Variety (September 1952)

W^^iic^iiyy $epleliil>«r S, Petty/ Blair $8,000,000 Spot Continued fr«m p«re‘Zl ret In S^chenectady^ N. Y., from the NBC spot sales lineup to the Hank Grlstal fold. The ABC decision to drop its own spot .'sales department in favor of representation by Petry and Blair is viewed as a significant sttaw in the ^Vind. Other self- repped outlets, such as WOR, N.Y., the Crosley stations in the mid- west,i^he Perry stations in Florida, the 9^pper stations, WON, which Has its o^vn offices in N. Y. and <piii (although repersented in other cities by a national firm), may de- cide to take on a rep in order, to keep their competitive positions. Splitup Effected Petry, who of late has lost some of his stations to- Cristal, will take on the ABC outlets in San Fran- cisco (KGO and KGO-TV), Los An- geles. (KECA and KEGA-TV) and N. Y. (WJZ ajid WJZ-TV), while’ Blair will hahdlc Detroit (WXYZ and WXYZ-TV) and Chi (WENR and WENR-TV). One reason for the spitup is that each of the reps has conflicting stations on its list in some of the cities. The two rep outfits will have to divest themselves of some of their competitive clients. Petry will have to give up KFI, the NBC out- let, in L. A, Blair will give up the Don Lee (Mutual) stations it has. Mkny of the top firms in the field made their pitches fof the ABC plum (which includes both AM and TV stations). The Katz agency, one of the biggest, didn’t enter fhe sweepstakes, however. Katz, aside froni having competi- tive clients in most of the five ABC cities, has had a long record of fighting the networks,, as. have many other reps. Since they get their coin from spot billings, which are competitive to network billings, most reps have blasted web “en- croachments” into their domain via limited networks, spotcarrler pro- grams, etc. Katz felt it would give up freedom to criticize the skeins by taking the ABC o-and-o ac- counts. Petry and Blair are expected to expand in order to handle the new business. The ABC outlets have about $fi,()()0,0()0'worth*of national spot biz. annually. However, ojoly about $f;,()<)0,()()0 of this would come through the Blair and Petry offices. The reason is that, as is usual in the field, a station doesn’t pay com- mission to its. rep for billings inked by a sponsor in its ovm city. Thus, WJZ,' N. Y„ won’t be nicked for a national Spot contract signed by a baiikroller with Gotham headquar- ters. Top Shows C<^ntlnu«d from 21 is the oldest established video mar- ket and two-thirds of the families in the area now own TV sets. That the hig radio comedy and drama programs still have plenty of lure for TV viewers is seen in the Pulse figures on radio’s share of total listening in TV homes, based on a combined four-network compilation. On Sunday nights, when TV offers its “Comedy Hour,” Ed Sullivan show, “Philco Play- house,”' etc., the four webs’ share of radio listening was* 67.5% from 7 to 8.p.m., 66.7% from 8 to 9 and 61.5% from 9 to 10. Average Sun- day night share, from 6 p.m. to midpight was a fat 62.3%. By the .same token, the per- centage of N, Y. video homes^ tun- ing in their radio sets averaged 18.4% from 6 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday; 17.1% on Saturday nights; 17.1% on Sunday' nights, and so racked up a seven- night average of 18,1%. These share-of-total audience figures .are up considerably from what they were a year ago. ‘Kukla’ Continued from pare 23 strom always has been strong on the notion that frequent in-person displays not only help the Show but also provide a valuable plus for the show's sponsors in local promotion, The troupe invariably enjoys a ■good' local press on its junkets which also works'^to the benefit of the clients’. Already set is a round of appeaiv ances next Monday <8) and Tues- day (9) in Pittsburgh in connection with the annual Television Exhibi- tion. On Tuesday night the Ham- burg Bro§., RCA distribS, toss a press party for the group and the next day two shows will be put on at the Syria Mosque, site of the exhibition. Sandwiched in between is an appearance’at Horne’s depart- ment store. OA. Nov. 1 the show treks to Cleveland to headline the News- pa'per Guild’s annual Page One Ball, Tillstrom has two-bids for a Thanksgiving appearance—one to take part in Gimbel’s parade in Philadelphia and the other in De- troit • Detroit likely will get the nod because its a repeat request. Tillstrom hak already accepted an invite from the Museum of Mod- ern Art in Manhattan to take part in a festival to be held next March. Chesterfield’s Bid For ‘Stork Club’ in 11 P.M. Slot “Stork Club,” after an 18-month run for Fatima cigarets, has re- ceived a fh*m offer from the major Liggett Jfe Myers brand, Chester- field, for a Saturday 11-11:30 p.m. berth on CBS-TV. ’Web is trying to clear stations for the late evening period. Show is on now at 7-7:30 via CBS. Sponsor feels that the 11 p.m. slotting would be. more suited to the airer's format, since the public