Variety (April 1953)

42 B APIO-TKLK VISION ***1***®®*^•tHMUl®*®^* l ™ i * , *®* H Pfijtsi&ti & Wednesday April 15, 1953 pMMtWWIMaMMMiMWMMlMMtMMlittMMBMjUKWM mm TV in Lubbock 25 Continued from page 30 sss Lubbock on the map" attitude that’s resulted in a city-promo- tional operation that would put many a high-powered New York public relations operation to shame. It’s only natural, therefore, that the city should have gone all out for television, something which could put it on the map. TV-Happy City With KDUB-TV in operation since last November, with KCJ3D- TV scheduled to begin operations In mid-May, and with a third Channel currently being contested before the FCC by a local theatre circuit and a front for the local newspaper, this part of West Texas has taken to television like an im- poverished ad agency takes to a multi-million-dollar client. Set sales In KDUB-TV’s 85-mile, 317,- 000-person coverage area now total over 25,000, and they’re still going at the rate of 1,000 per week. Since the Lubbock area is dry, night clubs are at a^minimum, and film houses provide about the only means of entertainment. Since November, picture grosses in. the area have dropped a reported 50%. Radio has been hit, too, with one of the four local stations report- edly having gone into the red last month for the .first time in 25 years. So strong is the hold that video has taken here that it’s become a matter of local pride to buy prod- ucts advertised on TV. Thus, Kent cig&rets were introduced to the area via CBS-TV’s "The Web,’’ and stores were sold out of all initial stocks within two weeks. Another direction this local pride has taken has been a pressure campaign against advertisers whose network shows don’t reach Lubbock. Cham- ber of Commerce an<k other local groups have gone to bat for the station to procure network shows. Just as the market is not typical, so in many facets is KDUBrTV, operated by W. D. "Dub" Rogers, for whom it was named. In Rog- ers* words,. "It’s the first post- freeze station to benefit from four years of , pre-freeze experience." Experience was gained through Rogers’ operation of KEYL-TV in San Antonio, which he founded and 4 last October sold to the George Storer chain. With him, Rogers took several of his staff, and got a number of other experi- enced TV men to join the new operation, including his commer- cial manager, Mike Shapiro, for- merly with WFAA-TV in Dallas. First step was to get into oper- ation, and this' tht station did from offices in the local bank building. Meanwhile, construction was started on a new building to house offices, studios, transmitter and an 852-foot tower. New building which Rogers v designed himself from his ^previous "bitter" experience, opened last week with lots of local hoopla. Station has had no trouble in getting local sponsors. With a ohe- minute Class A spot rate of $20 and a card rate of $200 for a Class A hour, station is completely sold out in its Class A time, and in fact has only four half-hours open in its entire 65-hour broadcasting week. Sponsors report excellent * results from their TV campaigns and TV advertising has taken hold more quickly and with more permanency than in most other markets. Sta- tion’s pitch as an area, rather than a*city station, has helped here, and specifically, so did a March of Dimes Telethon that brought in $28,000 and kept the entire coun- tryside up all night two months ago. What is typical of KDUB-TV is its desire for network program- ming and national sponsors. De- spite its highly profitable local operation, it’s quick to Realize that it must present top programming to keep its prestige and its view- ers. Fact that a hightly lucrative local spot’ business can bring in many'times the income a network origination does is beside the point. Public demands top names, even in Th« Texai Way Lubbock, April 14. Example of manner In which educational institutions and commercial television can work together, is KDyB-TV’s "Cat reef Week" program, iff which it is bringing this week, to. 82 high schools in West Texas £ complete evaluation of college and career opportunities in the area. Program, which is running an hour daily all this week, is produced by KDUB-TV in co- operation with the Texas 1 Col- lege of Technology here. Deal- ers have set up large screen monitors in all 82 high schools* and seniors are attending the showings daily in the school auditoriums. Show demonstrates exhibits from the college’s various, de- partments, along with industry exhibits for those seniors un- able to. attend college. • Program will be a semi-an- nual affair. TexSs, and station must find a way to give them to it. Currently, station, which is a CBS-TV primary affiliate and also picks up DuMont shows, airs about 12 hours weekly of network pro- gramming, amounting to about 8% of station’s revenue. Fact that it’s not yet on the cable is an im- portant factor, but just as im- portant is the fact that in the na- % Brings your message into the home Romper Room Is a fascinating program for the pre-school small fry and their mothers. Every weekday from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. thousands of children literally force mothers to "turn on Romper Room"! Jean Moseley, Romper Room's attractive hostess; an 4J.