Variety (January 1951)

RABIO Wednesday, January 17, 19S1 25 There were quite a few anxious moments last Wednesday (10) among a group of NBC-RCA executives who were gathered at Carnegie Hall, N; Y., to watch Arturo Toscanini rehearse the NBC Symphony Orchestra for an RCA-Vlctpr recording of Strauss’ “Don Juan.” For this was the long-awaited moment when the famed maestro would decide, once and for all, whether his knee Was in fit condition to permit him to carry out his '51 roster of events. A lot was at stake for the NBG-RCA hierarchy, including spon-» sorship of the symph broadcasts effective Jan. 27 by Squibb; future recording sessions for RCA Victor, and the projected spring tour of Toscy and the orchestra as an RCA promotion. , On the basis of what transpired at last Thursday’s rehearsal (specifically, whether Toscy, having just undergone rigorous treatment for a recurring knee ailment, would be able to stand while batoning), the maestro would give his decision oh fulfilling his ’51 commitments. There were virtually shouts of “Eureka! ’’ as Toscy not only stood up throughout the rehearsal, but proved his old self, practically dancing on the podium. At the conclusion of the rehearsal, he let it be known that he would go through with the entire schedule. WJW 3 Hours; NABET in Cleveland, Jan. 16. -f Strike by AFRA announcers ivhose picket lines wpre respected by NABET engineers kept WJW [)ff the air for over three hours Helen Guy to MR&N Monday (15) morning. ABC affiliate started broadcasting with supervisory employees at controls and mike at 9:22 ajn.i instead of its usual 6 a.m. starting time. Company Spokesman said station will remain on air despite strike and that the base AFRA salaries of $58-$75 a week over a four-year period are as high as or higher than other stations in the area. WJW attorney said AFRA’s demands “could not be justified as good business under present circumstances.” AFRA charged, but WJW denied, that college students are being recruited as strikebreakers. Union also said that 70% of national and local commercials had been cancelled, but company termed the figure absurd. Walkout began after more than three months of negotiations failed to produce a contract. The old pact expired Dec. 31. Picket lines were established at both WJW’s downtown Euclid avenue studio and at the transmitter. AFRA represents the entire an(Coiitinued on page 38) Linnea Nelson To Linnea Nelson, whose name for nearly a quarter of a century has been synonymous with time buying in radio, is retiring from the business March 31, after 23 years with J. Walter Thompson. Hehce^ forth she wants to devote her time to her husband, her West Islip (L.I.) home and the family boat. Within the agency-time-buyingSponsor fraternity in radio, Miss Nelson has occupied a unique niche In broadcasting, garnering a cpastto-coast reputation over the years as one of the most able femmes in the industry, outdistancing practically the whole male field in shrewd time buying. She’s played, a key role in setting time buring patterns through her keen understanding of local station and client requirements. Out-of-Tottn Preen For Ws 3,I)00,(N)0 Peeple’ Chicago, Jan. 16. Innovation in station promotion and merchandising* preems here Jan. 23 when Ralph Weil, general . manager of WOV, the bHingual New York operation, unveils an animated film calls “WO V’s 3,000,000 People,” detailing the station’s entire operation, covering tailormade programming, “Consumption’’ studies, , “Audited Audiences” and sales techniques in general. It’s also to be shown at a series of luncheon meetings for agencies and advertisers in the Twin Cities, Detroit and Cleveland, and later in the N. Y. metropolitan area, Helen Guy, who first joined WJZ, N. Y., back in 1922, is leaving as business manager of ABC’s program department. Miss Guy will join the “Three Johns,” Masterson, Reddy and Nelson, who are opening a New York office from which they’ll concentrate their tele activities, although they’ll keep their Hollywood office. Vet employee was originally secretary to Charles Popenoe, first manager of WJZ, when it was a Westinghouse operation and remained with it during its shifts to RCA, NBC and ABC. Robert Q., CBS Tear Up Contract; NBC Deal Coobiiqi Robert Q. Lewis, one of the mainstays on the CBS talent roster over the past few years, and long identified as “Arthur Godfrey’s perennial substitute,” has torn up his CBS exclusivity contract in a mutual arrangement with the network. Lewis meanwhile has been in negotiation with Charles (Bud) Barry, NBC program veepee, whereby he’ll Join the latter wnb on radio and television programming, with a TV show as his initial NBC entry. • , Lewis, who has practically circuited all the daytime and nighttime segments on CBS, will still be committed to Columbia for the Thursday night “Show Goes On” program, but will drop out of the CBS-TV daytime picture. Lewis was reportedly unhappy