Variety (March 1953)

Wednesday* Marefc 11, I95> PSmsfY RADIO-TKLEVI$IOiV : ‘WHO HE? f “You Are There as School Study THEY NOW TALK Hyde Designation as FCC Chairman n an. ambitious extension of its Teaching Through Television” hmm + «*« ■ a ^ rs jUfijii AMCilBCP Due This Week: GOP Control Seen with 22,000 schools throughout the country to integrate into fill ill itllUUHtlL *»»*u nvvujuui waiuviirvvH home and school study-pattern some major Items on the CBS /I • • D1 I • t gram roster. These include the CBS-TV coverage of the Coro- The practical certainly that Mil- I 110111 ff Ml 1A|* ShluBIIIIC 111 A 00I1PU m iJ aM n 2 and| °“ a rcgul ?r weckl 7 basis, the ton Berle won’t be flying the Tex- I'llCUlS lTldHIl UlldhCUUd III AHcIlCY S-TV You Are There series of re-creating manor contem- I aw\ enonenr hannnn novf eaoenn I O * In an ambitious extension of its “Teaching Through Television” project, which got off to a head start with its collaborative assist on the D. C. Inauguration ceremonies, CBS-TV has affected a tie- up with 22,000 schools throughout the country to integrate into the home and school study “‘pattern some major items on the CBS program roster. These include the CBS-TV coverage of the Coro- nation ceremonies on June 2 and, on a regular weekly basis, the CBS-TV “You Are There” series of re-creating major contem- porary or historic events. David Jacobsen, Director of Public Relations for the television network, has already incepted plans with the Citizenship Educa- tion project of Teachers College, Columbia University (with 22,000 schools under its jurisdiction), and the Metropolitan School Study Council (embracing schools in the N. Y., New Jersey and Con- necticut areas) for distribution of Jacobsen-produced manuals and teachers’ guides blending the CBS programming into school cur- ricula. * In preparation for some weeks, the channelling of the “You Are There” series into classroom study and discussion will probably tee off with next.week’s presentation of the Alexander Hamilton- Aaron Burr encounter. Similar use was made recently on an experimental basis of the Ed Murrow “See It Now-” treatment on soil conservation. Appar- ently the school kids ate it up for they're asking for more. NBC-TV Hikes Production Rates, Helps Clients Keep Costs in Line NBC-TV is Increasing its charges 4- — for some production facilities and mun>r? n •- »• /» • services. However, to help adver- WMl S QUICKIC C01D tisers keep their costs in line, in- __ „ . . creases are confined mostly to those WNBT, N. Y., is offering one- areas “over which the sponsors minute newscasts or weathercasts have control.” Another feature of f °r sponsorship. Each announce- the new rate manual is. splitting of ment would have two parts: 30 sec- charges for studios and for camera onds for news and 30 seconds for complements, thus giving the commercial, but the backer would spenders greater flexibility. get visual identification throughout William V. Sargent, assistant the minute. . controller, and Edward J. Stege- Cost will be $100 per spot, cov- man, program- and production ering one camera, production, an- financial manager, explained Mon- nouncer and writer,. plus time day (9) that the new production charges. They’d be skedded when- rates represent the first increase ever live facilities can be cleared by the web in 31 months. They on the station, said that while other skeins had n instituted increases periodically, - NBC-TV had held off since early CL,**,- in 1951. They added that they’d F-fll-rllinfF |[QP(| tried to stave off increases by im- * * * MI1 5 f IMVV proving the efficiency of produc- « # • tion operations. n I One group of increases is for rJUnlTP LlOOlDlRl' technicians in the National Assn. UUVlIllllg of Broadcast Engineers & Techni- eians* which recently won a new r Ilf _ l! L contract with pay boosts. Another pflr If |*\T|||0|1||||CP increase is in camera rehearsal * VI II rates, but the NBC execs said that the charges “are still competitive The practical certainty that Mil- ton Berle won’t be flying the Tex- aco sponsor banner next season, with the show exiting the Kudner agency and reverting to an “NBC production” status, virtually writes “finis” to the era of the agency showman impresario. With per- haps the lope exception of “Kraft Television Theatre,” and “Lux Video Theatre,” which are J. Wal- ter Thompson-produced vehicles, there isn’t an agency in the busi- ness today with sufficient control on programming to call the show- manship shots on the major hour- long (or even 30-minute) video productions.