Variety (December 1951)

14 RAMO-TEUBTISION Wednecday, December 12, 1951 Problem of unlimited radio and television broadcasts of . major league baseball games failed to come up for discussion at the Na- tional League's meet in N. Y, this Week, but indications; point to sev- eral other chibs following the lead of the N. Y, Yankees in curtailing radio coverage of their home games. While the question is to be left upi to the discretion of the individual clubs, it's reported that both the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates Will ban broad- cast of their games into minor league territories starting next sea- son. .. It’s belived that TV coverage will be unaffected by the maj ors' efforts to cooperate with /minor league prexy George M. Trautman’s plea to protect the minors. TV, for the most part, is* confined only to the home territory of the individual clubs and so, if TV hurts the gate, It will be the major teams them- selves that will suffer. Yankees had been feeding telecasts of 'their games into both Schenectady and New Haven but it’s now reported that, if contracts with the sponsor, Ballantine’s, don’t interfere, TV coverage in the future will be con- fined to N. Y; " Liberty Broadcasting System, which has established a "game-of- the-day” network for feeding direct pickups of various' games; to : its affiliates,, blasted the Yankee state- ment of radio curtailment, mean- while, as being “ironic." LBS pointed out that the Yanks’ own "Home of Champions" network, which feeds the Yankee games into 21 towns, includes 12 minor league territories. EVen if this network were curtailed, as the Yanks prom- ise, it would still undoubtedly hit some of the minor league towns, Liberty declared. “It would appear, then,” LBS said, "that the altruism of the Yankees is somewhat short- sighted," Liberty cited the Yanks as being .^champions" also of promotion, pointing out that the Yanks often promote excursions of fans from rpi league towns to come to (Continued on page 40) Mexico City, Dec. 11. Plans for the construction of 18 television stations in Mexico are being readied by Romulo O’Far- f ill, industrial, publishing and broadcasting tycoon. Together with his son, Romulo, Jr., the Latino businessman owns XHTV, Mexico City, and XELp* TV, Matamoros, on the Texas bor- der. His interests also include XBX, 500 kw outlet; Novedades, large daily paper; the'NewsV Eng- lish-language newspaper, and Pack- ard Motor Co. assembly plant and distribution company. Besides building the 18 new tele outlets, O’Farrill plans production and distribution of vidpiX and kine- scope shows and program inter- change between U. S. and Mexico. Heading these activities Will be Monte* Kleban, present g.m. of XELD-TV, who assumes new ad- ministrative duties. Until recently he was consultant to Jesse Jones’ KTRH, Houston, and an exec of WOAI* San Antonio. Now Under construction is O'Far- rili’s third vidstation, at Cortez Pass. Fourth station, at Tiajuana, will be started shortly. in Hollywood, Dec. 11. Cy Howard and Harry Ackerman reached an agreement on a new CBS contract which will give Howard an annual radio and TV subsidiary rights income exceeding $150,000 next year,. Modification of the old pact yields Howard royal- ties over a long period, but it’s un- derstood the network refused to surrender control of "My Friend Irma”, and "Luigi,” both created by Howard. His radio-video income will be augmented, by royalties from pic- ture and other rights, "Irma” is definitely set for video next, year, possibly "Luigi” too. SporUtaster Marty Glickman_ discourses oo Changing Styles on Sports Broadeasting one of the many •diforlal features III the 46 th Anniversary JV umber of Variety. OUT SOON 7 • Some bankrollers Using the mi- crowave relay to originate network tele shows from the Coast are beef-, ing about the cost. The advertisers and agencies say that on an hour- long show the relay nick for a Hollywood origination is $1,000 more than originating the show in the east and feeding it west. In addition to the charge, the technical facilities of Coast studios are riot as good. Unless there’s an improvemejit in the engineering and production setup in the West, it’s said, many, sponsors will shy away from moving their live airers to the Coast. The agency men have also been bothered by technical problem in reproducing the Vidfilm commer- cials on Coast-originating stanza's. The film has a tendency to phos- phoresce arid look washed out on receivers in the east. Reason, ap- parently, is that the shading done on the Coast doesn’t show up prop- erly after winging across the coun- try. Telephone company engineers are working on r the problem. In the meanwhile, a telephone line is being kept op^n on cross-country programs, with an engineer in New York advising the shaders on the Coast on the quality of the image. schwmmer Chicago, Dec, II. Schwimmer & Scott agency, which was left holding the bag to the extent of $290,000 in unpaid billing With the. collapse of Ameri- can Vitamin Associates, is back in the vitamin picture. Negotiations were started last week between Jack Scott, S&S prexy, and Thy avals, Inc., for the ? agency to handle the midwest billings of the new outfit, which