Variety (December 1954)

KVJnfMlay, December 15, 1954 RADIO-TELE VISION 43 Hartford Nixed On No-VHF Bid WGTII, Britain; WWLP, together Hartford, Dec. 14. A lt empt of four Connecticut Val- iev UHF operators to exclude vilF from this area has been blocked by the Federal Communi- cations Commission. Contending that a commercial VHP station in this area would be unfairly competitive, tv stations 1 ‘ Hartford; WKNB, New WHYN, Springfield, and Springfield, had banded and asked the FCC to svitch the VIIF’r, Channel 3. to educational use and making UHF Channel 24 <set aside for educa- tional use) available for commer- cial use. Stating the VHF’r would jeop- ardize their operations, the four- some had tried to get the FCC to initiate a rule-making procedure. The Commission split 4-2 in the de- cision turning down the request. In the meantime, a Commission examiner is preparing an initial decision in a contest between the Travelers Insurance Co. (WT1C) and the Hartford Telecasting Co. for Channel 3. Women Blasters’ Taped Voice Show to Get Wide Distribution in U.S. Washington, Dec. 14. American Women in Radio & Television will distribute tape re- cordings of a specially prepared Voice of America program to its nearly 1,000 members throughout the United States. Recording, made as highlight of a VOA meeting of organization's D. C. chapter, marks a first for group and for the inter- national broadcast agency. Format of broadcast, made in the new VOA studios here before an audience of 100 AWRT mem- bers, radio-tv reps, and agency staffers, consists of an interview with three U. S. Agency toppers. Elinor Lee, femmecaster for WTOP-CBS, emceed the interview with USIA executive director Ab- bott Washburn, former General Mills exec; Ja/c Poppele, VOA boss and ex Mutual v.p.; and Eu- gene King, production chief for Voice and former commercial ra- dio-tv exec. Florence S. Lowe, of Variety’s Washington Buread. president of the D. C. chapter of AWRT, introduced ttie broadcast and presided at the meeting. KOA’S ROUND-THE-CLOCK TO FETE ITS 30TH ANNI Denver, Dec. 14. in on the air since Dec. 15, 1925, will put on four-day around- the-clock broadcasts in celebration of its 30th anniversary. The broad- casts will originate not only in its Denver studios, but in various cities in Colorado and Wyoming. The all-night broadcasts will be emceed by Clarence Moore, with KOA 26 years, but now president 01 the Moore Hardware Co. Features of the marathon broad- casts will be the recording and air- ing of long distance phoneealls, acknowledgements of telegrams, broadcasting of tape-recorded mes- sages and recollections of KOA’s vo a da . ys on the air - ° n De c- 15. JA will try to duplicate as nearly as possihje i ts first broadcast in TEXACO STAR THEATRE SATURDAY NIGHT—N.B.C. Mgt.i William Morris Aooncv ’54 RADIO-TV SET SALES SET RECORD Washington, Dec. 14. Retail sales of radio and tele- vision receivers for the first 10 months of this year were the high- est on record, according to the Radio-Electronics-Television Manu- facturers Assn. During October, a four-week re- porting period, RETMA said 799,- 164 tv sets were sold at retail, com- pared with 986,136 in the five-week period of September. In October 1953, 621,768 sets were sold. Retail sales for the first 10 months of the year amounted to 5,444,227, or substantially above the 4,922,128 figure for the same period of 1953. During the 10 months, radio sales aggregated 4.602,989, a decline from the 4,911,- 415 figure of the precoding year. TV Comics ^ Continued fron* page 1 most sensitive spots in television, where anything can pop. It’s no secret that Hope’s Euro- pean jaunt and his subsequent filming of his hour show abroad (after letting one show go by the boards completely) gave General Foods some anxious moments. Whether for better or for worse, the idea to film the show while in Europe was Hope’s. Since he’s one of GF’s prize properties, the client was taking no chances On making an issue of it. From all indications all is serene again. Buttons has had some pretty rough going this season. (Like Berle, he, too, was felled, a virus infection playing havoc with his throat.) He was forced on the sidelines two successive weeks and last Friday’s show was a repeat of a previous one. He’s been on a continuing quest for writers and only last week his producer, Ben Brady, was asked to resign, return- ing to the Coast. Buttons, who is under contract to NBC, asked his sponsor, Pontiac, for out on his Friday night 8 to 8:30 slot (three weeks out of four), according to NBC. However, the network has persuaded Buttons to stick, still confident that, once his writer problems are resolved, he’ll parlay his talents into a re- sounding click before the semes- ter’s over. East vs. West Crisis Buttons personally wants to get off the week-to-week live hook and go film. This, too, brings up an- other interesting facet that will have to be resolved somewhere along the line