Variety (August 1957)

40 RADIO-TELEVISION US&IETY Wednesday, August 28, 1957 Radio-TV Production Centers Continued from page 24 ; tele topper at Benton & Bowles, in town for a week to examine the agency’s filmed shows for next season . . . Four ad agencies will have 50 half hours a week on tv come fall. They are Young & Rubicam, McCannJErickson, BBD&O and J. Walter Thompson . . . Art Buchwald will be flown in from Paris for the Standard of N. J. spec to cost over $500,000 % He will add a note of French authenticity to the Parisian scene. IX CHICAGO . . . Jiip Mills conducting his WMAQ shows from Passavant Hospital, where he’s bedded down for a checkup . . . Dick Becker, WBBM an¬ nouncer, leaving for KLZ-TV, Denver, this week . . . Jay Robinson joined WTTW as sales rep for the educational station’s recording service’ . . . WBKB to essay Joe Wilson’s new “Pocket Billiards Stars” on Sundays starting Sept. 8 . . . Len Dressier tapped for WBBM’s new morning “spectacular” in lieu of Don Cherry, who held out for more money . . . Red Blanchard’s morning show on WLS to be expanded to two hours next week . . . CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation” will emanate from the WBBM-TV shop here Sept. 8 with Adlai Stevenson the prin¬ cipal. Chris Erskine will direct the stanza, and Beryl Danzer, of CBS public affairs in Washington, is flying in to produce it . . . Polly Simms replacing California-bound Marcella Hein as “Bible Time” story-, teller on WNBQ . . . Esther Rauch, ex-Leo Burnett Co., joined John Blair reppery as midwest sales development manager . . . WBBM-TV’s Lee Phillip vacationing in Caribbean and spelled by Eloise Kummer . . . Dr. Harry J. Skomia, exec director of National Assn, of Educa¬ tional Broadcasters in Urbana. Ill., participating in All Alaska Presby¬ terian Conference at Sitka, Alaska . . . Seven-Up has bought the sec¬ ond half-hour of Jim Lounsbnry’s new “Record Hop,” which starts on WBKB Saturday (31) . . . “Notre Dame Football Highlights,” previously carried by WBKB, has been picked up by WGN-TV for the fall . Fahey Flynn goes on a seven-day week telecasting sked Saturday (31) on WBBM-TV’s new “CBS News Special,” Chi’s only Saturday news¬ cast . .. WBBM trying Bob Grant on “Gold Coast Show” as replacement for George Watson, who died last week. IX PHILADELPHIA ... Ed McMahon, after eight years as top-rated WCAU-TV personality, is leaving to freelance here and in New York. ' First stint is with WFIL-TV, hosting new submarine series “Silent Service” . . . William J. Conran named promotion manager of WIBG. In 1955 he was ap¬ pointed promotion manager of WIBG’s tv affiliate, WPFH . . . “Full House,” by Evening Bulletin columnist Don Rose will be recorded in England for the Talking Book Library (literature for the blind) by an¬ nouncer Franklin Engelmann, Engelmann made appearances on WPEN last year while here to study U. S. radio . . . While WIP's Frank Brookhouser (“Frankly Speaking”) is on vacation, time slot will be Used by Bill Baldwin and A1 Taylor to give direct reports from the Atlantic City beauty contest ... WFIL-TV which presents double fea¬ tures on the “World’s Best Movies” Fri. and Sat. now will show daily dualers . . . WPFH has signed off for a week (26-Sept. 2) to highlight its change of call letters to WVUE . . . WRCV-TV to telecast two-hours of its day-long Safety Carnival and feed three live six-minute pickups to the “Today” show iSept. 1, 2>. * IX SAX FRANCISCO ... Millie Ramey succeeded Vic Reed as chief flack for ABC’s o-and-o KGO and KGO-TV. It’s a pro-tem appointment, while General Man¬ ager John Mitchell decides whether to hire a Frisco man or a New- Yorker ... Shell News and Tom Franklin shifting from KPIX to KRON Sept. 23 . . . New deejay at KYA is Red Rush, up from San Bernardino . . . Latest opening date for r-&-r station KSAY is now Sept. 1, and KPIX’s “Money Tree” with Sandy Spillman set to go on the air Sept. 2 . . . Charley Stem got a e weekly half-hour KGO remote from the Jazz Showcase just about the same time KRON folded his televised “World of Jazz” . . . CBS-TV president Merle E. Jones in Frisco . . . Oakland Channel 2 boss. William Pabst, planning to support the new tv station’s live shows with six cameras, when station goes on the air around Jan. 1 . . . Harold See, £RON general manager, kicked off introduction of the NBC affiliate’s new T Videotape Recorder—on hand was Ampex’s Alexander Poniatoff, up from the company’s sub¬ urban Redwood City plant. IX LONDON . . . Johnnie Ray topped the bill of Associated Television’s “Val Parnell’s Saturday Spectacular,” (24) . . . BBC-TV will launch a nationwide cam¬ paign next month- to find the woman .viewer with the best dreSS sense. The finals will be televised from London on Dec. 16 . Commercial tv will