Variety (December 1950)

Wednesdaft December 13 , 1950 TEUBVlSiaiV 37 i STRATO’ RAIB M MNSOK Surprise hit of the Television Broadcasters Assn, clinic last Friday (8) at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y.; was John M: Outler Jr., general manager of WSB-TV, Atlanta, who wowed the audi- ence with a funny but pointed speech on the importance of cater- ing to the local TV audience* In emphasizing that the “eventual prosperity of a station is in direct ratio to its recognition of the local nature of its audience,’' Outler also worked In some fresh viewpoints on the vicissitudes of operating a video outlet Bft* calling the early days of his station, he declared. “Cri.sis piled on top of crisis—and do you know, there’s a very interesting observation right there. As far as I know, not one 6f these crises was ever completely solved. Before we could get one worked but, another would be looking right down our throats So w e just let the first one lie there on the floor and rot until it got superimposed. (There's a terra I learned from a high-priced pro- ducer we had to fire when we caught him cutting out paper dolls He knew too much.)’' * TV programs and stations, Outler said, '‘have yet to navigate through the rocks and shoals of the audience’s privilege to pick and Choose.’' Reiterating that the video audience is composed of “just ordinary people” interested Ih loCal affairs and that the TV signal cannot travel more th^n an average of 50 miles, he said* “When you combine the two elements of a local audience and a local transmission, you get a spark.” Washington, Dec. 12. 4 Tlje campaign to set aside chan- * nels for educational television sta- tions received strong support last week wlien members of Congress, representatives of labor, farm or- ganizations and univer.slties ap- poai’od before the FCC to endorse the project. Son. Leverett Saltonstall (R., Mass.» urged the agency to grant “an appropriate and effective num- ber" of channels; “I believe,” he said, "that good sense and good business argue strongly for it, and I believe that the American educa- tional tradition urges that it be done^ especially lit these critical day.s when public Information and the media by which it is dis- seminated are the strongest possi- ble bulwarks of the freedom we love.” Sen; Clinton Anderson (D., N. bl.) told the Commission there would be no problem in raising money for the stations, once the agency gave assurance the chan- nels would be available. Such ac- tion. he thought, would encourage wealthy people to contribute to the financing of the outlets. Sen. Herbert Lehman (D., Y.) , although not appearing at Commission allocation hearings, is- (Continiied on page 53) 15 ‘Einmys’ to Be Jan. BHl Baird tfrin^i along With Puppets in TV ont of tho mony intorosting bylino footurti In tho npeoming 45ih Anniversary Number of P^niEfr Hurting Kids Hollywood, Dec. 12. Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will hand out 15 “Emmys” for outstanding video activity at the third annual awards dinner at the Washington, Dec. 12. National Education Ass’n told the Federal Trade Commission yester- day (11) that educators “by no means agree that television is pres- ently helpful In the education of a child.” On the contrary, said NEA, many responsible educators feel that TV “as currently exhibited is definitely harmful to a child’s mind and morale.” NEA’s views oh the subject were contained in a complaint filed against the current “child-appeal” advertising by the “American Tele- ! vision Dealers and Manufacturers, LOTS! CIECKOllTS'l^ Putting Fff Mounting squawks were heard last week from agencies and ad^ vertisers over the 35% hike in the NBC television rate structure, ef- fective Jan. 1. Some of the agen- cy execs, registering off-the-cuff gripes, say their clients han’t afford that kind of coin. There were even ominous rumblings of cancella- tions.. Clients say they’re baffled by the rea.soning attending TV vs. AM rates. How, they’re asking, can you justify a $36,000 per hour TV rate structure oh the basis of 65 markets when a full radio network complement of 167 stations costs $27,000? Ih other words, complain the agencies, “we’re paying a third more for TV coverage and audi- ences, but we only penetrate in TV orie-fifth the number of radio homes, and those in a limited num- ber of markets.” By the same token, they point out that a full hour on WNBT, f N. Y., on a strictly local coverage basis wdll cost $3,100, whereas you can buy an hour of radio time on the same station for $1,200—almost three times less. Clients are di.sturbed over the “stratospheric thinking” that will attend video in the upcoming days of coast-to-coast coaxial program- ming, and express the belief that unless TV, as radio did before it, Orchestraiihg for ^ ^dticuit«d by Ben Ludlow and Hank SylVern * * one af the many intaratfing adl- terlol bylint pltctt In tht vpeomtng 45th Anniversary Number of ' ciiA,.; ^best cultural ■ Ncav York,” and particularly against • Special events telecast, the first ad of the campaign, w-hich FTC started an investigation two (Continued on page 50), , t ^ ’ me mat au ux tiie eaiiipaxgii, program and i stated that TV Is “sunshine for mo- T single telensing 1 rale” and “vitamins for the mind“ educ^ional. variety, of children, aiamatic, news, audience participa- tiqn. and children’s programs which have been beamed for at least seven conseeutive weeks, also get .awards.