Variety (December 1951)

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■MM m i VMMW 4 For He’s a JoDy Good Fellows Washington, Dec. 25. Entrance of the . CBS network and its two o.&o. stations into TV membership of the National Assn, of Radio and Television Broad-* casters is considered here as a feather in the cap of Harold E. Fellows who became %e organization’s president last June. It is known that Fellows made several trips to New York to confer with CBS' prexy Frank Stanton to urge the action. Fellows, who was director of NeW England operations for CBS and general man- ager of the Web’s o. ahd o. outlet in Boston (WEED prior to taking the helm at NARTB* was generally regarded as the ideal, man to bring CBS back into the trade association fold. The network re- signed from. NARTB in May, 1950. . It’s likely that the TV code was Fellows* big talking point i pulling in : CBS. Some members of the TV board* of NARTB are also known to have talked to Stanton while the code was being formulated. Finally, CBS is understood to have called on its af- filiates’ advisory committee, which recommended NARTB member- Sh NARTB’s opposition to the Benton bill to create a National Citi- zen’s Advisory. Committee to keep an eye bn television and assure the reservation of channels for educational stations is said to «be fully shared by Stanton, who testified before the FCC against the set-aside. And the threat of Benton’s measure Was admittedly an important element in the-adoption and promulgation of the code. The educational set-aside, -if -finalized in its present proposed form, Will hurt CBS mope than any other network. By preempting the remaining VHF channels in Boston and Chicago, it squeezes the web out of these important markets when the freeze is lifted (if the deal With XJPT-ABC to buy WBKB in Chicago should fail to be approved); The proposed set-aside also leaves only one available commercial VHF channel in, San Francisco, where CBS is an applicant, reducing the web’s chance of getting an o. and o. outlet in that city and killing it if FCC decides the available chan- nel belongs to Thomas S. Lee (it had been reserved to Don Lee pending outc ome of inquiry into alleged network violations). Tele Plays Vital Role in Mental Detroit, Dec. 25. f Washington, Dec. 25. Plenty of Oil money is going into The magic screen of television plays a vital role in the cure of mental lilness, according to a year- long experiment with selected tele- casts for mental patients at the Wayne County General Hospital. A report on this use of tele- vision as a ’’form of treatment” for. insanity was made by Dr. Ru- dolf Leiser, the hospital’s clinical director, to the County Board, Of Institutions, policy-makers fOr the hospital, Which is pile Of the largest mental hospitals * in the country. At Wayne, the hew treatment Is called TV therapy apd its sue-, cess has encouraged psychiatrists," nurses and attendants, Dr. Leiser, said. He pointed out that before active treatment such as insulin and electric shock therapy, nar- cosis and personal consultations can be used, passive therapy Which predisposes patients toward treat- ment must be employed. This is the role television plays, he said, and itis important. Tech- nically; it is cabled establishing' "rapport”—or a cooperative sense of friendliness—between patients and their psychiatrists, other hos- pital personnel'and fellow-patients. TV therapy, is group therapy, Dr. Leiser said, With audiences averag- ing 50. Only TV sets with 19-inch or larger screens can be used. After (Continued oh page 36) NBC-TV has agreed to V some sponsorship concessions for affili- ates carrying the upcoming 7 to 9 a.m. "Today”, show,' Which will be emceed by Dave Garroway. This is the major item on the video network’s current program agenda, with , a great measure of its success predicated on the number of sta- tions that are willing to heat up the transmitter at that time of the day. Since there ; arc operational costs involved for the affiliated stations, including additional engineering expenses, etc,, NBC has agreed to over five minutes of each naif-hour to the stations; for local sale so that they might increase yheir reyenue. In addition, the net- work figures the ambitious two- hour daily newspaper-magazine of the air will also get a local iden- tKy -by meads of the- 20-minute lo- cal sponsorships. General Foods will back Win Eliot in a five-minute news sum- mary* for Sanka coffee, cross-the- board at 9:55 p. m., starting Fri- day (28)* on ABC, Agency is Young & Rubicam/ Washington, Dec. 25. Return of CBS-TV. to the Na- tional Assn, of Radio and TV Broadcasters, from which it b^pke away 19 months ago, may turn