of discu.ssion, with Bob Hudson as his assistant. Red Barber is director of sports. ^AMERICA'S FINEST WESTERN ACT’*I Pat Weaver Continued from page 29 The Texas Rangers, stars of stage, screen, radio and television, early this summer made a personal appearance tour in the Midwest. They a/e pictured here in Oklahoma City, when they were commissioned honorary Colonels of the State of Oklahoma by Governor Roy J. Turner. The Texas Rangers transcriptions, used on scores of stations from coast to coast, have achieved Hooperatings as high as 27.4. Advertisers and stations — ask about our new sales plan! Wire, u rite or phone • ARTHUR B. CHURCH Productions KANSAS CITY «. MISSOURI property* Meanwhile. Y & R finds itself entrenched more and more in the video picture. (Meade has been a topflight producer in radio.) Significant, too, is the fact that Y & R is moving up Everard Meade Into the No. 1 program spot. Meade, a veepee, has been Weaver’s assi.stant and the two were as.sociated at .American Tobacco. In the days of Y & R's radio supremacy, any such key checkout < as that involving Weaver) would have set in motion a flurry of activity to w-rap up the top man available in the business. Under t?he web’s TV realignment. Norman Blackburn continues as program manager, with Carleton Smith continuing as an inner-circle administrator. Meanwhile, there’s a growing conviction that the NBC operational pattern will result in a complete divorcement of AM and TV, rather than integration, with separate sales department, etc. Folsom Continued from page 28 would be needed to ascertain the validity of his testing methods. ‘j Two major research facts stand out from Schwerin’s GI career. The first, which was presented to Generals Summervell and Marshall, then to the Truman Committee, demonstrated that 20% of the food served to soldiers was being wasted. Its immediate result was a saving of $119,000,000 on the j Army’s food bill; its secondary result was recognition ef the impor! tance of research, and the subse! quent appointment of Schwerin to investigate the efficiency of GI commercials on APRS stations. This second project utilized a research man's dream sample — 25.000 soldiers, w'hose actions which resulted from different commer' cials. could be observed under control conditions. From thousands of • man-hours of te.sting, observing, correlating and tabulation, Schwerin deduced his “Curve of Remembrance,” which showed that only commercials which are greatly liked or violently disliked, are remembered. I The Schwerin System is a ' method of qualitative te.sting, which means that it reports audi' ence liking for programs ratlier than amount of listening, as is the case with quantitative methods like Hooper and Nielsen, which tell how many people listened to a program. Schwerin’s is far and away the largest qualitative operation in the field, and is based on an ernomous mass of tesTs, both experimental and practical, extending over 13 years’ time. The methodology of the system was reviewed in an to the exclusion of but never either.” This is Folsom’s first inspection trip abroad since joining RCA as top exec. He will take in the British, Belgian, Dutch and Frencli atfiliales of the RCA family. earlier Variety February. 1946». explain enough product” that is series (JanuaryThis series will about the “end obtained so that the tests. During these, audience members tell what they liked and disliked about the show, and these comments are rephrased for the whole audience to vote on. These comments and votes are not nearly | as important as the liking scores. I hut they frequently provide valuable additional clues regarding strengths or weaknesses of the program. Analytical conclusions of the ' Schwerin System are based on the principle that a “matched sample” audience can be tested on their ' continuing reactions to radio programs and commercials, so that fhe : results will indicate the reaction of all available radio listeners, with ; validity. Basic to the operation of ; Schwerin’s System is the “factor analysis.” which relates to the ' most significant characteristics of ^ the audience which affect their lik^ ing and disliking the program. These factors are divided into two main groupings, physical and psychological. The physical factors include sex-by-age. education. I income, and others; p.sychological, ; or listening factors take into account such criteria as attitude toward the type of program under : consideration, predisposition, familiarity, amount of li.steniTig. etc. All of these factors are "matched” to the “universe”; i.e., total available listening audience. I The resulting reports, which are confidential to Schwerin's clients, provide minutely detailed breakdowns on elements of the program j under study and on their appeal to ! different segments of the audience. ( Special clearances have been obtained in order that this Variety series could be as.semhled. The next article will deal with the first program category. Mystery Drama ' shows. CBS Applies D. C. Axe Washington. July 5. George Connery is out as CBS new's editor. He is being replaced by Larry Haas, sent down from New York. Haas was in television news in N. Y. Haas, as was Connery. will be under Ted Koop, who , is CBS news director in Washington. "Country Journal,” the only CBS I sustaining farm show, is being scrapped. It originated here with Don Lerch as director; Virginia Tatum* as home editor. Both are ' dropped. This leaves “Garden Gate” as • the only farm sustainer on th# web. “Country Journal” was a halfhour Saturday show. ' Video’s Fancy Losses That television is a costly undi'rlakiiig is evidenced by the past year’s losses of $4.()()0.0))() by NBC’s video ventures: and $2.00().()0() each by CBS and ABC. .Maintenance of stations and tlieir operations aceount for the variance of the red ink. NBC’ owns and operates five staI lions in .\. Y.. Cliicago. Washing' ton. Cleveland and Los Angeles; whereas C’BS operates only in .New York and has a 49'’^ interest in KTTV. I.. A ABC. like CMS. will ultinmfely have five channels, right now operates only in \ Chi and Frisco, dehniing in last city only recently. but Y.. the the reader can follow’ these present articles: Profile Technique The central feature of one of Schwerin’s reports is the profile : of audience reaction, which shows minute-by-minute how the audience liked the program. If the line on the profile reached 100, it would mean that everybody in tlie audience liked the program at that point; if zero, that everybody di.siiked it. Liking scores, wdiich are mentioned frequently in tliis series, are made up in the same way. and summarize information from the profile The higher a liking score, the more people liked what they hea rd Tlie profile and liking scores show how the audience reacted as they were Ii:stening to the program. To supplement llii.s information, j di.scu.ssion periods are lield after MGM Network . Continiird from pasc 28 Stars on “MGM Theatre,” including Van Heflin, Fredric March. Brian Aherne. Charles Laughton and Margaret O’Brien, are being paid $500 for hour performances — an unusually low fee — plus 10% of the profits on their particular broadcast. Performers on other shows are getting AFRA minimums plus between 16-33^o of the net on their stanzas. Besides the financial and publicity return on the project, Metro feels that the platters will do a good public relations job for the film industry. The Paula Stone and George Murphy strips will stress positive aspects of Holly JUDY CANOVA AMERICA’S NO. 1 COMEDIENNE WM. H. KING Personal Manogoment A. S. LYONS 177 S. Bovorly Dr. Bavorly Hillf. Colif. LATEX RUBBER Masks, Nosas, Etc. fnriiil in hOm-L iiitiil** •<» order for Hiiiite, .Srrren ••»<* Triet Uloo. VIN KEHOE JU 6-3736 wood I about news other and lots. will include info WRITERS! TIMt. WITH .\< Tl (UKlM.Mi.S Of VOI It S< Itt KOItt; IIMlTTlXi H»K H t KIT.Wt K, For furOirr loforotnO*'" (Mil .IOH\ I.O.MKAKIII Ht I Ark*WHOOM 4-.WH7 ToenUoy, ThurMlo> Frltluy Mfler 2 ii.m. I I I'll I W • ..9. W ^ M ■ / I .Mill »