Variety (November 1954)

Wednesday, November 24, 1954 BAPIO-TKLE VISIOX , 2$ / —-- ' —- i r Radio-tv session of the eastern annual conference of the Ameri- can Assn, of. Advertising Agencies got a thorough look-see at what's new in color Monday (22) at the Hotel Roosevelt in N. Y. Aside from two closed-circuit demonstrations and an educational film on color, tv, agencyites were treated to their first glimpse of RCA’s new 21-inch receiver; with six of the new models serving the entire large room of 200>plus people. Receivers haven't been shown except to press and some distributors and. network per- sonnel. CBS and NBC chipped in on the closed-circuit stuff, with the former reenacting the production that went into General Foods* color commercial for!Maxwell House coffee a few weeks back on “Mama.” It was clear and concise exposition by CBS color pro- duction chief E. CarletOn Winckler that should have served to dispel agency dismay at the prospects of producing tinted live blurbs. NBC’s contribution was a closed-circuit remote from its Brooklyn color studios showing the advance planning and the set- ting up of Sunday’s (28) twp-hour production of “Macbeth.” Final contribution was a CBS color film: prepared for distribution to civic and lay groups on how colorcastiiig is done. It added little to agency knowledge, but is a good contribution to public, relations for the web and the industry. By FARRELL DAVISSON + Chicago, Nov. 23. > Radio may be abusing one of its , greatest assets by the “dilution through overuse" of news pro- grams. That Was the warning given to the Radio-Television News Di- rectors Assn.'s annual convention here last week by Paul White, now exec news editor of KFMB, San Diego, and generally recognized in the trade as. the dean of radio news chiefs and the founding father of the CBiS news operation. In his keynote talk, White, de- clared there are “disturbing indi- Ignoble Gobel N. W. Ayer was the agency for the 75th anni Electric Light telecast which gave comic George Gobel such a big push; Since then Gobel’s Sat- urday night NBC-TV series has been murdering the rival “That's My Boy” show on CBS —another N. W. Ayer account (for Plymouth). So What happens? “That’s My Boy” has been cancelled. cations that the medium is sched- uling news programs with too lit- tle regard for the amount and va- riety of news available.” “I’ve heard radio stations boast- ing that they have from 20 to 30 regularly scheduled news programs a day. And I suggest that’s too many. On the average day there just isn’t that much hew news to sustain interest. There .are too many days when today’s' news sounds like yesterday’s, and at the same time a preview of tomor- row’s,” White asserted. _ He warned that by saturating the early morning, early and late eve-, ning hours' with block booked news shows, radio is risking loss Of audiences to tv in periods in which! so far AM listenership has held up well. Newsman also sug- gested that radio is missing a com- petitive bet in not devoting more “news” shows'to the.discussion of ideas and concepts as opposed to (Continued on page 30) Chicago, Nov.. 23. The increasing restrictions of television’s right to cover the news Were a major preoccupation of the speechmakers and delegates at last week's three-day Radio-Television News Directors Assn; convention here. The new alarms came amid complaints that the organization has failed to play an aggressive role in combating the. legislative and judicial hurdles erected against" the tv camera. Vet newsman Paul White, now exec editor at KFMB, San Diego, (Continued on page 30) By now it might be too late, but the National Collegiate Athletic Assn, is employing, a new strategy to hold its weakening ranks to- gether and to interest the tv in- dustry and advertisers in another year of controlled, nationally-tele- vised football. A faction of the NCAA, probably still the largest but of not much greater strength than the opposition, is understood to have fathered a letter to ABC- TV that is the key to future hopes. Sent recently, the letter scores ABC-TV for faulty handling of the grid series sale, which Was finally managed at a great loss*to the. net- work only a- few days before the first of 13 games. The letter was- reported to have said that the net- work sales staff fumbled, and that the games—even if done on a con- trolled basis next year as they are now—will continue to be a good buy for a bluechip sponsor. Puff NBC-TV The letter is accompanied by word-of-mouth, by various officials of collegiate football that if NBC- TV had held on to the package for another year, the series would still be riding high, with ho talk as there is now of the end of nation- ally televised collegiate football. They are saying that if ABC hadn’t left itself wide open for a no from General Motors on sponsorship in ’54, another national bankroller would surely have signed on for the ride—at a profit to the web as well as NCAA which collected, according to most recent informa- tion, $2,260,000 for rights. NBC, it was pointed out by an exec of -college ranks, would first have “felt out” General" Motors for another year of sponsorship be- fore actually, making