Variety (December 1952)

<r;„,lnmday. December 24, 1952 P'fi-RIETY R^DIO.TKI.EVISION 23 RADIO-TV ‘SISTER ACT J It’s Circulation That Counts With TV program costs continuing to spiral, most of the major agencies have embarked on a new theory of time buying for TV, in which they’ve virtually given up any hopes of retaining program control or building sponsor identification for their clients. Costs being what they are, agencies (and their clients) are interested pri- marily now in circulation. If they can get the coverage and the rating they think necessary to coincide with what a show costs them, they don't care who owns the property or how much sponsor identification they get with it. To achieve this end, particularly with the boom in multiple- sponsorship deals, the agencies are buying TV shows as they would buy magazine space. Thus, they don't buy a show as such but a spot in the show which will do the most good for their clients. It’s pointed out, for example, that with six Sponsors represented in NBC-TV’s “Show of Shows,” few among the program's audience would tend to identify it with the product of a particular adver- tiser. Important thing for the agencies, consequently, is to buy the best spot in the show. In line with this, they jockey for position on the program the same as they do for the best spot in a mag. Thus, few bankrollers would want their commercials spotted immediately after one of the ballet sequences, on the theory that that’s where audience in- terest in the show is at its lowest. Instead, ageneies would rather spot their plugs immediately after one of the Sid Caesar-Imogene Coca displays, which research has shown to carry the biggest audi- ence impact. ■ ■■ ■ ■■ 1 »■ " ■■■ ■■■■■■■ Chi Distressed by ‘Follow the Leader’ Aura of Locally-Conceived TV Shows Chicago, Dec. 23. ♦ Windy City programmers and bankrollers are becoming increas- ingly concerned about the “follow the leader” overtones of much of the local tele* fare. With experi- mentation slowed to a walk now that, in the main, only fringe time Is sustaining, the tendency is to play it safe and to break out with format variations on the other guy’s winners. The format carbonings are a local reflection of a similar net- work problem. A “What’s My Line” or a “I Love Lucy” crashes through for a solid hit and shortly the channels are hit with an epi- demic of variations on the same themes. Likewise locally, 'with a Clint Youle becoming a video celebrity as the WNBQ nightly weather prophet or a Francois Pope literally hitting the gravy train with his daily WBKB cooking class. Now a weather show and a culinary session are practically automatic program “musts” oil competing stations. No one is charging plagiarism or anything like that The broad con- cepts oven if someone else had them first are public domain and most claims of authorship would ■only lead to endless arguments. Besides there isn’t a program man- ager in town who would openly accuse a colleague of copping an \ idea; lie might want to do the j same thing himself some day. But they all recognize that a rash of programs pegged on basic- ally the same format only tends to dilute the overall salability. It’s argued that everyone would be bet- ter off if instead of all four station concentrating their fire on the (Continued on page 27) Be Funny’ Set As Cy Howard Entry Cy Howard, creator of “My Friend Irma” and “Life With Luigi,” is currently in New York, where he’ll establish base of oper- ations 4 for the remainder of the season. lie’s now at work on a new half-hour TV show designed as a departure from the situation com- euy formula and to inject a new inroi|nal atmosphere into video Programming. Program Will be done live from New York, with •noward as writer-producer-director, v h°w is called “Be.Funny” and i c.i week will feature a top star as ' . a potentially promising c(umo. Setting will be the living ti !! U of , lhe emcee (with negotia- Pn , lm( J® r wa y Itoe up Victor am-ft!!'. r iey , 11 y to * strict tj. ' t t ,' ur f () r the laugh honors, with cV,vi! t ‘ ,r *f *° torfelt their fee do It '-' 1 '’!. lf toe amateur tops them. an * or toe most part as an ‘Hi lib show. Maggi McNeills has her own views on the Perils of TV an amusing byline piece In the forthcoming 47lh Anniversary Number of P^RIETY * D.C. Post Pays $2,470,000 For Florida Stations Washington, Dec. 23. The Washington Post took the first step last week toward chain operations in the radio-TV field with purchase of WMBR and WMJJR-TV in Jacksonville, Fla., for $2,470,000. The Post is under- stood to have been casting about for various broadcast properties and there may be additional ac- quisitions. The Post owns controlling in- terest in WTOP and WTOP-TV in Washington, reportedly the most profitable radio and TV stations in the Capital. A minority interest (459c) in the stations is held by CBS. WMBR-TV is the only TV sta- tion in Jacksonville and now has affiliations with all video net- works. WMBR (AM) is the local CBS radio affiliate