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Film exhibitors in various parts* of the &qnjtryi are starting to crack down on daUieS |hSt.have made a' practice /of devoting Considerable space oriVcuffo basis for puff ma- terial on TV shows. Situation is particularly pertlneht to. those dailies around, the country that also own video stations, with, the pub- lisher’s TV adjunct, as result, get- ting a terrific, dally play on pro- gramming. Situation that has cropped up in Atlanta is fairly typical of what’s been happening around the coun- try. Exhibitors in the southern city have ganged; up on the Atlanta Constitution, which bnjoys a vir- tual TV, dynasty in the City. % .The exhibs squawked that they’re spending thousands of dollars weekly for ad space in a bid to at- tract paying customers to their theatres, while adjoining pages of the daily devote reams<uf cuffo ma- terial to invite TV viewers to the daily’s video channel. Beefs, iu fact, became so vehe- ment that vthe> dally has been obliged to soft-pedal the TV stuff. Similar .incidents have been re- ported, to other parts of the . coun- try. While it’s recognized that TV is still a ^glamor baby” and invites heavy readership, the situation* poses problem for the future. With mounting protests from ex- hibitors who still regard TV as its major competition, it’s considered inevitable that a blanket policy must eventually prevail whereby TV stations or sponsors will be compelled to pay on the line for advertising space, just as the film exhibs, withL an equalized portion of space for cuffo plugs. Awarditis Season Agencies and networks started gearing themselves 'for the i ‘season of the awards plague,” which unofficially got under way last week. The vari-. ous and sundry fan mags, etc., ' began their annual “solicita- tion” to the webs, agencies and clients for so.-called nomiha-" tions for recipients of citations —with the inevitable gimmick that the kudosed stars accept the . awards on their shows, with a plug for the; donor. . (Season generally runs about three months). As one agency exec put it: “The guy who doesn’t have to Acknowledge the citation on his show will be THE award winner of the year.” NBC, which last year passed up an annual Christmas bonus for em- ployees, is handing out a year-end 5%. pay increase fdt those earning $7,5.00 ai year or less. “ Hike applies to everyone, in AM and TV, with the exception of those who are identified with unions.. Amount of increase is comparable to slightly more than half-a-month’s pay. Move came somewhat as a sur- prise to employees, particularly in view of the '52 forecast made at the Boca Baton convention - by prexy Joseph H. McConnell, who asserted that-NBC would lose $1,- 000,000 in radio, next year in its bid to establish' a new economic pattern for the medium. CBS this year handed out A week’s pay as a .Yule, bonus, same as last yeaT. As in the case of NBC, it onjy applies to non-union employees;' Elmo Roper, for years identified with CBS as a program personality and research advisor, is in process of inking 'a deal Which will find him switching allegiance to NBC as a consultant in television. Specifically, Roper’s initial as- signment will be to undertake a nationwide survey on behalf of the network to appraise audience trends, measure of acceptance of public affairs and educational pro- gramming, and to determine whether there is a sufficient aware- ness on the part of both the gen- eral public and the network of the need for /public affairs program- ming; The Roper project, perhaps the; most ambitious yet to be under- taken," comes in the wake of the recent alarm expressed by NBC prexy Joseph H. McConnell, at the Radio Executives Club luncheon, in Which he singled out the networks for being remiss; in their obliga- tions to the public! * Switchover of Roper comes as a surprise, in view of-, his longtime close friendship with CBS presi- dent Frank Stanton. Despite Unprecedented activity on the part of the radio networks during the past six months in evolving new sales patterns as a come-on to advertisers, the year- end finds sales activity at a stand- still. The networks are completely baffled. And they make no bones over the fact that they’re some- thing more than distressed over their inability to lure fresh spon- sorship coin. Today a renewal on a network radio' show is almost a cause for jubilation. But the attempts to ped- dle a. new show, or bring in a neW client, despite a multiplicity of formulas and. merchandising schemes, are adding up to: zero. NBC, for one, has practically writ- ten Off 1952 and has put itself bn record that it stands to lose $1,- 000,000 during the coming year while it starts from scratch in re- building the whole economic. pat- tern of its -radio structure to meet ►the transitional period. ‘ ‘ But the fact remains that NBC, like CBS, ABC and the others, are alarmed over: the failure of the agencies and the advertisers to respond to their gimmicked-up sales-merchandising patterns. True, some of the agencies have been asking questions and have mani- fested some interest In what the webs have to offer/ but it was hoped that by this time something more concrete in terms of actual sales would have developed. NBC’s -Gimmicks’ NBC currently is focussing major attention on its “Guaran- teed" Advertising” and “Market Basket” plans. On the former, the network offers rebates to advertis- ers unless the web can deliver a .guaranteed audience of 5,300,000 listener impressions per show. The latter, involving sponsor participa- tion in a Tandem-type operation, is being pitched to grocers, and: super-markets in particular.. Aside from some inquiries, the network thus far has found no takers • on either approach. Meanwhile, the network’s “Operation Tandem— No. 2,” patterned along