Variety (February 1953)

/ 26 ttAOTO-TEIJE VISION Wednesday, February 25, 1953 Meredith, Peerce, Whiting Signed The increased tempo at ABC, re-4 suiting from the hypo of the AB- PT merger, is being felt in a new programmatic upsurge under the direction of web prexy Robert E. Kintner. While the web announced last week the inking of two Music Corp. of America vidpic pilots, built around Paul Hartman and Dennis O’Keefe, the new beat is also being projected in radio, with an emphasis on music and news on Saturday, Sunday and Monday eve- nings. Kintner concept is (1) to capital- ize on those three nights on music and news as the spheres in which radio scores best and (2) to pro- gram in blocks, keeping dialers tuned in with a “mood” approach. The “boxoffice” lure o'f names* will be utilized also, with thrush Mar- garet Whiting to femcee the Satur- day night lineup of pop tunes, Burgess Meredith to handle the in- between music shows on Sunday evening and Metop star Jan Peerce . to emcee the ‘serious -music block on Monday, which will be built around the skein’s “Metropolitan . Opera Auditions” at 9 p.m. Sunday evening tuners wi$ be anchored between the early eve- ning news-and-commentary ses- sions and the 9 p.m. Walter Win- chell gabcast. The Monday evening longhair stretch presages a battle with NBC, which has “Railroad Hour,” “Voice of Firestone,” Tele- phone' Hour,” “Band of America” and “Encore.” In the video sphere, Hollywood will assume a new importance Kintner and AB-PT prexy Leonard Goldensonj who trek to the Coast next month, will prowl for talent and properties, with comics and situation comedies getting a high priority. ABC-TV has for three years had one of the biggest Coast tele setups, the 30-acre old Vita- graph lot, but at present it is feed- ing only one half-hour, “You Asked For It,” to the web, via kinescope, Phillipson Stays on Coast William Phillipson, who had been slated to come east as assis- tant to Kintner, will remain on the Coast as general manager of the western division. Several de- partments, legal, labor relations, publicity and public affairs, which previously reported directly to Kintner, will now be under Ernest L. Jahncke, assistant to the prez, on an administrative level. Phillip- son will report to Earl Hudson, veepee moving to the Coast from the UPT setifp and taking over the L. A. reins March 23. Regarding real estate, AB-PT finance chairman Edward J. Noble has been making a swing across the country looking over proper- ties. It’s considered likely that the skein may buy some sites to re- place-space it now rents, similar to its purchase of real estate in N. Y. enabling it to move out of rented quarters. It completes shift from the RCA Building April 1. Additipnal program upbeat (Continued on page 34) CBS Wants Joel Grey As Jackie Gleason Sub Joel Grey, one of the more youthful entrants in the show biz comedy fold, may get the nod as star of the projected series under consideration by CBS-TV as sum- mer replacement for the Jackie Gleason show. Network is blueprinting a 60- minute variety show along the KGKL’s 250G Sale - » San Angelo, Tex., Feb. 24. Lewis O. Seibert heads a group who have purchased KGKL here for a reported sum of $250,000. He has been veepee and general manager of the outlet for the past 10 years. He also owns interest in KPLT, Paris, Tex. and WEAR, Pensacola, Fla. Johnstone’s TV Radio Fringe Time A Chi Best-Seller Format for Ike A plan for TV-radio-press cover- age of President Eisenhower’s con- same lines as the Gleason stanza, ferences was forwarded to White with an eye toward retaining the House press chief James C. Hag- same sonpsorship auspices on a e rty last week by G. W. (Johnny) full-year basis. Deal, however, is Johnstone, AM-TV director for the still contingent on Grey’s availabil- National Assn, of Manufacturers, ity. It will be his first TV series, Writing personally, and not as an although he’s guested previously NAM exec, Johnstone suggested for Eddie Cantor on “Colgate Com- that Ike’s confabs be covered by a edy Hour.” representative but small group—12 reporters plus a TV crew and tape recording engineers. His proposal is that the conference be on film for TV and newsreels, on tape for radio, and mimeographed for the press. Edited prints, tapes and stenographic report would be sup- plied to the various media with costs on a prorata basis. rhinfltrn nvh 94 Johnstone proposes that the r, ? conferences be scheduled on a Ov of the moie prominent fea- sem i. mon thly or monthly basis tures of the changing radio pattern with o emer | ency - confabs at t he being wrought by the prime time discretion 0 | th * Pres ident. Con- dominance of *TV aie the new f erences would be moderated by a values being put on those hours .