and it is ex- pected that WMBR-TV will become the sole CBS TV affiliate when more video outlets are operating. Philip L. Graham, Washington Post Publisher, plans to retain the present management Colgate Mulls Lolly Expansion to 15 Min. Colgate is mulling expansion of its five-minute Louella Parsons show to 15 minutes. Show is now on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS Radio. Nick Keesely, AM-TV veepee of Lcnnen & Nowell agency, planed to the Coast Saturday (20) to cut a 15- minute audition for the soap firm. He’s also confabbing with John Gibbs reps on the new vidpic series for “Schlitz Playhouse” and meet- ing with “Queen for a Day” reps on the Mutual show for Old Gold. REM TO M) For some time it’s been known that NBC has been working on a far-reaching plan designed to vest its radio network with a new- found importance in the realm of programming and to effect a modus operandi whereby, as an integrated operation, radio and TV will emerge as complementary media both from a sales standpoint and programs. . Just how NBC intends to bring about this “sister act” to invite television sponsors to go along for the radio ride as well will prob- ably be brought to light next week when, for the first time since the integrated pattern was restored at NBC, all the sales managers within the network operation, including the o&o stations, will be brought together in New York for a series of meetings. Details of the “love-my-TV-love- my-AM” project will be outlined by Sylvester L. (Pat) Weaver, NBC’s veepee in charge of radio and television who, along with Charles (Bud) Barry, the w'eb’s AM-TV programming chief, have been engaged for some time in formulating the two-way program- sales concept. Present thinking at NBC is that 1953 0 will be the year in which to spring it on the industry—the year when network „radio, it’s felt, will need the push for the long haul. Encompassed within the “sister act” thinking is an extension of the television network program- ming into radio, with the TV spon- sor buying AM as well. This, it’s understood, would be affected through a “one rate” cost pattern which would be so attractive to the TV client as to make the radio buy irresistible. It would also embrace the Weaver adaptation into radio of the “magazine technique” of a guaranteed circulation. Obviously, it would not oligate a TV sponsor to latch on to the radio show, since this would be trespassing on questionable legal grounds. But NBC intends to show, through its continuing study and research on the project, how both radio and TV can be used as com- plementary media at little extra cost without encroaching on the area of audience duplication. Thus the TV show and the radio counter- part of the same attraction can be shown in the same market, includ- ing New York, but in such a way that different audiences will be reached. The plan does not embrace si- mulcasts, nor playbacks of the audio portion of the TV shows. Rather, the aim is to utilize the TV stars^and attractions, wherever pos- sible, in taped radio versions of their video shows, but as fresh and distinct program components. Out of this, NBC feels,, will come a com- plete integration involving spon- sors and talent as well as the pres- ent administrative setup. New York Tryout For NBC-TV’s ‘Something New’ As Bob & Ray Showcase Despite the fact that their spon- sor, Embassy cigarets, is yanking them from the Tuesday 10:30-10:45 p. m. slot on NBC-TV, “Bob and Ray” (Bob Elliott and Ray Gould- ing) are being groomed for a “new type programming” innovation. Nature of the show is something of a secret, but it's known that Ted Cott, general manager of the web’s WNBT flagship, and Sylvester L. <Pat) Weaver, NBC’s veepee in charge of radio-TV, have been hud- dling^-over a “brand new format” which will first get a local showcas- ing as a buildup. Idea, incidentally, ties in with a plan whereby local and o&o NBC stations will be used as a “testing ground” for projecting new formats and program innovations. Kovacs The Winnafa (or Is He?) as CBS-TV Man To Pit Opposite Berle Tallulah Bankhead writes about Tallu in Spades another editorial feature in the soon-due 47th Anniversary Number of Kovacs Tabes on All TV Comers, Garroway ’n’ All Ernie Kovacs, who^s being shoved by CBS-TV into the Tues- day night at 8 breach, opposite Milton Berle, is setting out after another of NBC’s top personalities next week—Dave Garroway and liis early-bird “Today” show. Starting Monday (29), Kovacs preetns a show in the 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. cross- the-board period on WCBS-TV, the CBS video web’s key N. Y. outlet, where he’ll be bucking “Today” directly in its 7 to 9 a.m. network spread. Kovacs himself is anxious to take on Garroway and “Today,” since it was that show which ousted him from his long-held 7 to 9 a.m. spot on Philadelphia’s WPTZ be- fore WCBS-TV brought him to N. Y. Comic has been airing for WCBS-TV in the 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. strip, where