a. formal ap- proach. ABC, on the other hand, Went directly to the sponsor, ex- pecting certain inking of a hew contract. The moment ABC over- tures were made, it became an open-secret for all tv to follow, and when GM nixed the deal, an NCAAer insists, it frightened off all other potential Jbiankrollers. Even, though it's purely hypo- thetical, it’s figured enough “ABC goofed” talk will stir video to some different thought. Internal Dissension The reason the whole thing might be too late to do any good is because the networks are aware now of NCAA internaljdissention. For example, CBS-TV just pacted with the Big IQ for basketball this year (see other story), where it (Continued on page 31) Formula Sparks 4A’s Conclave Dinah the Winnah Following are the latest Nielsen standings for the bat- tle of the evening multi-week- ly tv vocalists; Dinah Shore (NBC) 21.9 Perry Como (CBS)...20.1 Eddie Fisher (NBC).... 19.5 Tony Martin (NBC).. 17.5 Jo Stafford (CBS). . . ... 15.6 Jane Froman (CBS).... 14.0 London, Nov. 23. British Actors Equity have slapped on a complete bar on their members participating in the Euro- vision interchange of television programs between Britain and seven continental countries until agreement is reached op bonus, terms for performers and a limita-' tion of transmissions. Their action is in concert with every other European organization of actors, musicians and vauders. . At a recent session of the Euro- pean Broadcasting Union, reports Gordon Sandison, the Equity gen- eral secretary; the international labor federations demanded an. ex- tra 50% fee for performers in the country originating the transmis- sion and in respect of each coun- try receiving it. This Was put for- ward to prevent the program ex- change developing into a form of cheap television service to displace live performers. In a report to Equity members, Sandison reveals they met with a stony reception. The EBU refused on principle to discuss any timita-, tion in the number of relays and, in regard to extra fees, suggested a scale based on the number of license holders in each of the re- ceiving countries. There was a maximum of 40% extra Where there Were more than 2,000,000 licenses, down to 5% where there were 25,000 or less This would have meant that only programs transmitted to Great Britain would qualify for the high- est bonus level, but relays from the United Kingdom could go to three or four other countries for an additional fee of possibly less than 20%, By BOB CHANDLER Realistic reeyaluatibn of radio’s rates and programming by “people Who believe in the medium” necessary to prevent radio from being “throttled unintentionally,” Edgar Kobak told the radio-tv ses- sion of the eastern annual confer- ence of the American Assn, of Ad- vertising Agencies Monday (2.2) at the Hotel Roosevelt in N. Y. The onetime Mutual prexy and present consultant laid down 12 areas for reevaluation in a speech he said would probably'get him “chased out of toWri.” He called for a thorough review of network and station rate cards, the elimina- tion of “deals” both by the stations Candor Ed Kqbak took the advertis- ing fraternity jokingly to task for their tendency to exag- gerate i addressing the. east- ern - conference of the Ameri- can Assn, of Advertising Agen- cies this. Week. He offered the end-all to blownup audience statements by stating of hi WTWA in Thompson, Ga.: “My station reaches fewer radi homes than any other station on any network.” WTWA is a Mutual bonus sta- tion. and the timebuyers, and called on those people who don’t believe in radio to '‘get the hell but of it.” Point-by-point, Kobak said: 1. Buyers should make a real cost study of network and station operations. 2. Rates should be based on a “more realistic evaluation of media, local and network.” Better research exists today than, for- merly. 3. Rates should be made con- tiguous day-to-day as well as con- tiguous for the same day. 4. Breakdown of rates for less- than-bour usage should be re- viewed. JHe was one of the net- work officials, he said, who helped set up the 60% of the hour rate for a half-hour time and 40% for the quarter-hour. - This wasn't based on a true tcost study, he said, “We just plucked the figures out of the air . they seemed logical.” But time and habits have changed since 1927. 5. Review’ the present station compensation setup, “which is a (Continued on page 30) AM-TV News Directors Make Annual Citations; Chicago, Nov: 23. Radio-Television News Directors Assn.’ annual award for an out- standing radio news operation went to CFQC, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada, where Godfrey Hudson is news-editor. No comparable award was granted to a tv news staff aL though W. C. Whitmarsh of WBZ- TV, Boston, won the special event honors. Distinguished achievement cita- tion for radio news reporting went to KRNR, Roseburg, Oregon, Bob Grant, news director; the tv cita- tion was won by WSAZ-TV, Hunt- ington, W. Va., Nicholas Basso, news director, and the tv special event award went to WJSR-TV, Providence, R. I., Warren Walden, director. Russ Van Dyke, KRNT, Des Moines, was elected new prexy -of the ass’n. He succeeded Jim