< liaison ^respondent,” a name which not so many yearsrago were ^.M, TV t r p ress correspondent, on considered practically throwaway a . rotating basis . H e envisages a mnge time, # representative group, including one r-i? 9Se y?{ 1?1 P 01 ? 1 ls WMAQ, s person apiece from a national tele Chi radio anchor, where plans are cba j n national radio chain, indie being blueprinted to resume tele station> indie AM stationi na . around the clock operation to ac- tio na i press association, individual commodate those clients who hfve newspaper , 0 ne visiting U. S. news- •expressed an interest in post-mid- man and one visiting {oreigJ1 news . time. Station next month is mart| rep 0 f a national theatre tele expanding Jack Eigen s Chez Paree or ne wsreel outfit, rep from a Still remote a half-hour nightly t to run P h 0 t 0 syndicate and rep of an indie until 1:30 p. m. Move is being stm photo firm . made to take care of the bank- rollers standing in line to get aboard the strip, currently SRO in its hour and 45-minute size. Increasing interest in the Eigen latemighter has prompted thought toward reviving all-night program- ming. WMAQ had a 26-week try at 24-hour programming last year n. Y. Yankees may go without J*® t0 °f, the P re ’ a third TV commentator to handle dawn block. Hans this time, how- the pre . and post-game color. Team ever, are to offer the period to a bas s0 f ar been unab i e 0 r unwilling From Ike Production Centres ♦ ♦ ♦ M 4- H MM M - MfM -4- M 4- M ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ M IHHMM I HHh I • A*. ■»> * it.'* Yankees May Bypass WPIX Fore-Aft Spot Vacated by DiMaggio group of clients. to sign a sportscaster for the spot i! n relatively cheap vacated by ex-Bomber Joe DiMag- late night hours is m line with the gio on W PIX, N. Y. Daily News trend which has projected the early stat i 0 n, wh i c h televises the games ?«rv? ing 5 y wf >pener slots J?* 0 A Yankee spokesman sAid “It’s highly salable commodities. The q U ite possible” the club may stick 7 to 9 a. m. Strip has become a fast Mol Allpn nnrl Jim WnnHc ac seller at all the Chi AMers. is School Kids Like TV With Lunch While moppet-slanted shows have been pushed off some TV channels in the late afternoon to make way for more lucrative stanzas directed at adults, the kid programs are proving potent in noon slots. Al- though program toppers hadn’t con- sidered the mid-day period as a good bet for juve series, it’s been found that a large part of the school population returns home for lunch, with the youngsters tak- ing their meals beside the TV screen. WNBQ, Chi, was one of the first outlets to schedule such a program and several other telecasters have followed suit, including WNBT, N. Y.; WPTZ, Philly, and WNBK, Cleveland. At WNBT, the Herb Sheldon strip in the 12-1 p. m. span pulled 85,000 valentines, hand-made by kids, in two weeks. On the basis of that demonstration of audience lure, five new participating bank- rollers were inked for the series last week, including B. F. Good rich (for Keds), Birdseye, Loft cahdy, Pancordion and Big C Choc- olates. Situation points up the value of mail as a pales-convincer. Rival Brewery Sticks With St. L. Cards,Despite Anheuser-Busch Buy St. Louis, Feb. 20. Although Anheuser-Busch, one of the world’s largest suds makers, purchased the St.‘ Louis Cardinals Friday (20), the Griesedieck Bros Brewery Co., a rival, will continue to broadcast the play-by-play of all Cardinal games through the forth coming season. What will happen for the 1954 season is a matter of much speculation as the Griese dieck Bros, contract with the Car- dinal ball club terminates at the end of this seaspn. When announcement was made of the purchase of the ball club for $3,750,000 from owner Fred Saigh, who recently received a 15 month prison jolt and a $15,000 fine for income tax evasion and was virtually kicked 01 ft of base ball, August A. Busch, Jr., prexy with Mel Allen and Jim Woods as a two-man AM-TV team and dis- pense with the services of a third commentator. Allen is a longtime Yankee broadcaster, handling both tele and radio, the latter via WINS. Woods was signed recently as sec- ond man, moving up from Atlanta, where he did both AM and tele commentary on the Atlanta