during the coming season. Like Buttons, Berle also wants to scram out of live pro- gramming and go celluloid, even if it means moving to the Coast. The comics maintain that it’s easier turning ’em out on film, and the recent sick bed casualties among top performers would seem to bear them out. But the production boys in the east, already alarmed over the mounting live-to-film transition, have no intention of yielding to the Coast blandish- ments without some kind of a fight. They’re all too mindful of what happened back in radio's heyday when the lure of Hollywood sun- shine and pleasanter living left New York virtually bereft of any top comedic talent. And w hen But- tons and Berle go, it’s feared that the Jackie Gleasons (who is already talking of film), the Sid Caesars, the Wally Coxes and the remainder of the Gotham-berthed comics will fall in line. Thus the east-vs.-west tug o’ war for talent supremacy may head for a showdown in ’55. FCC Names Cunningham Washington, Dec. 14. James D. Cunningham was ap- pointed chief hearing examiner of the FCC last week. Except for his period of military service, Cun- ningham has been with FCC since its creation in 1934; during the past 7Vfc years he has been a hearing examiner. He started with government in 1930 as an attorney-examiner for the Civil Service Commission. Editing Room Availoblo New Texas Regional Web fjJJy *<1w'PP«€l with Hmm Moviola- ”«» Split.r., etc, - Air Conditioned - * n,ranc » — Perfect Location. 1,50 P#r month. 1600 Broadway, Now York _° 0rn 202 Circle 5-6810 Dallas, Dec. 14. A new regional radio web has been organized and comprises KWBC, here; KCOH, Houston, and WMRY, New Orleans. The network will be known as Negro Radio South. Cody Pfanstiehl’s New . WTOP Pub Relations Role Washington, Dec. 14. Cody Pfanstiehl, director of pro- motion for WTOP-TV, has been upped to post of director of public .relations for all departments of th~ CBS affiliate. Advancement in- dicates a general stepped-up pro- gram of promotion and special tie- ins for station, which recently be- came completely owned by the Washington Post-Times Herald when latter bought out the 45% stock owned by CBS. New job, which bridges station policy of separation of radio and tv, frees Pl'anstiehl from desk de- tails and routine flackery, making him available for consultation with all divisions of the 50,000-watt sta- tion and its equally powerful video section. NLRB Won t Touch Stations Grossing Less Than 200G Washington, Dec. 14. National Labor Relations Board reversed its previous stand and set a precedent past weekend by rul- ing that it will no longer assert jurisdiction over radio and televi- sion stations and telephone and telegraph systems whose gross in- come is less than $200,000 an- nually. Rule, by a narrow three-to-two margin, was handed down in a dis- pute between Station KNGS, a non-afliliate AM 1,000-watter near Hanford, Calif., and Local 202 of the Radio-TV Technicians, IBEW. In upholding the recommendation of its trial examiner, who opposed taking the case because the sta- tion has gross income of only about $85,000, the Board broad- ened the trend it has been follow- ing in the past three or four years, of refusing action in small, local cases. “It has been the consistent po- sition of the Board,” the majority asserted, “that it better effectuates the purposes of the Act, and pro- motes the prompt handling of ma- jor cases, not to exercise its juris- diction to the fullest extent pos- sible under the authority delegated to it by Congress, but to limit that exercise to enterprises whose op- erations have, or at which labor disputes would have, a pronounced impact upon the flow of interstate commerce.” A sizzling dissent was written by Ivar H. Peterson, member of the Board, who said: “The new standard will elimi- nate from the Board’s jurisdiction about 80% of the country’s radio stations, which receive roughly one-half of the total revenues in the entire industry. Also, most all radio stations in communities un- der 100,000 population, comprising clear channel, regional and local stations, will be removed from the Board’s jurisdiction, as well as over 70% of all stations serving as outlets for the nationwide net- works. “Perhaps the radio industry— 80% of which is now placed out- side the rights conferred and duties enjoyed by the Act—best illustrates the far-reaching and po- tentially disastrous effects of the decision here made. One of the provisions of the amended Act, principally traceable in large part to the concern over labor stop- pages in the radio industry, is largely nullified. I refer, of course, to the so-cajled ‘featherbedding’ provision.” MacRae’s ‘Oops, Sorry!’ Philadelphia, Dec. 14. The order banning recordings of Gordon MacRae was rescinded by WPEN, following receipt of a letter from the singer explaining his allusion to radio which brought on the ban. MacRae explained in his letter to William B. Caskey, v.p. of WPEN, that what he meant to say w'as “Do you remember the ‘Rail- road Hour?’ and not ‘Remember Radio’?” which was a slip of the tongue. MacRae wrote his six years on the “Railroad Hour” were “the most enjoyable in every way of my professional career, and it would never be my intent to slur the medium.” Low Cost Paradise on Long Strip Of Land’ Aim of L. I. Broadcasters Interest in making radio invest- ments has grown on Long Island right along with the growth in population, now at the highest level in history due to N.Y.’s great “escape to suburbia” movement. The combined population of L.I. counties, Nassau and Suffolk, is currently near the 1,400,000 mark and it seems that existing broad- casters out there are trying to establish a low-cost paradise for advertisers on the long strip of land. The owners of WALK. Pateh- ogue, have already got them- selves a grant for another station —a 500-watter 30 miles away in Riverhead. Owners say that sta- tion should be airwise by next May or so. Parallelling the WALK situ- ation insofar as two-station owner- ship is concerned, WKBS, which moved recently from Oyster Bay to Mineola, is currently seeking a grant for a Bayshore station. WKBS’ owners don’t expect the latter grant to come easily because WAVZ (across the Long Island Sound in New Haven, Conn.) is asking the FCC for the same Bay- shore frequency. WAVZ, it’s said, seeks to utilize the new frequency in order to start a nighttime radio operation—very probably with an eye toward reaching more of that Long Island audience potential. Nils E. Segerdahl, boss at WALK, hopes to turn the new Riverhead operation into the sec- ond half of a “little network.” Ac- cording to his commercial topper, W. K. Macy Jr., the second station will take much of WALK’S pro- gramming. Macy explained it W'ill not be a satellite deal, because the “new station will have a separate staff and some programs from there.” WALK covers the west end’ of Suffolk, but with the new sta- tion, the Segerdahl o&o’s will be in a position to cov£r the entire county, and with the joint program setup keeping costs down, there’ll be opportunities for relatively in- expensive sponsor deals. Macy says the “network” will be run by way of lines, with spots laid aside in the joint programming for local announcements. Idea of Lee Hollingsworth, WKBS topper, in seeking the Bay- shore grant is much the same as Segerdahl’s. He’d want a two- station network “to give greater Island coverage.” Hollingsworth’s frau, a member of the firm, argues that giving the frequency to New Haven would deprive Bayshore of its only homebase station. The Island is hit by the network o&o’s stationed in N.Y.C, proper and some of the city’s larger in- dies, but it has six existing sta- tions right now for programming of a local nature. WHLI, Hemp- stead, for example, has been mak- ing heavy coin out of that “for the neighbors” pitch. It was that sta- tion, according to Mrs. Hollings- worth. with whom her husband sometime ago tried setting up the first of the Long Island webs (for “Island-wide coverage”). However, she declares, that WHLI—through a strong footing in its section of the Island—could afford to remain independent. Montgomery Helms Race Relations Croup For Radio, TV, Films Philadelphia, Dec. 14. The Institute of Industrial Race Relations here has formed the new committee on Race Relations in Radio, Television and Cinema. Appointed as chief of the setup was actor-producer Robert Mont- gomery. . Joseph Baker, exec secretary of the Institute and prexy of a p.r. firm in the Negro market, felt that the result, to achieve “increased understanding” on the part of the industries involved and also among the minority, “cannot possibly be anything except good for both sides.” There’ll be no definite plans on the committee work setup until details have been ironed out with network and other industry heads. A formal committee meet- ing is expected shortly after the new year. Committee organization comes in the middle of action on the part of Negroes for better working opportunities as performers in the theatre and broadcasting arts. Baker said that an open boycott of products by manufacturers “who refuse to exert pressure upon ad agencies and producers toward the casting of Negroes” is evident in the Negro press, and the “move- ment reportedly gaining appre- ciable support in less than three * weeks.” Hal March, Tom D’Andrea Comedy Series Prepped Apparently not all the thinking on the Coast is in terms of filmed shows. NBC-TV is now putting through the paces a half-hour live situation comedy ,as a prospective ’55 entry, starring Hal March and Tom D’Andrea. Format is designed along lines of the soldier routine which have marked the occasional March-D’An- drea guest appearances on “Col- gate Comedy Hour" over the past couple of seasons.. Covers a vast, prosperous terrifory-'a rich target for your advertising dollar Steinman Station Clair McCollough, President