* It’s a far cry from the days (that hark back chiefly to radio) when, the agency man was the cplorful Far-Flung Video Fmpire Looming the charges “are still competitive _W es tmghouse ^purchase of the with rates at the other networks.” p kUc^owned W1TOZ Stegeman said that by pre-plan- phia for $8,500,000 (subject to-FCC approval) is but one, of a series of acquisitions envisioned by the (Continued on page 36) manufacturing company, designed to project it into the big league television sweepstakes with a five- station video empire of its own. (That’s the maximum number al- lowed under FCC regulations.) Westinghouse, for years en- trenched in broadcasting with its scattered prize radio outlets, will Although Pet Milk, currently now have two key TV possessions— one of the-sponsors of “All Star the Philly station as the TV artri Revue”' on NBC-TV, was debating . of its KYW radio station, and WBZ- whether to shift its Saturday (Continued on page 36) NBC-TV Remains .HHiiBISlYBI whether to shift its Saturday night allegiance to CBS-TV as one of the participants in the ________ __ - „„„ , “Jackie Gleason Show,” the cli- WnTy Hoe SoiRP JffV ent has now definitely decided to Iiad JVIIIC 1IIJ stand pat. on NBC and. recapture .. ^IWlIKnrc All Tail With the 8:30 to 9 p.m. period when ijpOHoOlb UH I dp, fflUI “All Star” makes its exit from * lirr the network next month. ‘ 111 1 iOUfflCy 3S Pet Milk is still mulling a pro- Pittsburgh, March 10. gram for the period and is eye- , tT ™vr r i .. ™ . „ * Cn4 . ing the Ted Mack-emceed “Orig- WDTV has its Thursday and Sat- inal Amateur Hour." The 8 to “fW sponsors this week on the 8:30 time goes to Dunhill eigave's llot se Sh„? 1 ?* iE h Th« e iT» 1 iM« a iin™ for its “My Hero" series; which is ° n an lf basls ’ SL*? JSi moving up from-7:30. Latter time Duquesne Umy. fares in the NIT h iQ hAntfivf hv Vmtrfcr tournament at Madison Square has been bought by Ennds. Garden ^ New yofk shauld the Dukes make the semi-finals, Du- Mpnt station here will televise the game, and in the event that the local entry goes into the finals ^ Saturday (14), Channel 2 wil! carry Chicago, March 10. v that one, too. One of the longest public service 'It'has ^ sponsor lined up for features in Chi- radio, WLS’ the games, but bankroller’s in- “School Time,” has snagged a t rested only in the semi-final and sponsor. After 16 years as a sus- the final if and when. On the other tainer the Prairie Farther station hand, for radio, they’re not so par- has signed the Pure Milk Assn, ticular. for its series. Chevrolet will' carry every game The daily qufirter-hour is beamed Duquesnfe Is in, right from the be- to the grade school moppet ginning of the tournament from throughout the midwest. “School" Madison Square Garden with Ray Time” has an estimated student Scott at the mike. Should the audience of 1,141,000 in more than Dukes enter the stretch, Scott will 0.1 Q0 nu’ban >apd-Jrtural schools; i r. s 4 Jdsb* hfrMle* tlSd telefcAfts.' ‘ * 1 '* m has been bought by Ennds. 