out to be the break' in the ice that will bring back all major networks into the trade association fold—at least as, TV members. Variety has learned that shortly after CBS made its announcement last Thursday (20) in New York that it would file for TV member- ship in NARTB, interest. was shown by ABC in rejoining the as- sociation. It’s recalled here that ABC followed CBS by two weeks in dropping its membership,in the spring of 1950. Addition of CBS-TV brings NARTB’s total TV membership to 75 {stations (out of 108 in opera- tion) and three networks. It also brings in an estimated $12,000 per year in dues and. more if some CBS affiliates follow the network’s move. Should ABC, with its five o. & o. video stations, enter the fold, the association’s coffers would be increased by another $18,000 per year. Doubtlessly, some non- member ABC, affiliates Would also follow their network’s lead., Whether the CBS move may ( Continued on page 36) Ralston's Pacific Spread Chicago, Dec. 25. Ralston-Purina, continuing its re- gional hookups, has purchased the Saturday morning 8 to 8:30 seg- ment on an NBC 11-station Pacific network. Miller will fill the time with the transcribed Eddy Arnold show starting Jan. . ,, Brown Radio Production is the agency on the account. Out of the recent Boca Raton, Fla., convention of NBC and its affiliates came a determination on the part of many small-town broad- casters to hop abroad the UHF Video bandwagon. Coupled With this determination; however, was an awareness that until now no at- tempt has been made to resolve the economic pattern under « which they’ll operate* The specially-constructed UHF transmitter that was put in opera? tion at Boca served its pur- pose. Affiliate broadcasters from towns ranging in/population from 20,000 to 75,000, impressed by the “get rich quick” pitch of . the NBC video impresarios and the feasi- bility of installing their own, com- pact UHF operation, such as that on display at Boca, began asking questions. But NBC found it didn’t have any of the answers. Because NBC recognizes the im? portance of bringing these small- town video operators into the net- work fold as a supplementary bonus to advertisers, the NBC-TV brass will’sit down next week for the first of a series of meetings in an effort to evolve a formula un- der which these smalltown broad- casters seeking to stake, a claim in the TV Sweepstakes, will be able to operate. . / To most of these broadcasters, even $200,000, the minimum cost for installing a UHF station, rep- resents a lot of coin. But before plunking down the money, they want to know how they can protect their investment. They’ll be In no position to indulge in live program- ming to any extent. So What, they want to know, can NBC do for them to lighten the program bur? den? What kind of a rate struc- ture will NBC set up, no as to make the affiliation pay off ? What Other services, specifically, will the net- work be in a position to render, in return for the local station making its facilities available, so that the network advertiser can penetrate the rural areas of America? NBC admits it’s been remiss thus far in tackling the problem, but hopes that, put of the. scheduled meetings will come the answers, so that by "freeze lift” time—possibly March or April—the smalltown broadcaster can put in his bid for a place in the UHF sun. Tom Gallery, head of sports for the DuMont television network, is resigning to join NBC-TV, where he’ll also move into the sports pic- ture in an* administrative capacity. Appointment of GalleVy follows a longtime search by NBC for some- one to negotiate major sports deals for the video network. Move is in line with NBC-TV’s bid* for supremacy in the sports filed, in the Wake of its 1951 lavish TV spread, including wrapup of the Gillette World Series, Rose Bowl game, Westinghouge-spori- sored NCAA grid games, etc. r' Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee hark back ta radio/In a»»aHrkol pfact titled Soup to Nuts ! a bright byline faatara In the 46th Anniversary Number of PfcRiEfr OUT NEXT WEEK J ■ ■ ■ - ■ L ■ • • " - Humorist Harry Hershfield ‘x. hat a warm traatita on that. That New Robot-^-TV an omitting byline 1 tfory In the 46th Anniversary Number ' of ISariety OUT NEXT WEEK Growing concept at the television networks to sell the medhftn on the same basis as magazines is seen in ABC-rTV ? s selection of its new sales veepee. Post reportedly will go to John B. Lanigan, one of the top sales execs at Time, Inc. . Lanigan is expected to move Into the spot vacated two months ago by Fred Thrower, who has since been named sales veepee of CBS? TV. The Time man will probably go in over Ed Friendly, Jr., former- ly