-;; „ In addition the best actor, best actre.ss and outstanding pCrsonalitj^ Win trophies and the station carry- ing avyay tlit most“Eminys” will receive an award for station achievement Banquet will be tele- vised, with Ross dog food, donat Legit actress Lilli Palmer, now playing in “Bell, Book and Candle,” ^.- , at the Barrymore, N> Y., is sehed^- I® time, although the station ; uled to launch her own television i!>n t set yet. series Jan. 4 Via WCBS-TV, key CBS outlet in N. Y. Show will be aired in the .Thursday night 6:45 to 7 p m. slot iinder sponsorship of . stev^ Allen, Coast comic being I ® Imported by CBS to N. Y, for his i Thompson, own television series, Is scheduled i Show> which will be aired only to launch the show Christmas Day | locally at the start, wiU have Miss jn the 7 to 7:30 p.m. slot* It’s to ] Palmer discoursing on various - ® -a coinedy participationer and topics both in and out of show biz be aired cross-the-board. l and interviewing guest personali- CBS \yiii start , the series as a I ties. Charles Kehbe is to produce, sustaincr. ^len was the conie- l with Alfred Scott directing. Pond’s oian wlio subbed for “Our Miss! picked up the tab on the program "rooks” on the CBS radio web last after viewing a test kinescope corn- summer. ] plcted several weeks ago. ABC-TV's 30% Hike ABC-TV’s netwwk rates go up on Jan. 1. with an increase that will up time costs about 30%. Bankrollers who sign be- fore the deadline will be given six months’ rate protection, factor which is bringing in a flurry of biz Gross hourly charges-on the chain’s five owned-androper- ated outlets go up as follows: New Yprk, from $2,200 to $3,- 100; Detroit, from $800 to $1,- 100; Chicago, from $1,200 to $1,650; Los' Angeles, a big boost from $900 to $1,650; and San Francisco, from $450 to $600. Hates for the five o.-and- o. stations thus will be tilted from $5,55C to $8,100. Most of the other affiliates are similar- ly soaring. Price for a half-hour on the five o.-and-o. stations moves up from $3,370 to $4,790. WCBS-TV, N. Y., is hiking its evening station break rate to $650. levels off to an established rate structure, it will inevitably invite a wholesale checkout of advertisers who can’t afford to play around with that kind of money. Some sponsors see themselves as the “patsy” of an Inflationary TV era, where the networks are splurg- ing coin needlessly, with an ex- panded stable of produiction-super- vispry execs in the $25,000-$35,000 I salary bracket. “And w'e’re the i ones who are being asked to pick I lip the tab via the hiked rates,” the agency exec complained. “To command $25,000 a year in radio,” he pointed put, “you had to be one of the major yeepees.” Meanwhile, the Korean crisis and impending ' w^ar threat were seen by many as cuing a readjustment of AM-TV thinking. Color video and any other major strides in TV are seen as purely academic in the face of drastic production curbs, that hang in the balance. NBC is seriously considering ad- justing its AM network rates down- ward in a ‘‘come on in” bid to spon- sors and is already making over- tures to affiliates to agree to a re^ duction in the rate structure. Possibility of the Television Broadcasters Assn, merging with the National Assn, of Broadcasters loomed this week, following a pro- posal adopted by the TBA board in N. Y. last week to scout such a move; It’s believed definite, how- : ever, that TBA, if it finds the NAB amenable to the idea, will vote it through only if it can retain com- plete autonomy inside the overall broadcasters setup. It's pointed out that both CBS and ABC have bowed out of NAB. Two networks are leading in the video group and thus it’s consid- ered unlikely that they would vote to have TBA cpnsolidated with the radio broadcasters unless TBA re- mained as a separate entity. In addition, TBA prez J. R. Poppele, who Was reelected for the seventh consecutive term at the TBA clinic last Friday (8), stated in his year- end report to members that the organizations’s “greatest asset has been its ability to speak without qualification for TV broadcasters only.” It’s considered unlikely that TBA