associates nite clubs with “stay- ing up late” and “Saturday night out.” Sonny Werblin, of IWuslc Corp. of America, is handling the financial details for Sherman Bil- lingsley, Stork Club boniface and emcee -of the stanza. Mexico TV Coatln««4 frotti U Cincinnati—^A revision of pro- gramming at WSAI, ABC affiliate, is in the making to meet what Robert Kerns, manager, says are “changes in radio listening.” Transformation Involves budget Slashing for talent, and brought resignations. from Will Lenay and Malcolm Richards, the station’s afternoon and morning disk Jockeys, who declared they refused to take salary cuts. raga was an off-the-record re** search study of TV in Mexico, just completed by JPScG, breaking down audience likes and dislikes in the tortilla belt and contrasting the -operation of XEW-TV with its only competition, Romulo O’Far- rill’s XHTV> which had almost a year’s head start on XEW-TV. If Azearraga is bullish about his fu- ture sphere of influence In Latin American video, it’s . because the P8cG study reveals his astuteness and keen showmanship as an op- erator. Of the. set owners polled by P5cG .(78% of them said they had an understanding of English while the other 22% of the sets were circulated among Mexican-speak- ing onll(^), a total of 46% expressed a preference for XEW-TV pro- gramming, with 11% favoring O’Farrill's opei'ation. (38% said they liked both stations;.5% con- fessed to liking neither.-) Consid- ering that XEW-TV has only been In operation seven months,. Azenr- raga’s entliusiasm is understand- able. Survey Result* P&G’s breakdown of’ categories •shows the following Latino pro- gran» preferences; Sports 55% Feature films .44% Comics * 43% Musicals 40% News 21% Quiz-participation 18% Dramas 8% Baseball, wrestling, boxing and bullfights command the biggest Mexican audiences. Baseball, tele- vised thr^ nights a week, is spon- sored jointly by Coca-Cola and Goodrich, with alternate commer- cial plugs after each half-inning. (Azearraga, one of Mexico’s most rabid ball fans, is currently in the process of acquiring his own ball park). Feature films, all of Mexican vintage and oldies, are a cross-the- board fiiet, following the same pattern'as in the with com- mercial inserts at 10 or 15-minute intervals; with both American and Mex sponsors sharing the tab. But unlike U.S. video, time and shows come cheap In Mexico, in view of tho still limited sot circu- lation, Most costly show on XEW- TV, a half-hour Sunday night musical sponsored by General Motors, cost 15,(X)0. pesos (less than. $2,000) for both timo and talent. You can get a half-hour of cream time for 1,500 pesos ($200), Biggest windfall is on' the immediate hori- zon. a hal£-hour“ 'cross-the-board Latino version of “Howdy'Doody/' to be done on fllm.’^hooUng of the initial installments began last week, with Latin counterparts of the U.S. puppets, and they’ll also be shipped to Goar Mestre’s CMQ- TV, operation in Havana under a deal recently negotiated by Martin Stone. The Mex five-tiines-a-week slots (at 5 to 5:30 p.m.) have al-- ready been committed for sponsor- ship on a 52-week basis, and de- spite 'the low tab it adds up on a yeai'ly basis to one of the major billings on Azearraga’s books. Recently Azearraga signed as an‘ NBC-TV affiliate, which will pci> mlt him kinescopes Of its commei^- cial shows, Thus far he’s., only availed himself of the RCA-Spon- sored Ezip Pinza show, with RCA’S Mex subsld also picking up the tab. Since most of the sot owners understand and Speak English, no'^ dubbing or captions are necessary. However, there’s a studio an- nouncer who translates. A Mex version of ’‘What's My Line” is a big favorite here, Gen. Sarnofl Back David Sarhoff, RCA board chair- man, got back yesterday (Tues.b' aboard the SS United States from a six-week survey of the Euippean radio and TV scene which took him. from England south to Israel. ■ By coincidence he .Went over the- maiden voyage of the U, S. Lines' flagship with Margaret Truman and by coincidence she was also aboard on the same .return voyage with. Gen. Samoff and his wife. Incidentally, the President’s daugh- ter is an NBC contractee and kicks off Jimmy Durante’s first of the “All-Star Revue” series Sept. 20 as the comedian's guestar.' NORMAN BROKENSHIRE V Th»y s«y—“Expirinnea It ffi# btst ftachtr* „ ^ ^ V/ -a:? In Prtp^rttlon; “NOTHING igr OPPORTUNITY'* « Mofcaphy **4 •*A WORD TO THE WIYE.$'* — a ilally RnJIa Shnw V rORTRAIT STUDY SY SDIHA SHERMAN The ARTHUR MURRAY PARTY. . . The BATTLE of the AGES (2ndl Year).. The BETTER HOME SHOW . . . . YOUR HANDYMAN (5 min. TV Films) the JERRY MAHONEY SHOW . . . The MASQUERADE PARTY. . . . The CURTAIN RAISER . . . . . The THEATER GUILD on the AIR (8th Year) GENERAL FOODS CORP. (Maxwell House Coffee) SERUTAN ANTHRACITE INSTITUTE Various Sponsors in Local Markets SPEIDEL CORP. (Speidel Watch Bands) SPEIDEL CORP. (Speidel Watch Bands) RCA-NBC COLOR TV (Experimental Field Tests) The UNITED STATES STEEL CORP.