Variety (December 1950)

Wednesday, December 13, 1950 RADIO 35 (KTIUS FOR RADIO TOshlngton, Dec. 12. Analyzing FM’s ups and downs during the past two years, NAB yesterday (Mon.) came to the conclusion that the medium is strong- er today than at any other period in Its hlstoiyi The association found that “the dark side of the FM picture” has been magnified *'out of proportion to the overall perspective of FM's steady growth/' The analysis, made by Edward L. Sellers, director of NAB’s FM department* revealed that the great majority of the So-Called sta- tions which threw in the sponge in the last 23 months were merely “paper” stations which had not yet reached the stage of construc- tion. In 1949, Sellers found, 172 of the 217 FM authorizations cancelled were not on the air. In appraising FM's strength, the study declares, judgement should be made on the basis of the number of licensed stations operating ait fuir authorized power and providing a primary service under FCC standards. The number of such FM stations, it was shown, reached on all- time high on Dec. 1 of 519 out of a total of 677 stations on the air. Most of the remaining stations are operating with less than their authorized power and Offer only limited coverage. Sellers found that of the 319 FM deletions during the last 23 months only 66 were licensed stations. Day after the tragic wreck on -f tile Long Island R. R. in Richmond Hill, N. Y., which took 77 lives, WHLI, in nearby Hempstead, launched an editorial drive, titled “Operation Morgue,” calling for complete reorganization of the line. Four separate editorials were taped and beamed at hourly inter- vals. The first, aired Nov. 23, the day after the crash, gave details of the two crackups which occurred on the road in a nine-nionth span, and demanded to know why auto- matic safety devices hadn’t been installed. Second editorial, broadcast the following two days, called for re- moval of the two trustees (they have since resigned and been re- placed) and also hit (jrov. Thomas E. Dewey for vetoing, last April, the Horton-Barrett bill giving the Public Service Commission power to remove railroad employees it felt unsafe. In a traditionally Re- publican area, the slap at Dewey showed courage. The indie also campaign for in- vestigation by the Interstate Com- merce Commission of the road’s safety practices; urged its Con- gressmen to compel the line to in- stall automatic safety devices, and appealed for creation of a Long Island Railroad Authority. Most of these demands have since been achieved as a result of public pres- sure. Productionwise, the editorial pieces Were simple. They had two announcers alternately making the station’s points. However, because of its immediacy and importance of the issues involved, this straight talk format registered strongly as a compilation of the main facts involved, presented in hard-hitting fashion. Yet some key questions, such as the LIRR-s relations to the Pennsylvania R. R., were not cov- ered and might have been dealt with in a pro-and-cOn forum. Station had lashed out at the LIRR three years ago, when the 1947 blizzard crippled Commuter service and it’s “Operation Snafu*’ crusade Won a Variety award. (Continued on page 52) Hollywood, Dec. 12. ABC has signed a lease on 1539 Vine street and .will spend $350,- 000 on the new site where radio a c t i V i ty will be concentrated, ■ Chain currently is leasing space at Sunset and Highland and in NBC building across the street. ^ Work will start immediately on Improvements • and Installation of new equipment at property which covers 58,000 square feet. Project should be completed next fall with all radio personnel. Production consolidated on site. Tele opera- tions will continue from television center. Peace of Mind ABC followed its “Peace of Mind” stainza one day last week with a courtesy an- nouncement for the “On Trial” forum. ' Right after “Peace of Mind” came the query: “Should we drop the Atomic Bomb?” Buick division Of General Motors has bought a saturation plan on ABC for the week Of Jan. 14-20, involving an outlay of $100,000 in time and talent on six shows. Auto company, to launch its ’51 models, has also bought participations on NBC’s “Tandem Plan,” for around $30,000. Buy marks the biggest sale on ABC since the Mars purchase of four shows for $2,000,000 last month, and points up the trend to in-and-out saturation drives. On ABC, Buick will take oyer the 8 p.m. half-hour of “Stop the Music” Sunday, Jan. 14; the 9:30 p.m. slot, Jan. 15; “Metropolitan Opera Audi- tions,” Jan. 16; the 8:30 p.m. period, Jan. 17; trie “Screen Guild Players” hour, Jan. 18, and the 8 p.m. period, Jan. 20. Agency Is Kudner. For Funds to Combat Mediterranean Anemia WGV, N. y. bilingual Indie, last