over the (Continued on page 37) WCPO Pacts Paul Dixon To 3pG 4-Year Deal To Keep Him 'Cincy Happy’ Cincinnati, Jan. 16. Paul Dixon, iroh^-man disk jockey of WCPO AM and TV stations, has signed a four-year contract. Mortimer C. Watters, head man of the Scripps-Howard units, said it is “the largest TV talent contract ever rigned in Cincinnati” and “Will keep Dixon from accepting any offers from networks or another local station/’ Yearly salary, which Watters failed to make known, was estimated by One source in the neighr borhood of $30,000; Estimate was based on report that Dixon had been getting $25,000. Watters did say that Dixon started on WCPO for $75 a week in 1945, when he came here from (Chicago, where he started radio work. For more than a year Dixon has been doing 13 hours of TV programs weekly, in stretches of two (Continued on page 37) By GEORGE ROSEN The eyes of the radio, and more notably^ the television industry, were being focused this week on Chicago where, at the Stevens hotel on Friday (19), there will take place perhaps one of the most vital industry conventions in recent years. ()n the agenda Is the all-important question of whether the nation’s ■ television broadcasters should join the ranks of the National Assn, of Broadcasters, a move which, it’s conceded, would restore the NAB to its onetime sphere, of industry influence. Such a move (and it’s anticipated that it will be consummated before the convention adjourns) would bring the demise of the Television Broadcasters Assn. Termination of the TBA, as such, would not come as any particular blow to the TV Industry, for it’s felt that the organization has been too in-grown in New York; that sopiewhere along the line it missed the boat in serving the best interests of the nation’s TV broadcasters, and that, in primarily serving as a sounding board for the manufacturing end of the business, it has been ineffectual as an industry-wide setup. The upcoming convention is regarded as having such significance that the majority of the nation’s key TV broadcasters are turning out, as well as top-ranking netWork executives, including prexy Joseph H. McConnell, Who will head the NBC delegation, and in all probability CBS j)rez Frank Stanton. Prodigal Return? That the enthusiasm over the proposed merger has extended to the networks is of vital concern to the NAB, for already it is being freely predicted that both CBS and ABC will return to the fold. The two networks withdrew from the parent . industry association last year on the grounds that the webs were hot benefiting from the affiliation. Of even more importance Is the likelihood of the networks once more having representation on the NAB board of directors, a state of affairs that hasn’t existed in several years when a long-smoldering network V' . station . schism exploded and weakened the whole NAB structure. * It’s generally agreed that a TBANAB merger could not have come at a more propitioirs or crucial time for the industry as a whole. Until now the television . broadcasters have been primarily concerned with the business end in balancing the ledger sheets. But a new era is ' dawning. Government controls’ and curbs threaten to throw the TV broadcasters for a loss. Criticism against the medium both as a social and educational force has been piling up with alarming frequency. Attacks have been leveled at the medium for so-called commercial abuses and for the programming patterns it has evolved. But by virtue of the fact that the television broadcasters have lacked a proper organizational setup, the attacks have virtually gone uanswered. It’s recognized now chat, through the NAB identification, the (Continued on page 34) This Is Radio! Commercial radio rates being what they are, the packager of a comedy show now On a major network has scoffed at a firm offer for sponsorship because of the lowering margin of profit to him. At the price offered by the sponsor, the owner of the Show, who also writes and produces, would be better off on the sustaining rate paid him by the netwoik than if he went commercial and upped the fees on all hands. The diff is a . few hundred dollars, so the spohsOr has been asked to “come again.' 9 CosteHo’S Gab Tour Bill Costello, CBS' Far Eastern neWs chief who has just returned from a tour of Korea, Formosa, India and the middle east, has been signed to a lecture tour by Selma Warlick, head of National Concert & Artists Corp. Special attractions division. Costello, who got leave of absence from CBS, will start a Coastto-coast gab tour Feb. 2 in Philadelphia, to run through February and March. He’ll average five dates a week, lecturing on his experiences and predictions of what’s next for Asia. Philadelphia. Jan. 16. Despite a 100% increase in the number of television sets in the Philadelphia area, WCAU clocked up the most successful year in the 28-year history of the radio station.. Holding up of sales, plus the return of