Variety (April 1953)

f 28 radio-television Wednesday, April 15, 1953 Senate Croup Asked to Break FCC ‘Kitchen Sink’Dam on New TV Grants Washington, April 14. 4 Prospects of Congressional ac- tion to speed up FCC hearing pro- cedures on contested TV applica- tions, with the view to getting ad- ditional video outlets pronto in the larger cities, developed last week. Sen. George Smathers (D„Fla.) introduced a resolution in the Sen- ate asking, the Interstate Com- merce Committee to look into the situation! Resolution urges the Committee to report to the Senate at the "earliest practicable date'* what ac- tion is needed, either through leg- islation or otherwise, to expedite hearings on contested TV applica- tions. Smathers told the Senate that the majority of people in the U. S live in cities with only cjne TV sta- tion, because the Commission pro- cedures for sifting the most quali- fied applicants for the unassigned channels are slow and cumbersome. "In many parts of the nation to- day,” he said, “.there are large pop- ulation centers which have had only one channel available to them. While those stations now in operation in these one-channel areas have done creditable jobs, nevertheless the public in these ardas have been forced to view that channel alone, its programs and its advertisers. “This situation exists in most areas of the U. S. at the present time, and it has so existed for sev- eral' years, and, unfortunately, from what I have been able to learn recently, it will continue to go on for some time to come.” Although the FCC lifted the freeze on new TV authorizations a year- ago, and has issued over 300 permits fdr new stations 1 sihce^J -Smashers-Said, the agency's policies for handling contested applications from the larger cities with only one . station ■ has Amounted to “an almost permanent freeze in. the industry.” This applies, he said, to cities- like = St. Louis, Kansas-City, Jacksonville and-Miami. : Ope of the principal reasons Tor the.delay, Smathers said, is the "inexcusable length” of the FCC hearings' held, -to determine the most--qualified applicants in con- gests for;channels. v The contest for channel 8 in the T&mpa-St. -Peters- ' fourg area, he noted, hAs'been going on for tout months. ■: He" skid-’ the hearings are' still unfinished;- with over 4,000 pages- of testimony al- ready taken. ^Everything But Kitchen Sink* In examining some of the tran- scripts, Smathers said, he found ; (Continued on page 46) • Fulton Lewis, Jr., Buys Into Coast AM Station Hollywood, April 14. Group headed by William Dolph, Ed Franklin and'Fulton Lewis, Jf., paid $54,000 for controlling inter- est in radio station KGIL, San Fernando. Deal is subject to ap- proval by FCC. Transaction involved the pur- chase of stock held by F. J. Smal- ley., and part of the stock owned by Howard Gray. TheatreGuMTV Pitch to U.S. Steel With likelihood' of U. S. Steel cancelling out on “Theatre Guild of the Air” next season, thus de- priving NBC of one of its most juicy Sunday night radio sponsor- ship plums, the Theatre Guild out- fit is making a TV presentation to the U. S. Steel echelon this week in the hopes of adapting the hour- long dramatics to the newer me- dium. Whether or not U. S. Steel will embrace video next season (thus far it’s been holding off and wait- ing for the “propitious time”) is still a moot point. The Guild TV presentation is but. one of several formats and program ideas cur- rently being “auditioned” by the steel company, for years one of the major institutional advertisers in broadcasting. But there won’t be any decision one way or the other until the U. S. Steel .hoard of, di- rectors meets at* the end of the month. If it sits out TV for another season, it may retain the radio property. tike Old Tines-But Different Strange are the ways of agencies these days. On tire one hand Young & Rubicam is in the enviable position of having grabbed off a hefty chunk of the top talent availabilities (Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Joan Davis, Charles Laughton,. “Four Star Playhouse” rotating stars, etc.) And all done through the simple expedient of buying outside packages—thus saving some fabulous in-the-house production costs. _ . . Yet paradoxically the new Y & R appointments are all geared toward putting on a “business as usual” front in its radio-TV executive production layout—just as though Y & R were still grinding out house shows. . A few weeks back the agency brought m