Variety (April 1953)

HABIO-TEUE VISION Veduwday, April 29, 1953 Sen. Johnson Plumps for Million FCC Budget Boost to Rush TV Bids Washington, April 28. With pressures growing to speed action by the FCC on TV applica- tions from single-station markets, the Senate Appropriations Commit- tee is expected to, recommend funds to enable the agency to clean up a backlog of 680 contested ap- plications within a year^ The House last week passed an appropriation bill which failed to provide the necessary funds. The House gave the FCC* $7,100,000 (the amount recommended by the President), permitting the agency to hire only 107 personnel for TV operations. With such a staff, the Commission could make little head- way in getting out from an ava- lanche of hearings cases. Following the House vote. Sen. Edwin C. Johnson (D., Col.) went to bat before the Senate Appropria- tions Committee to boost the FCC budget by $1,000,000 to permit em- ployment of 279 personnel for TV work. The Senator wants the Com- mission to hire 40 teams of exam- iners to handle contested appli cations. The agency now has 12. Sen. Johnson previously ad- dressed a letter to all senators in ‘which he pointed out that by an ap propriatfon to the Commission of $1,600,000 aver its current budget they can “set in motion a chain reaction which, in two years* time, will create billions of dollars in business.*’ He said that TV appli- cants are ready to invest millions in stations and that the 23,000,000 (Continued on page 46) SALT LAKE’S KSL-TV IN 100C SPONSOR WRAPUP Salt Lake City, April 23. Biggest video package ever wrapped up in this area was inked last week by KSL-TV and Courtesy Motors. Pact includes rrenewal of wrestling shows on Wednesday and Friday nights and kicking off fea- ture-length films on Thursday and Sunday nights. Total tab will be about $100,000 for the year, de- pending on film costs. t ‘ Deal was closed by Sam Hill and Ted Kimball for the station, and ARC agency in Los Angeles. Des Moines—WMT-TV will he on the air some time-in September, according to general manager Wm. B, Quarton, with opening date ten- tatively set for Sept. 27. Station structure and antenna will be on a 10-acre site. Station will operate on a maximum power of 100,000 watts as- soon as its starts telecast- ing. Zenith’s ‘Don’t Count Us Out on Chi TV Station’ Chicago, April 28. Zenith Radio Corp, has peti- tioned U. S. Court of Appeals in Washington to set aside the recent FCC decision refusing the corpora- tion’s application for Chi channel 2. The appellate plea follows Zenith’s Commander Eugene F. McDonald’s announcement that he refuses to be counted out as con- cerns the tevee channel litigation. Zenith attorneys have also asked the Court to enjoin the FCC from further channel 2 action pending the judicial decision. Memphis — Bernard Howard, w.k. national radio sales rep has been named prexy of Stars Na- tional, Inc., newly-formed nation- wide radio and TV station adver- tising rep. New firm will head- quarter in New York and __ also maintain outlets in Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Memphis. You will see the results accomplished by BMl and its allied organizations— AMP-BMI Canada, Ltd.—and the large family of publishers, and composers whose catalogs are licensed for’performance through BML We hope this evidence is apparent in the day to day activities of BMl which come to you in many forms: m The BMl repertoire of pop music and the outstanding succession of BMl song hits. « The progress and development of BMI*s “Teen Age Book Parade” and. . “Concert Music” projects. • The friendly relations that BMl has established with performing rights organizations and publishers in countries throughout the world. • The series of BMl Program Clinics, now in the third year, with a 1953 schedule covering 43 cities in the U. S. and five in Canada. • The wide variety of BMl programming aids and helpful data supplied to broadcasters almost daily. BMVs representatives at the Convention will be looking forward to your visit to “Exhibit A/' BROADCAST MUSIC, INC. 580 FIFTH AVENUE * NEW YORK 36, N. Y. NEW YORK • CHICAGO • HOLLYWOOD • TORONTO • MONTREAL Less Show Biz, More Ad Sauy Needed, Sez Walter O’Meara to 4A’s Among ad agency TV executives nowadays, the emphasis is “too heavy on show Busings and too light on the advertising busi- ness.” That was the charge raised by Walter O’Meara, senior veepee. at Lennen & Newell agency, N.Y speaking Saturday (25) at the 35th annual meet of the American Assn, of Advertising Agencies in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. O’Meara said that TV commer- cial writers, Instead of merely as- suming the role of technicians, should “think and act like an ad- vertising man,” as print copywrit- ers do. He said too few specialized commercial writers are “asked to do any real strategic copy think- ing .. . His job is to* translate ready-made ideas—usually supplied by the print copy department—into good TV scripts.” - O’Meara also raised the point: “Are the heads of TV and radio departments too much concerned with—or perhaps too burdened with—the details of time, talent, production and properties, and too little with what will sell goods.” WFIL-TV’S ‘SLICE THAT MEAT BEL’ BALLYHOO Philadelphia, April 28. WFIL-TV and the, Philadelphia Inquirer- will present conpurrent TV programs and daily Newspaper articles for a combined, promotion and demonstration campaign call- ed “New Ways in Meat*” in coop- eration with the National Live Stock and Meat Board and local retailers, May 5 to 8. Campaign is designed to ac- quaint public with methods of both buying and using meats. A special preview meeting for local * meat retailers is skedded for Town Hall, Monday, May 4, at which dealers will be acquainted with details on meats to be featured in press and TV campaign^ to prepare for prop- er displays in nabe outlets, while series is conducted. TV demonstrations, featuring William E. Olsen, are to be tele- cast in four half-hour periods. WFIL-TV stars Violet Hale, Pegg Towne and Deborah Adams will, assist in promotion during series and through frequent spot an- nouncements during weeks preced- ing campaign. Special series also will receive added impetus with around-the- schedule spot promotion campaign on WFIL-TV before and during May 5-8 series. CBS-TY in Town to Stay, N.Y. City Fathers Told CBS Television, in a clinic held last Thursday (23), assured New York City officials that it was in the city to stay, despite impres- sions to the contrary' that might be inferred from the web’s multi- . million Television City in Holly- wood. The session, held in the net’s Studio 42 at the Vanderbilt Ave. locale, was well attended by the city fathers, among them Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri, City Coun- cil President Rudolph Halley and Fire Commissioner Jacob Grumet. As indication of the financial stake the web has in New York, J. L. Van Volkenburg, CBS-TV prez, told city officials that his company employs 1,400 persons regularly and 700 a week on a per diem basis; puts on 220 TV pro- grams each week from N. Y. (11,400 a year), and spends on salaries and program costs $22,500*000 annual- ly, with $18,800,000 shelled out additionally on other expenditures. Negro Catholic Bishop Taping CBS Broadcast Bishop Joseph O. Bowers, first Negro ever to be installed as a Catholic Bishop in the U. S. (it happened last,. week), is taping a special broadcast today (Wed.) at St. Augustine’s Seminary, Bay St. Louis, Miss., for CBS Radio’s “Church of the Air.” * Arrangements were made oyer the weekend for the special taping by Dr. George Crothers, web’s religious director, and Pete Fischer, of press.