Byron, WBAP, Fort Worth. New program veepee is Paul White, former CBS news Chieftain and now exec editor at KFMB, San Diego. Harold Ba- ker, WSM, Nashville, was named radio veepee and Charles Harrison, WFIL, Philadelphia, new tv veep. Treasurer is Sheldon Peterson, KLZ, Denver. New board members are: Ted Koop, CBS, Washington; Ralph Renick, WTVJ, Miami, and Parker Hoy, WLAM, Lewiston, Me. Ad Men’s Global TV Primer . Rodney. Erickson, Young & Ru- biCam v.p. in charge Of account planning, still won’t qualify as narrator for a Fitzpatrick travelog, but he provided an agency eye- .opener on what to expect in in- ternational tv and how to make the most of it. Speaking before the radio-tv session Of the eastern an- nual conference of the American Assn, of Advertising Agencies at the Hotel Roosevelt in N.Y. Mon- day (22), he declared that agencies will be called upon sooner and with greater. frequency than they anticipate in servicing American clients in overseas markets, and he summarized the systems and facili- ties already in operation, in those markets. Because American gross national product Will reach over $500,000,- 000,000 by 1964, much of that will be sold in foreign markets, Erick-. son pointed out, and television will! be doing much of the selling job. Television, he said, “will be one of the motivating media” in selling American product overseas, and agencies would do well to familiar- ize themselves with the present state of video in foreign nations.;. The four factors which have re- tarded the growth of television overseas, Erickson said, have been weak signals, low set sales, inade- quate programming hours and poor programs. An acceleration can be expected due to increased and better programming via dub- bed American shows where the countries will allow the shows to be brought in. At present, Y & R has brokeh down international tv country-by country, and the latest count is. 11 commercial, nations, two partly commercial, 15 govern- ment-operated and 27 in the plan- ning stage. It’s these latter which are watching how - American com- mercials and programs function in foreign countries to guide them- selves in deciding between com- mercial or government operation, he said; Breakdown. Nation-by-nation, Erickson sum- marized as follows: Canada — Get your programs cleared by the CBC. Get your commercials’ cleared by the Health & Welfare Dept. If you’re going to do live commercials, affiliate with a local producer. ; Mexico — There’s some filmed programming available dubbed in Spanish. Otherwise, if using film, use sports shows, musicals or films with a soundtrack consisting of narration that can be done in Spanish by . a live announcer. Commercials should be produced on the spot in local vernacular at the “very good film studios” avail- able in Mexico City. Cuba—-Same story, except the Cuban vernacular differs from Mexican. HaVe your filmed com- mercials made on the spot. Puerto Rico—Pretty much the same again, except if you package a loc,al version of an American quiz show, you’re, liable to do sensationally well. England — Use loW - pressure commercials at first for the new commercial system. You’re going to have to buck some excellent BBC programming for . awhile. There are five or six producers of excellent theatrical commercials who can do a topnotch production job. Use English actors for the. blurbs. At present, that’s about the ex- tent of foreign operations, but the “next step” is expansion into Ger- many, - Italy, France and Sweden in Europe; Brazil and Argentina in South America and Japan and the Philippines in Asia. In every Case, Erickson said, it’s important that much of the work be done locally. “Local help is of the utmost im- portance and it must be stressed that it is extremely hazardous to do in N. Y. what can be done very easily on the spot.” Title of Erickson's talk was “Around the World with Script and Stopwatch” but actually he de- 1 scribed it as “how to get a free trip for* yourself to Europe, Asia or South America.” Woman’s Home Companion Sets Radio-TV Subsidiary; ‘For Sale’ Tag On Bally Washington, Nov. 23. In a precedent-making move, Woman’s Home Companion mag is setting up a radio-tv and telepix subsidiary for production. Wood- row Wirsig, editor-in-chief, speak- , ing today (Tues.) before the Women’s Ad Club, here, said that ijti addition to a previously an- nounced show for ABC radio, a live video series will start on' NBC . after the first of the, year. , Mag also plans to produce, probably for syndication, two half-hour tv film series. All shows will be of- fered for sponsorships, with the Crowell-Collier publication seek- ing only to regain costs,, making the most important facet of a pro- duction unit the promotion it will afford the mag. Wirsig said the radio-tv cam- paign will be intensive, with all program ideas to be Culled from the magazine. The ABC radio se- ries, for instance, is based a mag feature called “Marriage Counsellor.” One of the vidpix skeins will bear the same title. Companion’s European corres- pondent, Marguerite Biddle, al- ready has lensed the pilot in the other telefilm, series. It's an “at home” interview format encasing 1 European personalities.