Variety (December 1954)

28 RADIO-TELE VISION J^RiETr Wednesday, December 22, 1954 Chi NBC-TV Preps Penthouse Video In New $5,000,000 Lease of Mart Chicago, Dec. 21. Under terms of a new $5,000,000 longterm renewal of its lease for its Merchandise Mart midwest headquarters, NBC is apparently planning a version of penthouse television. Included in the new pact negotiated in New York last week between the web and Mart owner Joseph P. Kennedy, is 50.- 000 square feet, or nearly an acre, of space on the building’s commo- dious roof that tops off the 18th floor. Although the web is keeping mum of the timetable for its plans for the roof area which surrounds its 19th floor space, it has been studying for some time the feasi- bility of building additional pro- duction and storage space atop the Mart. Initial move in that direc- tion came a couple of season’s back when the network erected a Quon- set hut on the roof as a prop ware- house. New rooftop facilities probably will be tied in with the arrival of local color telecasting for the web’s WNBQ. Something of a three-way Windy City race is under way be- tween the NBC plant, CBS’s WBBM-TV and the Chicago Trib- une’s WGN-TV as to which will majee the first hometown color splurge. WGN-TC has already re vealed its color plans for its new space atop the Prudential Bldg, to be ready next spring. CBS is due shortly to announce its schemes for the Chicago Arena with the ex- piation that color equipment will be®installod during the conversion of the layout. NBC. incidentally, has been a Mart tenant since 1930, with its production facilities on the 19th and exec offices on the 2)th floors. Present tv production over- flow is being handled from the Studebaker Theatre. Hot to Cold Kine On TV ‘B’fast’ for West; Cast Changes on Tap Chicago, Dec. 21. TV version of ABC’s “Breakfast Club’’ simulcast gets the cold kine treatment next month on the west- of-Omaha hookup to the Coast. Morning show had been reaching the western and Coast markets via the hot kine route syice last fall but with only two quarter-hours sponsored weekly after the turiuof the year, it was decided to use the less costly standard delayed kine service. The Don McNeill-hosted pro- gram will visit the Coast in per- son the week of Jan. 24 on its annual cross-country junket. The McNeill office is currently on the hunt for new male and femme vocalists with Johnny Desmond checking off Jan. 14 and Eileen Parker a couple of weeks later. Desmond, who has been a featured member of the BC cast since 1950. has a legit assignment lined up. I Writers Guild Elects Erik Barnouw Prexy Writers Guild of America East last week elected Erik , Barnouw president of the new organization. Tally came a few weeks after a similar move by sister organization WGA West. Heretofore, matters have been moving more slowly in the East. Barnouw defeated Halstead Welles, who instead, retains a seat on the WGAE council along with 14 other scribblers. There is a 16th seat to be filled, but a draw be- tween two candidates necessitates I a runoff vote. Vicepresident is Philo Higley and William Kendall Clarke is secretary-treasurer. Eve- ! lyn F. Burkey received official ap- proval as exec director. What currently remains to be done by WGAE is to choose the scribblers to comprise the commit- tees for video, radio and film. Miltie & Ruthie Resolve Hassle The Milton Berle-Ruth Gilbert hassle has come to an end. Lawyers for both sides yesterday (Tues.) de- cided that the femme has the right to return to the Berle NBC video stanza a month after she has a baby, or at such time thereafter as she feels fit. Decision was reached shortly be- fore the dispute was to go before an American Arbitration Assn, panel. Holding up the agreement for several weeks was Miss Gil- bert's insistence on being paid for the time she’s off the air to have her baby. However, settlement does not call for such payment. ABC-TV PREPS FOUR NEW SHOWS FOR '55 ABC-TV is preparing to get some program projects ofT the shelf with- in the next 60 days. Weh will shoot I kines on four new properties with- in that time, and the network sales- men will have them on their selling lists bv early spring. Of the four, two are properties the web has