Variety (December 1954)

iji# ANCASTIR Wednesday, December 22, 1954 54 RADIO-TKLEVISIO^ Inside Stuff—Radio-TV Politicos’ demand for equal air time can work in reverse. It did with Edgar Bergen. Bergen had been having quite a time of it getting Republican bigwigs to appear on his CBS Radio show,.. The only politicians out of Washington represented on the stanza have been Democrats—Governor-elect Avereli Harriman of New York and Sena- tors Gore and Jackson. The ventro, in a telegram to Presidential assistant Sherman Adams and GOP national chairman Leonard Hall, brought up the question of the Republicans’ '‘lackadaisical” attitude while needling them about the representation from the Demos. It worked. Adams himself and Jim Hagerty, Ike's press chief, plus Bernard Shanley, the Presidential legal eagle, all expressed interest In appearing on Bergen’s Sunday night show. President Eisenhower did a commercial for CBS News at his press conference last week. Earlier in the week web correspondent Bill Shadel had reported on “World News Roundup” that the Administra- tion w’as planning a 100.000-man reduction in military strength and withdrawal of a Marine division from the Pacific area. CBS corre- spondent Daniel Schorr referred to the report and asked the President if he would explain the reason for the moves. President Eisenhower asked where this information had been reported. “On CBS, of course, sir,” replied Schorr. Ike joined in a roar of laughter with the news- men and said he guessed he would have to accept that as authoritative, then proceeded to explain in detail his thinking on military problems. Gabe Pressman, WRCA (N Y.) roving reporter, who then as a news- paperman was one of two Americans permitted to cover the Cardinal Mindszenty “trial" in Budapest five years ago. guested on Tex & Jinx McCrary’s afternoon show last week to discuss latest news on possible release of the prelate. Unusual intra-station “booking” may have been the start of a regular on-the-air parade by Pressman tied up with such timely events since Pressman’s erstwhile news beat (for the N.Y. World-Telegram & Sun) took him into a multitude of spots in the U. S. and elsewhere, although he’s now* limited to Gotham. NBC Radio’s hourlong tribute on Sunday to Ernest Hemingway is part of the web’s “auralacular” specials blueprinted by program veepee Ted Cott. Among other biggies due for the biog treatment are Arturo Toscanini (planned for two hours). Gertrude Lawrence, Bernard Baruch, Jimmy Durante. Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and John Golden. The specially slotted Sir Winston Churchill 80th birthday paean. “His Finest Hour,” is being albumized by the sponsor, Allis-Chalmers, and web has sold the latter the broadcast rights for New Zealand and Australia. Eleven stations have signed formal agreements and as of yesterday (Tues.) eight others were on the verge of latching on to CBS-TV’s Ex- tended Market Plan under which the web’s major shows arc serviced to small markets. Contracts were turned in last week in New York at a CBS-hosted luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria. The 11 pacts are from WMSL-TV, Decatur. Ala.; KGVO-TV, Missoula, Mont ; KVEC-TV, San Luis Obispo, Cal.; KFXJ-TV. Grand Junction, Colo.; WINK-TV. FT Myers. Fla.; KLIX-TV, Twin Falls. Idaho; WFAM-TV, Lafayette. Ind.; KVOS-TV. Bellingham, Wash.; WDXI. Jackson, Tenn.; WBOC-TV, Salisbury, Md., and WGBI-TV, Columbus, Miss. With these in the bag and others expected momentarily, the web established a special sales unit for EMP, with Terence McGuirk as sales manager in charge. McGuirk is a sales services specialist of the network. Edward J. Noble, key stockholder in American Broadcasting-Para- mount Theatres and chairman of the corporation’s finance committee, has donated $5,000,000 to the Edward John Noble Foundation, an en- dowment fund which supports hospitals, education, charities and other philantropic activities. Gift follows by a year a $2,000,000 donation by Noble to the Foundation, which was organized in 1940. Noble said he was making the gift as an individual effort in the hope that it “will encourage other businessmen to give as individuals to charitable causes or to foundations which strive to meet the constantly increasing needs of charities, of hospitals and of educational institutions.” “Peacock City" air credit on CBS’ ‘Studio One’ recently misspelled the author credit. It should have read Carey Wilber, not Wilbur. That disposes of any family resemblance or coincidence with the oldtime screen actor-writer-director Crane Wilbur w ho, by sheer happenstance, had spent some time in Phenix City, Alabama, the city which sees Itself the original of the Wilber television script, as presented on “Studio One.” Wilber and CBS deny that this is true. Wilber lives and writes in Connecticut, has never visited the faiped gambling burg of the South. The Channel 8 Mighty Market Place all yours WGALTV DU “° M lAkirACTCD DA 5TEINM AN STATION LANCASTER/ PA* ciair mccououoh mis. CLAIR McCOHOUGH PRES. MEEKER TV, INC. Headers SRO Status Gabriel Heatter strip via Mutual achieved an SRO status this week, with the signing of two new bank- rollers. Bankers Life and Casualty Co. of Chicago will hereafter al- ternate on Tuesdays with Beltone hearing aids. The other new biz comes from Olson Rug Co. in the lately sustaining Thursday anchor- age. Bankers Life starts on Jan. 4 and Olson on Jan. 6. Grant, Scl wenck and Baker agency inked for the former and Mark Smith agency handled matters for Olson. Show is cross-the-board at 7:30 to 7:45 p.m. Norman Cash Continued from pane 26 tral organization working for their collective interest, thereby raising tv to the top revenue position among the media. 