Variety (June 1958)

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42 RAl»I4»-1VLEVISIO?r Wednesday, June 18, 1958 Pitt’s Parlay ; Continued from page ^ ; case (although locally they'll tell you Art Pallan is no slouch either). Cordic, of course, has had it made for ye^rs, even unto recording practically everybody’s commer¬ cials in town, bu now he’s spread¬ ing his wings, w^ith his initial RCA Victor kidisk ^‘Omicron and the Sputnik” Widening his groove of operations. True, KQV, w'ith its Storz-like format, has been let¬ ting off sparks of late, but KDXA can still flaunt that ‘‘Main En¬ trance” tag on Pitt’s oveFali AM tent. However, it’s perhaps in the FM area where KDKA is today making its most unique contribution, and a sizeable segment of the Pitt me¬ tropolis is rooting for program chieftain Guy Harris* ambitions to create a new kind of excitement ] with provocative talk and music , (60*10 of which is longhair). Ex¬ actly 37 years after KDKA went on the air as America’s first radio station, Harris on Nov, 2, ’57 of¬ ficially inaugurated the “FM era” with a threerhour stereo show and the pattern of nqn-dupUcating pro¬ gramming, with the adjunct on the air from 4 p.m. to midnight (only baseball gets a simulcast, but eventually this too will be dropped from FM)^ The results have been so heartening that- the KDKA FM concept is now being applied to the WBC stations in Portland, Boston and Cleveland, all utilizing identical libraries as blueprinted by HarriSi The WBC management is play¬ ing it slow but sure on FM. Un¬ like N.Y. or L.A., it’s something new ~for Pitt (an FM-only band geared for taste) and Harris is con¬ fident that the future will be rosy. The concept is “great music and great talk" and the news segments. but practically is anonj'mous, And apparently he prefers it that way. Long ago . he ruled out any sug¬ gestion of a, move to the bigger broadcast centres of li. A. or Goth-, including au in-depth 10-minute, am, basically because he functions daily probing, has already excited best in environs that are not so community interest. There’s eyeh cosmopolite or blase. Besides, he a restriction on advertisers (‘Sye finds Chi to be a hub of the greater won’t peddle tomatoes’^ and the.gj.g^5j.QQ^ of the nation. THIS TOOTHPASTE TASTES GOOD WGN-TY; oorhmercialf get results because WSN-TV prograrnming keeps •folk* watching. For proof, let oiir ipeciafists fill you in on some WSN-TV ca$e his- foriei and discuss your sales problems. in your Chicogo sales with Penn-Sheraton, Time mag, West- inghduse Co. (for dash, not book¬ keeping) biUingst reflect ; the in¬ stitutional‘ype pitches the FM band is going after. Coiitinaed fr6m,pase 23 , ,, » -isit to the New York World’s Fair V. here he saw the infant me¬ dium tlemonstrated. Upon his re¬ turn to Me:dc6 City, he bought 12,000 fnefres of land in one of the poorer sections of tovvn.. He fig¬ ured, at that time, that he would need live audiences for many of his shows in order to. maintain a theatrical atmosphere. The poor* he felt, would be glad to come in and be amused by spine of the top theatrical figures at no cost to them, and at the same time would not cut into his film revenues. This figuring has paid off hand¬ somely. 'The audiences that come in are responsive anA cooperative, and appear at all hours, even for the shows around midnight. Another factor that worked to the advantage of . the Mexican film, radio and television industry w^as the. end of the Spanish Civil War , in 1936 when scores of Spanish ac- tpi*s, writers, technicians, artists, composers, etc., sought refuge from Spain in Mexico. The local industry’s artistic levels were raised tremendously. These emigres, in turn, helped develop the rprter of native arti^s, Luis . de Llano, the network’s program manager, was one of the exiles from Spain. The radio indurtryi particularly, was given a tremendous cultprel lift at that time, Avhich it has been able to transmit to video and some sec- tioiis of the film field as wtU. The XEW-'rV network is in the process of expansion,.. Within a year, it is hoped to haVe 12 sta¬ tions, with new transmitters to be spotted in Guadalajara, Yucatan, Acapulco and Vera Cruz into, .what will be billed as the Telertsteraa Mexicana. For McNeill, “Breakfast Club” has become an annuity. In 1950 he signed the first of the staggering longterm pacts in modern broad¬ casting annals, under which ABC has him committed to an active role through 1960. at least and in an optionally: inactive one consider¬ ably beyond that. His contract also grants him complete autonomy in the administration Of “Breakfast Club,” the