Variety (October 1955)

20 RADIO-TELEVISION PfysiETY Wednesday, October 19, 1955 FCC SLAPPING ON NEW FREEZE TO RESOLVE THORNY UHF-VHF PROBLEM? Nielsen’s Overall Radio-TV Study A. C. Nielsen has decided definitely on going ahead with its second national radio-tv ownership and station coverage study It will be the first tv coverage measurement since the freeze and the first set count by counties since the same researcher did one for CBS in *53. With usual caution, Nielsen would not undertake the second overall radio-tv study until it felt out the industry. What it prob¬ ably amounts to is that the research firm has gotten sufficient verbal commitments from agencies, networks and the like, to buy the one-shot service. Nielsen says it got over 800 replies to a survey on the matter indicating support of the county-by¬ county measurement. Another factor delaying the Nielsen decision to carry out the measurement was an awaited decision from NARTB to do its own tv circulation study. But the industry group’s committee delving into the subject recently reported, according to Nielsen, that tests are not completed yet and that an NARTB study will not be forth¬ coming either this year or in 1956. Research outfit also pointed out that the NARTB study would be confined to video only. Nielsen'hopes to have complete specifications on its own study available in a month. From Macy’s to Masses on Toast Proctor Electric’s Click Via Exclusive Local TV- ‘Sitdown Strike-While Iron Is Hot’ By JACK LEVY Washington, Oct. 18. Will FCC throw the whole UH; VHF problem open to new pro¬ ceedings and declare a freeze on new VHF grants in intermixed markets pending the outcome? Such a development is now con¬ sidered a strong possibility because of legal objections being raised to Commission Chairman George C. McConnaughey’s recent informal conferences with network and other industry brass in an effort to solve the UHF dilemma. It’s un¬ derstood that one member of the Commission has attacked the legal¬ ity of these conferences in view of the current deintermixture pro¬ ceedings in which all interested parties have a right to comment on any proposals affecting them. It’s the view of a number of law¬ yers here that if the Commission should now close out deintermix¬ ture by going ahead with VHF grants fas it reportedly has been on the verge of doing) in UHF mar¬ kets, it would lay itself open to court action. . While the inception of new pro¬ ceedings is not relished by UHF operators at this late date, they themselves urged it when they called on the agency Friday (14) following an emergency meeting here the previous night at which representatives of more than 50 stations attended. Under the lead¬ ership of Harold Thoms, chairman of the UHF Coordinating Commit¬ tee, they asked that “open and public’’ proceedings be held, “with opportunity to be heard given to all interested persons who have recommendations to make.” Only , in this way, they told the Com¬ mission, can the problems which are so critical to their survival be “fairly resolved.”_ Thoms told the Commissioners, all of them whom were present ex¬ cept Chairman McConnaughey and Comr. Robert Bartley, that his group “dropped everything” to come to Washington “because of reports . . . that in connection with its consideration of the many pend¬ ing proposals for selective deinter¬ mixture the Commission, as a re¬ sult of informal consultations with industry groups, is on the verge of (Continued on page 36) GF to Televise Circus From Winter Quarters As Dec. 16 Hour Spec The first live telecast of the Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey circus to emanate from the Big Top’s winter quarters at Sara¬ sota, Fla., is being set for Gen¬ eral Foods sponsorship on Dec. 16 over CBS-TV. Hour’s layout would bump “I Remember Mama” and “Our Miss Brooks” on Friday from 8 to 9 p. m. It’s planned to have a Christmas party atmosphere for the setup. Telecasting for the circus out of Sarasota will have some tremen¬ dous problems, both technical and unionwise. The American Guild I of Variety Artists has informed the American Federation of Tele¬ vision and Radio Artists that it wants union supervision over the distribution of salaries to perform¬ ers. AGVA has told AFTRA to ask the sponsors to make out the checks individually for each act and not to give the circus a lump sum for distribution to talent. So far, no decision has been reached. AGVA and the circus haven’t been on too friendly terms during the past few years. An AGVA spokes¬ man said that it just wants to make sure that the acts get their full scale for doing the telecast. Another problem lies in the transmission. A huge tower is be¬ ing built at Sarasota to enable a signal to be relayed. Work is set to start shortly. Benton & Bowles is the agency. NBC-TV's 'Basketball Specs' Professional basketball will swing into tv action on Jan. 7 in a campaign of 15 games beamed by NBC-TV. They’re all Saturday tussles, but there will be a couple of preemptions. Web is asking $68,000 (net) for a fourth and $125,000 for half of the titne. ' Wet Flannel Suits New York may have been the least hardest hit area in the northeast by last week¬ ends’ heavy rains and floods, but the flooding still had the effect of putting Madison Ave. out of 'action on Monday (17). Agencies were half emp¬ ty and operations slowed to a crawl. Situation was the same on the executive level at the networks. Reason for the inactivity was that the agency-network execs were* for the most part marooned at home, in