has taken over the AVA nostrums—Thyavals, Or- Vita and Formula 621. Under the setup, Scott and the other AVA creditors have more than usual interest in the success of the new venture. Until its cred- itors are paid off, AVA will redeive a 30% name royalty on the prod- ucts,. which will be applied against its obligations. Also half the new outfit’s net profits will go back to AVA,, .to be '.split up among the creditors. S8?S is currently paying off its obligations to midwest radio-TV stations it was left with when AVA folded iri October., Agency, made, arrangements to pay off the cred- itors in monthly installments. Craig Maudsley, Seattle agency, is handling the Coast billings for the new merchandising firm. Dick Redmond, director of* pro- duction operations for CBS-TV^in N. Y. for the last four years, is leaving the web to join two friends in a new aircraft parts iriariufactur- ing firm. CBS has not named his succes- sor, arid it’s believed the post will bu filled from among his assistants. "The People Act," new docu- mentary radio series to be pro- duced by the Ford Foundation in conjunction with CBS* Will be re- broadcast by the Voice of America as an-4nteggal part of the State Dept’s oversees propaganda cam- paign, it was revealed? Monday (9) by Dr. Milton S./Eiseritiower. Pres- ident, of * Penn, Stated College, Dr. Eisenhower is head of a national committee established by the Foundation to counsel communities who Offer problems similar to those presented on “People Act.” Radio series, designed to show democratic processes at work in grassroots communities as Well as the large cities throughout the country, preems on CBS Jari. 6, where it. will hold down the Sunday night 10:05 to 10.30 period. Foun- dation Will pay for the program cost, about $6,000-$7,000 per show, with CBS donating the air time. Robert Saudek, director of the Foundation’s Radio-TV Workshop, said the first 13 weeks would be sustaining, but the show would then be made available for spon- sorship. Series IS to be produced and directed by CBS staffer Irving Gitlin, who will utilize the actuality tape technique he innovated with last summer’s "Nation's Night- mare” shows, Music has been com- posed by Norman Lockwood, and will be conducted by Alfredo An- tonini. Elmore McKee, creator of "People Act," will work with Gitlin on the series; To date, 10 of the shows have been completed." They deal with such items as how suburban com- muters in Arlington, Va., cooperat- ed to defeat a political machine and win new schools for their chil- dren, how residents in the isolated area of Blairsville, Ga., remade their community to relate it to the world outside, etc. EMERSON Production team of Gil Fates and Arnold Peyser, Who have handled Faye Emerson's tele show for Pepsi-Cola since September, 1950, have resigned, effective Dep, 22. Fates, who. has been directing the shows, and scripter Peyser are ex- iting in a hassle over contracts, stemming from the sponsor’s uncer- tainty over the status of Miss Em- erson’s "Wonderful Town” show On CBS-TV, Saturdays at 9- p.m. ^ Pepsi arid the Blow agency haven’t^ decided, yet whether to re- tain the present "Wonderful Town” format, and whether they will hold on to the time slot, which the net- work has been thinking of pre- empting. Stanza, meanwhile, has improved ratingwise, climbing from an 8.0 Nielsen When it started last summer to an 18.4 in the latest re- port. WCBS Faulk Show Cues ift of Other Stanzas John Henry Faulk, TeXas-bom humorist, starts a 50-minute music and gab session cross-the-board on WCBS* key station Of the CBS web. in N. Y., starting next Mon- day (17). He’ll be on the air from 5:05 to 5:55 p.m.* with the station pitching the show to participating sponsors. Faulk’s preem will force the shifting of several of the station's other programs, in the first realign- ment carried out by Sam Slate since' his recent takeover as WCBS program manager. ... "Hits and Misses," formerly aired 5:30 to 5:55, and "Missus Goes A-Shop-: ping*' formerly on frorti 4:30 to 4:55, will be dropped? Galen Drake’s “Housewives Protective League* moves into the 4:30 to 5 period, with a five-iriinute news- cast featuring Henry Marble tak- ing over from 5 to 5:05* as Joe DiMaggio* who announced hie intentions yesterday (Tries.) to< quit active playing with the New York Yankees, may take over the Yanks' radio-TV enterprises* including daily broadcasts of the world champs’ games; In winding up his active career as a player, DiMag said he would stay with the Yanks in an undisclosed capacity. It's estimated that his AM-TV masterminding for the Yanks will fetch DiMaggio an approximate $75,000 a year. Aside from active broadcasting* he would double into a goodwill ambassador role for the team* with speaking engagements,, lecture tours, etc. It would also leave him free for his own radio-television shows. There's been considerable conjecture as to the Yankee berth* fol- lowing the announcement that Dizzy Dean was exiting the New York scene and returning, to St. Louis for the '52 season; Harry Bannister tees ceasiirshlp a* ’s No. 1 Headache ana of thu muiiy editorial features In tha forthcoming 1 . ; . 