right of refusal on prod¬ ucts, and eight weeks vacation a year. (McNeill is Ieaymg“BC” di¬ rectly after the anni broadcart for a four week respite in the country'.) POKibly the most significant thing^ that never happiened to the show, with regard to its longevity, is that it never enjoyed a big yogue at any single period of time. “BC” took slow root on radio and flour¬ ished linspectacularly ever since. People don’t talk about it as much as they do the topdog shows of the day, but there’s no question that they listen. The show has art aver¬ age radio audience of around 8.500,000 per week, in addition to a studio audience of between 250- 300 that files into the Porterhouse Room of Chi’s Sherman Hotel to wrteb it every dawning. NBC-UHF s: Continued from paeo 22 mated setback of about A1 >000,000. Facilities of the station . will be. offered for sale. 'We just couldn’t get a foothold in the. Buffalo market,” said one official. “Although conversions were up, total share of audiences were down. WBUF had less than 209’ of viewers In .spite of high ratings elsewhere through the country. UHF can’t compete in a VHF market.” NBC also anrtounced that a fiive-year projected survey indicated that with the bow-in of a third VHF station (Channel 7) here shortly, successful competi¬ tion for UHF is impossible in Western New York, Station Reps —^5 ContinUed.trom page 27 = cause there are. only i few stations willing to accept their deals. The Trade Practices Committee of the Station Representatives Assn., is behind the movement for a single rate. “The problem,” says SRA prexy Larry Webb, “is that' national adyertisers are seeking to. pay the local tariff and in some in¬ stances business which is hormally placed out of New York is being placed by the local dirtributors of national accounts. While w,e may hot be entirely: successful iu set¬ ting up the one rate policy vie are making an all out attempt tb bring the practice of some pper-- ators. :to^ the attention of the local station and we are also trying to define which accounts are entitled to which rales.” Frank Pellegrin, Veepee and a’ partner of H-R Representatives, stated that When he was a mem¬ ber of the National Assn., of Broadcasters many stations had as many as four different rate cards. Pellegrin says the local rate policy is an outgrowth of newspapers and is outdated. Continued from page 23 ^ the story. An agency source said that Y&R and ABC settled on 90 rninutes of airtime a day for sale to the agency’s pWn clients. Tirhe will, be in a solid, block. But so far, the actdal inking has not taken place.. : Adjacent time , periods on ABC- TV, the network, reports, are open for sale to’ other agencies. . There are advantages to the deal as the result of major conbessions report¬ ed on .both sides of the negotia¬ tions. IThe network will be getting into time periods that have never been sold by it before and the YAR business will be on a firm basis; the exact len^h of the pro¬ posed cycle is unkowti but the be¬ lief is that Y&R has guaranteed solid business for several weeks runhirtg—at least. • In turn, YAR. with its. large cli¬ ent lirt, will be getting substan¬ tive reductions in time charges and speculation is that, through buying lai-ge blocks of. talent. at once, it will also effect reductions in talent Gorts* . this way, Y&R can offer td' its clients pro^amming during the day which, bought by individu¬ al clients^ \yould cost considerably more. The lowering of the cost factor by buying this bundle- which was experted to exceed three hours of ABC-i'V.. a day,, udll enable the agency’s bankrollers to continue their sponsorships for long periods because of a well guaranteed cost- per-l .(WO saving. General Foods, it Is underrtood,; has already agreed: to participate in the deaL McNeiil ISSSi Continued from page 22 cachets; of HQlly>vood-New York show biz or the jgrand airs of celebrity. Ip Chicago, w'henCe the show priginates, McNeill is seldorn seen publicly, rarely , inakes the gossip columns, and has never been involved in ahrthing scandalous or exciting. For a celebrity in anamCr conscious city, he is not unsung. iSS Continued from page 27 ss program field, so that Screen Ac¬ tor's Guild interverition is not like^ ly. As= for commercials, advertisers are paying actors for. each reuse as with a live comniercial. Techrti- cian-wise» sta,tion already has an agreement granting yideotape jur:- isdictioh to . the IBEW, and this will extend to editing Of tape, even thougR the Ration has an lATSE film linlt./ ^ .