night (Tues.) broadcast the first program in an all-out educational and fund-raising Can.paign against Mediterranean anemia, a disease which strikes persons whose back- ground stems from the vicinity of the Mediterranean. While it Is not an “Italian” disease, the Italian- specializing indie is backing the educational drive because Italians are the most numerous group of Americans of Mediterranean origin. Campaigh, run In cooperation with the New York Hospital and Cornell Urilv., aims at alerting the 2,100,000 Italo-Americans In the Metropolitan area to the need for early recognition of the disease and for funds for research and care of the afflicted. The series, which will run for several months, and will include programs with medical authorities, parents of stricken children and patients at the hospi- tal, kicked off last night with a talk by Dr, Luigi Luzzattl of the hospital. John J. Karol, CBS radio sales manager, is offering to agencies and spohsors something In the na- ture of a Christmas bonus —evi- dence that radio’s circulation is not only holding its own within television homes, but that it is actually growing. To clinch its argument to ad- vertisers that AM remains a vital, potent medium, Karol and CBS have unearthed evidence to estab- lish that the longer a family has television, the more apt it is to buy a television set. According to a recent Adver- test Study made for Colum- bia among more than 700 tele- vision families in the New York area, 8% of these families pur- chased a radio set subsequent to their acquisition of a TV set. Be- fore owning the set six months, 2% had made subsequent pur- chases of radio sets. Between the first year and year-and-a-half, 5% had purchased radio sets and by the time two years had elapsed, this percentage had gone up to 25%.;-; Karol has collated some reveal- ing data Which the web is pres- ently pitching up to advertisers and agencies. It points to the fol- lowing: Rating point differences for any given program or for any given suiwey report do not; in them- selves, tell a whole story. Snap judgment as to the switching or discontinuing of program fran^ chises should be restrained. Two years ago there were 37,- 600,000 radio homes in the U. S. By Jan. 1, ’50, this figure in- creased to 40,7()0,000. Best avail- able evidence as of July 1 pegged the new total at 41,500,000. By now, the three-year increase of new radio homes should exceed 4,000,000. The fact that over 95% of the homes are now radio-equipped is only a part story. While new homes constantly are being added to radio’s circulation, to weigh this factor only is overlooking what is becoming even of greater sig- nificance today—the secondary and the “out-of-home” set-^much of which circulation is beyond the measurement of conventional re- search methods. As of last Jan. 1, there were over 85,000,000 radio sets in this country. Since then (the first 10 months of 1950), 11,500,000 new sets have been added, and almost half of them are automobile sets and portables. Auto sets alone total twice as many as all tele- vision sets sold to date, and over three times that of the largest magazine’s circulation. “That is why rating point In- dices of homes only (and not of all sets within the home at that) give a distorted picture of radio advertis- ing values today,” says Karol. “If there are over twice as many sets as homes, a decline of a rating point could be only one-half as I serious from a circulation stand-1 point as superficial consideration! would first indicate. Several ex-! tensive surveys have shown that one person in four listens to the radio outside the home on an aver- age day. Almost all of this cir^ (Continued on page 48) Detroit, Dec. 12. Attorneys for George A. Rich ards began today to call “about' 150” character witnesses for Rich- ards in defense of his operation of WJR as the FCC license-renewal hearings entered its 106th day. . Last week Richards got a real buffeting. One day he would be painted as a patriot and the next as a psychotic or a vindictive man who ordered news slanted to put the New Deal, Jews and others in a bad light. On Saturday (9) Leo J. Fitzpat- rick, former general manager of WJR and now owner of WGR, Buf- falo, testified "that Richards “ac- cused me of giving preference to a political candidate not of his choice.” Fitzpatrick, who did not identify the candidate, added: “I believe that Richards thought that, because | I come from Kansas City, Mo., I was still inoculated with New Deal philosophy and was never quite converted to the Republican Party.” Fitzpatrick, who was on the wit- ness stand for six hours and 50 minutes Saturday, was questioned by FCC attorneys concerning con- tents of 60 letters and telegrams he received from Richards