Crack- er games. O’NEIL’S 929G PROFITS FROM B’CAST HOLDINGS General Tire & Rubber Co. gleaned a net profit of $929,342 from its General Teleradio hold- ings in 1952, the company’s an- nual financial report showed. The radio-tele profits amounted to nearly one-seventh of the total year’s profit for the rubber com pany. General Teleradio, the wholly- owned subsidiary of General Tire, owns the Don Lee and Yankee networks and owns 58% of the Mutual Broadcasting System. IN NEW YORK CITY . . . CBS’ Ed Murrow addressed inauguration ceremonies of CCNY’s new prexy, Dr. Buell Gallagher, last week . , . Red Barber named national radio chairman of Sunday School Week, April 13-19 . . . CBS v.p. Lou Hausman back after Haitian vacation . . . Louis Dorfsman upped to associate director of sales promotion and advertising fpr CBS Radio . . . Louis Isaacson, ex-Sterling agency, named controller for Friend- Reiss McGlone . . . “Sunshine Sue” interviewed Rep. William A. Win- stead, who’s plugging for a National Hillbilly Music Day,*on her “Sat- urday Night—Country Style” CBS stanza Saturday (21) . . . Maestro Alfredo Antonini to Canada yesterday (Tues.) to conduct the Toronto Symph . . . CBS’ “Our Biss Brooks” has the cover story in current Life mag on most beautiful school teacher Latter being wined and dined in N. Y. this week. WOV’s Ralph Weil off this week on a Caribbean cruise. Upon his return, Arnold Hartley, dittoes . . . Dorothy Gordon to femcee a round- table discussion from the Columbia Scholastic Press Assn, confab via NBC March 14 . . . Disk jockey Bert Wayne back at WNEW after two years away for his health . . . Dennis Morgan dropped out of Sunday’s (1) “Theatre Guild” play on NBC due to infection; John Lund will sub . . . Martin S. Pollins, ex-W A AT, has rejoined WNJR, Newark, as na- tional sales manager . . . Leona Powers, marking 50 years in show biz, feted by fellow thespers on NBC’s “My Son Jeep” Sunday (22) . . . Frank Dennis, ex-Ruthrauff & Ryan, has joined Doherty, Clifford, Steers & Shenfield, as veepee and director of radio-TV commercials . , . Edward F. Libby, former Marine Corps AM-TV officer, joined the Harold C. Meyers agency as producer and sales rep. One of his first duties will focus on a half-hour musical variety TV show starring Bob Pitkin, musical comedy player, ajad Pee Wee Erwin orch, which the agency is peddling . . , Leon Goldstein, WMCA veepee and program chief, in St. Louis participating in the National Education Assn’s De- partment of Audio-Visual Instruction annual convention . . . Mutual ad-pub veepee Bob Schmid off for a four week European jaunt . . . WNEW program chief Bill Kaland skedded to speak at Queens College March lfi . . . Flack Mike Jablons vacationing in Mexico . . , WHOM deejay Willie Bryant voted most popular man in Harlem in an Am- sterdam News poll, also profited in the March Magazine Digest.. . . WHLI, Hempstead, using high school students as writers, directors and announcers of their own Saturday morning show . . . WOR sales chief Bill Crawford taking two week vacation following his jaunt to the Brokers and Canners convention in Chi this week . . . Jack Walker and Evelyn Robinson take over emcee chores on WOV’s post-midnite airer from the Palm Cafe in Harlem. Bernard Dudley, the ex-radio-TV announcer, now prexy of South- west Oil Corp. outfit, is drilling in Oklahoma. IN HOLLYWOOD . . . Frank Samuels, coast radio-TV head of the William Morris agency, will pass the next three months in the east on client deals . „ . Hobe Donavan, who wrote the Smilin’ Ed McConnell show for the past 10 years, turned author and had his first tome, “Wind of the Desert,” ac- cepted for publication . . . Intimates of Red Skelton want him to for- get about radio and all else for rest of the year. Shock to his nervous system from recent surgery will take that long to wear off, they say . . . Harry Owens got the jump on his songwriting confreres by coming out first with a song on Hawaii’s impending statehood. It’s called “Hawaii Is the 49th Star” (in the Flag of the USA) and may be ac- cepted as the island’s official song . . . Carroll Carroll, who closed the Ward Wheelock agency, which he headed, is dusting off his type mill. He used to write all those words that used to spill from Bing Crosby on “Kraft Music Hall” . . . Irving Fein, CBS radio director of publicity and exploitation in Hollywood, in N. Y. for summer campaign* plan- ning . . . George Baron named general manager of KOWL, Santa Monica, which recently