Variety (March 1953)

24 RAM*~TEUftT$ION Vtdncfiday, March II, 1953 Sets Docket ’53’ 1EX-'DR. I.Q.’ REIURNS TO PULPIT IN ILL After Chicago, March 10. 4 several weeks of prelim- inary blueprinting, the new regime at WBKB (ABC’s Chi merger baby which has supplanted the web’s WENR-TV) is set to roll into high gear, .First move by veep’| John H, Mitchell and his exec as- sistant Sterling (Red) Quinlan has* been to chart s new daytime course for the station along news and service lines designed to individual- ize the outlet from its local CBS and NBC competitors with their high powered network shows. On the WBfcB docket is a new * grocery*- merchandising setup, a host of program changes and a day- time news-on-the-hour -spread which has proved so’ successful on Indie radio .stations. Backstopping] the' new programming layout is the largest sales force in town. When Mitchell moved over from the pre- vious WBKB operation on Chan- nel 4 (now occupied by CBS’ WBBM-TV) he brought with him the entire seven-man sales force. And he’s keeping on the five time peddlers inherited from WENR- TV. As is his practice, majority of the 12-man crew works on la commission deal. _ The merchandising operation, tagged “Shopper Stopper,” is al- ready under way with, reciprocal tie-ins with the A&P and National Tea chains, embracing some 600 ire- tail outlets. Although such pro- motion projects have become com-, monplace in radio, this is the first move by a Chi TV station into the field. Headed up by Keh Mac- Donald, the venture' has.~been launched, to bolster* the food and staple revenue which is" pretty much, the backbone of daytime biz. The daytime five-minute hews strips and a 15-minute nightly sign- off wrapup will be .gabbed, by Ul- mer Turner,- pioneer TV newsman long associated with the WBKB call letters. The news shows 'and the other program changes go into effect March 30. Austin Kiplinger, WENR-TV newscaster, stays on to handle the evening shows. - Since most of the. old WENR-TV jnighttim-j shows are riding on pro- gram contracts. as opposed to -the day-timers sold on a participation basis, no immediate overhaul is in the- works for the early evening *nd afterdark schedule. The * new weekday' WBKB log shapes up thusly: Wayne Griffin’s news an weather gab session -moves up from its present afternoon Slot to open up the station at 9:45 -a.m. Replacing the morning feature film at 10 will be Beulah Karney’s cook- ing stanza, currently beamed at 12:30 a. m. Tentatively slated for the 10:30 a. m. spot is an exer- cise show to. be emceed by Ed Allen. A new music&chatter strip, featuring Kay .Westfall and # Chet Roble, takes over the 11 o’clock; half-hour from the “Bob & Kay; Show,” a longstanding WENR-TV fixture. - Singer-emcee Danny O’Neil moves over from WBBM-TV to oc- (Continued on page 36) 3 IMS SET FOR WCBS‘ROADSHOWS’ Three separate “roadshow” units have been set up by WCBS, N. Y., to meet the demand from charities and community organizations for radio talent. The three troupes are built around. Jack Sterling, Mary Osborne, Bob Haymes, Joan Edwards,. Emily . Kimbrough, Galen Drake and John Henry Faulk;, each of whom has a daily show. Program director Sam Slate said shows are packaged for three types of audiences: all-women,* children and mixed groups! Shows run from 20i30 minutes and are ■scripted, -with. Ernie Hartman’ -di- recting.- Slate’said that’ the units not only build community relations but also hypO -ratings. They’re also booked for promotional ap- pearances at department stores and supermarkets.’ Bookings are han- dled by Bob Blake. Dallas, March 10. Rev. James W. McClain, former “Dr. I. Q.,” on NBC radio, has re- turned to the pulpit as rector of St.- Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alton, 111. He "had resigned as curate of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral here in January to de- vote full time to the Three-Cross Ranch and School, a nonsectarian boys’ ranch project looming in south Texas. In his new post, Rev. McClain will continue his association with the Three-Cross project, although a new administrator will be named. Rev. McClain has been in and out of the news since he quit his radio New St. tools Cardinal Owners See ‘Maximum TV’ St. Louis, March 10. Execs of Anheuser-Busch, new owner of the St Louis Cardinals, are mulling plans for “maximum TV” of games;, despite the fact that ! a rival sudsmaker, Griesedieck Bros. Brewing Co., will broadcast all games during the forthcoming turning r. “nr t n” mdin season. Griesedieck, which spon- n n n Fnic^nnai sors the play-by-play over a 70 sta-, slot and became an Episcopal VifaVi. itn pmron rm*/iwocf cleric in July, ’47. - Washington, March 10; Television, manufacturing indus- try got off. to a strong start in 1953 with a record January production tion radio web- in seven midwest states, also has a “refusal con-,| tract” on TV broadcasts which al lows it to offer the same amount,] of money as a prospective bank-, roller to TV a particular game and thus take over on TV. Anheuser-Busch, it’s reported, is -also discussing radio broadcast- ing of the Cardinal games in areas not now covered by the Griese- dieck web. Only two Cardinal games were -teeveed last season, the main reason being inability o clear sufficient time to aircast the entire game. It also has been Newest Nielsens, (for j February) to hit the* agency-sponsor-network fraternity last week hasn’t contrib- uted toward casing* the uncertain- ties surrounding the status of the NBC-TV Saturday night “Show of Shows” for next' season. (It’s re- ported that both Camel cigarets, which picks Up a 'third of the 90- mmute tab, and Prudential, which bankrolls a 'half-hour on alternate weeks, plan to cut back in their respective sponsorships of the high-budgeted 'stanza. For the first time since it hit its major league status as one of the most costly shows on the commer- cial TV- rosters, “Show of Shows” doesn’t even, figure in the Top 25 listings, even being outdistanced by the ill-fated “All Star Revue” (going off next month) and the Jackie Gleason show> Nielsen re- port for February puts the Camel- sponsored first 30-mifiute segment of “Show of Shows” in 30th place with a 38.8 rating. Remaining half- hour periods trail that figure. On the. other hand, “All Star” is in the No. 17 spot with 42.3, with Gleason No. 19, with a 42.0 Niel- sen. of 719,234 sets, according to Radio- found that bankrollers of national] TV Manufacturers Assn. The year-around programs are reluc- month’s output, which topped Jan- ‘ ant , t0 f 1 ™ u ? tU “ e uary of last year by better than. *>r local TV broadcaste. aoolooo sets,.indicates.the industry The new Cardinal owners. Its will’ do considerably better than f),500;000 receivers this year, as estimated recently by a manufac- turers’ committee at a meeting with the National Production Au- thority*. Production in 1952 totaled 6.100.000 sets. Evidence of tremendous demand for sets, due to growing trade-in volume and opening of new mar- kets as the result of the lifting of the freeze, was shown in an RTMA estimate of December .retail sales of 1,049,000 sets. However, sales slackened after holiday. buying to 640.000 sets in January. Among new TV markets which have sprung up since last July art Denver, Portland, Ore., Mobile, Ala., El Paso, Tex., and Bangor, Me. In many other cities, ship- ments are going to. dealers prepar- ing for business when the first stations go on the air. reported, also ..are Considering that TV broadcasts shouldn’t be con- fined to the St. Louis area.* Stark, Layton Cut New Radio Qnizzer lor ABC Aimed at Wounded Yets Hope, GF to Air Radio-TV Plans Bob Hope is severing ties with “Colgate Comedy Hour” after this season, and the NBC comedian’s future television plans .will prob- ably be resolved in the next two or three weeks when .the General Foods radio-TV high command sits down to crystallize its ’53-’54 pro- gramming agenda. ’ Whatever Hope decides, he’s definitely committed to NBC. He’s ,| currently doing a cross-the-board morning and a nighttime show on radio* for GF and new contracts will be kicked around at the up- coming session. If, as is antic- ipated, Hope and General Foods, continue their radio relationship, it’s considered a certainty the comic will be flying the GF color? in TV next season with his own show. ABC radio Is -selling against NBC’s Tandem and CBS’ Power plans, offering four quarter-hours for the same amount of coin the other webs get for three one-min nte participations. It’s argued by ABC that for. $15,000 weekly, a