over a pe- riod of tirn'e. The FCC is attempting to prove that Richards gave slanting in- (Continued on page 52) Ben Grauer ipQni a gantroflbii of nows ovonti eovoroqo In Too, It on Infortstlng bylInt footiito In the fertheomlnq 45th Anniversary Number of P^iSfr Roberta Quinlan Shows To Hypo Future TV’ing Anticipating the spread of tele- vision to new market areas in the near future, Mohawk Carpets this week began transcribing 15-minute radio shows starring Roberta Quin- lan, who now stars on the carpet firm’s NBC video show, “Mohawk Showroom.” Through its agency, George R. Nelson, Inc., Mohawk wants to buiid Miss Quinlan as a personality in the non-TV areas via radio, so that she’ll' be w.k. when those areas finally get video stations. Vocalist’s radio format Will be patterned closely after the TV show, with Miss Quinlan, backed by a small musical cqmbo, singing solo and presenting various guest singers. Show is tentatively sched- uled for launching in March, with the patters to be spot-booked on various radio .Stations around the country. Series will probably com- prise three quarter-hours per Week, same as the TV version, Mohawk, meanwhile, is seeking to capitalize on Miss Quinlan’s video success by establishing as close a sponsor identification with her as possible. Singer dumig the last several weeks has appeared at various Mohawk dealer conventions around the country to give local distributors a chance to work out publicity and exploitation tielns. In addition, the carpet firm Is also plugging Miss Quinlan’s Mercury recordings to further its liaison with her« V ^ ■ WJZ, Gotham ouLet of ABC, Is prepping a complete revamp to give it a personality of its own, apart from Its status as an append- . age of the web. Part of the new format will be an emphasis on re- ; tail business, which will entail a 30% rate cut for local merchants. As outlined by the outlet’s new general manager, Ted Oberfelder, the emphasis on retailers is based on the Concept that retail accounts ar0 the backbone o^ local ad media. “Retailers, unlike national. bank- rollers, need and get cash proof of the success of their advertising,” Oberfelder said this week. “For that reason, national advertising follows retail advertising into a medium, knowing that the local boys will only use a medium that produces results/’ As a come-on for retailers, WJZ is giving them a 30% discount from the national spot rate. A lower re- tMl rate is a Common practice | among newspapers, on the reason- ; ing that spillover “waste” circula- tion into outlying areas doesn’t benefit the small store, but does help the national brand names. Since WJZ, with its 50kws, covers a much bigger area than the local merchant is interested in, the retail rate Will be 70% of the national figure. To spark his new approach, Oberfelder has hired Philip Cohens formerly with WHOM, as the nu- . cleus of a specialized retail sales department. Gohen, during his first week, brought in two hour-long stanzas backed by Dynamic Stores. Shows are hard-selling disk jockey i programs on which home demon- ? Strations of tele sets are plugged. Program Revamp Concept of a lower retail rate, while established in the newspaper field, isn’t generally accepted in radio. Question is raised whether some chain bankrollers, whose stores are in Several cities, will be charged the national or retail rate. Oberfelder, together with web program chief Leonard Reeg, is (Continued bn page 52) With Simulcasts NBC, which wrote off simulcasts about a year ago as being imprac-/ tical and resulting in production confusions and snafus, has decided to give it a “second look,” and is- reviving a flock of shows for the “sight and sound” treatment. Decision stems from the fact that ‘ sponsors, while anxious to retain their TV franchises, have expressed renewed interest in branching out to the non-TV markets with their , video attractions. Also, the web feels Ihat^ with the upbeat in, the production techniques, simulcasts may come off much better than previously, if the shows are care- fully selected. At any rate, NBC, effective Jan. 14, will start simulcasting of four variegated shows on an experi- mental basis. These Include the Giiy Lombardo “Pick A Hit,” with its song writing contest format; the new Phil Baker quiz show; the Monty Wpolley situatlori comedy “TheMagnificent Montague,” which is currently Cn AM, and the “Three : On a Honeynipon” audience par^ ticipatibn show. The annual ’Gator Bowl grU ^ game from Jacksonville, Fla., oi New YeaFs Day, is being offeree « for co-op sponsorships on Mutual outlets. ^ MBS co-op director Bert Hause; .said it’s the first time a big bow: game has been made available t< local bankrollers. Game wiR he between Wyoming and Washingtoi * & Lee. I