eastern sales manager under Thrower , and now national sales director of the web. With TV’s costs for time and production both mounting, the chains are trying to bring in nfew bankrollers who use the medium less frequently than the every-week pattern familiar to radio or on the irregular insertion basis many mag advertisers use. There’s been a growing trend toward one-shot sponsorship, such as Johnson & Johnson’s $250,000 Walt Disney Christmas show on CBS-TV or Hallmark greeting cards backing of the new Gian-Carlo Menotti opera on NBC-TV, among others, There’s increased stress on multiple spon- sorship deals, participations in net- work packages and the emphasis on alternate-week airers, It’s sig- nificant that ABC-TV has a large number of skip-a-week programs. At NBC radip, John K. Herbert Is also, an alumnus of the mag field. Ralph Edwards Into NBC-TV Ex-Park Sic? With General Foods moving its Bert Parks daytime show from NBC-TV over to CBS-TV, the for- mer web has -decided, to fill the time opened up with the new Ralph Edwards show. Originally set to hoid down the 12:30 to .1 p. rri; period cross-the-board, Edwards and his crew will now go into the 3:30 to 4 p. m. slot Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, starting Jan. 14. To fill the 12.30 to 1 strip, mean- while, NBC is going out to Chicago agai for a jnusical show titled "Luncheon Date.” It will star Bette Chappel, late of the "Garroway at Large” program,. and the . Art Van Damm quintet, with Hugh Downs as emcee. Show is to be sold on a participation basis, same as with Edwards. Miss Chappel becomes the sec- ond member of the Garroway cast to return to NBC-TV. Garroway himself takes over as emcee-narra- tor bn the web’s net two-hour early- morning strip, "Today,” which also Is scheduled to pfeem Jan. 14. television. Of the newcomers to broadcast- ing, more oil men are entering the field, or planning to, than any other business or profession. So far, at* least 35 producers, of pe- troleum are listed among stock- holders of companies applying to the JTCC for construction permits to build stations. Possibly a dozen more will be associated with appli- cations to be filed following the lifting of the freeze. About 25 station applications in- volve, oil money. Another 10 appli- cations financed by oil are in process of preparation. Approxi- mately $10,000,000 has been ear- marked by these Interests for con- struction of the stations, aside from investments required * to finance the. operations until they are in the black. Most of the stations applied for would be built in Texas and Okla- homa. Others would be. located in California, Colorado and Louisiana.: How many of the stations will actu- ally Nte constructed, of course, de- pends on the Outcome Of competi- tive hearings in the larger cities, where applicants exceed ^available channels. Best known of the oil million- aires Venturing into TV is Glenn H. McCarthy of Texas, owner of the fabulous Shamrock Hotel in Houston, part owner of Eastern Air Lines, owner of a $20,000,000 Community Center in Houston, owner of radio station KXYZ in Houston, and minority owner of the Second National Bank in Hous- ton. McCarthy also owns 10 weekly newspapers, a 22-story office build- (Continued on page 36). KBCs ‘Gee Whiz’ Contrary to the belief that NBC's Sunday evening "Big Show” finds Its big audience only in N. Y., Chi- cago, Los Angeles and a few other so-called sophisticated markets, a special 20-city survey taken for the web by Trendex shows “Big Show” topping the ratings in two of its three half-hour periods, with only CBS’ "Jack Benny Show” gaining a higher rating. And, in N. Y. alone, the* NBC extravaganza topped even Benny, based on a rating for the entire hour-and-a- half as a unit. Survey, conducted via the coin- cidental telephone method, was taken for the broadcast of Dec. 16. It’s pointed out that the suit against the maid of Tallulah Bankhead, "Big Show” femcee, broke during (Continued on page 35) ‘Dagmar’s Canteen' Okayed For NBC-TV March Bow "Dagmar's Canteen,” featuring several of the personalities who won their, video spurs on the old "Broadway Open House” show, has been given a tentative okay by NBC-TV for -a network spread on the basis of k kinescope audition lensed several weeks ago. Show, which will originate; from various service camps on the coaxial, route, i$ expected to start about March 1, but the specific time and day ojC the week have not been selected. In. addition to Dagmar, the series will spotlight dancer Ray' Malone and Milton peLugg and his orch, who were featured on "O.pen House,” along with Sid Gould. Show is to be produced by Hal Friedman,, who dittoed on ‘‘Open House.”