Variety (April 1953)

wwTntwbT) April 1) 1953 PfifSIETT RADIO-TELEVISION DUMONT REPEAT FORMULA IV Takes Adv. Leadership Away From Dailies, Radio in Cleve, Area r By SANFORD MARKEY H Cleveland, March 31. After five years of radio and newspaper competition, this area s S video outlets are moving into Coring programming and sales Seriod that is making TV the top Mortising and entertainment medium in Northeastern Ohio. TV’s rise to dominant position in this typical midwestern industrial community is evidenced byahos of factors including an 85% set saturation with increased sales—ln many instances-being estimated on a two-in-home basis; a levelling off of rates at around $200 per spot during the SRO 6:30-10:30 p.m. Sd and the end to the "gim- mick-ii'oopla-and-sales-pitch” oper- ation for a diet of quality pro-, grams, public services features and good merchandising presentations. As a result of its format of suc- cess in a bustling area, WEWS, WNBK and WXEL offer a clear-cut modus operandi for radio operators first embracing TV. This format revolves around six major points of suggestion: . ... Before 9 a.m. sign-on impractical. Spot sales mean financial sue- C6SS. Films are prime sales vehicles News is a growing sales program format. , „ . Public service is a “must” show- case. Personalities are time salesmen. There are, of course, exceptions. For example, WNBK, the four-year- old NBC o-o outlet signs on at a successful 7 a.m. because of the net- work’s “Today.” But, the Scripps- Howard’s WEWS, on the air for (Continued on page 69) $1,425,000 Net For DuMont Labs DuMont Labs showed a net profit of $1,425,000 last year on a record gross Income of $76,367,000, firm’s annual report showed. Gross was 50% higher than 1951 and the profit compared to a loss of $583,- 000 in same year. Network billings accounted for about one-seventh of the parent company’s total gross. • No break- down was given on the network's net income. Key factor in the increased in- come, according to the report, was the lifting of the freeze on new stations by the FCC last April. New stations, according to the re- port, afforded new sales for receiv- er and transmitter equipment, and also by giving the network new af- filiates, increased the web’s bill- ings. Still No Buuny Money in Sight For DuMont network will consider repeating top shows on other webs if sponsors wish to air such re- television by labor organizations, peats, Chris Witting, network’s di- two unions will sponsor a discus- rector, disclosed this week. Witting More Union Sponsors Adding to the increasing use of sion-type program, “America Speaks,” on WOR-TV Saturday nights. Unions are international Laundry Workers and the Paper Pulp and Sulphite Workers, both AFL. Program will feature John. B. Hughes, WOR’s news director, and feels such a policy is “inevitable,” due chiefly to programming tech- niques that pit one toprated show against another. He disclosed he was approached on the idea by the media director of one agency, Who noted results of DuMont’s Westinghouse-spon- adman Don L. Passante, New Jer- sored pickup nf the political con- sey adman show. and packager of the ‘Duopoly’ Angle Bigger Worry On TV Permits to q d“sh out permits fo^TV we ) k ' be substantoUy when Arthur Godfrey begins a full ^^pTasis. ^th no takers K2?.'“*&«!!* V* . There &ve been great efforts to Washington, March 31. Problems of “concentration of control” are becoming more and more frequent as the FCC tinues stations 11 posed in Situation arises whenever an ap- plicant files for a station near one he already owns. Since Commission “duopoly” rules prohibit single ownership of two TV stations in the same city, a minority of com- missioners questions whether it is good public policy to license to one applicant stations with over- lapping coverage. In granting a permit to E. An- thony & Sons for a UHF station in Boston, three members of the Commission objected (Chairman Paul A. Walker, Eugene Merrill and Frieda Hennock) because An- ventions last summer coincidental with the CBS-TV coverage spon- sored by Westinghouse. Discus- sions with one top sponsor were held but without result. DuMont would decide according to the particular merits of each show suggested, rather than set a definite policy in regard to repeats. But it’s available for the top shows. Witting offered as a possible ex- ample of such repeats the battle for audiences between CBS-TV’s “Toast of the Town” and NBC TV’s “Colgate Comedy Hour.' With so many people missing one because they tuned in on the other, it would be worthwhile to air a repeat of one on DuMont in mid- Border Incident Toronto, March 31. Fired from his job as sound effects man by CJBC, Toronto, Joseph Lacosse, 25, tied up traffic and drew crowds in the rain for two hours at the Cana- dian Broadcasting Corp. key station here when he climbed to the top platform of the CBC’s adjacent 468-foot TV tower and threatened to jump. He is in jail for mental tests and appears in court here April 2 on a charge of creat- ing a public