Variety (April 1953)

Wednesday, April 1, 1953 70 BAilO-THJBVlSlOX From the Production Centres •«* L continued from pase'GO » radio and TV head, one of organisers" of Missouri Valley Television Co. which has applied to the FC,C for a TV station permit in St. Louis. . . . “Last Man’s Club” of 300 localities under observation of Unlv. of Minnesota psychological hygiene laboratory on a heart disease research project will participate in' a CBS TV series, “The Search,” to start next October and intended to dramatize higher education’s scien- tific and cultural contributions to individual and national welfare. . , . Twin. Cities bus and. streetcar service to be speeded up through installa- tion of two-way radio communications between headquarters and 10 “roving” dispatchers ... As a public service more than 26 of "state’s radio stations carried a speech by Gov. C. E. Anderson of Minne- sota detailing progress of present Legislature ... In order to speed FCC action two applicants for a TV station on Channel 6 in the Duluth, Minn.-Superior, Wis., area, Lakehead Telecasters, Inc., of Duluth, and Ridson, Inc., of Superior, are consolidating the applica- tions, with Lakehead withdrawing and Ridson left as only applicant. Latter is headed by Robert Ridder of newspaper and WCCQ-TV and radio family. IN CLEVELAND ... Adelbert A. Sklrbnnt has. been added to the WEWS sales staff . . . Saul Glantz has left WHK to become sales and promotion manager of Cleveland’s Mainliner, Inc. . . Chris Miller, WSRS disker, doing an all-night spree from Castellano’s Restaurant . . . Glenn Rowell added another half-hour, Mon.-thru-Fri. 9 a.m. stanza to his list in which he sings his own compositions as well as spins disks . . . Gus Ameier, formerly of New York, doing NBC scenic designing here . . . Gordon “Skip” Ward said farewell to Uncle Sam to resume an- nouncing chores at WTAM-WNBK . . . Johnny Andrews back from a three-week Carib cruise to emcee' WTAM “Bandwagon” and do WNBK piano-singing stint . . . Joe Berg and Sid Nadler opened their “Just Plain Bedlam” hour-disk stanza WJW Sat. 8 p.m. . . . Warren Gtlthrie, TV-Sphio voice on week’s vacation, with Bill Tomkins AM Sohio taking on the WXEL nightly pitch at 11 . . . Miller High Life Beer, WEWS, and March of Time> previewed magazine’s Cleveland Indians Film at a cocktail party at the Cleveland Ball Club’s Wig- wam . . . Sam Levine, proprietor of bowling shows on WHK and. WNBK, elected to national bowling board . . . Nat Shilkret in town for Hann& Theatre show, visited old friends including NBC's Fred Wilson of Rondaleers . . . Carl Stahley of Lakewood Little Theatre directing upcoming; Press Club presentation of “Blessed Event.” IN PHILADELPHIA . . . Paul Whiteman, whose “TV-Teen Club” is a WFIL-TV origination, celebrated his fourth anni with the ABC-TV web and his 63d birthday Saturday (28) . . . Lanse McCurley, veteran sports editor of the Daily News, and A1 Wistert, former Captain and lineman of the Philadelphia Eagles pro football team, launch a nightly TV program April 6 on WPTZ. Show is sponsored by Gretz Beer . . . DeSoto dealers , of this area are picking up the tab for George Walsh’s nightly recap of baseball scores and sports headlines, "starting April 6 . . . WFIL cele- brated its 31st anni (17) and Hal Simonds, radio sales manager, began 32d year with station . , . Gov. John S. Fine, of Pennsylvania, is ap- pointing a committee to study proposed ’ legislation for State funds l * 1 i STARS’ CARS i i i * X-COUNTRY . ' l i * Going from B'way to Hollywood, 1 . or vice versa? “The Best Way" is , 1 to ship your car. not to drive it, 1 I advises Judson Freight Forward- . 1 ing Division of National Carload- 1 • ing Corporation, now celebrating • its 75th anniversary. Judson has ' ■ shipped thousands of cars and i trunks for stage, screen, radio and 1 • TV celebs. 4 , I You save wear and tear on 3 r ou I , and car, actual driving costs, ' storage enroute, and expenses in- I I volved in the long trip. Besides, --—you have much-better, cliance of. j__ • arriving in one piece yourself if , you take raU or air and let Jud- 1 | son ship your car and belongings. . If your trial engagement on either epast extends into a solid spot, just call Judsqfi and have your car shipped to you. £>ee your telephone directory for nearest National Carloading Of- fice or write to: Judson Forward- ing, National Carloading Cor- poration, 19 Rector Street, New York 6. N. Y. » - ' TV’s Banner Year — Continued from page 58 ^ of business by the TV broadcasting industry, there were still 14 sta- tions in the red last year (same as in 1951) although their average losses were smaller. None of these 14 losers were in the seven-station market classification of New York and Los Angeles (FCC does not reveal reports of individual sta- tions), indicating the possibility that one station in one of these cities went from black to red ink last year as FCC reported only eight losers in the seven-station markets in 1951 (of only 12 stations _whiclv -'suhfnitled reports_in that year). Average profits of the 94 stations which