sponsor can get four 15-minute broadcasts, with-a total of 10 min utes of commercial, where he’d have only three minutes under Tandem or Power. ABC will make available: (1) .a quarter-hour strip four days a week in evening time, and (2) four quar- ter-hours staggered at different times on different nights. The lat- ter setup is designed for sponsors seeking to reach a maximum num- ber of dialers via a big cumulative audience. Under ABC’s contiguous rate plan, the four 15-minute airers canj be bought for the price of a solid hour. Cost for time is approxi- mately $11,500 weekly. With -a modestly-budgeted show, the time- And-talent nut would be around *15,000. Philly Bulletin Forum Gets Major Radio-TV Whirl, Top Gahbers Philadelphia, March 10; Television and radio hookups will insure the Evening Bulletin Forum (which holds sessions to- night and tomorrow) a total of five hours of TV (one hour of which will be picked up by the CBS-TV web) and 34*4. hours of local and State radio time. Network radio and TV commen- tators acting as moderators at the Forum sessions include Charles Golllngwood, Walter' Cronkite, Jr., and Edward P. Morgan, all of CBS, and Everett- Holies, of Mutual. Sam. Levenson is spotted for a . lec- ture tomorrow on “Culture at Any Price.” The entire proceedings will be recorded by the Voice of Amer- ica and special documentary pro- grams Will be beamed throughout the world-in 46 different languages. CBS-TV will carry the Forum, 8 to ■9 tonight (Tues.) and WCAU-TV will cany the remainder of the ses- sion as well as tomorrow evening’s panels; A total of 98 individual radio broadcasts will be made by stations iii Pennsylvania- and New Jersey, along with six- network broadcasts. Wilbur Stark and Jerry Layton last week cut an audition record for ABC radio program chief Ray i ur/mt* Wtf n • Diaz of a hew quizzer, “Win For i Wviju”‘l V I\6V<UnPlIl£( Idea for the projected series, came from an incident on the .indie packagers’ “Movie Quiz.” A vet- eran in an L. A. hospital sent the show the answer to a jackpot ques- 'Sfieldon's Whit# Reck Coin WNBC, N. Y., has sold a five- minute show with Herb Sheldon doing- a ’round-the-town report three days a week to White Rock, via Ellington agency. Show goes in at 6:25* p.m., start- ing March 18. cannot appear on the show, “stand- ins” play for them, with Jack Les- coulie as emcee. A 30-second biog of each GI is also included. CLEVE.’$ 10DG TAKE IN 14-HR. SIMULCAST Cleveland, March 10. Daytime Schedule; Going On Air Hour Earlier WCBS-TV, N. Y., is overhauling tion. Although listener participa- its daytime, lineup on March 30, tion wasn’t invited. Stark and Lay- attendant on the NBC-to-CBS ton sent the vet a gift. switchover of Colgate’s “Big Pay- From the exchange of letters, °^- ..... . producers got the idea for the new .. Columbia key is going on the air airer, featuring wounded vets on ®J, rl . ier ’ st . ar ^ in § at ?• their way to recovery. Since they Telecomics followed by Time for Beany” at 7:45. Latter shovv has hit a 3.0 rating in its present 8:15 slot, and program director Hal Hough thinks there’s a good future for kid shows' in the break- fast period. Ernie Kovacs show moves into the 8-9 a.m. slot, which will concentrate for fire against NB€-TV’s “Today” in N. Y. Margaret Arlen, currently in an afternoon niche, goes to 9-9:30 _ _ „, , . , a. m., on the theory that she’ll In a gala 14-hour simulcast from reach the femmes before they go Masonic Hall that ended at 1 p.m.. out shopping. “Morning Show,” Sunday (8), WTAM-WNBK raised which serializes feature plx, takes nearly $100,000 for the Muscular the 9:30 strip, followed by CBS Dystrophy Assn. here. % news at 9:45. At 10 the outlet The two-station operation _ was: takes the network feed of Arthur emceed by Jack Mann,, and it fea- Godfrey, “Qhe in Every Family, tured such top Coast stars as Wal- “Strike It Rich,” “Bride and ter O’Keefe, Duncan Renaldo, Leo Groom” and the three CBS-TV Carillo, Mary Beth Hughes, and soapers. DeMarco Sisters. Local AFTRA At. 1 p. m., Hough will insert a and AGVA talent participating in- new series^ “Journey Through eluded Glenn Rowell and- Gene Life,” which will feature husband- Carroll, Sidney Andorn, Joe Mul- wife participants in a human in- v-ihill, Bill Gordon, Lee Sullivan, terest audience participationer. Bob Forster, Walt Kay, Allen with Bob Jennings producing and Fried. Night club stars appearing Tom Reddy, former WJZ early locally who, participated were Bet- morning dee jay* Frank Moriarity tie Clooney, Florian * Zabach, Rob- will direct, with Cafl King«an- ert Angel, and the Harmony Kings, nouncing; Music for the performance was, Remainder of the early after- by Henry Levine and the WTAM noon eked will be the network band. A battery* of 110 telephones lineup, with the local “Late Mati was set up at The May Co. to take nee” celluloid feature spotted at (pledges. 