Variety (January 1954)

RADIO-TELE VISIOft WedneMlajr, January 27, 1954 Washington, Jan. 26. The wild scramble for choice VHF channels in single VHF station markets produced its juiciest tale of in-fighting among applicants with testimony last week of a $25,000 offer in the corridors of the FCC to clear the way for a grant for channel 2 in Buffalo. What may well become a legend In the archives of FCC video' investigations, the ’‘Buffalo story,” as detailed in hearings before Examiner Harold Schilz, contained all the ingredients of a Hollywood melodrama, There was evert a lastminute rush (by airplane from ’Buffalo) to file a merger application before FCC closing timfr, in the expectation of a grant the next morning. But, a “villain” had stepped in to ' foil . the plan. Hearings on the channel 2 case had been ordered by FCC to determine the circumstances of a merger of applications into Niagara Frontier Amusement Corp. and to discover .whether an : application filed almost simultaneously by Enterprise Transmission, Jnc. (and later withdrawn) was a* so-called '‘strike” or blocking application designed to*, exact a payoff to withdraw. Under questioning by FCC counsel Thomas Fitzpatrick, it was (Continued on page 40) On a Greensboro, N.C., Jan. 26. Sheriff Rochelle Boyle walked into Radio Station WBCU at Union, S. C., 45 minutes after it began early morning broadcasting and arrested announcer Bill Stribling and placed him in jail. The charges the sheriff said, was .fishing without a license. Bond. was set at $50.0. Stribling broadcast for four hours from the jail, appealing to listeners to contribute money for the bond. At the end of the period $840.50 had been contributed, Stribling went free and the money went to the March of Dimes campaign. " Another FM’er Folds Greensboro, N, C., Jan. 26? The FCC has announced that it has granted the request of R. P. Lyon & Son, Wqdesboro, N. C„ to cancel its license and delete FM station. Call letters are WADE-FM. its And for Free, Yet Chesterfield's $5,000,000 ankling of Arthur Godfrey in radio-tv found a couple of willing takers of the vacant spots last week, restoring Godfrey to his SRO status. An old face pacting for double duty is Toni; which goes from alternating to weekly exposure bn CBS-TV’s “AG & His Friends,” taking the first half hour of the Wednesday show. Last half is' a skip-week proposition coupling Pillsbury and Frigidaire. Latter climbed aboard right after the ciggie exited. In CBS simulcast Minnesota! Mining & Mfg. Co. (Scotch -Tape, etc.) will back the 10-10:15 Monday and Wednesday segment of the 90minute ‘‘Arthur Godfrey Time” starting Feb. 8. In the aural sphere , MMM goes alternate Fridays (Jack Paar has the tv period that day). Three-M agency is BBD&O. First kiddie strip (or any five-aweeker, for that matter) to get the tint treatment from NBC-TV will be “Howdy Doody,” which moves into the Colonial -Theatre, N.Y, eb. 1 for five days following the troupe’s return from their Coast visit. The 5:30-6 p.m. cross-theboarder got the tint bid from the net on the basis of format . and characters lending themselves to tint. Program, incidentally, was one of the first NBC’ers to get the experimental tint treatment sometime back, when NBC was topsecreting its color projects. Troupe headed by Bob Smith has extended its stay on the Coast a week, to threeweeks, with cast and production staff planing back to N.Y. Jan. 29. While originating its regular shows in NBC’s Burbank studios, troupe did a special fourbOur March of Dimes benefit show ast week (16), part of which was caried locally via KNBH, the NBC o&o there. Ford Expansion Set Cancellation of the capsule Les Paul & Mary Ford On CBS Radio will give Julius LaRosa a fullblown show on the net. Paul-Ford, with Lambert Pharmacal sponsoring, do six-a-week of the: five-minuters (M-W-F and three on Saturday) which will be vacated as of Feb. 6. LaRosa will step into the time two days later, being currently slotted at 7:35-45 as a precede to the singing, and instrumental. duo. The ex-Godfrey singer is sustaining except on Mondays when Campana foots the bill. Paul & Ford’s capsule workouts on tape plug Listerine. Pharmacal apparently has enough of ’em on the beltline to last a while. Di also have a tv version oh WABC N. Y., which has been axed. V > Hosp; To Rest in Fla Gertrude Berg, hospitalized in N. Y. for several weeks and in critical condition at one point, is sufficiently past the danger zone to get her . discharge ticket from LenoX Hill Hospital. Last Friday (22) the creator of “The Goldbergs” left with husband Louis Berg for Key West, Fla., where they’ll remain for three weeks. Upon her return, she’ll write herself back into “House of Glass,” her NBC Radio stanza. Another network vacationer but with no health angle applying is Jack Cleary, program director of the aural web, who left Sunday (24) for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on a fortnighter. For Chi & N.Y. O&O’s Chicago, Jan. 26. The old WBKB John H. MitchellSterling (Red) Quinlan combine that was a post-ABC-U nited Paramount merger splitup with Mitchell assigned the WABC-TV, N.Y. general managership and Quinlan dittoing at WBKB in Chi, is being reprised at least in part thanks