the same lines as the No. 1 Tandem, is being held in abeyance and it’s virtually certain that unless NBC can invite some client participation in advance the sequel will go by the boards. CBS announced with consider- able fanfare its “Selective Facilii- (Continued on page 36) Taking Stock One of the major Ripleys of the year has been the continu- ing strength of CBS stock on the Big Board which, after re- maining quietly in the mid-20s, zoomed within a week to with- in a fraction of :35. Adding to, the perplexity is the fact that the upsurge in both CBS Class A and B stock comes in the wake of the D. C. edict which threw CBS color televi- sion for a loss. The “pulse takers” around Wall street are inclined to as- cribe the Columbia stock as- cendancy to “good, manage- ment,” topped by the takeover of Hytron and Air King (how CBS-Columbia) as manufactur- ing adjuncts. Further evidence of the way the networks are letting down the bars on commercial sensitivities and ac- cepting business which,, a few years back, they wouldn’t touch with a 40-foot pole, is reflected in the : deal being negotiated, via Warwick & Legler agency, for a nighttime NBC program spread for Ex-Lax. Until now, the network has held itself aloof from plugging the laxa- tive product. Move, too, comes in the wake of the verbal spanking administered to CBS at its recent j (Continued on. page 36) Katz’s 19th TV Station Effective Feb. 1, the Katz station rep outfit grabs off its 19th TV station representation, at the same time giving it a grand sweep of the George Storer chain of op- erations. . Katz movgs in on KEYL-TV in San Antonio, having wrested the station away from the Blair outfit. Washington, Dec. 25. As time draws near for the lift- ing of the long freeze on television, the Federal Communications Com- mission finds itself woefully short of the administrative facilities for handling 'the estimated 1,000 appli- cations for stations which are ex- pected to be on Ale when process# ing begins. Shortage of personnel, resulting from successive cuts in the Commission’s appropriations, is the big bottleneck. The situation, it is learned, is so serious as to threaten another ‘‘freeze*’ wlien the current one. is ended, The major problem facing the agency when station applications are ready for processing, is the handling of hearing cases. It’s ex- pected that at least three-fourths of the applications will have to be decided through competitive hear- ings because the number, of appli- cants, particularly in cities of more than 100.000 population, exceeds the available channels. The Commission’s staff of exami- ners, who preside at these hearings, now numbers but seven. Two vacancies have hot been filled be- cause of budget cuts; If all seven could be assigned exclusively th TV hearings—an unlikely possibili- ty in .view of radio and common carrier work requirements of tliC agency—and each examiner could handle five hearings cases averag- ing five applications per case, it would require nearly five years to dispose of the accumulated work- load. This means that applicants for (Continued on page 35) as TV Exec WNEW, N. Y., in mid-January will launch a*, new half-hour pro- grain devoted entirely to readings, without music or sound effect* : . A quintet of readers will be used on the. series. * Melvyn Douglas, Dane Clark and Boris'Karloff have already. been set, with , the others still tb be determined. Show will be beamed early on Sunday eve- ning. Th« 46th Anniversary Number Indie has effected a tieup with the^ New York Public Library, Which will have a shelf in each branch devoted to the tomes from which the readings are culled. Airer will be “sponsored”- by the Library, which Will use the plugs to point out the value of reading and thus counteract the inroads which.TV has made Into Viewers’ reading time. Fins clisinv charily Iwl Mfertising rates .T-T^MB:Vi.ifrnrn;tiT7w^pr«Mu«L» Copy and ipa ce reservations may be sent to any Variety office NEW YORK 19 154 W. 44th Sf. HOLLYWOOD 2t 4311 Ykc« St. CHICAGO 11 412 N, MlcUgae A»t, LONDON, W. C. 2 • St. Mertln'a ftaco Trafalgar Sqaara Abe Schechter, one of the pio- neers in establishing radio news patterns, who resigned, as Mutual news-special events veepee about a year ago to join Crowell-Collier a Co. as a vice-president, is return- ■ ing to broadcasting. Effective Jan, ™ X, Schechter joins NBC, where he served his early apprenticeship in radio/ becoming a general.executive in television. Schechter will work on major as- signments and his initial efforts will be channelled into the upcom- ing two-hour morning show, “To- day,” supervising the world-wide news and feature services for the cross-the-board Dave Garroway program." Schechter was with NBC from 1931 to 1842, when he resigned to join General Douglas MacArthur’s staff in tlie Pacific as one of the top aides on communications. After the war he went to. Mutual. Re- tendered his Crowell-Collier res-* ignation last week. ‘Mr. I. Magination’ In CBS-TV Sustaining Ride “Mr. I. Magination,’’ Paul Tripp’s moppet show which has been off the alp this season, returns to CBS-TV early in January, prob- ably in the Sunday afternoon 5:39 to 6 period. Web had hoped to sell that time to Lever Bros, for aPnew Sam Lev- enson show, with the soap outfit haying taken an. option on Leven- son’s services; Comedian, however, declined to do a kid show, prefer- ring instead to have a later evening period on which he could play to an adult audience. Lever has now dropped the option, which openi up the time to CBS. “Mr. I.”, won several awards dup- ing its two-year tenure on the ali but Was dropped by CBS when Nestle’s, whirh had been bankroll- ing, checked out last season. Web is now willing, to give the show * chance on a susf&ining ride, in th# hopes it can snare a new sponsor.