16-YEAR SUSTAINER FINALLY GETS CLIENT Don Quinn to Y&R Don Quinn, creator of “Fib- ber , MfcGee and Molly” and originator of “Hails of Ivy,” “Beulah” and “GildersleeveP characters, is joining Young Sc Rubicam agency as supervisor of all comedy shows. Move is significant in view of the fact that Y&R today, as. with most agencies* has become a pack- age-concious house, acquiring all its properties on the out- side. Thus Quinn’s move-in is seen portending a return to the- era when the agency, with a major stake‘in broadcasting, will identify itself “from within” on its radio-TV pro- gramming. Quinn will headquarter in Hollywood, where most of the Y&R shows originate, with oc- casional trips to the N. Y. office. figure with -the showmanship flair —the days when, to mention but a few, the Hubbell Robinsons, the Pat Weavers, the Harry Acker- mans, with their successive regimes at Young & Rubicam; a Mike Kirk vs. John Reber vs. Walter Craig vs. Tom Harrington, et al., threw some well-meaning authority around at rehearsals. They’re still around as part and parcel of the more harassing TV picture, but, as in the case pf the Robinson-Weaver-Askerman trio, are now entrenched in the show- dominating network structres, or are more concerned with the word “media” in agency thinking than in program elements. Almost right down the line— “Show of Shows,” “Toast of the Town,” “Colgate Comedy Hour,” “All Star Revue,” “Studio One,” “Philco TV Playhouse,” “Robert Montgomery Presents,” “I Love Lucy,” the Arthur Godfrey “Talent Scouts” and “Friends,” “Irma,” “Miss Brooks*” “Red , Buttons,” “Peepers,” etc., etc.—here are all web-dictated and web-controlled program components in a day when the agency man’s primary function is to talk in terms of “cost-per- thousand,” “participation,” “i^er- tion,” “segment buy,” etc. The agency media man has superseded the radio-TV director in terms overall importance. SALE DEPOSES ‘VEEP,’ SEEK NEW TV SLOT Chicago, March 10. NBC-TV is looking for a new time slot for Alben Barkley's “Meet the Veep” currently showcased Sunday afternoons. Web has peddled the 5:30 to 5:45 p. m. pe- riod which the Veep now occupies to the Fram Corp. (oil cleaners). New client is putting in a travel formatted show, “Vacationland America,” when it takes over April 5. NBC-TV may move the Barkley- Earl Godwin gab session into the earlier Sabbath afternoon Spot be- ing vacated by “Juvenile Jury” which is taking a 13-week hiatus after -next \veek ? s allow. Cold Facts With end of March the tradi- tional start of the hiatus pe- riod for cold-combating drug outfits, WOR, Mutual's N.Y. flagship, has scheduled two surveys on incidence of colds in N.Y. First was completed for the station by Pulse last week. Station execs hope that the second, which is to be, con- ducted in April, will show an incidence of colds equally or nearly as high as the March figure. That, they feel, would prove to. the drug manufactur- ers the value of staying on the air longer. Survey, incidentaly, showed that in the 1,000 families inter- viewed, 23.9% had colds in the family. And, if anyone is inter- ested, 63% more women than men had colds. Blab Beer Cancels TV’s ‘Amos-Andy,’ Also Drops Tine The sponsor defections, from ma- jor-budgeted TV brought a $1,800,- 000 time-and-talent casualty in their wake this week, when Blatz Beer, via the Weintraub agency, served notice on CBS that it was not renewing the “Amos 'n’ Andy” program after this season. Blatz is sponsoring the program on an al- ternate-week basis, sharing the Thursday night 8:30 to 9 period with the Singer Sewing Machine- bankyolled “Four -Star Playhouse.” In addition to the .show, Blatz is also giving up the time. A Sc A show is one of the more costly filmed! items in TV, running about $40,000 a week. In view of its, wide audience acceptance (35.1 on the last Nielsen) CBS-TV doesn’t anticipate its being shelved for long. Blatz cancellation throws the en- tire Thursday 8 to 9 segment into a whirl, for the 8 to 8:30 niche is now in the “for sale'* columns as result of the Burns & Allen switch to Monday night. However, some client interest is already manifest in' the period, despite the fact that it’s up against the stiff competition from Groucho Marx on NBC-TV. Vagaries of Late Nite Originations Cue WHOM Shift of Byrant, Carroll WHOM,-N. Y. indie, is moving its