Variety (July 1958)

58 BADIO-TEfJiVISIOX Variety Wednesday, July 2, 1958 Parlayed Into L.A. Success Story Hollywood, July 1. Any doubts that an alert, fast- : from the scene are then combined ! into a news flash that can run from I one to four or five minutes that’s moving news operation can pay j cut into regular programming off in independent radio, stations’ [ immediately. operation have been dispelled here by KMPC. the Gene Autry-Bob Reynolds indie which since insti¬ tuting an elaborate newsgathering setup has jumped from third place in the Los Angeles market into a Each unit—two are panel trucks* third is Forward’s own car (he goes out to cover stories too* to spell the others)—have three receivers and a transmitter, along with port¬ able tape machines, extension microphones and various gear such rieck-and-neck race for first with las rainwear, firefighting wear, traditional leader KNX. the CBS (flares, etc. Two receivers get the a&o here i police and sheriff’s broadcasts. Nor is a "top 40 tunes" formula i and the transmitter are necessary for successful indie op- j direct shortwave channels to the eration. with KMPC eschewing | station on frequency especially the rock ’n’ rollers and giving its i assigned by the FCC Mobile re- dee jays a broad musical base on ; P^ter can talk to virtually anyone which to operate. The KMPC form ■ at the station via the radio, can do ula consists of three ingredients,; a R ye broadcast from the unit, and good music, community service— i can transmit a tape hes already which means news, editorials and J made either live or into master free community affairs plugs—and • control for retaping and subse-r sports. Latter comprises Los An- j quent airing. Latter feature means geles Dodgers ballgames, and in; he doesn’t have to return to the. the fall, the L. A. Rams grid tilts ( station with his tape. But it’s the news operation, ai On the editorializing side, Autry unique setup that employs three ; an d Reynolds make the decisions mobile units constantly cruising; on issues and copy, and it’s deliv- the city and Los Angeles County ’ ered anonymously by Forward in and furnished with every conceiv-1 one-minute spots that are broad- able type of communications equip-] cast on a saturation schedule for ment. that has provided the fat | two or three days at a time, then payoff for KMPC. For it was only j repeated a week or so later, again a year ago th^L the station began. on a saturation basis. Station is: using the units: it started editorial- credited with getting the legisla- izing last October; and since that ture to pass a school bus safety time it’s had its dramatic rise in • law, following the crash of a audience and public favor. . [ bus last fall. Its support on a police ■■ . I bond issue was also a factor in ‘News m Nutshell’ Show X getting it passed. A news staff of nine-r-full and . In the quasi-editorial pubservice parttime—turns out 22 regular five- '• field, w hen the Salvation Army minute newscasts, a day, along with, reported* during last year’s Malibu 22 quickie “news in a nutshell” j forest fires* that the firefighters shows* but station also breaks in! ■weren’t getting anything to eat, to any and all programming with! station appealed for sandwiches news featuring on-the-spot reports [ anc j the response was hundreds of from its mobile units as it occurs [ thousands of sandwiches delivered (see separate boxh Units also , to strategic depots. More recently, break in with quickies on road con- • a series of announcements on the ditions, particularly during rush availability of a pamphlet on child hours. : molesters published by the sheriff’s News setup, under program 1 office drew a. response of 300,000 director Bob Forward and news ; or more requests. During last win- director Hugh Brundage, employs i ter’s floods, station helped set up the usual sources, the press associa-; a control center for the sheriff!§ tion and city news wires, and fre^ j office. quent use of beeper phone, even [ Net result of ail this (and an ad- overseas calls. But it also monitors ; ditional community identity via the L.A. Police Dept radio, the j the Dodger ballcasts) has been a Sheriff and Highway Patrol and ; fat payoff in terms Of community For Its Dedication . Louisville, July 1. WAVE-TV and radio will air. an original opera commissioned by the station at the dedication of its new. building next year. : Station will spend $25,000 on the produc¬ tion, which will be produced and recorded by the Kentucky Opera Assn., local amateur group. Direc¬ tor is Moritz Bomhard, who heads a committee to select the composer of the new opera. . Announcement of the project was made by WAVE Inc. headed by prez George W. Norton Jr. Sta¬ tion hopes to find a unique way of celebrating the opening of the new building; and also of aiding Louis¬ ville; in keeping its national and