to the co-ax cable. In sort of a network within a network worked out by the two ABC-TV o&o toppers, the two stations start exchanging programs next month. Since ABC-TV is paying tolls on the east-to-west cable from 2:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and with no afternoon network shows in the works, Mitchell and Quinlan have worked out a deal whereby W ABC’s afternoon Jerry Lester show and the Bob and Ray strip will be piped direct to WBKB for Chi airings. The two programs will be sold locally by WBKB at regular rates. Network talent fees, however, will apply in the two-city showcasing. Also in the works are vice versa feeds ‘from WBKB to WABC with WBKB’s currently sold-out “All About Babies” a possible early choice. Chicago, Jan. 26. A wholesale programming, revamping is »underway a.t WBKB, ABC-TV’s Chi o&o. New projects blueprinted, for a February bow will give the station practically a new daytime personality with emphasis on live shows which will , introduce a flock of new talent to Chi viewers in an attempt to establish a local programming formula that will pull against the network competition and the draw of WGN-TV’s summertime baseball, telecasts, As outlined by WBKB general manager Sterling (Red) Quinlan,' the top-to-bottom reshuffling represents something of a novel experiment in getting the full programming mileage out of the American Federation of Musicians staff members., Aftet* weeks of screenings and auditions during which time the' regular. American Federation of Radio-Television Artist non-musical talent has been working under two-weeks notice, Quinlan has evolved several program ideas built around AFM staffers to supplement the' AFTA lineup; As an operator of networkowned stations (WENRds the Chi ABC AM outlet), Quinlan has been faced with the usual o&o station problem of fully utilizing the 45man AFM crew, a standard network station fixture under' the present union pacts. With only two network shows using musicians— ABC-AM’s “Breakfast Club” and ABC-TV’s “Super Circus”— it was calculated that nearly 800 of the 1125 tootler man-hours per week were going down the drain because of lack of use. In other words, nearly two-thirds of the $600,000 yearly AFM nut was being wasted. Under the new WBKB scheme of things with AFM’ers working as combos and instrumentalists in the various daytimers; Quinlan figures that he will be using practically 100% of his musician man-hours each week, counting rehearsals and actual shows. In the case of a piece of talent that’s both an AFM (Continued on page 45) Radio-tv provided a field day for the longhairs on Sunday (24), with an almost continuous six-hour sequencing of symphony, Shakespeare opera and ballet (in each case representing the foremost in their field) registering an intellectual stimulant perhaps unprecedented for a single day’s flipping of the radio-tv dials. In one fell six-hour swoop, the networks offered the home viewer and listener such a diversified longhair assortment as Bruno Walter conducting the N.Y. Philharmonic Symphony in a CBS radio performance of Mahler’s First Symphony (Walter is regarded as probably the supreme interpreter of Mahler); followed by the two-hour Hallmark Hall of Fame NBC-TV performance of “King Richard II” starring Maurice Evans. Immediately after came the 60-minute performance by Arturo Toscanini,' the NBC Symphony Orchestra, standout soloists and the Robert Shaw chorale in the concluding segments of Verdi’s “The Masked Bell” (first part was given ' the previous Sunday). And thrown in for good measure was the performance by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet on Ed Sullivan’s CBS-TV “Toast of the Town.” . . . As an afternoon and evening of listener-viewing pleasures, it was comparable to taking in Carnegie Hallr the Metropolitan Opera House and Broadway drama at its best — without leaving the living room. WNEW Feed . Untapped audience department: Yawning parents awakened about two ayem every morning to feed the infant will get special attention from radio at last. WNEW, Gotham indie, is initiating a 15-minute segment of Art Ford’s "Milkman’s Matinee” for this undeveloped group of sufferers. To be called “Two a.m.. Feeding;” the show will use Ford to provide baby-care tips specially prepared with -the cooperation of Parents Magazine. Proper keep-awake melodies will also be supplied for the parents. Get a load of the segment’s sponsors: Clapp’s Baby Foods, Mennen Baby Products, Borden Milk products, Q-Tips, Lullaby-Lite (musical night light for juves). Electronic Baby Sitter and. Continental insurance Co. (for those who are looking toward j unions future). NBC’s Spot Sales’ MURROW PLANS DINAH REMOTE FOR TERSON’ Dinah Shore may become the first interviewee remoted from the Coast on IN Murrow’s CBS-TV “Person to Person,” based in N. Y. The singer was in Gotham last week for her initial NBC colorcasts and gave the nod to the idea, but a go-ahead has to edme from her sponsor, Chevrolet, and maybe the network also, but latter would figure to stand behind a Chewy okay. A California firster on Miss Shore would have to come fast as the show is blueprinting another personality from there. Upcoming (29) oft “P to P” are Brandon de