transferred ownership from Arthur Croghan to Robert McClure and the Fink brothers. IN SAN FRANCISCO . . . Paul Schemer named KGO station manager, replacing C. L. Mc- Carthy, now owner-manager of KROY, Sacramento. Scheiner, former KGO sales boss, was succeeded by John Hansen, ex of KECA, Holly- wood . . . KNBC changes: Jane Lee (Dorothy Rankin) resigned after 10 years conducting “Woman’s Magazine of the Air;” Doug Pledger launched daily 45-minute platter-chatter show, 9:30 a.m.; Marjorie King signed to voice daily interview series, 11:30 a.m., beginning March 1 . . . Bill Weaver emceed Marie Wilson’s p.a.’s at Golden Gate The- atre. . .Ralph De Salle joined KCBS production staff to handle “Waitin’ for Weaver” and “This Is San* Francisco” shows . , . Prexy Frank White in for looksee at local NBC property . . . New fathers of new sons: Phil Markinson (KYA) and Ted Carlsen (KROW) . . . And a son for Dexter Scherling of KGO . . . New jobs: Ed Dunbar to NBC net sales, here; Stan Johnson to CBS sales . . . Visitors: James Melton; Gordon MacRae; Pauline Frederick . . . KCBS’s Doris Macdonnell to wed Guernsey Frazer, Jr. . . . Wanda Ramey subbing for vacationing Elaine Doyle on the Les Malloy shows. President of Teleradio is Tom of A-B was asked about the cur- O’Neil, who is also president and rent, radio setup. “I don’t think hoard chairman of Mutual and a that makes a great deal of differ- vice-president of General Tire. ence,” Busch stated, “I am going at this from the sports angle and not as a sales weapon for Bud- weiser beer. Griesedieck has the radio rights under contract for this year. If they choose to go through with it, it> will be alright,” Busch stated. He also said his company has no intention of trying to buy the Griesedieck contract. • 0 Ray Jones to Texas Ray Jones is checking out of CBS-TV sales this week and is go- ing to Texas. He‘joins KGUL-TV in Galveston as assistant to the general man- ager. Station is a CBS affiliate. O’Meallie Vice Wheelahan As WSMB (N.0.) Manager New Orleans, Feb. 24. John R. O’Meallie resigned Wednesday (18) to take over post of veep and general manager of WSMB effective March 1. He succeeds Harold M. Wheelahan, who managed the ABC affiliate for the past 25 years. O’Meallie joined WTPS as com- mercial manager in 1947. Prior to that he was a retail advertising account exec of The Times-Pica- yune-New Orl,ean§ .Sjtates.c.ombq, IN CHICAGO * Chi veep Harry Kopf in New York on biz . . . Bud Campbell will do the play-by-play on 10 Chi Cubs’ exhibition games teeing off March 7 via WIND . . . Ted Kudelko upped from sound man to producer status at WBBM, handling Julian Bentley’s 6:45 p.m. newscast and Kay Ash- ton-Stevens’ 11 p.m. show . . . WMAQ expanding Jack Eigen’s “Chez Show” another half-hour to make room for additional clients. Nightly stanza is currently SRO with 14 bankrollers sharing the present hour and 45 minutes . . . Chi NBC news chief Bill Ray guestspeaks.on radio- TV freedom of information at the Michigan State Radio-TV Confer- ence at Lansing, Mich., March 6 . . . Western singer Dan Carter taking over a five-minute slice of WBBM’s early morning “Country Hour’ . . . Harry Leckrone, formerly farm editor at WLW, Cincinnati, has joined the J. Walter Thompson, public relations Dept.... Otto Bremers, assistant manager of the WNBQ.-WMAQ ad-promotion department con- ducting a series of advertising workshop classes for the Central YMCA adult education program . . . Mennen Shave products renewed Joe Foss’ 7:15 a.m. WBBM news for another 52 weeks .., Bill Albert Sheetz (OT Bill Albert) has come up. from WLEX, Lexington, Ky., to join the WENR announcery, working-on the station’s “Country Junction” folk music show . . . Red Blanchard hosting a 4ff3minute. morning deejay strip on WLS. IN PHILADELPHIA ... Gene Autry, in town for show at Arena, will make guest appearance, sauntering through WCAU-TV’s live Western “Action- in* r the After- noon,” Friday (27) . . . Bill Stern and Ray Arcel, announcer and match- maker for ABC’s Saturday night boxing bouts, were guest Speakers at Cigar Table of Philadelphia dinner in Penn Sheraton (19) . . . Harvey Huston, former New York and Maryland radio exec, is the new pro- gram director at WKDN, Camden . . . Lee Stewart, partner of Bo® Horn on WFIL-TV’s matinee “Bandstand,” will launch new daily morn- ing program “TV Coffee Club,” beginning (23) from 9 to }Q:45 a.m. . • , Joseph S« J. Mayer, assistant director Internal Revenue, Phila- , « c .{PoptiJHied on page 38) -