he's been SRO, and the station is now attempting to line up his present array of spon- sors for the early morning period. Kovacs’ move will also 1 see WCBS-TV expanding its daytime programming back to 7:50 a.m., when it will sign on each morning with a 10-minute news and pre- views show. Then in an attempt to build an audience lor Kovacs by appealing ta the kids before they set off for school (on the theory that their mothers will leave the TV set tuned to the station after they’ve left), WCBS-TV has in- stalled two moppet-slanted shows in the 8 to 8:30 strip. “Tele- Comics,” comprising specially-pro- duced vidpix cartoons, goes from 8 to 8:15, to be followed by “Time for Beany” from 8:15 to 8:30. Fifteen minutes of the present Kovacs afternoon strip has been taken over by the CBS-TV net, which is moving its “Guiding Light” show' into the 12:45 to 1 p.m. period cross-the-board. With Kovacs moving into the morning, WCBS-TV will fill the time from 1 to 1:30 with a new series of vid- pix, titled “Tele-Dramas.” This will be only temporary, however, with Hal Haugh, the station’s pro- continued on page 27) GE BUYS FR0MAN, LEVER-DICKERING Jane Froman starts her 15-min- ute commercial format on Jan. 8, with General Electric last week signaturing a deal for a Thursday 7:45 to 8 p.m. pickup of her abbre- viated “USA Canteen” show. She’ll also bo slotted on Tuesday after- noons in the san?<e time segment,- with indications that Lever Bros, will pick up the tab for that day. Miss Froman winds up her Saturday 9 p.m. half-hour “Can- teen” series with this week’s per- formance. Irving Mansfield pro- duces. ,4- Ernie Kovacs, hitherto a local TV personality, drew the hohors this week as the man to carry the CBS-TV colors into the Tuesday night fray against NBC’s Milton Boric and DuMont’s Bishop Sheen program. Kovacs, with a variety format similar to the zany shenani- gans which have made him one of the top-rated personalities in the metropolitan N. Y. area via his midday outing for WCBS-TV, moves into the Tuesday night 8 to 9 spot next week (30). Decision to tap Kovacs for the jousting honors against Berle and Bishop Sheen was reached by the CBS-TV programming brass over the weekend. As a result, Kovacs didn’t have a chance until Monday (22) to start rounding his Tuesday night show into shape. What talent will accompany him, as well as the exact makeup of the show', are still being worked out. As it is, the comic will have his work cut out for him, since he is also to proem a new early-morning series oil WCBS-TV starting Monday (29) in which lie will pit his unique brand of comedy directly against NBC- TV’s “Today.” (See separate story.) For his Tuesday night entry, Kovacs lias decided to dispense with the usual studio audience . who’vo sat in on most network comedy shows. In addition, no laughs are to be dubbed in, which is the formula followed by some comics. While Kovacs recognizes the need for a studio aud to help time his laughs, he utilizes a num- ber of special effects for his gags, which would be almost meaning- less to persons sitting in a studio. He’ll be forced to rely, consequent- ly, completely on the laughs lie can generate among home viewers. Kovacs came to N. Y. from Phil- adelphia, where he had been a long-time local fave via a two-hour croas-lhc-board show on WPTZ, airing from 7 to 9 a. m. With WPTZ being an NBC’ affiliate, (hat web gave Kovacs his first chance at network fame by springing his Philly-originated show into its af- ternoon programming setup several years ago. That spread failed to catch on, with the result that WCBS-TV imported Kovacs to N.Y. and gave him a local airing in its 12:45 to 1:30 p. m. strip. In that spot now for about a year, Kovacs has been averaging about a 4.5 in the rating race, top- ping a number of daytime network shows aired by both CBS arid NEC. In addition, he has been SRO for several months now. Last night (Tues.), incidentally, CBS-TV filled its Tuesday night spot with the last broadcast of Eddie Albert’s “Leave It .to Larry” from 8 to 8:30, and a half-hour film until 9. Red Buttons, who had been holding the 8:30 to 9 period, has been moved over to Saturday nights at 9. CBS’ leet Your Congress’Via TV CBS-TV will hold its own wel- coming party for newly-elected members of Congress in a Special hour-long show slated for airing Jan. 4 at 2:30 p.m. Web is invit- ing all such senators and repre- sentatives to a reception in D. C. t where they’ll be interviewed be- fore the video cameras to give their constituents a chance to see whom they’ve elected and to give the politicos a chance to get ac- quainted with the TV audiences. Show is tc be helmed by Wal- ter Cronkite, anchor man for CBS- TV in coverage of both the politi- cal conventions and election. Politicos wdll be seated according to their individual jobs in Con- gress at various tables, with top CBS-TV specialists in each field handling the interviews. Cronkite will then hop from one table to another to collate the,.show* . ,