late-hour deejay-gabfest show featuring Willie Bryant and Ray Carroll from Harlem's Club Baby Grand to the midtown -Birdland. It’s the latest in a series of shuf- fles by N. Y. stations of their restaurant-nitery originated shows. WHOM deal will' have Birdland, be-bop haven, sponsoring the last half-hour of the 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. segment, with the possibility that it may air some of its talent. Pro- gram, which with Bryant and Car- roll features the interracial dee- jay team, has aired from Harlem for the past three years. Number of peculiar problems have attended the late-hour origi- nations. One is a situation where- by on WHOM, the first 15 minutes of the show must emanate from the studio because of .a state liquor board ruling to the effect that a maker or distributor of alcoholic beverages cannot plug his prod- uct in a nightclub or restaurant • (Contiiiiied * * < h * Washington, March 16. Designation of Comr. Rosel Hyde as chairman of the FCC is expected this week. Hyde conferred with President Eisenhower last Friday (6), presumably to acquaint the President with the first Republican to head the agency. The Commis- sion was established in 1934 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Simultaneously with the appoint- ment of Hyde, or shortly after, it's likely that the. President will nominate a new member for the Commission to fill the place now occupied by Eugene Merrill, a Democrat, who is serving under an interim appointment. It’s believed the post will go to Charles Garland, manager of Gene Autry’s radio station, KOOL, in Phoenix. Gar- land was formerly mayor of Des Plaines, 111., and has long been active*" in Republican politics. Ilis appointment would bking a practi- cal broadcaster to the Commission. Garland was also associated with the CBS station, WBBM, in Chicago for many years before talcing up residence in Arizona. With the designation of a new chairman, the big question ia whether the present chairman, Paul A. Walker, will resign as a commissioner or stay through hi* term of office which expires on June 38. The President has the power to remove Walker, who was already eligible for retirement when made chairman of the Com- mission last year, but it is expected he will permit him to complete his term. Until Walker is displaced, there- fore, the policies of the Commis- sion cannot be materially altered. Naming of a commissioner to re- place Merrill will bring the number of Republicans on the seven-mem- ber agency to three. With Walker, there will still be three Democrats and one independent (Edward Webster). However, when Walker is re- placed, the Republicans will be in control of the agency and changes can be expected. It’s likely there will be a shakeup in key staff posi- tions which will affect the Office of General Counsel, the Office of Secretary, the Office of Chief Engineer, and the Office of the Chief Accountant. Changes maje. (Continued on page 30) Radio "Luigi’Axed; Wrigley Sets Sub Chicago, March 10. Wrigley Cum is replacing “Life With Luigi” with “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar” on CBS Radio to- night (Tues.). Surprise shuffle was made kfter a week-end confab be- tween Phillip K. Wrigley and CBS veep H. Leslie Atlass, thus ending /‘Luigi’s” three and one-half year association with the gum firm. Reason given for change, brew- ing for some time, was that Wrig- ley wants the talent to work com- mercials, which wasn't feasible on “Luigi.” “Luigi” was also a recent TV casualty. CBS EMPLOYEES BID FOR 10% WAGE HIKE Employee members of CBS’ em- ployees-manageihent committee has asked *the network for a general 10% wage increase, covering all New York staffers of the web in the wage-grade setu^ (white-collar- ites, building service workers, etc.)* Committee was established by the web couple of years ago after 1 employees voted for “no union” in an NLRB election, after contract with the Radio Guild (dropped by fcki*«a as 4