western Connecticut and Westchester County, with some unable to get through to their local train stations and still others stalled by washed-out service on their commutation lines. Westinghouse’s NBC Swap Cues Some FCC Doubts Washington, Oct. 18. Serious questions as to the le¬ gality of the deal by which NBC would swap its Cleveland radio and tv stations for Westinghouse’s Philadelphia radio and tv outlets, with the network paying $3,000,000 to boot, were raised by the FCC yesterday (Mon.) in letters to the two companies. Among other things the Com¬ mission said it is concerned “whether NBC used its power to grant or withhold network facili¬ ties as an instrument to persuade Westinghouse to accept the pro¬ posed Philadelphia-Cleveland ex¬ change.” Commission also raised the ques¬ tion of whether further extension of broadcast ownership in the Philadelphia area by NBC would be consistent with its anti-monop¬ oly rules. Acquisition of stations in Philly by NBC, the Commission said, would enable the web’s sta¬ tions to reach 16% of the popu¬ lation of the U. S. in a 36.880 square-mile area on eastern sea¬ board. Similar problems of coverage and overlap would result from Westinghouse ownership of sta¬ tions in Cleveland in view of its stations in Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne, Ind., said the FCC. In addition, the Commission said it is concerned as to whether ex¬ change would “substantially lessen competition and tend to Create monopoly.” Companies were given 30 days to show why hearings should not be held on the transfer application. Curtiss Candy’s Tab Chicago, Oct. 18. Curtiss Candy Co. is making‘its network television plunge in a co¬ sponsorship deal worked out with General Mills for an alternate week identity on the “Tales of the Texas Rangers” Saturday mornings on CBS-TV. Curtiss joins the Screen Gem-produced vidpix Oct 29. Taking cognizance of the admit¬ tedly sad state of affairs of Chi¬ cago television as far as network originations are concerned, NBC- TV is currently working on one of its most ambitious “get out of town” charts. With technical, per¬ sonnel transplantation and other problems regarded as resolved on paper at this early date, the web has blueprinted a project under which its threesome of top par¬ ticipating shows — “Today” — "Home” ■— “Tonight” — will take turns at weeklong excursions emanating from windytown next season. The rotating order is not definite, nor has there been any pattern laid out as whether these turns will be equal or balanced In favor of one or two of the T-1L Seattle Radio So Hot Stations Now Stay Open All Thru Night Seattle, Oct 18. | Night owls here have no prob¬ lem in getting music, news, etc., in the dull hours from 2 to 6 a. m., with three stations currently on the air 24 hours. KING began 1 to 5 a. m. opera¬ tion Oct. 1, with Warren Saun¬ ders doing the “Night Owl Club” stint. KAYO has been on air around the clock for something over three years and third station, KJR, began 24-hour operation last summer, with Claude Brimm han¬ dling the midnight to 6 a. m. stint. Ben Harkins, promotion mana¬ ger of KAYO, says station is plan¬ ning a campaign to push sales on the 2 a. m. to 6 a. m. hours, now handled by Jim Bettis. KAYO has long had an edge in the late-night listening sweepstakes with w. k. disk jockey Bill Apple doing a 10:30 to 2 a. m. show for past sev¬ eral years. Apple sells own stuff and has built good reputation and following which adds to pull of station. Overall, radio biz is good here. Kraf^OGFor Best TV Script Television’s writing corps will get another big prestige-money in¬ centive this year via a new $50,000 scriptwriting competition set up by Kraft Foods for its “Kraft Television Theatre.” Cheesemaker will award one $50,000 prize for the best original teleplay produced on “Kraft Theatre” during the year ended Oct. 31, 1956, and has named a board of judges to view all entries comprising Walter F. Kerr, N. Y. Herald Tribune drama critic, Helen Hayes and Maxwell Anderson. Trio will meet every 13 weeks to view ail originals produced on the series and will select semi¬ finalists from among those they judge the best. At the end of the year, they’ll' tap the winner. John McLaughlin, Kraft director of sales and advertising, said the aim of the script competition is to “give proper recognition to dis¬ tinguished achievement” in tv drama writing, and made the point that it’s appropriate that Kraft should make the award | since the show Is the oldest con¬ tinuous drama segment on tv. Prize-winning author, incidentally, retains all rights to his work, Just as Kraft announced the es¬ tablishment of its awards. Talent Associates tapped the winners in its first annual awards for half- hours scripts by undergraduates in ^American colleges. First prize of $1,000 went to Herb Gardner, a Brooklynite at Antioch College, for "Under Alterations,” a yarn abbut a candy store owner’s re¬ fusal to modernize his store. Sec¬ ond prize of. $500 went to Henry Truly Jr. of Wichita Falls and a Northwestern U. student for “Lonesome Song,” play about a college student wrongfully ac¬ cused of molesting a neighbor’s daughter. $ Triumvirate. This is considered academic at this point. Originating station will be the NBC o&o, WNBQ, which is expected to make hay of the barnstorming operation. NBC’s plan comes at a time when Chicago is virtually up in arms at its ever diminishing status as an originating point for network shows. Only a few weeks ago the situation assumed climactic impor¬ tance as