46th Anniversary Number of PSriety Meyers in WMAQ Exit For Taylor Rep Berth Howard Meyers is slated to re- sign his sales manager berth at WMAQ, Chi NBC radio outlet, to take over Jan. 1 as head of the Chi office of the O. L. Taylor sta- tion rep firm. Meyers succeeds James Thompson, who is leaving the Taylor outfit to join the Henry Chnstal rep outfit. No replacement has been set yet for Meyers' NBC post. NBC-TV lost little time this week iri latching onto new sponsors for the two evening time periods which were dropped by other barik- rollers. U. 8 S. Rubber Signed for the Sunday night 7 to 7:30 slot, being exited by Chesterfield's "Sound Off Trine,” and Pontiac picked up the 10:45 to 11 p, m. Tuesday night slot* which Old Gold is clipping off its "Original Ama- teur Hour.” Neither of the new bankrollers has decided on a program. NBC is pitching another rotating com- edy show to U. S. Rubber for the Sunday night period, which would have Bob Hope alternating each Week with Abbott . & Costello* While Hope is under contract to Chesterfield, he also has a contract with NBC: which would permit him to do a show for a lion-competing sponsor.* Deal for U. S. Rubber marks the first network video presentation for that firm ^ince about four years ago, when it bankrolled a weekly Friday night sports show featuring sportscaster Bob Stanton and Co- lumbia U. football coach Lou Lit- tle. Pontiac has been in several times on special one-shot deals, but has never bad a weekly network display before, Cincinnati, Dec. 11. vCrosjey Broadcasting Corp.’s longtime talent development abil- ity and knowhow are paying off, according to latest survey releases from Don Miller* head of the WLW television research depart- ment, Miller reports that locally-pro- driced shows again are gathering the lion's share of the audience in the tri-city 1 area of Cincinnati, Day tori and Columbus, Miller* armed With November survey fig- ures, > reveals that "Breakfast Party,” the "50 Club” and 'tMid- western Hayride,” all produced in Crosley Square studios, topped the Opposition. All three turned iri a similar showing in October. In the case of “Hayride,” the Id- eally-produced opus competed against network shows and came out best. To substantiate his conclusions, Milier cited the 4 three-city aver- ages, stacked up by the. three tele- casts. Ruth Lyons' popular "50 Club" led the parade of WLW television favorites, with 65.8% of the audience. • Washington* Dec. 11. With hearings on the proposed ABC-UPT merger *and Paramount anti-trust issues due to start next month, a fight is brewing within the FCC to make sure the monop- oly issues in the inquiry are thor- oughly exploredi The first inkling of battle came to light last week with the strong dissent by Commissioner Robert Jones to a Commission decision denying a request by Fanchon,& Marco, to intervene ari "a party in interest” in the proceedriigSr scheduled to begin Jan. 15. As theatre operators in Los Angeles and St. LoUis* E Sc M claim the merger would affect 4 their busi- nesses as well as other theatre owners. Aside from taking his colleagues to task for* a "niggardly” interpre- tation ofjQoirimission rules regard- ing intervention; Jones issued a left-handed invitation,to the Jus- tice^ Dept. to erijer the proceedings* If the Department had requested intenrention, he said, there is lit- tle question the Commission would grant its request. And; Jones pointed out* the Commission is "faced with a situation where the Department has up to this date neither intervened nor indicated that it intends tp participate in this proceeding in any manner whatsoever." Referring to the coming pro- ceedings as “one of the most sig- nificant cases in the history of broadcasting,” Jones urged his colleagues* before they foreclose F & M from the hearings, to pro- vide "more definite assurance’* that the Department will cooperate with the Commission , in supplying pertinent data relative to the anti- trust history of Paramount. However, the Commission, In (Continued on page 40) Deal is expected to be consume mated this week whereby DuPont will buy the Saturday evening at 7 slot on NBC-TV for a video ver- sion of “Cavalcade of America.’* Sponsor’s radio “Calvacade ” heard Tuesday nights at $ on NBC, will continue. TV version will J)e filmed. Some of the dramatic episodes have al- ready been completed and from all accounts hive N won the unanimous plaudits of DuPont. and BBD&O execs. Half-hour films cost about $25,000 each. DuPont has been' anxious to get an early evening TV slot* because of the general appeal to both adult: and. youth alike of the historical format of the show. SET FOR CBS SPREAD “The Continental*’ 1 , television's version of radio’s “Lonesome Galo- is slated for a ride'on the- full CBS Video web starting Jan. 22, Show, featuring Renzo Cessna making with the pash talk to femirie view- ers, will take over the. Tuesday and Thursday 11:15 to 11:30 p.m. period under sponsorship bf CamCo Hosiery, Show has been aired locally , for the last several months _iover KNBH, NBC flagship in Holly- wood. Coast outlet will shift to KNXT, the CBS affiliate* When the network spread begins. Pro- gram is packaged by Mastersori, Reddy & Nelson* with Hirshon- Garfield handling the Cameo (Bur- lington Mills) account.