4:30-6 p.m. Washington, March 10. A full-soale. Congressional in- quiry into the “puzzling conun-. drum’* of color TV to determine whether “powerful interests” are blocking the development appears to be in the works, with Chairman Chhrles W, Tobey (R-N.H.) of the Senate Interstate Commerce Com- mittee at .the helm. Strongly backing the investiga- tion is Sen. Edwin CL Johnson (D- Colo.), former chairman of the Committee, who urged Tobey over the week-end to “vigorously? pur- sue the situation and “let-the* chips fall where they may.” The Com- mittee has authority and funds to carry out the study, under terms of a resolution passed by the Senate shortly after the present session .of Congress convened. Tobey has al- ready requested the FCC to bring the Committee up to date on the status of color. Tobey is known to be seriously concerned lover delays in color TV and can be expected to carry on the fight which his predecessor as Committee chairman, Sen. Johnson, has beeh waging to bring the de- velopment to the public. Both sen- ators are bitter foes of “monopoly” and have been suspicious of manu- facturer influence on FCC policy. In a lengthy letter tracing the delays in development of color, Johnson reminded Tobey that “you are not afraid of powerful inter-. ests” which * “may like to forget about progress in the art of tele- vision until the market for black- and-white sets has been exhausted. Johnson urged that the Commit- tee call upon FCC and various manufacturers to explain why the public is not given the benefit of color. “Color television now and not the hour the. manufacturers decide should be Otir goal,” he said. If legislation is needed, then we should proceed post haste to spon- sor it. In any event, unless some Teason can be shown to the con- rary, color. TV should be made available to the public. The manufacturing industry doesn’t want its black-and-white receiver .operations disrupted now, said Johnson, any more than it did when FCC authorized color broad- casting in the fall of 1950. “With the TV freeze lifted,” Johnson inted out, “and new markets opening every, day that require UHF as well as VHF receivers, con- verters, strip tuners or some other attachment, one can understand the industry’s interest to maintain the status quo.” But it’s nearly three years now since FCC adopted standards for color and said the development is ready for the public, Johnson added. “Why isn’t it?” he asked. Is this delay in manufacturing color TV receivers deliberate? Are the standards adopted by the Com- mission unsound? If so, iii what manner? Have, new standards been developed? If so, why are they not submitted to FCC?” RCA’s ‘Who, Me?’ Statement by Sen. Johnson brought a quick answer from RCA (Continued on page 36) NBC-TV Joggling Daytime Roster Chicago, March 10. Some wholesale juggling appears in the works for NBC-TV’s mid- afternoon schedule. As of June <8 Procter & Gamble is taking -over the full dally half-hour of Tommy Bartlett’s “Welcome Travelers” and is negotiating with the web -to move the ‘Chi-originated show Into a later slot. P&G has hopes of talking NBC into moving- Kate Smith’s display from its present 3 to 4 p.m. (CST) slot to the -2 to 3 period so the soap firm can take over the latter hour. PfcG is shopping around for another half-hour show to parlay with “Travelers” as back-to-back ■offerings. Because ..of the rating payoffs P&G has- garnered during its current quarter-hour identity on the relatively inexpensive in- terview show, word has gone out at the . pancer-Fitzgerald-Sample agency to pay special heed to other Chi-based properties. “Travelers** presently occupies the 2:30 p.m. berth.