Variety (December 1950)

Wednesday, December 27, 1950 RADIO 19 SCOREARD ON G01HAM OffTtETS ISIost intriguing question posed to the industry last week was the niotiv'ating factor or factors that led to the unusual action of CBS, as a private enterprise with no governmental affiliation, requiring a loyalty oath from its 2i5Q0 employees. Some close to the Columbia picture saw a direct bearing on the action with the fact that CBS board chairman William S. Paley is in the process of returning to a wartime status as one of the Gov- ernment’s key communication men (some say he’ll throw in his lot \viih Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower when the latter takes over the Supreme Command of the Western European theatre.) Obviously this will require Paley getting an okay from the in- vestigative powers. To this end, it’s reasoned, the CBS organiza- tion w ould have to pass muster. Tipoff was seen in the wording of the communication to the CBS organization, which said: “We are asking each employee to answer the questions on the form aiiached, which we will keep confidential, unleK at some future time the information is demanded by a governmental security agency.” , It's recalled all too vividly how Columbia, in projecting itself as the most liberal of all the networks in its thinking and pro- gramming during World^War 11, was branded by some, concedely unjustifiably as the “Red Network.” Apparently, goes .the thinking, Paley is determined to erase any such stigma from here on in, now that he’s about to throw in his lot with the Government’s mobilization movement. Seen Tied in Adam Hats has notified the Wil-f liam Weintraub Agency that it has no intention of renewing its con- tract for sponsorship of Drew Pear- sbii after the expiration of the pres- ent i)act on Feb. 1.- For his 15- miniite Sunday afternoon at 6 seg- ment on AB(j, Pearson has been draw ing $4,500 a week for a num- ber of years, with Lee Hats having preceded Adam in picking up .the lab. Cancellation of Pearson is seen as a direct repercussion from the columni.st - commentator’s recent “Battle of the Cloakroom” with Sen. Joseph McCarthy some days back, although there is some evidence to suggest that the past year’s finan- cial statement of the hat company may also be a factor. (Company recently changed prexies and turned the account over to Ward Wheelock instead of the Madison agency, although Weintraub still retains the radio end of the busi- ness.) The Sunday at 6 p.m. hard-hitting commentaries and slugging “predic- tions” have projected Pearson into national prominence. Intriguing to the trade is Whether, in a period of increasing sensitivities and alert- ness. a national bankroller will play along with the “call-all-shots-as-you- sec-ihem” Pearson technique. Adam company prexy issued a statement over the weekend assert- ing the Pearson cancellation had in reality been decided upon several weeks before the McCarthy alter- cation, w'hich resulted in the latter ! calling for a boycott of the Adam product. ABC Buying Trendex On Experimental Basis Trendex, new rating organiza- tion, has gotten some business from ABC. Web is buying the service on an experimental basis for three jprograms: one morning, one after- noon and one evening stanza. Trendex ratings are based on 14 four-network cities, in all of which (except Denver) there is television competition. AFRA Authorizes WJW, Oeve. Strike Cleveland, Dec. 26. AFRA has authorized a strike at WJW when the current contract expires at the end of the month. The station local voted unani- mously to go on strike and at a general membership meeting, AFRA, by overwhelming vote, ap- proved the action. Meanwhile, it is reported the station has dropped its demand for a 10% wage cut and elimination of talent fees. Negotiations are expected to continue this week with William M. O’Neil, station president. By BERT BRILLER Despite the great inroads tele- vision has made in the New York area, business for the Gotham out- lets has generally held up. How- ever, with 20-odd stations crowding the metropolis. Competition has reached a feverish pitch, and there are signs of weakness in the situa- tion. What has aided the N. Y. kilo* waiters is the upsurge of national spot biz. Many bankrollers who have splurged in video are turning to selective campaigns to round out their coverage. Since many of the sponsors feel network radio may give them “waste circulation," they’re supplementing their TV budgets with pinpointing spot drives, .from which the lucrative N. Y. market is benefiting. The Gotham outlets are also drawing relatively heavy coin from television manufacturers and re- tailers. These are generally re- garded as “soft accounts,” since they undermine the AM audience and will taper off as the area reaches the TV saturation point. Toppers in local radio, agency heads and time-buyers who know the N. Y. radio sweepstakes handi- cap the field in the following con- sensus: WOR: The Mutual key, despite video losses, is still a money nag. It probably has the bi^feest grOss of any AM station in the country, due to its large stable of local com- mercial programming, (contrasted with the other web keys feeding sustainers or carrying more net air- ers with their lower return). How- ever, there is a plenitude of mail order biz which, some' observers feel, indicates slipping. WNBC: The NBC entry, stress- ing a new locaTemphasis under the aegis of Ted Cott, has had record months in both local and national spot biz in October and November. Programmatic innovations have paid off saleswise and ratingwise. Eleanor Roosevelt stanza, replacing Mary Margaret McBride, is SRO. WCBS: Columbia’s gem has seen some of its local show ratings dip, but has moved up billingwise. New program entries are