disturbance. Godfrey &. Co. To Do Full Week Of Fla. Originations •+ Last year’s display of the Easter Parade on television, with stunt- sters, hip dancers, animals and cuffo, plugsters getting into the act, has frightened sponsors away from the event this year. As of this week, merely days be- fore the promenading on Fifth Ave- nue, only one sponsor. Peerless Camera Stores, has committed to brave the total-picture memory of last year. Peerless, satisfied with WPIX, N. Y„ handling, is picking up the tab, as it did last year, from 11:30 to 1:30. But playing it safe, the sponsor and station have shifted the main coverage from Fifth to Park Avenue, at the St. Bartholo- mew Church site, with a camera in the Waldorf-Astoria lobby. For shots of the Fifth Avenue activity, WPIX will pick up a feed from CBS. Everyone is playing the Easter Parade cautiously. DuMont, which had a sponsor for the 1952 event is not covering this year. WOR-TV, ■ which had sponsorless coverage last year, is skipping the event too. NBC and CBS, both commercial a year ago, are without bunny- money spenders in 1952. ABC, which covered sponsorless last What is probably TV’s biggest programming junket will be trans- lated into a reality on April 10 year> has plac?d lt? Para(Je event am a aa am l******** t«tif U a inlrADfl new iiuaxi t xetaveu uuy UUCio • _* j {m uupaxatOMXC uaa uvtn yet beyond the first, and won’t i 1 ?? th* alerted to screen publicity seekers actively push for any, but it’s will- pr od ucti<?n Saffers etc^* &S ^ and wild and weird demonstrators ing to listen to any rebroadcast pitch any sponsor has to offer, Wit- ting said. from the promenade area. All the shows will emanate from But anything can happen before Kenilworth Hotel,. including the bv e cameras on the streets. So White Huddles With Pres. Eisenhower On TV’d Press Conference Washington, March 31. Plans for televising Presidential press conferences have progressed thony had previously been issued I to the high level point where NBC a permit for a TV station 50 miles away, in New Bedford, Mass. Pointing out that the overlap be- tween the two stations would be even less with operations at maxi- mum power, Commissioner Merrill expressed fear that such dual au- thorizations might lead to “a de- gree of regulation of television broadcasting industry that would not otherwise be necessary.” This could happen, he said, because such “over-concentration” of facilities (Continued on page 68) KPRC PREEMS NEW RADIO-TELE CENTER xr ~ Houston, March 31. n«? e vT£ adio " TV Center for KPRC and KPRC-TV went into operation Sunday (29) with a host of digni- ties, including former Gov. W. P. «°Dby, attending opening cere- monies. Tele station- increased its power in ^mporary 65,000 watts, pend- tn^ Con S ruction of a new antenna innnnn boost power to 100,000 watts. New cent' r has some unique fea- tE- lnc ^ u ding an outdoor studio. Wrf mg 18 ln the form of a hol- nfltin ?n U l re * and Hi e landscaped stnrUn W1 /i be used as a year-round ;Int°V Construction P lan s call for piJ?f rat » 10n of Erectors’ and en- S , c ? ntro1 booths. Building nn °- tele and four radio studios. Dart e ? ln ? ce remonies are only a Part of a two-week hoopla that will Puhli? the facilities by the visitinc^ 1 ^ P rcIl ids given to lady Program Spe « al events an d special S ms ' Harry Bannister, NBC Pet™ r ? latlons v -P-» and Edward those *i! tlon re P* were among tn °se at the opening were ceremonies. Curtain Up for New Chi Brass, Imported Talent On WNBQ ‘Curtain Time’ Chicago, March 31. In an effort 0 to hypo the Windy City’s lone local drama show, “Curtain Time,” the advertiser- packager Grant ad agency has re- vamped the show’s TV brass and talent sections. Although most of the talent for the Wednesday night prexy Frank White visited the White House last week to discuss angles with the President. White said later that details are not yet fully worked out and that the first televised press session is still some time off. The four net- works have been working on this matter for several weeks. Thus far, the best way of handling it seems to be a specially staged news con- ference at which there will not be any “qff the record” material. Big stumbiing block for coverage of a regular news conference is that the press may never quote the President directly without his specific permission. But, in a tele- vised press conference, his direct words would be going to millions of people, including any slips of the tongue he might make. Monday-through-Friday morning simulcasts, the Monday evening “Talent Scouts” on radio and TV and the Wednesday night full hour TV show. Latter will be in the nature of a super swimming show, originating from the Kenilworth pool. Godfrey, who has long had a yen to do his shows from Florida, par- ticularly in the wintertime, is anx- ious to determine its feasibility in terms of the future. The NBC-TV “All Star Revue” will showcase Spike Jones, out of Miami later in April, but Godfrey is getting the jump as the first major*commercial