controlled for several months. One is “U. S. Steel Hour” director Alex Segal’s new dramatic series based on Pulitzer Prize news stories. Second is “Cafe Istanbul," w hich Marlene Dietrich did on CBS Radio a few years back. Neither has been cast. Third is a Lou Cow an packaged variety show and tiie fourth, which the net' is keep- ing under wraps, is said to fea- ture a top star is a comedy format. WNEW Shuffles Talent Roster to Fill Gaps WNEW, N. Y. radio indie headed by Richard Buckley, has just un- dergone a series of personality shuttles to straighten out the holes in the program sked left by A1 (Jazzbo* Collins (whom the station released from his contract to go to WRCA> and defecting Bert Wayne. Gabbers Bill Williams. Lonny Starr and Ed Locke are ('• '- in? the cross-the-board slots vaial- eu by Collins and Wayne. In an- other move, Norman Prescott was brought in from Boston to initially fill four weekend slots left open by the shifting of Williams, Starr and Locke. Station has put Prescott, until now with WORL in Beantown.-into four weekend moorings, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, for a total of seven hours work. WNEW seems to have developed a policy under Buckley, who took over from Bernice Judis early in 54. to have a "reserve” corps of dee jays. It was explained that Prescott's week- end-only status might be changed, with addition of others shows. This is in line with the Locke takeover of Collins post-midnight sessions. Locke was held in reserve for just inch an exigency as :he ankling of Collins. Blanchard ______ Continued from pajte 27 - When he returned the next day to do the half-hour disk show he’d been handling since his own show was lopped, he found himself a man without a station. “He gave me no choice,” Hayes said. “It was rank insubordina- tion.” Blanchard didn't see it like that, but felt he was only protecting himself and his NBC future. The inter net. he says, told him not to let it appear that CBS was drop- ping him. “All I wanted was no publicity,” he said. However, that was exactly what he did get. Three of the local radio columnists devoted the ma- jor part of their copy to the inci- dent within two days and the gen- eral consensus seems to have been that Blanchard needed some good public relations advice. Still up in the air is the fate of the proposed NBC series. '3-STAR' GOES CO-OP "Three Star Extra.” NBC Radio quarter-hour news strip at 6:45 p.m., will be available as a co- op on the network, excluding the cast, beginning in January. Sun Oil Co. underwrites the show in the east. Home-Made WQXR, N. Y., “Good Mu- sic” radio outlet, today <Wed.) departs from its usual pro- cedure of using pro talent in airing its live musieasts, and is picking up a choral group to do a 55-minute "Carolling Down the Centuries” stanza with nary a professional in the lot. As a matter of fact, the N. Y. Times-owned station, has gleaned its voices from its own administrative and engi- neering staff. There’s even a receptionist thrown in. Keeping to the tyro elements strictly, the station will preem % on the show a tune, “Xmas in My Heart” by Gordon Eis. He’s from continuity. Dual TV Sponsorship Branches Out on Local Level Via ‘Children's Hr.’ The alternating sponsorship pat- tern, long since firmly established in network television as a practical gimmick to free a single client from the “whole hog” burden, has been gradually pushing its way into local video. Latest prime ex- ample is the Hoffman Beverage Co., sponsor of the last half-hour of the 10:30 to 11:30 Sunday a.m. “Children's Hour” on WRCA-TV, the N. Y. flagship of NBC. The Pabst subsidiary became the co- underwriter way back when Horn & Hardart. pioneer of the kid stanza, opened it up for the dual ride. Hoffman, in turn, has now put in for a skip-week role. The H A II eatery chain invaded the tv precincts some five years in Philadelphia (its home base where the Automats were founded) and New York. The original radio ver- sion (show is a simulcast) only re- cently marked its 25th season in Gotham (it’s even older in Philly). Few network or local shows can boast the strong public identifica- tion such as HAH has enjoyed with “Children's Hour.” No mat- ter how you cut it up, NBC-TV’s