air church services on Sunday mornings commenc¬ ing Sept. 16 . . . “The Americano,” starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr., will be aired in three episodes by BBC-TV in the “Movie Museum” shows on Sat. <31>, Sept. 6 and Sept. 13. The picture was made in 1916 . . . “The Radio Show-,” organized by the Radio Industry Council, was opened at Earls Court, London yesterday (Tues.). Z,\ BOSTON ... WNAC-TV added 25 temporary accounts for duration on newspaper strike including ATC suburban theatres . . . Joanne M. Renzi trans¬ ferred from WNAC-TV production to publicity-advertising , . . WNAC staffer feted Olga Mailoi, commercial copy chief, at Yendome dinner for upcoming marriage to John Scanlon Sept. 14 . . . Frank Luther, J Yankee public affairs dir., spoke at Rotary Club, Hingham . . , Louise Morgan, WNAC-TV personality, off on vacash . . . WORL featuring George Clarke, Record nitery columnist, commentary at 7:30 p.m. daily . . . WBZ-WBZA planning “World’s Largest Clambake” at Plymouth Sept. 15. . WBZ giving away 5,000 cuffo tickets . . . WNAC headlining news twice a day on Donnelly billboard on Boston Common and window of Boston Five Cents Saving Bank . . , Thelma Prescott in for presen¬ tation of U. S. information film at Children’s Theatre, Tufts . . . WEEI’s Priscilla Fortescue taping interviews with strawhat stars . . . Joe Cullinane* promosh mgr. WEEI, issuing bulletins during news¬ paper strike ... Joe Levine setting up dry run for WHDH-TV, new Channel 5 tv new-s and film setup . . . Norm Ziegler, WHDH courier, doubling at WGBH-TV with newscasts and production . . , Huh radio stations still getting bonanza on advertising with Boston newspapers conked out. IN CLEVELAND ... Tom Fields, veteran KYW-KYW-TV newscaster, leaves for WRCV news berth ... Ed Clarke named flack for Cleveland Play House WDOK now doing 16 hours of FM music . . . Eddie Lane named sports director of WKST-TV when it opens next month . . . Stuart Buchanan back at McCann-Erickson after surgery . . , Milt Widder, Cleveland Press, general chairman of Press Club’s “Page One Ball” ... Chuck Bloom, ex-KLAC-TV, named KYW-TV operations supervisor . . . Tom Haley succeeds Joe Finan on KYW-TV’s daily “Cash on the Line” . . . Jack Foley, WEWS, joined Cleveland Transportation . . . WTTG went on the air headed by Joel Rosenblum, Nick Barry manager, Dick Sho- lem, commercial manager . . . Louise Tkacs, KYW news, off to Europe . . . Irene. Myer, WDOK entry, named “Miss Cleveland” . . . Frank Shaw, Cfeveland Play House, subbing for Paul Orgill on “Jungle” . . . Bob Keenan exiting KYW announcing for Pittsburgh. IN MINNEAPOLIS . . . KSTP donated initial $1,000 and is soliciting contributions over the air for family of Minneapolis policeman slain by bandits . . . WDGY disk jockey Bill Bennett profiled in August TV Radio Mirror . . . Na¬ tional Telefilm Associates negotiating for purchase of .local KMGM- TV of which Metro pictures owns 25% and which is committed to heavy schedule of latter’s feature films. Another local tv station, WTCN, recently acquired by Time, is NTA network affiliate here and is show¬ ing the 20th-Fox oldies, so that if the NTA KMGM-TV deal materializes two local competing video stations will be thrown together in a strange way . . . Lee Boyan promoted from WDGY salesman to account execu¬ tive . . . Larry Haeg, WCCO Radio general manager, back at desk after a fortnight northern Minnesota vacation . . . WTCN-TV-AM promoted Joseph Kahnke from chief engineer to director of engineer for both tv and radio and Walter Fritze from assistant to chief engineer . . . WCCO-TV exclusively teleyised St. Paul Open Golf Tournament in which some of nation’s top golfers competed for $20,000 cash prizes while WCGO Radio broadcast the Cincinnati NX.-Detroit A.L. exhibi¬ tion baseball game, both programs having sponsors ... Bob-West, former M-G-M script writer and story analyst, resigned from Reid H. Ray Films here to join WTCM-TV-AM as announcer, IN DETROIT ... Preview of the closely-guarded new Edsel automobile was the feature, in color, of the “Jac. LeGoff News Show” on WJBK-TV at 11 p.m. Monday (26). Edsel is the first of the 1958 models to be previewed on the show just prior to their public showings. This is the second year LeGoff has given viewers an advance peek at the new cars . . . WJBK- TV personalities who will participate in the 1957 Michigan State Fair opening parade and will originate their shows from the Fair are Chuck Bergeson, host of “Ladies Day,” Jac LeGoff, newscaster; Dr. Everett Phelps, weatherman,- Betty Bahr, weathergirl, and “Sagebrush Shorty,” western movie emcee ... A new series of photographic slides featuring Detroit landmarks are being used for WJBK-TV station identification breaks. Among the landmarks being