Variety (November 1954)

Wednesday* November ; 24, 1954 Continued from , peg* 23 wa$ previously thought ABC had exclusive rights to televise all NCAA activities. As a matter of {act, the 26-week deal that ABC •originally made with NCAA to get the grid Package is expected to fall through-At. any time. • Other resistance to the con- trolled nationally televised plan fostered by the NCAA-TV commit- tee tomes, from Notre Dame which wants unlimited freedom to make its own national-tv football deal. The Big 10 and the. COast Confer- ence; either or both Of, which is strong enough to part with the parent NCAA on tv matters,' are seeking regional deals,. And if an- other national' deaL falls through, regionals . will constitute next year’s grid picture on tv. Danny Hill, NCAA-TV Commit- tee liaison informed broadcasters in N. Y. last week 1 that controlled vidcasts (as 'to predetermining games for video, and other usual restrictions) will not be ended for next year. '* However, it is felt in other . quarters that a number of schpdls'* will be willing to make concessions . along that line to at* tract'ty coin in ’55. s in crowd scenes is avoided, giving, in such instances, "the impression that one-tenth of America’s popu- lation does not exist.” A warning was given that Commies make po- litical fodder of such things. The report said: -‘The reluctance to cast Negroes in these roles is ascribed to anticipated objections on the part of the Southern mar- ket.”' CCNP charged such beliefs were false, particularly since radio, which is not subject to such geo- graphical values, hires even fewer colored actors than tv. In,the main, the CCNP report tore into hiring practices, but a few plaudits were thrown at Ed Sullivan, Arthur Godfrey,. Garry Moore, Steve Allen, Tex and Jinx McCrary and Edward R J . Murrpw for taking cognizance of Negroes. ContiniieU from pages 23' Satellite Victory Continued f ront pace 22 .^stSSm tion proposing to accept all the programs offered by a network,* Miss Hennock declared that KTRE "proposes not merely to take all network program m i n g, which would permit some choice of.local programs under the licensee^ own judgment, but rather to take 'the entire programming fed to it by another station. And the grant. is made without, any explanation for this unfortunate and drastic re- versal of a most salutary policy based on. the statutory requirement that every licensee be responsible for, and maintain control over, the operation of his station.” The decision means, Comr. Hen- nock asserted, that “one station may tie to it any number of satel- lites," .which would jnot be. con- sidered as under copimon owner- ship. but K which would constitute with it amew network of great and unhealthy competitive force; Car- ried to its logical^ conclusion it would virtually make it impossible for ^naffiliated stations> and sta- tions affiliated with weaker net- works- to survive under the. present economics ofielevisioh.” in turning down the .Tyler re-; quest; the Commission took the po- sition that since the- assignment would .give Tyler a second VHF channel at the expense of the only VHF in Lufkin it would be ; un- warranted, in light of the new ap- plication by KTRE. The Tyler re-, .quest.-was made by Jacob Newborn Jr.,' who told: the Commission his UHF outlet, KETX, was in "im- mediate danger’’ of bankruptcy The station * is now off the aiif . ■Schenectady—Raymond W Wel- pott, connected with General Elec- tric’s •broadfcasting stations depart- ment "since 1941. originally as an 'accountant*- has been ‘ appointed manager' of WRGB-TV." Merle Ga- lusba, ‘former school teacher, who joined the icompanyjn 1950 as supervisor of farm' broadcasting for 'WGY. and W|tGB,'ha&been named manager of the radio station. New York” at 3; 30, usually 'fol- lowed by a feature film. > Sunday*. spotting of reruns of “1, Love Ducy” (retitled) concur- rent - with "'the regular . Monday, night series will be a comedic break into such a lineup as “Face the -Nation,’’ Dr. Frank C. Baxter’s “Now & Then,” “Adventure,” Eric Sevareid’s “American Week.” “The ^.Search,” “Gmnibus,” and “You Are There”—four and a half High-Q hours that for span and content is unprecedented in net- work television. With the what- ever-it’s-tagged “Lucy” reprises .expected to be berthed at 4:30. it will thus fall between Sevareid.’s slick news format and “Omnibus” and oust “The Search,” lately in- augurated educational pix done by arrangement with leading univer- sities Since “Search” is. down for 26 installments, chances are it would be transferred to another