55% of Goal Achieved Though it wasn’t until Cash got the official nod that the TvB mem- bership campaign began, there was $213,000 in the till from unsolicited station memberships. That’s 55% of the $400,000 that Treyz expects as working capital in the org's first year (Jan. to Jan.). He said that $400,000 was far less than he expected. He mentioned that there are 400 some odd tele stations now in operation, but he said that he deliberately avoided counting how many of them were actually members of TvB so far. Rogers, however, managed an aside to the effect that none of the stations who had joined the short-lived TVAB, inspired by stations alone, had yet failed to come through as members of the new outfit. It was an afternoon when Rogers, Treyz and Cash all had their say. entirely for the benefit of the preifc. In answer to a query, Rogers explained that TvB will avoid generalities, and actually pitch local, spot or network tele- vision, according to the advertiser’s It was an afternoon when Rogers, Treyz and Cash all had their say. entirely for the benefit of the preifc. In answer to a query, Rogers explained that TvB will avoid generalities, and actually pitch local, spot or network tele- vision, according to the advertiser’s needs. Incidentally, in tlte naming of [ Cash to a top level TvB post, the. industry is seeing a repetition of the radio-to-tv swing that began in 1948 and continued strongly through 1951. Fact is that TvB, set up as an all-industry organiza- tion to promote tv, has recruited its two key men from the ranks of network radio. (Treyz was for- merly director of ABC and Cash was its eastern sales chief.) What makes the present situa- tion stand out is the fact the tv station owners and network rep- resentatives running TvB have reached into network radio for their new execs at a time when the latter medium is being counted out. Of course, they counted radio out back in the height of the AM- to-tv trend, but then it was ac- cepted practice to change your me- dium. Now. it makes news, es- pecially when it’s in regard to video’s representative group. Cash, incidentally, came to ABC from WLW, and was just upped to east- ern program chief a couple of weeks ago. ABC Radio veep Charles Ayres, commenting on the loss of two key men to TvB, wryly said, “Paradoxical, isn’t it?” N ° Y 0 f Claim Sabotage Continued from page 26 Television Artists continued to cross the picket line, AFTRA has asked the San Francisco Labor Council to sanction a strike at the station, and it is expected that AFTRA will also walk out momen- tarily. In a statement released shortly after the station was struck, gen- eral manager Philip G. Lasky charged that the station’s equip- ment had been “sabotaged in a manner unprecedented in the 30 years of broadcasting history in the U. S.” In the 36 hours after the strike started, Lasky charged, such examples of sabotage as the following were found: fuses re- moved and dummies inserted in their place; equipment hidden; blueprints and instruction books hidden; sync generators knocked out by small bits of wire; audio circuits shorted; tubes removed; the optical system of film pro- jectors put out of alignment. To all the charges, Robert Leni- han, NABET representative, is- sued a categorical denial. From the Production Centres Continued from page 30 = |M r approached . . . Bee Baxter, KSTP-TV personality, one of winners of McCall’s 1954 awards to outstanding women in radio and tv because of her series, “Operation XLC,” produced in cooperation with U. of ! Minnesota radio station KUOM and telling story of nursing profession • in effort to enlist more women for it . . . After 19 years at WTCN, much of time as program director, Judy Bryson has resigned to join j new KEYD-TV as assistant to program director Bob Fransen. The same video newcomer will have Jim McGovern, from KGTV, Des Moines, as promotion manager and news broadcaster. Prior to joining KGTV, he was WDGY radio news director here. IN BOSTON ... WCRB. suburban indie, has been granted a nighttime license and is now on the air from 6:30 a.in. to 12:30 midnight. Station feature; longhair platters ... In addition to his regular sportscasts, Leo Eagan, WBZ gabber, has taken over the newscasts formerly handled by Ken Mayer, vi?ho recently, ankled the station . . . Richard II. Gurley, Jr., formerly a salesman at WTAO-TV, has joined the WEEI sales staff . . . WBZ deejay Paul Knight who