highlighted are the Port of De¬ troit, Ford Auditorium, Veterans Memorial Building, the new City- County Building, Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Boston Broadcasters Continued from page 24 ; Additional newscasts and flash bulletins are aired from WVDA’s Thunderbird mobile unit. WBZ stepped up its newscasts on its music shows to every 15 mins. WEEI, with Charlie Ashley] heading up a special news gather¬ ing unit, issued news summaries throughout daily airtime. While radio began bearing down to cope with the situash, complaints were rife from advertisers and pub-| lie. Costs of radio., and tv adver-j tising were cited as “prohibitive” by smaller business firms. News] News seekers dialjng the knobs i complained newscasts were rep_eti-| rive. Radio station Staffs were trying to cope with thousands of telephone calls asking all kinds of news ques- 5 OUT OF TOP 5 syndicated shows - - Wl ,N 0 D ESSA. TEXAS #1 MAN CALLED X (#8 among top networJfshows) 33.5 #2HIGHWAY PATROLS'SS"* 33.3 #3 MEN OF ANNAPOLIS 32.0 #4 MY FAVORITE STORY #5 SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE 31.8 31.3 ZIV TELEVISION PROGRAMS INC. tions. Several radio station execu¬ tives commented the situation was “a nuisance with which We have to live.” One pointed out, "radio is. not geared for this type of operation, and, as has been proven in other cities where newspaper strikes were called cannot by any stretch of the imagination take the place of daily newspapers.” Disk jocks were hard pressed to keep their platters going and to weave in all the extra commercials. The air was replete with bloopers, particluarly on names of theatres, attractions and stars, from the disk jock show. Disk jocks, who. are carrying the extra burden of announcing de¬ partment store, theatre, automobile and furniture store blurbs plus news, are finding the going rough. ‘Masquerade Parly’ Switching to ABC-TV "Masquerade Party,” which bows out at NBC-TV next Wednesday (4),‘ has been taken oved by ABC- TV, which 1 • is peddling the show for a 7:30 p.m. time slot on Mon¬ days. It was sponsored on NBC-TV Wednesday nights by Max Factor and Five-day Deoderant. Move to Shutter Cleve. Radio, TV, Filins on Sunday ; Cleveland, Aug. 27. Court action to force all fadio and television stations as well as film houses to close one day a week under Ohio’s archaic Blue Law is being initiated by James Salanci, president of Free Enterprise, Inc. Salanci, Cleveland furniture dealer, is opposed to the 80-year- old law, but formed Free Enter¬ prise in an effort to head off Sun¬ day, Inc., a group that has, by court action, forced several suburban bakeries to close on Sunday. Ohio’s law stipulates that busi¬ ness, employing anyone over 14 years of age, be closed on the Sabbath, either Saturday or Sun¬ day. Salanci contends Sunday, Inc. favors big business, has.religious overtones—denied by Sunday, Inc. —and that either “everybody obey the law or nobody has to obey it.” Sunday, Inc., directed by Harvey Yoder and the Rev. B. Bruce White- more, both of the Church Federa¬ tion, maintain that “as long as the law is on the books it should be enforced," but they have not moved against restaurants, movies, etc. Salanci, a Catholic, was rejected by Cleveland’s chief police prose¬ cutor (22) when he sought warrants against radio and television sta¬ tions, Republic Steel, the Plain . Dealer, etc., for remaining open on Sunday. Prosecutor Conway said Salanci did not have evidence. Salanci is scheduled to appear this week in the county prosecu¬ tor’s office with documentary proof that KYW, KYW-TV, WGAR, WERE, Plain Dealer and other key industries operate seven-days a week. He has photographed those businesses (25) operating. “If they are found guilty,” said Salanci, “we’ll pay their $50 fines, but we are out to prove that the law is ridiculous in this day of op¬ eration with the economic forces and recreational demands of. our Society.” Salanci added that action will be' taken against all stations, and then “we’ll move against the movies, the Plain Dealer, gasoline stations and all. Either everyone closes one day a week or everyone is permitted to stay open.” NBC Rate Card Continued from page 23 —^ tion’s actual compensation for the first quarter of this year and divid¬ ing into this, the number of com¬ pensation units for each station, as converted from paid hours after waived hours. With this formula plus incentive payments for in¬ creased volume, the network antici¬ pates that stations will he receiv¬ ing at least as much and possibly more under the new formula than under the old compensation setup, with considerably less bookkeep¬ ing. Formula has already been ap¬ proved by the NBC Affiliates Ex¬ ecutive Committee and has been mailed to affiliates. Chase Bank uni many offiert'