Wilde, the kid star of ABC-TV’s “Jamie,” and James C. Hagerty, President Eisenhower’s press chief. NBC’s Spot Sales setup in the o&o domain is undergoing a Series of pivotal personnel changes based on shifts in Cleveland. George Dietrich has been posted as national radio : manager replacing William N. Davidson, who becomes assistant g.m. and sales director of WTAM and WNBK, web’s radio-tv operations in Cleveland. Theodore H. Walworth Jr. has been assigned as tv sales manager of WNBK. Dietrich was formerly eastern radio sales manager of NBC SS and Walworth a sales exec of that division, in N. Y. He succeeds Charles Philips, who went to Gotham as WOR-TV sales manager. Dietrich’s post goes to Edwin T. Jameson, exaccount exec. William P. Dix Jr. ankled as WTAM sales boss and also, goes WOR in similar berth. > Hollywood, Jan.‘ 26. For construction and conversion —$5,000,000. .That’s how; the cost sheet will add up at NBC and* CBS before many morC weeks.. For converting . two studios to colorcasting, the tab will run to better than $2,000,000. The big bulge of $3,000,000 is for two or three new sta,ge§ to be erected at CBS Television City to accommodate Jackie Gleason and other shows that may follow him westward. Updating of studios at NBC in Burbank and Television City and the staggering costs involved in converting to color are pointed up by network execs as only one facet in the spiraling coin for tinting. Production costs are expected to nearly double and fees for phone circuits will sharply rise. Accounting for the major share of converting to color are lighting, air conditioning, re-wiring and three-camera chain. Makeover will require four to six months and work at both plants is expected to start in a few weeks to be ready by fall. NBC is reported to have laid out a cool million to convert the Colonial theatre . in Manhattan to red, blue and green. Cost sheet for CBS revamp of 81st St. theatre in N. Y. will also hit the mil mark. It’s because of the conversion of studio 43 at TV -City and the incoming Gleason show in April that the giaht will sprawl • over more acreage. With the. arrival of William S. Paley, CBS board chairman, for a, week’s stay, it is expected that construction of both projects will be approved for an immediate start. Plant now has four stages and all facilities of the studio are taxed to the utmost capacity. Each of the new stages is ticketed at better than $1,000,000. Paley’s visit will also be concerned with program discussions for the summer and talent talks. William Balaban, director of special events at WABC-TV, N. Y., has been upped to assistant program manager of the ABC flagship, Balaban will continue in charge of special events, and will report to program chief Rod Rodher in his new post. Balaban formerly held the special events spot at WBKB, Chicago, before coming to N Y with John H. Mitchell, who moved from Chi to head up the Gotham operation as a veep. He’s the son of John Balaban, Balaban & Katz circuit prexy. On & Up With Robt. Q Robert Q. Lewis is in the cushy position of landing a pair of additional sponsors for his CBS Radio 11-to-noon show which would push ahead the Saturday stanza half an hour some time in April. With the hour format having been launched about foUr; Weeks ago under SRO status, the 90-minute potential got a halfway lift with Doeskin Products signing for the 10:45 to li segment. Following, that the 10:30 spender came through in Helene Curtis hair spray. Under this pre-11 o’clock foray by Lewis, Galen Drake’s segment at 10 would be reduced to a* halfhour. But Poison to Radio >; D’con Buys In An unusual and probably unprecedented type of network program sponsor has latched on to an upcoming Saturday nighter on NBC Radio. The D’con Co. of Chicago, makers of rodenticides and insecticides, will back “Country Tune Parade,” a WSM-Nashville originator, for cycle starting March 6. Quarter hour (at 10) will feature Ernest Tubbs and Goldie Hill in a singing stint covering the top alfalfa tunfes of the week. Ousted from that berth will be “Dude Ranch JambOreev” D’con heretofore has concentrated on spot radio and tv, currently on 215 aurals and 15 visuals. “Country Tune Parade” will segue from WSM’s “Grand Ole Opry,” the R. J. Reynolds (Camel) veteran which is co-opped on some stations. D’con agency is Marfree Corp. Syracuse, Jan. 26. Local radio-tv had a facelifting last week with the sale of radio station WAGE to Meredith Syracuse Corp:, owner of tv station WHEN. Purchase is subject to FCC approval. In the change, WAGE, a. locally owned ABC Outlet founded in 1941, will become the radio arm of WHEN and Will Take over the latter’s name. WHEN will be renamed WHEN-TV ohcC the sale has FCC okay. , The acquisition adds another station to the Meredith chain, owned by Mef edits Publication Corp,, of Des Moines, publishers of Successful Farming and Better Homes and Gardens. Meredith now operates tv-radio stations in three major markets: KPHO-TV and KPHO-AM, Phoenix; WOW-TV and WOW-AM in Omaha; KCMO-TV and KCMO* AM in Kansas City. Paul Adanti, v.p. and general manager of WHEN, will continue as director of the stations. Founded in 1948 as Syracuse’s first tv station, WHEN is local outlet for ABC, DuMont and CBS.