Stan Shaw and the Tommy Riggs-Betty Lou disk jockey stints. WJZ: Acquisition of Miss Mc- Bride hypoed the ABC key's posi- tion. Station is now. pounding hard (Continued on page 28) Jack Benny hai on kintusiiig story “2990—Or Bust /” OS ho looks into the Show bis . crystal boll ■* ■* ,★ one. of tho many byline pieces in the 45lh Anniversary Number of OVT NEXt WEEK Billings Set Pace Of Agencies in’50 The year’s end will find Dancer, Fitzgerald & Sample agency not only maintaining its billings leader^ ship in radio-television, but emerg- ing with an approximate $3,000,000 additional business, practically all due to the D-F-S clients’ upbeat in video. Last year the agency, with its flock of Procter & Gamble, Gen- eral Mills, Sterling, and Franco-Am- erican (Campbell Soup) shows, topped all agency expenditure in radio-TV with an approximate $25,- 000,000. For 1950, the figure will probably exceed $28,000,000. Increased billings stem chiefly from P & G’s program expansion into video via the ABC-TV “Beu- lah” show and P & G’s buy into the Kate Smith daytime video pro- gram. (P & G has also staked a major-claim in the daytime TV picture with the “First Hundred Years” serial, but the latter is in the Benton & Bowles house,) Gen- eral Mills’ sponsorship of the Stu- art Erwin show and expansion of “Lone Ranger,” Turns’ coin ear- mark for TV; Sterling's bankroll- ing of “Sing It Again,” and Fal- staff Beer’s elaborate 20-state sports programming are other con- tributing factors in the D-P-S blue- skies billings picture for '50. The loyalty oath which CBS Is asking its 2,500 regular employees to sign may meet opposition from unions, although definite antag- bhism against the pledge has riot yet crystallized. National Assni of Broadcast Unions and Guilds and Radio- Television Directors Guild will probably discuss question at their regular meetings. The Authors League of . America, parent body of the Radio Writers Guild, Television Writers Group and other scripters* guilds, will take a stand tomorrow (Thurs.) at a special ALA council Hoyse Dick In the wake of the CBS edict ordering all employees to sign a loyalty pledge, came the rev- elation last week that for the past three months an ex-FBI agent has been in the employ of the network. Practically no one at the web has been aware of his exist- ence or the capacity in which he’s employed. Npr; for that matter, is it known whether he’s directly or indirectly as- sociated with the web’s deter- mination to exemplify itself as a “lily white” organization. meeting. A segirient of the ALA council expressed opposition to the oath at a previous meeting called on the question Friday (22). In the past the ALA campaignecl against an NLRB ruling (later reversed) requiring council members to sign a non-Communist affidavit. At last week’s parley the League heard a wide variety of opinions pro and con the CBS move. A statement of the League’s views is being drawn up by a committee headed by ALA prexy Oscar Ham- merstein 2d arid including v!p. John Hersey and secretary Erik (Continued on page 29) After many weeks of negotiation which culminated in a contract a couple of vyeeks ago, Robert Pv 11 oiler has submitted his resigna- tioiv as director of AM radio for CHS. to join the Lpuis G. Cowan Dr.^^ani/alion, Heller will move in- ,to (ho creative programming as- : PocLs of the Cowan setup, with an , cQuiiv in the AM-TV shows he de- volops. ileller has been one of the key Pi'();>ram aides at CBS Under pro- g auv veepee Hubbell Robinson, Jr. I nor to moving into the No. 2 AM Pi’om am spot at the web, he headed P.lhe net’s wide-kudosed docu- P)oiUary unit. Slern s New WNBC Show ^Icrn takes over the Rich-j 0 llarkness twice-weekly news ' s h( on WNBC, N/Y., with a youth. : _ anicd stanza on which he’ll air coi'dij^gg of famous sports events ' fnun NBC’s files. ' T.,," whieh will be open for i P'UMieipatmg spots, will be heard ’ icsdays and Thursdays at 11;X5 'Starting jan. 9. OUT NEXT WEEK The 45th Anniversary Number Of Foims closing shortly Usual Advertising rates greynil i ■ Copy and space reservations may be sent to any Variety office NEW YORK 19 154 W. 46rh Sf. HOLLYWOOD 28 6311 Yucca St. CHICAGO 11 612 N. Michigan Ave. LONDON. W. C. 2 8 St. Martin's Place! Trafalgar Square Some of tTie NBC affiliate sta- tions assert they won’t even bother showing up at the meeting called for Jan. 10 in New York by NBG, to kick around the question of an AM rate cut. The threatened “boy- cott” stems from their feeling that without their support, the network will be in no position to exercise the slash. These stations want no part of it. They feel that a cut such as that contemplated by NBC would, par- ticularly at this time, be harmful to the radio industry as a whole. They feel more convinced than ever, in the wake of the economic mobilization, that the AM resurg- ence is about due; that as tele- vision feels the effect of production curbs and controls and the printed media becomes hit by newsprint shortages, the radio upbeat is cer- tain to manifest itself almost imme- diately. Around NBC, no one v/ill con- jecture whether the fate cut will go into effect or riot. NBC origin- ally had hoped for a Jan. 1 dead- line, but in view of affiliate sta^' tipn opposition, the whole matter remains in a state of flux. NORWICH EYES BOYER Norwich Pharmaceuticals is in- terested in the Charles Boyer day- time soaper, “Thanks for Tomor- row,” which NBC has auditioned. Web feels that the addition of Hollywood : personalities can re- vitalize the soap opera format. Al- though H. T. Babbitt has cancelled “Nona From Nowhere” and “David Harum,” the explanation is given that these had been in n standard- ized style and that more modern treatment, plus marquee names, will hypo serials' appeal.