formerly conducted an all-night disk show, is now on staff with the platter show on automatic play . . . Disk “What is Christmas?”, scripted and etched by WTAO deejay Ed Penney, on Radex label, getting big play over local airwaves and shapes as one of most successful newcomers of the Christmas season . . . Latest survey shows 1,339.424 tv sets installed in Hub coverage area, a jump of 15,643 sets over previous survey. IN DALLAS ... Buddy Harris, dean of local dee joys, quit record spinning at KGKO to become commercial manager there. Behind him are top stints with WRR, KLIF and KGKO here, and KFWB. Hollywood. With Harris’ promotion, station added d.j. staffers Ray McFarland, Frank Bell, Art Magee and Charlie Boland . . . Evangelist Billy Graham aired his ABC “Hour of Decision” from the First Baptist Church, where his mem- bership rests . . . Audle Murphy, personaling here with the “Destry” film opening, guestarred on Gerry Johnson’s “Variety Fair” via KRLD- TV and on Gene Edwards’ KLIF platter show. Edwards retains his deejay slot after being promoted to program director at KLIF, suc- ceeding Bill Stewart . . . George Wilson, announcer-newscaster, now a WFAA staffer . . . Charles Clary, KRLD-TV announcer, moved into the news department of KRLD and KRLD-TV. IN PHILADELPHIA ... • A1 Krivin, formerly of KYW, has joined sales staff of WPTZ . . . Director Cal Jones and Producer Dick McCuteheon hoarded Venezuelan freighter below quarantine at Lewes, Del., to vidfilm ride up Delaware River and delivery of iron ore to Fairless Steel . . . Hal Woodard is the commentator and Mark Olds the producer-writer on the new KYW three-hour Saturday matinee show “Hi Fi Festival” . . . David G. Steph- ens, musical director of WCAU, ha* been elected to membership in ! ASCAP. Stephens is a graduate of Curtis Institute and was a member ! of Stokowski’s All-American Youth Orchestra . . Max I.eon, president ; of WDAS, has received authorization from the FCC to increase his station's power to 1.000 watts . . . Jim Learning, WIP sports director, has been elected presidenf of the Philadelphia Basketball Writers Assn. . . . Harry Sylk, WPEN owner, was awarded the annual Mastbaum award for outstanding community service, by the Jules E. Mastbaum Lodge, B'nai B’rith . . . Del Parks, former WPEN broadcaster, is doing a late evening show for WPWA, Chester, Pa., originating from a Chester night club. IN CLEVELAND ... WSRS Executive Director Norman Bergholm banned “Calypso Christmas” (RCA) and Rosemary Clooney’s “Mambo Italiano” saying first leaves bad Xmas taste, latter as being slanderous to race . . . WGAR’s Jack Dooley, out for four months because of gunshot wounds, now newscasting 5 p.m. daily stint . . . Lloyd Yoder and Bill Davidson back from NBC managers’ New York convention . . . Wayne Vaughn shifting from WXEL to WEWS sales . . . Tom Slater named radio-lv director for Fuller. Smith, Ross . .. WXEL engineers and projectionists picked CIO as reps . . . Johnny Andrews adding late aft-earl.v-eve stint as Bill Mayer relaxes . . . Irvin and Co., decorators, pacted con- cert pianist Arthur Loesser as narrator, Karl Bates, announcer, in hour- long Sunday 3 p.m. disk stint . . . Karnan Wright, ex-NHK, Tokyo, is nightly WSRS organist-announcer. IN PITTSBURGH . . . Wanda Saylor quitting as leader of EZC Ranch Gals on WDTV next week to join her husband, Leo Heisel, in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he’s an engineer at WSUN-TV. They’ve already bought a hoipe and equipped it with a nursery; the baby's due the end of January . . . Dottie Talbot, formerly Jean Connelly’s assistant and stand-in on Chan- nel 2, picked to replace Elaine Beverly during latter’s maternity leave of absence on daily “Meet Your Neighbor” program. Miss Beverly co-stars on it with her husband, Joe Mann . . . George Kleeb, trans- mitter supervisor at KQV, just chalked off 13 years of service with the station . . . Noel Mills, wife of Tommy Riggs, WCAE nighttime platler spinner, doing a lot of tv pinch-hitting work on WDTV . . . Eddie Brennan. ex-Post-Gazette reporter, has left the Harry Kodirrsky office to go with public relations department of the Ketchum-McLeod- Grove agency ‘Kukla’ Continued from page 24 I tv-shy bankrollers. North Amer- ican Insurance Co. will bankroll in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with another insurance outfit, Wylie B. Marshall Co., sponsoring in Manchester. In York, show will be cosponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce and the Manufac- turers Assn. National Bank of De- catur is sponsoring, while in Wichi- ta it will be the Southwest Federal Savings & Loan Co. as cosponsor. Lord & Taylor department store sponsors in Hartford, while the Stone Dept. Store bankrolls in Wheeling. In Washington, D. C.. it’s the Washington Gas & Light Company. Dallas —Gene Edwards, KLIF disk jockey, has been promoted to program director, replacing Bill ' Stewart. I TEXACO STAR THEATRE SATURDAY NIGHT—N.B.C. Mat.: William Morris Agoncy (VERY DAY ON EVERY CHANNH BROOKS COSTUMES IW«IMil».. N.Y.C.-I-Y H T itOO