Don Quinn, who created "Fibber and Molly,” for comedy and Writing development. Last week the agency named Dan Seymour, another hep “showman,” as veepee in charge of the radio-TV programming dept. That’s the job formerly held by Nat Wolff, who succeeded to Everard Meade’s post.as No. 1 radio-TV man when the latter resigned recently. , JIMMY NELSON DAN^Y O'DAY AND HUMPHREY HIGSBYE FEATURED—TEXACO STAR THEATRE NBC-TV WITH MILTON BERLE PERSONAL MANAGEMENT LOUIS W. COHAN Chi TV’s ‘Month of Prosperity’ In WBBM.WBKB $1,090,000 Biz Spurt TV Wrestling Fan Bequeaths Grappier Gabber 12G in Will * Cincinnati, April 14. Neal Van Ells, announcer of WLW - TV originated wrestling matches, was left $12,000 by a 68- year-old widow who followed his Saturday night stints for four years and named him .beneficiary in a double indemnity life insurance pol- icy. The avid wrestling fan. Mrs Susi Robiiison, Dayton, O., was killed in an auto accident April 6. Van Ells also is program direc- tor of WLW-D, Dayton, in the stu- dio of which the Saturday, night matches originate and are piped to Crosley’s WLW-C, Columbus,, and WLW-T, Cincy. The sum is the largest known to come the way of a radio or per- sonality in this area from a fan. DuMONT LABS’ 945G NET IN 1ST 12 WEEKS DuMont Labs netting ‘$945,000 or 39 c* per common -share qs opposed to ; $114,000 or 3c per share in the. first 12 weeks -of 1852.. Principal cause for. the rise, was. new "business created'by the lifting'of the-freeze- last April, which has resulted- in A steady upward 'sales- spiral for the company. ; . * • - Gross,- however, only rose- -50% foi w the -period, .from .$15 l; 960,000 in first quarter of 1952 to $24,187,000 the first quarter of this year. Re- duced operating expenses made possible the sharp increase in profits. . Network’s operation for the- first two months ’ of the year . {showed gross billings of $1,850,333 as op- posed to’previous year/s $1,465, : 692,; an Increase of 22%. Compar- ative figures for March weren’t available. Donations Assure Pitt of An Educ’l TV Station Pittsburgh, April 14. An educational TV station for Pittsburgh was virtually assured last week with announcement of grants totaling *$350,000. Sum was revealed by Metropolitan Pitts burgh’ Educational Television Sta- tion, non-profit organization 'char- tered to operate Channel 13, which has already ' been allotted here for educational iase by the FCC. Application' for a construction permit will be filed shortly. Grants of $100,000 1 each were made by the Ford Foundation,' Ar budde-Jamison Foundation and A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. Money will be Coulter Exits Mutual Hal Coulter this week exited Mutual as director of promotion to set up his own public relations- promotion office. Web is planning no replacement for the time being. Joseph F. St. Georges has been brought in to head WOR-TV’s pro- motion department, succeeding Gene Moss, who joined ABC sales presentation dep.artmeAt. St Georges was formerly with ad agency of St. Georges & Keyes in N. Y. McLendon’s New Dallas, April. 14. Gordon McLendon, former 'head of the now defunct Liberty- Broad- casting System; has announced that he is going b?ck on the air .this season, with “Game-Of-The^Night” used^for 1 purchase oHnitiarequi^ league .baseball .broadcasts. ment and building. The Mellon thnioker^- rpr-mtf- in nle-dcpA 850 - *adio web to-beicalled the Knicker** 000 towards expense organizing bocker Neiworh. Formation of the the station. Operation of Channel 13 . is ^ex- pected to cost $200 + 000 x year, with contributions v from the Western Pennsylvania school - system and. public and .private; trusts -serving as sources of income. 'The Mudge •Foundation of Pittsburgh .has! al- ready advanced r $2,500. • WEEU-Ty Preems 11 Reading, April 14. Beaming its signal a week* ahead of schedule, WEEU-TV, Reading’s network .was announced here.- on Saturday (11).by Ray Lewis, Who will be its general manager. McClendon * built the >LBS • web from* hisr recreated broadcasts* of major- league games, • It : went into bankruptcy- when he /was barred from -airing big league games.