Saturday night “Hit Parade” and ; same web's Sunday night “TV i Playhouse.” for instance, carry the silks of Lucky Strike and Philco as far as the viewers are concerned despite the fact that both show's have alternating sponsors. Having I thus become firmly entrenched, the bankrollers are able to trim their budgets approximately in half with virtually no less in representation. According to Jay J. Heitin, sales manager of WRCA-TV, the skip- week approach has its virtues, pro- viding a broader base to lure me- dium-sized clients and, in some cases, opening up tv to new money. It tends to “build” the medium’s commercial future. While the NBC o&o didn't look too kindly on al- ternation in the beginning, largely because it meant working with two sets of advertisers, agencies, etc., the skip-coin design has be- come standard operating practice, a technique born as a squeeze play but now worthwhile on its own. Of course, there's the old wheeze about the proof of the pudding, but Heitin said last week that Hoff- man's alternating mate on the 11 to 11:30 portion of “Children’s Hour” would represent no trouble in bagging and that a sale was "imminent.” Show's separate N.Y. and Philly editions are produced in the latter city via the Alice Clem- ents agency. Nashua, N. II.— Arthur A. New- comb, general manager of WOTVV here, was named “Man of the \ ear'’ by the Nashua Exchange Club Dec. 1. Award was given to the radio exec for leadership in I community service. He was also , cited for his charitable work in I past years. I Scripter Lou Dernii.n is sanguine (and tails why) You, Too, ('.an Ifrite For TV * * * on# of tho many editorial features in the upcoming j 49//i Annirermry Number •f P'KrIETy DI E SOON Radio Adv. Bureau Triples ’55 Clinics And Spreads ’Em to Spur 'Audience WSYR-TV Goes Color Syracuse, Dec. 21. WSYR-TV here became the first ; video station in central N. Y. to stage its own color shows. Deal ex- ceeded usual local tint displays since over and above multichrome ’film (including commercials), the outlet transmitted a local newscast, some sports and a half-hour dra- matic show in tint. Deal was helmed by E. R. Vade- boncoeur, WSYR-TV prexy and general manager. Syracuse mayor 1 Donald Mead launched the preem color show. Disney’s ABC-TV Daytime Strip i Walt Disney, whose ABC-TV “Disneyland” has projected the network into the dominant program l force on Wednesday nights, will put Disney to work in the daytime sec- tor next fall with an hour-long cross-the-board strip to originate in j- Hollywood. Strip would be a chil- dren’s program and would aid in late afternoon time. Project is still in the early plan- ning stage, but understood it would originate live from the Dis- neyland site, with exact format and j sales approach still to be mapped out. ‘Person to Person’ ^ Continurd from page 27 ^ Broadcast Advertising Bureau (Radio Advertising Bureau as of Jan. 1) has completely altered the schedule for sales clinics in 1955, first by almost tripling the number held this year and then by spread- ing the confabs over a 10 qjonth period instead of the customary two. Aim is to increase by some 1,000 the number of attendees as well as save member stations sub- stantial travel expenses. In ’54 BAB held 37 clinics which were packed into the hot summer months which, says Kevin B. Swee- ney, BAB boss, kept several vaca- tioning station execs from attend- ing. There’ll be as many as five separate meets per state under the new arrangement, with things kick- ing off Jan. 10 in Miami, and end- ing Nov. 18 in Wichita, Kans. In addition. Joseph E. Baudino, new BAB board chairman, has rounded out the ’55 committees. Plus Kenyon Brown of WWFT, Wichita Falls, Tex., as chairman, the exec committee will have six others, including NBC’s William Fineshriber and CBS prexy Adrian Murphy. John Hayes will chair a seven-man finance committee that includes Bob Schmid of Mutual. George Higgins, KMBC, K. C\, will head the membership committee for the second time. New bylaws committee chairman is John H. Moore, WSLS, Roanoke. All ’55 committeemen are on the board of directors. TV Scores a First In Scaling Monument For Ike’s Xmas Tree Hoopla Washington. Dec. 21. A tv camera traveled to the top of