^°* of pre-schoolers, has a wonderful way of working your selling message into the program'* material—thus insuring full sales impact. Nationally Represented by EDWARD PETRY A CO. TELEVISION BALTIMORE • NBC IN MARYLAND tlotoal schema of things, sponsor thinking on the secondary and post- freeze markets hasn’t jelled yet. Meanwhile, the station and the local citizenry have‘embarked on a vigorous campaign for network shows/ ‘Give Us Local Names’. On the local programming front, i film plays an important but de* : creasing factor. Like many Other other of the new stations, KDUB- TV bought a lot of syndicated film. But experience has-shown that the ! public likes local personalities and local programming. Despite Lub- bock’s big-city aspirations, it’s stiU basically a small town, where everyone knows or wants to know everyone else. And the local TV personiftities have become house- hold names. • Along this line, sta- tion has found that it can attract national advertisers with the right -personalties and format. Latest example here, is pacting of Inter- national Harvester (lots of agricul- ture hereabouts) to sponsor a one- hour "Circle 13 Dude Ranch" west- ern show Saturday nights. About the only difficulty its non- Interconnected status has caused the station, aside from reluctance of national sponsors to kinescope their programs here and absence of the immediacy of national and international news events, .is some hesitancy in set buying in the area.. Feeling is that the holdouts would rather see live shows than film; sta- tion’s explanations that many of the top shows are broadcat nation- ally. on film just won’t convince the holdouts. Another- problem that may prove a blessing in disguise is that the county and most of the sur- rounding area is dry—bone dry. This means no shows sponsored by breweries, of which CBS-TV has many. Absence of these shows in network option, time gives the station a chance to program Du- Mont shows in, their place, thus giving it a wider scope in program- ming. Station is a little unique In that it’s the only station, in its market, yet is carrying programs of only two networks. Reason is simple— its future competitor, KCBD-TV, is an NBC radio affiliate, and will carry NBC-TV and ABC-TV pro- grams. Why, says Rogers, build up their shows for them and then have them grab them off? Rogers feels the town is big enough for two stations, but not for 4 three. He reports that even now there’s an overflow of local sponsorship that should keep both stations in the chips, and feels that the city will grow to the point where there will be more than, enough for both. In the case of a third, he believes, the only way that could prove profitable is If other media lose heavily. NBC’s 0&0 * Continued from pace 29 ssssl of Gen. Sarnoff- himself into the o & o broadcast picture is indica- tive of the major stress NBC in- tends to put on this phase of the NBC operation. Cott Up Cott’s ascendancy into the o & o management level will entail the naming of a new WNBC-WNBT station manager for administrative detail, still to be appointed. As outlined by Denny, the "Op- erations Future" for the q & o division (which, incidentally, moves into the renovated plush third floor * layout in the RCA Building, N. Y., formerly occupied by the. ABC net- work echelon) envisions the crea- tion of a "creative laboratory" with Cott bringing his key. aids into the 0 &,o setup. These include Dick Pack, program -manager- of the N. Y. stations, who henceforth will also move into the broader opera- tional pattern, as will* Max Buck, merchandising manager. The new "assembly line’’ designed to ex- plore new areas for creative ac- tivity will also include other key functionaries to permit all owned- • and-operated stations to - attain maximum values from the creative thinking. Thus the techniques of a George Heinemann (WNBQ, Chi- cago); a Charles Colledge, the di- 1 vision engineer and topdog of o 5c o technical operations, and a Henry Sjogren, o & o comptroller, Will get a fuller play as the NBC owned- and-operated division moves into a greater sphere of influence within the network. Similarly, the Spot Sales division under Tom McFadden has already blueprinted stepped-up activity as part of the overall o & o move- ment.