- • He has-filed a $12,000*000-suit against - 13 major league baseball clubs. Paul Keller'to* ABC Paul Keller has joined the ABC second UHF channel Rut .its test research department as supervisor pattern on tlie screen Thursday of ratings. For the past three years. (9). Commercial programs will.' he has been assistant research di-. start tomorrow (Wed.), with .Thom- rector of the N. Y. office of N. W. as E. Martin as general manager. Ayer agency, prior to which he was The other station, WHUM-TV, hit a research analyst with the Blow the air Feb. 22. agency. Chicago, April 14. Over $1,000,000 in contracts liave been signed by two - of the Windy City’s major webs in the last month. WBBM-TV, CBS o & o, reported a sales volume of new and renewed biz exceeding $750,000. ABC-WBKB’s $300,000 gross is the largest ever racked up by the net- work’s channel 7 during a com- parable period of time. The WBKB sales curve hypo is due largely to the efforts of web veep John Mitchell. The dollar volume was corraled even though Mitchell and crew have been pilot- ing the channel 7 ship for less than two mpnths. Due to the increased program and spot biz, the station has in- creased to a 17-hour day. Conse- quently, with most of its time slots bankrolled, WBKB has “revamped its attitude” toward- the one-shot tab taker and fast pitch sponsors are*-gradually being eased - off the programming ‘ since the upbeat of spot .and program sales. - The ABC-outlet need not worry about a dearth of spot bankrolled, since such financing is -now at ca- pacity. A total of 2,249 spots- have been sold during the past 30 days With 32 accounts solicited. Bank- rolling of such nature, is currently §RQ At WBKB. Daytime scheduling is based along the ‘lines of program flexi- bility and ..WBKB is attempting- to offer,as great a variety of package shows as .possible... The-10 o’clock. exercise show is now financed. (Continued on page 48) WNYC Bard's Festival. Sets French Hamlet’; WQXR Dittoes on Music 'Best Plays’ Back To NBC Radio April 24 “Best Plays,” “NBC radio sus- tainer which went off the air dur- ing presentation of the documen- tary series “The Challenge of the Prisons,” returns half an hour earlier, 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., Fr’day April 24. First play is “Mr. Rob- erts.” John Chapman, ’ drama critic of The New .York Daily Nows, is narrator, with Ed King the director and Bill Welsh the su pervisor., “Name That Tune,’.’ now at 8:30 shifts to 9:30 p.m. April 24, idea being, according to Jack Cleary radio net progradi topper, to have x musical show lead into the Dinah * Shore Show. How Guys, Dolls & Moppets Go For Top 25 The femmes have the men and moppets all beat in the plain and fancy televiewing department, ac- cording to the March American Research Bureau rating figures. More women, breakdown reveals, watch the drama, variety and comedy programs o f the top 25 than men or children. Only in the sports department—Blue Ribbon Bouts and Cavalcade of Sports-r-do the guys outweigh the'dolls in the viewing audience. As'for the kiddies, they outnumber men watching “Life of Riley ” and almost equal their male elders before the. set s when Milton Berle and ,, Mama’ > arje on. Comedy attracts more viewers per set (3 or more) than all other types of programs, with “Toast of the Town an exception, holding its own" with the rib ticklers. The lineup : WNYC, New York’s /municipal station, will air Its second annual Shakespeare. Festival April 23 to 29, with a French-language produc- tion of “Hamlet,”, nine • full-length plays and readings from the Bard’s works. Station will-also remote the annua! dinner of the Shakespeare Club of N. Y. from, the National Arts Club on April 26. French “Hamlet” will star Jean ouis Barrault on a tape of a French Broadcasting- System pro- duction.. JNftne plays are also tapes, from. BBC files. Readings will be by members of the “Old Vic” rep- ertory group, ’including Sir Lau- rence Olivier, John Gielgud, Sybil Thorndyke, Edith. Evans and Claire Bloom. An Alec Guinness talk on Shakespeare is also set, as well as recording of Shakespearean-era English .made by Prof. Helge Ko- herit-z of Yale. Meanwhile, WQXR, N. Y. Times station, started its Shakespearean music festival this week via its daily “Panorama” program, with music of the Bard’s era and works based on his plays. WQXR festival, which was opened by legit pro- ducer and Theatre Guild president Lawrence Langner, will run through April 24. GF Buys 'Mailman’ General Foods has bought spon- sorship of the Monday, Wednesday and Friday segments of WOR-TV’s (N.Y.) half-hour “Meijry Mailman.” Ray Heathert’on starrer will be used to introduce new product, Sugar Krinkles. Foote, Cone & Belding handled the account. Remaining three days of “Mail- man” are sponsored on a partici- pating basis,.