Washington Monument for first usually thus would depend on the calibre of the athletes. A title fracas with major battlers will gen- erally swee^ the field, but few fisticuff engageinents go much past 10:40 or so. Hence the Murrow program will get additional audi- ence at its middle (or 10:45) mark, since the sole network competi- tion is "Great Moments in Sports” which segues from the Gillette bouts. “Moments” has been hit- ting less than 10. whether on ARB, Nielsen or Trendex. But the Dec. 3 "P to P” had spe- cial marquee dazzle in Bing Crosby on the Coast and Mary Margaret McBride in New York as the v pie- ture window” figures, hinting that it was more than a coincidence which pushed the show into Tren- dex’s Top 10. The rise over No- vember was a substantial 11.3 points and its share-of-audience rose 18.5, whereas the fights lost 4.1 in poundage and 9.3 in the audience share. Judged by itself, sans competi- tive considerations, it's significant that "Person” has been on an up- beat kick on the station hookup, starting out last season with about 40 outlets and now checking in with close to 70. If it is true, as frequently reported, that Murrow A Co. are dissatisfied with the 10:30 station time, they are grad- ually beating the rap. In fact, its entry on Trendex with its nearly 30 points beat more than a dozen other major shows—all in prime time, of course—including an NBC- Max Liebman spectacular, Colgate “Comedy Hour,” ABC's “Disney- land,” Jack Benny. “TV Playhouse,” Sid Caesar, “Robert Montgomery Presents.” George C.obel, “Medic,” "Lux Video Theatre,” etc. That’s how it was in the eight covered cities, that is. Station Reps Elect Adam J. Young Jr., of the firm bearing his name, was elected president and Arthur McCoy, of Avery-Knodel, v.p. of the Station Representatives Assn, for 1955. In all. eight new officers were chosen to head the alliance. Joseph Timlin, of Branham Co., was voted secretary; John E. Pear- son, of Pearson Television, treas- urer, and the directors are Joseph J. Weed, of Weed Television; John P. Blair of Blair A Co., RussH Woodward of Free A Peters and George Brett of Katz. Young, former SR A secretary, replaces John Blair, who was prexy for the past two terms. time in history to help record the White House tree lighting cere- monies past Friday <17>. WMAL- ABC, which originated President Eisenhower’s annual stint for the network pool, conceived the novel idea in order to take panorama shots of the four cornered setting of the most impressive Yule cere- ' mony ever held here. Traditional pattern of lighting a tree on the White House lawn was expanded this year into a three- week “Pageant of Peace,” brain- child of Edward Ki Ay, former Army radio-tv topper. Kirby is also acting as general director of the observance, in which every segment of capital’s official, civic and international life is participat- ing. Object is to accent the peace theme for international consump- tion, and to explore possibility of building up pageant as an annual tourist attraction. In addition to network pickup of the Presidential tree lighting chores and speech. Voice ol Amer* ! ica has set up studios for recording 1 and broadcasting during entire three weeks of activity. The idea of a non-secetarian, non-partisan, non-profit venture such as this, in which even such non-Christian j countries as Israel and the Islamic nations are participating, has im- pressed United States Information execs as a natural for spreading its message overseas. Conn. Broadcasters Elect Ryder as Prexy Hartford, Dec. 21. Connecticut Broadcasters’ Assn., composed of 25 radio and tv sta- tions, has been formed in the state. Prexy of the group is J. Maxim Ry- der, manager of WBRY, Water- burv. Other officers are Aldo de Dominicis of WNHC-TV, Newr Haven, vice prexy; Walter B. Haase, general manager of WDRC, Hartford, secretary. Directors are Paul W. Morency, general manager of WTIC. Hart- ford; Samuel Heller of WATR, Waterbury; Eric Hatch of WBIS, Bristol, and William O’Brien of j WCNX, Middletown. One of the purposes of the or- ganization is to provide a good conduct code in the industry in the state. To this end the group Is ex- pected to set a code of ethics and standards for radio and tv.