time. Apparently : “Lucy” won’t be launched in its Sunday dress Until late in January, or as sopn there- after as a sponsor or two comes knocking at the door. The day after New Year’s (2), Edward R. Murrow and global correspondents, will gather around for what, has become an annual—“Years of Cri- sis”—with Murrow’s s p o n s o r. Amoco, bagged for the 4 to 5 p.m. cosmic one-shot preempt!ng Seva- reid and “Search*” Sabbath after that (9) , the web is in for another oner, out of Washington, via the self-explanatory “Meet . the New Senators” from 2:30 to 3:3Q. Negro Job Brush Continued from page 1 gro talent. T.wo years ago, a sur- vey revealed that only one Negro artist was employed for every 200 .whites. “In radio the situation was even worse.” The Negro public is becoming quite concerned about the omis- •ion of his people in this distorted picture of American life,” the re- port scolded, saying further that pinning the responsibility of this type discrimination on any one grobp^network, agency or sponsor —is hard to do. Discovered was the fact that scribblers were ordered to elimi nate rote«„ for Negroes in some scripts that were already finished. Bigotry at many ad agencies is con- stantly denied, yet, ' maintains CCNP, the practices continue to exist. Th most specific charge of bi gotry against Negroes in radio and tv concerned NBC-TV’s “Amah and the Night Visitors,” shown a number of times with a white sing- er in the role of the “traditiona black king.” GCNP, told that the stanza employed the same casting pattern time and again, called it “a sort of systematic exclusion.” More examples of barring Ne- groes from performing in radio and video were cited. “A certain long-run serial was originally to have employed a colored maid and finally went on the air with a white actress in the part.” Even Negroes •: . A " ' ' s v s \ * ■* \ >i % , s>, V s ^ » RADIO-TELEVISION 51 1 —■- ■ —■ ,-■■■■ ■ )■■■■■■ . ■ Television’s 'Get Out of Town’ Continued from pace l marked a departure from stereo- type N. Y.-L. A, formats and. pro- duction methods. But eventually even Chi was given the brush and today enjoys something of a “ghost town.” status as an origination cen- tre. (Just as it happened in radio.) •Moving. Garroway into Goth an) marked the ; demise of his Chi show and although there’s talk of re- viving. “At Large” it’ll be a New York version of the original with Variations. True, it's recognized that the* big talent is either in N. Y. or in Hol- lywood. But by the- same token practically any out-of-town point of origination, whether It’s in Texas or Oklahoma City, Is within three or four hours flying time oi either N, Y. or L. A., if it’s a ques- tion of using name stars. But primarily the major void felt is in television's repudiation of an Oklahoma City, a Dallas, or a St. Louis or a New Orleans in at- tempting to capture a new flavor and atmosphere native to these; “out-of-town” centres and develop- ing their talent and techniques for network originations.. There are major network affilia- tions In even the most remote parts of the country today, all handsome- ly equipped studio-wise and with latest facilities and equipment They’re even primed for* color, and it not, NBC’s color remote crews a i‘i* standing by and rarin’ to go. . NBC prexy Pat Weaver some time back conceived a “Wide, Wide. World” project, designed as a se- ries of spectacular one-shots wher by the network's remote . *re\v would wander far afield and bring America into the nation's living room. But ev^n this falls short of the basic premise of getting out of town for fresh ideas and pat- terns to show the rest of the coun- try how a Chi or a New Orleans Or a Kansas City does it (just as Nashville gave the contei ry music, scene something in Ar.ericanal. I Thus the contemplated move to Dallas for a Margo Jones network presentation would represent, along with Colgate “Comedy Hour’s” planned live pickup out of Mexico City,'the first major thrusts toward the .achievement‘ of such. goal. Jonas Silverstone, theatrical attor- ney representing the Texas pro- ducer, is the prime mover in the bid to get tv “out of town” and into”*Dallas for the one-shot net- work pickup. He’s even envisioning a regular season’series for tv utiliz- ing major American writers Who cut their playwrighting teeth at Miss Jones’. theatre-in-the-round. It pays to be seen on channel In Metropolitan New York • New Jersey TELEVISION CENTER NEWARK 1, NEW JERSEY N. Y. SALES OFFICE 575 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK 22, N. X. NATIONAL HE»e$ENTATIVE{ Edward Pe »7 & Co*