a civic issue in a town that’s understandbly zealous of its place in the tv sun, only more so because Chicago is Chicago. It was anticipated then and even before that NBC, ABC and CBS would move toward Increasing Chi’s cut of the pie, ,but N.BC is making the first major-move toward placating the vigilantes in addition to follow¬ ing through on the travel motif Dicker Vegas, NBC Deal For Englund-Duke 'She’ Ken Englund, who scripted the NBC-TV spectacular, “Show Biz,” in which Bert Lahr was one of the stars, is discussing with the latter a Las Vegas and NBC deal for “He and She.” This is the unproduced music,al Englund authored with Vernon Duke. Idea is for it to be done first on tv and then as a Las Vegas floor- show, a la “Guys and Dolls.” Tony Charmoli, who did the “Show Biz” choreography, would stage. Manny Frank, husband-manager of Vivian Blaine, who handled the “Guys and Dolls” Vegas bookings, is also in¬ terested in the Englund package. Ed Lamb in Brief Hits Out at'Scum’ In Stinging Reply Washington, Oct. 18. Attorneys for Edward O. Lamb, Toledo broadcaster-publisher, yes¬ terday (Mon.) declared that cre¬ dible testimony as to Lamb’s anti¬ communist activities “overwhelm¬ ingly countervail the scum brought forward” by the FCC at the recent hearings before Examiner Herbert Sharfman. In their reply brief to charges contained in the FCC Broadcast Bureau’s proposed findings, the attorneys said that in view of testimony of such reputable men as Mayor David Lawrence of Pitts¬ burgh, “it must be obvious that sober, considered judgment re- quiries a finding that Lamb's mil¬ itant, open, unequivocal personal independence and loyalty to the U.S. are plainly disclosed, as against the fanciful deductions, imaginative inference, and sinister implications of his detractors.” The attorneys, J. Howard Mc¬ Grath and Russell Brown, charged the FCC .case against Lamb was fashioned from “events of the most passing and inconsequential nature” which were made out “to for its “we get around” threesome. It’s figured that if things work out, Chi will thus have one of the trio in town all of next season, though there may be a pre-test sometime this semester. Apparently the straw that de¬ cimated the camel’s back bad a dollar sign attached in disclosure recently by the Chi chamber of commerce that 644 ad‘ agencies were billing over $644,000,000 an¬ nually, set against a situation that puts the “second city” way be¬ hind New York in »the ratio of the billings-to-originations struc¬ ture. The chamber’s topper, Thomas H. Coulter, said Chi tv was almost strictly in the “export of talent and programs” business. As far as NBC-TV is concerned, he found a sympathetic ear. Easily one of the top success stories of an advertiser in local television is that of Proctor Elec¬ tric Co., now clearly the “Toast”-er of the Town” in the dropping of that title by the CBS-TV Sunday nighter to go “Ed Sullivan Show.” •Just by coincidence, Proctor is wholehog on WCBS-TV, the New York flagship of CBS, and is spend¬ ing, at a net gait of $3,200 a week in spots to burn its brand on tele¬ viewers. Outfit’s toaster, now updated and improved, got that way humbly, with Macy’s the sole department store outlet. To tell it' short, the other retail outlets have risen by stages from about 350 to over 4,000. Joseph Tiers, eastern sales chief of the company, ‘ and Max Tendrich, v.p. of Weiss & Geller, agency handling the account, are allout for/tv—and especially for one selected station when the budget is not exactly of network proportions. Partly as result of the tv spots on several stations in the beginning and partly because of an intramural sales drive complete with incentives like Caribbean cruises, the number of dealers has risen to its current electric status. Weiss & Geller accepted New York for the first test market as a challenge. Usual* approach was to a smaller market, since Gotham is in many ways the toughest to crack—although when it’s cracked, it’s a regular hurricane. Mostly it’s a matter of budget. First aim was to triple the number of dealers, double the sales dollar volume. They even set up a plan under which they would be in position to combat the discount houses; that’s where the luxury cruises figured as a part; get the entry blanks at the dealer and away you (Continued on page 24) CBS Seeks Eddie Fisher For Spec; Denies Bing Walking Out on Tor’ Rumors to the contrary, CBS-TV said there was “no change” in the plan to star Bing Crosby in a film version of “High Tor” as a Satur¬ day night 90-minuter for -Ford's “Star Jubilee.” Rumor had cropped up when it became known that the web has its eye on Eddie Fisher, this being linked to a presumed 11th hour change to have Fisher step in for Crosby. Instead, Fisher is wanted for another show in the Ford “Jubilee” series. Shooting on “High Tor” was to commence Oct. 31 as scheduled, it was said. Meanwhile, Harry Ack¬ erman, “indie spec” consultant for the web (and its former v.{>. on the Coast), arrived in New York for huddles with web hq execs and other matters. , RTES to Fete Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn will be feted by the Radio and Television Exec¬ utive Society at a luncheon next Tuesday (25). RTES crosses into the theatrical pic field to honor him as “one of the alltime greats in the world of entertainment.” The indie Hollywood producer will be interviewed by Edward R; Murrow in “Person to Person takeoff‘for the benefit of • industry- ites present. " " (Continued on page 24) NBC-TV’s 6 Chicago Here We Come 9