defense production, has led Joseph T. Connolly, v.p. in charge of radio for the WCAU stations to concentrate on the commercial development of beginning and end of daytime segments. Billing the opening and closing slots as “frontier time,” WCAU has taken the unprecedented step of scheduling an “audience-at-home” participator for 11:30 p.m. crossthe-board. Similarly, the station is building an early morning listening show around Jim Grohman, a disker whose voice and style is in the Arthur Godfrey manner. Connolly said that an analysis of AM business during 1950 reyealed that more advertisers had bought more time on WCAU than during any previous year. “WCAU sales experience provides convincing proof, in one of the nation’s most active television markets, that TY has been far from the kiss of death for radio in Philadelphia,” Connolly said. ' Radio listening in Philadelphia declined less than 1% in the face of 1950’s doubling the number of video receivers in action. These facts are the impulse behind WCAU’s campaign to expand the borders of its commercial time. The late evening show, “Hold the Phone,’’ is one of the highest budgeted ever broadcast in Philly around the midnight hour. “It’s ideal for our purpose,” Connolly said. Connolly explained that “Hold the Phone” is particularly well suited for the late slot. It fear (Continued on page 38) ; NBC and tbeDead’ One-Shot to Be Brought Outas Album b^ RCA RCA Victor next month is bringing put an album based on the NBC “Quick and the Dead” atomic series, which Bop Hope emceed. It Was originally done as a four-week series and later was reprised as a two-hoUr one-shot. Album is based on the latter show. Entire cast and personnel of series are turning over their share of the album's proceeds to atomic energy charities. Album Was inspired by demands for the series from schools and universities. Show, incidentally, has been recommended by the New York Listening Post Committee for a Peabody Award. wareim Systems ‘ Apparently the Current rating dilemma, which finds the networks lined up in opposition camps, has resolved itself into a case of “ya takes your choice,” with the choice invariably being the one that favors the network in question. Thus CBS is inclined to go along with the Nielsen ratings, which consistently project Columbia as ruler of the airlanes, while NBC prefers to throw in its lot with the Trendex measurement boys. Latest chapter in the perennial “Battle of the Ratings” has been Inspired chiefly by the Nielsen vs. Trendex tallies on the NBC Sunday night 90-minute “Big Show.” These show a complete divergence of audience sentiment, with the Nielsens giving CBS much the better of it and the Trendex results indicating a closing of the gap between NBC’s “Big Show’' and CBS’ Jack Benny. Further, though the Nielsens show that while Such other opposition items as “Rate YOur Mate” and “Our Miss Brooks” on CBS outstrip “Big Show,” the Trendex figures reveal just the opposite for the same rating period, with “Big Show” running ahead. NBC, riled over the Nielsen showing, is currently engaged in making an exhaustive research study on ratings , in general which, it hopes, will “blow the lid” off the Nielsen technique. Around NBC it’s the contention that the Nielsens are entirely inadequate. Some even go so far as to say that the sampling is stacked in favor of markets that are predominately CBS. On the other hand, the Columbia boys argue that the Nielsens have a more uniform appeal than the (Continued on page 38) Charles C. Bevis, Jr., former NBC page boy who rose to the post of director of NBC’s owned-andoperated TV stations, operating under veepee Jim Gaines, has been given the nod as general manager of KOA, the web’s o&o. operation in Denver. Bevis moves into the spot vacated by Lloyd Yoder. Latter was transferred to San Francisco to head the KNBC radio and television operators in that city. Gaines has not as yet decided On a successor to Bevis. He is the second ex-NBC page boy, incidentally, to hit the bigtime on a station management level, Tom McFadden, now heading the web's KNBH video operation in Hollywood, also started out sis a network page boy. McConnell io Fete Yoder NBC prexy Joseph H; McConnell^ . in Chicago for Friday’s (19) NABTBA meet, leaves for the Coast over the weekend on network biz. On his Hollywood agenda is a party he’s arranging for Lloyd Yoder, for years manager of the web’s' KOA operation in Denver, who has just been named to head the KNBC radio and TV stations in San Francisco. Phil Baker, Chi Boniface Package Radio-TV Show Chicago, Jan. 16. Phil Baker and James A. Hart, prexy of the Sherman and Ambassador hotels, are putting together a radio-TV package to be aired from the Sherman Porterhouse room. Deal hinges lipon ability to line up network time for nightly simulcast. Session will be emceed by Baker, featuring platters and interviews with Porterhouse and Ambassador East Pump Room guests.