made money last year were $453,000. The same outlets aver- aged $330,000 in profits in 1951. There wereJL6 TV stations which averaged more than $1,000,000 in profits last year and of these there were 12 averaging over $1,500,000. Another 17 stations cleared, on the average, over $600,000 (before taxes), another 19 cleared over $400,000, another 22 over $200,000, another 16 over $100,000. In the \ ... KSTP-TV Now Reaches 1 Over a MILLION People V Regularly with Its 1 100 f 000 Watts! P&RIETY to help schools and others in the TV-educational field . . . Sales of television receivers in the Philadelphia area were up slightly in Feb- ruary this year, according to official figures from the Electrical Assn, of Philadelphia. Total for February, 1953, was 16,871, compared with 16,064 for the same month last year. CBS net asked for shift in WCATJ-TV’s live western “Action in the Afternoon” to 4 p.m. slot to permit wider audience. IN BOSTON . . Ray Giradin, WEEI production director and vet of 2 years at the station, has resigned his post to take over as radio and TV director for Humphrey, Alley & Richards ad agency. He will divide his time between Hub and New York . . . Bob Gilman, formerly associated with Northeast Airlines, has. been added to Yankee Network sales force . , . Sabby Lewis, WBMS deejay for past six months, has ankled the sta- tion . . . Coleman Cody has been named merchandising manager of WEEI filling the spot vacated by Tom Young, who recently switched to station's sales dept. . . . WNAC-TV set to telecast the Easter Vigil Service at St. Paul’s Church, Cambridge, Easter Saturday night, from 11 to 1 a.m. . . . ABC-TV’s Saturday night fight telecasts will be car- ried by WNAC-TV here . . . WEEI’s Priscilla Fortesquc will join Dave Garroway, A! Capp and Bradford Bachracli on judges’ stand at General Electric’s Lynn Plant Beauty Contest, April 6. lowest category of profitable sta- tions—those averaging less than $10,000 profit—there were only four. TV Insurance Continued from page 57 Of the 14 losing stations, two reported losses of $400,000 to $800,000. Three others averaged losses of over $200,000, two others of over $100,000 and seven of less than $100,000. In the 40 cities with only one station there were no losers, last year, whereas in 1951 one of the 40 lost money. These “only” sta- tions averaged profits last year of $632,000. In 1951 they averaged $381,000. In the seven-station markets of New York and L. A., the five profit- able outlets averaged over $1,703,- 000 in the black. The average of the four stations which reported profits in these markets in 1951 was $1,307,000. Narrowing of the gap between profit and loss in the N. Y.-L. A. markets is evident from the FCC figures. Average losses of the nine losing stations in these cities last year were $296,000. In 1951, the average deficit of eight stations which reported losses was $538,000. Color TV-When? ■■■ Continued from page 59 c that he doesn’t want to go too deeply into the color morass. When the ranking Republican member of the Committee, Rep. Carl Hinshaw (R., Calif.), suggest- ed questioning officials of the Na- tional Production Authority re- garding the ban on color set pro- duction, revoked last week, Chair- man Wolverton snapped: “That’s not necessary. The ban has been rescinded.” Chairman Wolverton had made known his resentment against newspaper accounts, declaring that the Committee is inquiring into charges by Sen. Edwin C. Johnson (D., Colo.) that “powerful inter- _ests”-are- delaying-, color.video, He insists that plans of the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee to look into the color situation had nothing to do with his Commit- tee’s inquiry. Just the same, it was not until Sen. Johnson released his letter to Sen. Charles Tobey, chairman of the Senate Commerce Commit- tee-, urging a full investigation into color, that Wolverton suddenly scheduled hearings after previously telling reporters there was no pos- sibility of a color inquiry until after the Congressional Easter re- cess in April. ' It’s apparent, therefore, that the House inquiry was designed to head off the Senate probe, to em- phasize that development of a com- patible system is not around the corner, and to make sure that sale of black and white sejts will not be slowed by talk of color. Dr. DuMont frankly urged that the Committee “clear the ail'” of con- fusion over color which might hurt black and white. Wolverton has also given lip service to suggestions .that FCC relax its restrictions against broad- casting by the proposed NTSC sys- tem during commercial hours. And he has indicated that he will go along with recommendations by Dr. Baker that the Commission modify its criteria for an accepta- ble color system so as not to speci- fy cost within reach of the general public. Sen. Tobey, meanwhile, with Sen. Johnson’s help, plans to go ahead with £ full inquiry after the House Committee reports on its hearings. Sen. Johnson indicated last week it will be a different kind of inquiry. ing the insurance companies, Lev- more offers the following