would choose to jeopardize that situation through a merger with another trade group. Merger was reportedly proposed on the assumption that NAB, to- gether with certain other industry organizations, can provide certain services that would be of value to the video broadcasters and which TBA does not now provide. NAB^ for example, has a labor relations service, which could prove valuable to the TV industry in its present era of labor union negotiations. TBA also could utilize NAB’s large research organization and, in addi- (Continued on page 50) Washington, pec. 12. Reports of “bootleg” television station operations have caused the FCC to instruct Its field offices to be on the alert, bdt an agency of- ficial admitted that illegal trans- mitters may be undetected be- cause of staff limitations. Although TV bootleggers are given away by their high towers, it was conceded that In sparsely settled areas, far from Commission field statioi^, they may be operating unmolested. But it Was considered doubtful that many are getting away with it. Operations of TV bootleggets recently came to light when Com- mission investigators closed down an illegal station operated by Syl- vania Electric Products, Inc., at Emporium, Pa. The booster at Emporium, using an unauthorized channel, was rebroadcastiiig regu- lar commercial programs from an established station at Johnstown, Pa. . At least two other illegal opera- tions have been tracked down, one of which is under continuous sur- veillance, it was learned. Usually they are built by experimenters who apparently can’t wait until authorized stations are established in their areas. Whether the con- tinuing freeze on video may en- courage such operators is always, a possibility. Deep In the Heart of Although it’s possible that deal- ers interested in selling sets might be tempted to install boosters (which could be built for a few' thousand dollars), it’s doubted that the risk of severe penalties which can be inflicted under the law' would be taken. Nevertheless, stories have come in that in the big open spaces in Texas, far from authorized stations, quite a few homes have TV receivers. With not more than two investi- gators working out of the FGC’s Dallas office, which serves a vast area in the southwest, it may well (Continued on page 52) Abbott, Costello WEINTRAIIB PICKS UP Hollyw'ood, Dec. 12. “Club Roma” on NBC-TV is get- ting pinkslipped. Show is being withdrawn because NBC has been unable to deliver markets promised to client. After brief origination in Frisco, show moved here for filming and j a netw'ork ride on the eastern cable. 1 William Weintraub agency has picked up an hour oin the ABC-’EV web for twro of its clients, in a par- lay which may involve the switch- ing of ‘‘Ellery Queen” from Du- Mont to ABC-TV. Agency has taken the 12 noon to 1 pjm. hour bn Saturdays for Sea- man Bros, and H. T. Babbitt. One half-hour will be taken by Seamah for Air-Wick, which will move its “I Cover Times Square” whodunit from Thursday evenings at 10 p.m. to the Saturday period. Other slot will be occupied by Babbitt, which is mulling skedding of “Ruth and Eileen.” Latter is a Bernard L. Schubert package based on Ruth McKenney's “My Sister Eileen” property. Shift of “Times Square” from the Thursday period leaves a va- cancy which Weintraub may try to fill with “Elleiy Queen,” how backed by Kaiser-Frazer (another of its clients) on DuMont, Thurs- days at 9 p.m, NBC and Abbott & Costello have negotiated a deal for the duo to join in the found-robin of Sunday night TV comics On “Colgate Com- ery. Hour.” Their first time up will be in.. January, as one of the replacements for Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, while the latter are finishing up their film commitment oh the Coast. For their second display, they’ll go into the segment being vacated by Fred Allen. They’ve been pacted for two shots, with future negotiations be- ing held jn abeyance pending re- action to the initial pair of attrac- tions.- Meanwhile, A & C are set to make their tele preem Dec, 16 in a Chicago Boys Club benefit, along with Jimmy Durante, Spike Jones and others. Ninetyrminute program will be cairied by WNBQ in Chi. IN MANACEMENT SUIT A deci-sion won by producer Max Liehman last June before New York supreme court Justice Joseph A. Gavagan, in which he sought to break a management contract with Lou Mandel, was affirmed by the appellate division yestercay (Tues) in a 3*2 verdict. The court upheld Liebman’s attorney, Milton Mound, tliat the agreement “relied On was void, unconscionable and against public policy.” Licbman signed with Mandel In May, 1946, but sought to negate the contract >vhen he claimed Mandel contributed no services towards his earnings. Milton Paulson was at torney for Mandel. . I ) •