TV entry riding the Miami-to-N. Y. cable. the television stations and webs (Continued on page 68) Kay Kyser Projected In New Role: Kollege Of Video Knowledge K-Fs Radio-TV Spurt in Merger Kaiser-Frazer’s announced acqui- sition of Willys-Overland for $63,- 000,000 has led to a spurt in Kaiser’s radio-TV bankrolling, but still leaves up In the air the ques- tion of which ad agency will handle the merged autos’ future air bill- ings. Beginning today (Wed.), Kaiser- Frazer will begin bankrolling three weekly inserts on the NBC-TV “Today” show, and on April 15 will launch a‘ radio-TV spot campaign in 100 markets. Agency handling the time buying is William Weintraub. Willys-Overland will continue to bankroll the “N.Y. Philharmonic Greensboro, N. C., March 31. Educational television has unlim-1 Symphony Musicale” on CBS-Radio DuMONT MULLS CO-OP DEAL FOR PEARSON ited potentialities but it must be handled with ingenuity, showman- ship, good judgment and proper safeguards. That view was emphasized by Kay Kyser in an address at a ban- quet session of a regional seminar Sundays until the end of April, has pacted with CBS-TV to cover the June Coronation, and will partici- pate in CBS-TV’s “Omnibus” until the end of the season. Its agency is Ewell & Thurber, A spokesman of Ewell & Thurber workshop of the National Assn, of said he would have to remain mum r . _ . A U A ..i xl 1 1 • i • x r Educational Broadcasters, compris- ing 10 Southern states and Puerto Rico. The meeting was held at the University of North Carolina. Earl Wynn, director of the univer- DuMont network Is negotiating uic kcucui, iui me n cuiicsua; mgiit With Drew PearSOn for the com- . show now being telecast from mentator to return to the network n t l £?! 1O ii 0 C ;nn te nrPQiHAi S wnuo r.ht NRn stud ins will hn * Thnrcdav night half-hmir spg- director of this region, presided. about the possibility of any future agency clash until the Willys-Over- land board of directors officially okayed the Kaiser deal on April 24. WNBQ, Chi NBC studios, will be for a Thursday night half-hour seg from this city, Windy City actors ment which web would air on a will have to compete with import- co-op basis. Network has cast ed talent for the leads. . queries to affiliates on availability boon to our spiritual, intellectual According to Don Tomkins, who of local sponsors for the show, and and economic, enlightenment as replaces Harry Holcombe as Grant should response be favorable and the printing press was. We can- Pitch To Ball Fans Kaiser-Frazer has signed Tor XT,™. 32 segments of NBC-TV’s “Today” „ ' With proper guid. during th h £ April and ance television can be as great a ® fV. (Continued on page 68) radio-TV director (Holcombe leav- DuMont be able to agree on terms ing for N. Y. to become a thesp), w ith Pearson, } gram would bow the aches and pains of “Curtain i n three weeks. T i I ra!i + d( ? any Pearson was dropped by Carter of Chi talent, but rather from diffi- produc t s couple of weeks ago on cuities involved in adaptation of 5 uMont and A BC radio, and let the show’s old radio scripts to tee- Y with a blast at the nets for vee., To further aggravate the , <being one-sided” in their presenta- hurdle headache, the show s for- tioi ^ of news commentary. DuMont mat is< limited to the comedy-ro- kag contended all along that it mance angle. wanted to keep Pearson on as a sus- Tomkins, however, is quite defi- te £ cr untu ^ backer could be mte in his assurance that no mat- f ound bu t that his price Was more ter how problematical the tran- ’ 1H sition, Chi talent will be used However, since the web central- whenever and wherever possible, j ^ co . op sys tem two months This attitude seems to have the ap- command of Elmore proval of the Chicagoland Dodge X„k, nd ?)Lf 0 ?d^ atation retaOras Dealers who bankroll the pro- 'Buck) Lyford, station gram. (Continued on page 68) not afford to shut our eyes to this challenge, We must proceed cau- tiously but not too slowly. There is a fine line between procrastination and impetuosity. “Educational teleyision programs can be—I said can be—entertain- ing as well as informative so long as they effectively challenge the curiosity of people to know more. They can be made palatable and provocative.” Chancellor Robert B. House set the theme when he urged the broadcasters to set their standards on a high level. “Nothing can stop you if you keep your standards high and your work interesting and human,” he said. SEP’S 1-NITE RADIO BALLY FOR LINDBERGH Unusual radio time purchase will find Curtis Publishing Co. buying in on Mutual’s Multi-Message Plan for one night only, April 8, to plug the Charles Lindbergh serialized autobiography beginning In its Sat- urday Evening Post of that week. What amounts to a nationwide spot (460 stations) for a price of $2,000, was available due to fact that the plan is only two-thirds sold, to Camel’s and General Mills. No station clearance was, 4 iecessary since spot previously was used for public service announcements. BBD&O agented.