• Thus far^ BBD&P has used the 'servicevfoir .a local client on an ex¬ perimental basis, but since nouncing';the service ]^n Lee has received extensive inquiries from indie producers; s^dicators and other ad agencies. • KMTV’MaycoPlan’In 10-Statioii Come-On For DepL Store Biz Omaha, June 17. Ten tv outlets thrpughout the country have purchased the “May- co Plan” syndicated package creat¬ ed by Dick Charles of KMTV for the J. L. Brandeis Co., this city’s biggest department store. . The “Mayco Plan” is an adver¬ tising-merchandising plan the sta¬ tion fashioned to induce depart¬ ment stores to advertise on ty on a long-term basis rather than, the usual spot campaign. When first introduced here, the plan not only increased sale of specific items televised but UPPed customer traf¬ fic in the store. Plan calls for advertisers to pur¬ chase minimum of 35 one-minute live spots per week on long-term contract. During peak daily view¬ ing times several numbered items are shown for viewers. KMTV mer¬ chandising dept, sends out spe¬ cially designed self-mailing tv mail order books to its viewing audi¬ ence. Books have Instructions for ordering items for sale during commercials. For audience incen¬ tive, each book contains a “Home Viewer Award” number and dur¬ ing. commercials Home Viewer Award numbers are flashed on the screen and holders of those books receive the items being displayed at the time. Stations that bought KMTV’s “Mayco Plan” include WVET, Rochester; KYW-TV, Cleveland; KFMB-TV, San Diego; KBTV. Den¬ ver; KYAR, Phoenix; CHCT, Cal- Gedar Rapids; WHO-TV, Des gary; KVTV, Sioux City; WMT-TV, Moines, and WSB-TV, Atlanta. London, June 17. The withdrawal of labor by pro¬ ducers and directors employed by all commercial ty . companies, threatened unless a settlement is reached on a new wages agree¬ ment, hai spread to their BBC-TV colleagues. The state web em¬ ployees are to seek a similar pay increase as soon as the indie tv dispute is settled. George Elvin, general secretary of the Association of Cine and Television Technicians, said: “Our aim is to get all tv producers and directors bn a minimum of $4,480 whenever they begin to take charge of programs on a studio UlOTr. We think it Is ridiculous Mhat these men who hold tv to¬ gether should be paid less.” After a recent meeting of com¬ mercial tv producers and directory the AGTT notified the Television Program Contractors Association that unless an amicable settlement was negotiated within six weeks from. Monday, Jiinei 2, the union could no longer be responsible for the aiction of its members. Dick Clark Finally Gets Pitt Expiosure Pittsburgh, June 17. pick Clark’s weekly networker out of New York is finally going to get a local outlet for the sum¬ mer. Philadelphia deejay’s pro-; gram is on ABC and that. web won’t have an affiliate in Pitts¬ burgh until Ch. 4, WTAE-TV, gets going next September. However, Ch. 2, CBS, and Ch. 11, NBCi have been picking up oc¬ casional ABC shows through the year and 11 has Inked the Clark half-hour for Saturday evenings at 6. on- kine ph a week’s delay. That time slot had been filled all sea¬ son by another ABCer, Sid Caesar, which was on a 13-day delay. Adams on NAB TV Board Washington, June 17. Dayid C. Adams, NBC exec v.p. for corporate relations, has lieen named to represent; NBC on the NAB tv board of ditectors. He re¬ places Framk M. Russell, who. has^ resigned, as NBC Washington vee¬ pee: PI A. (Buddy) Sugg, NBC y.P: In charge of . owned stations and spot sales, succeeds Adams as NBC rep¬ resentative bn the NAB radio bomrd of directors. Dallas—Barney L. Keinendb. has been named central division mana¬ ger for Interstate' Television Corp., and will make his headquarters here. BBCsle.Too’h CBSUpsRiggio Louis J. Riggio goes into the neWly-created post of director of sales administration for CBS Radio. He started with the network as a sales consultant last. spring. Previously he was a partner in the ad agency of Hilton and Riggio, Inc, In his new job he’ll work in net¬ work salte planning, including the fashioning of hew :program sales and packages. He’ll report to Ben Lochridge, national sales manager. A REAL ^DUTCH TREAT" leiMteM HmiLAtiCI filEEIR ^ <Sert. (1. S. iWJWrtCf S; VW JW Novelty $pn2 Material For TV: md Rodio Artitta Progroina lay MO A Limborgor Soodwieh (If You Lov# Me) Dor’I' ShoOf Tho lortoodor ( He’e Half Shot Now) I Rottlo My Rottlos (in Alice's Garden) TIm Stoglog l^saoH (ah ah ah ah ah a h ah) toko Yoar Hngor Oaf Of ” toar Mbath (I Wanna Kiss From You) ■Tko Godafo $oaf tbo Mofco Uho SoiHi ’ Job Sehasfor'Masle PabHabor .1674- arMSWay. New Yark t- Cl 7-0690 Announcihg PL 7-4300 THE PATTI PAGE SHOW to iteifibiirybuR qtpsMOBjit jpuburt 0^^