hypo- thetical case: Suppose the film “X” was replayed in a small town in Iowa several years after it played on the networks in New York. Lat- ter’s statute of limitations provided for a €611:3111 number of years, which had already elapsed since initial showing of the film. But on seeing the film in Iowa, someone decided his privacy had been in- vaded and filed suit. Not tjnly could he claim present damages against the local station owner, but could sue the show’s producer, writer, - actors, and even the origi- nal network, sponsor and agencies. Result, as noted before, has been formulation of a new rate card by the only remaining domestic under- writer offering errors and omis- sion coverage. In the case of filmed dramatic shows, rates will be up | 300 to 400%. One series just going into syndication had a rate of less | than $400 a year offered it for cov- erage of about $200,000 per picture. Couple of weeks later, as contracts were about to be signed, insurance outfit demanded $1,500 for the same- coverage. This particular show managed to get the^origioal rate on a technicality, but the underwriter served notice that in the future rates would be at the highest level. Couple of other changes have been added. Instead of offering a specified coverage on each episode, there’s now an aggregate figure for the series beyond which the under- writer won’t pay. Another change is a 15% surcharge* if the original title is changed on a live show, and complete new coverage is nec- essary if title is changed on pic going into syndication. Significantly, variety shows have dropped in rates, simply because experience has shown few suits have resulted from them. But on radio, those post-midnight deejay- gabber programs have been hit so hard- that no insurance company is willing to indemnify the com- mentators. Q Radio’s‘Me, Too’ ssmmm Continued from page 59 s==J nets open-—until 6 p.m., when CBS, NBC and ABC hope to have their British jet-flighted first films on the air. By then, the afternoon newspapers will have had their big chance at a wirephoto splash. On immediacy, however, a big question remains. How many An- glophiles in America will get up at 5:30 a.m. Cor earlier across the countryV time zones)? The question of total audience aside, sponsorwise it looks like General Motors (picking up the NBC tab) and Willy s-Overland (most of the CBS bill) will get a longer, more immediately complete and less-risky ride for their dough with radio. . For the radio boys have still an- other point to make. The route of television’s jet, Stratocru'iser and “mystery” planes is over the rugged North Atlantic. If flying weather is bad, they say, their hearts bleeding very little, then the Coronation June 2 will be a completely radio show all day. Chicago-—A. C. Nielsen an- nounces nine ad agencies have subscribed to the researcher’s sta- tion coverage data. Agencies are Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bay- les, Doherty, Clifford, Steers &* Sheffield, Sherman & Marquette, Hewitt, Oglivy. Benson & Mather, Ruthrauff & Ryan. William Esty, Cunningham & .Walsh, Weiss & Gfller and Ejrwjn,. Wasey. Resnick Quits As lit examiner Washington, March 31. Leo Resnick, FCC'examiner who presided at the Paramount pack- age hearings, resigned today to enter private law practice in Wash- ington, specializing in radio and TV. Resnick has been with the - Com- ‘' mission since 1940, when he joined the litigation division. He has been an examiner for six years. Besides the Paramount case, which resulted in the merger of ABC and United Paramount Theatres, he presided at important proceedings involv- ing broadcast station transfers and applications and common carrier matters. Prior to entering government service, Resnick was in private practice in N. Y., where he gradu- ated from Columbia U. Law School, with Phi Beta Kappa honors, in 1936. Miles Labs, Bell Telephone In NBC Radio Renewals Renewals, on several fronts, are sounding sweet music in radio's ear. Miles Labs renewed its back-to- back strip sponsorship of “News of the World” (7:30 p.m.) and “One Man’s Family” (7:45) p.m.) on NBC radio, beginning March 30 for 52 weeks. Bell Telephone takes added 52- week NBC Monday ride, starting April 13, with “The Telephone Hour.” On WCBS, N. Y. , Sinclair Refin- ing Co. (through Jan. 2, 1954) and Richard Hudnut via Kenyon and Eckhardt, beginning April 6, re- newed their schedules of weekday station breaks. Cincinnati—WLW-T will origi- nate a special Easter program for the NBC-TV network April 5. It will be the pontifical high mass at St. Monica’s Basilica here from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with Archbishop Karl T. Alter celebrating. • DISPLAY • THEATRICAL • STUDIO „ -iS* 1 • motion picture; Rental Equipment WHIM YOU WANT IT- WHIM YOU WANT IT AT THR PRlCI YOU WANT TO PAYl Whatever your lighting needs, rent Jack Fr6$t equip* m«nt for greater convenience . , * greater lighting! Jack Frost’s unique national f, service includes complete installation and removal— ttnywhtre! 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