in¬ ternational reputation as a cultural Center. According to Norton, this rep was greatly aided by outside capital which was given generously in the hope that it would spark the interest and enthusiasm of lo¬ cal Organizations, institutions or in¬ dividuals to continue ' the town’s cultural endeavors after outside support, ends, by sponsoring and commissioning; producing,, perform¬ ing and recording of an opera. Hollywood. July 1. Graphic illustration of how KMPC’s mobile news fleet operates (see separate -story) was afforded a Variety reporter last week, when, as program manager Bob Forward was shewing the Variety man through the newsroom,, a report came in over the Los Angeles Police Dept, monitor calling on all units to aid an FBI agent in pursuit of an Azusa bankrobber on the Santa Ana Freeway. Forward and the Variety man hopped into one of the mobile units—in this case Forward’s own completely equipped car—and scrambled down the Freeway. Meanwhile, KMPC news editor Chet Casselman had gotten the FBI office on the phone, arid learned that the agent had caught the robber at a freeway inter¬ change and now had him in captivity at Union Station. He trans¬ mitted this info via the mobile unit’s own shortwave channel, and Forward drove up to Union Station, where he Spotted the robber’s car by its description and an FBI car next to it. Forward pulled out the portable tape unit in the car and got an exclusive interview with the FBI agent who had captured the suspect. Heathen plugged his tape unit into the car’s transmitter after first (contacting station’s' mastercontrol and Casselman, then transmitted the tape, which was copied at the station. Meanwhile, Casselman had written a news lead which was to precede the tape. As soon as Forward finished transmitting the tape, he turned on his regular radio, and following a record* the news flash and the interview were put on the air. Forward was the first newsman to arrive, arid reporters and cameramen were just pulling up as he completed the interview. Only 25 minutes had elapsed since he had left the studio; only 65 minutes since the actual holdup. On the way back to the station. Forward also did a live cutin to a disk show with a freeway traffic report, just so the trip wouldn’t be a total loss. the city and county fire dept, com¬ munications. As a local story that looks hot comes over the wire or official radio, the news editor in charge of the newsroom will com¬ municate directly with the mobile prestige,for the station- It’s gotten to the point where the highway patrol* for example, has asked, co¬ operation of the station in giving descriptions of hit-run vehicles, and where listeners phone in tips BRITISH TV’S 98G TO SADLER’S WELLS .London, July 1. Sadler’s Wells Opera Co. is to receive $98,000 from ABC-TV oyer the next seven years—with no strings attached... Money will be given in sums of $14,000 a year “in appreciation of the. consider¬ able contribution that Sadler’s Wells Opera has made to the mu¬ sical world, which; will eventually be reflected in television's own musical programs.” Apart from the gist, the pro-: grammers: have also offered the Sadler’s Wells Trust full coopera¬ tion through the medium of its recording and "tv facilities. The web hofres.its example will be fol¬ lowed by others, A. couple of months back the opera, company went through a stormy : passage, when, , because of financial difficulties it was V pro¬ posed that it should merge with the Carl Rosa opera company. . The proposal met with .strong disap¬ proval from members and three of the Wells .'directors, resigned. When the idea was quashed all. were reinstated. Money troubles stem from the complaint that the Arts , Council's annual grant of $420,000 is insufficient. unit nearest the scene and direct: on stories. Most important, from him there, meanwhile calling via > the practical standpoint, it’s been phone to get official details. The j good business because it has and is details and the on-the-spot report ; delivering audience. HAVE MENTAL RADIO;. WILL TRAVEL Request Producers, Agents and Casting Directors who have been transmitting Stage Calls to me by Mental Telepathy to please use , Western Union or write to me, 6326 Lexington Avenue, * Hollywood 38, Calif. Thanks | Character and Dead Pan ! Comedian Little Theatre experience 3-D Network ; Continued from -page 1 that Warner and his; tv chief* Wil¬ liam Orr, have accomplished more quality in. the shows, they have made to date than any other major studio. Selection of indie stations to be | invited into -the new 3-D network Will, be made 'by. Dimensional Broadcasting Co. prexy' Frederick j Pittera,: largest single stockholder ( in the Mutual Broadcasting Sys- I tem. .First stations invited to join ! will he WOR-TV, N. Y., and KHJ- TV, L. A., both (owned by General Tire & Rubber, headed by Tom O’Neil. . '' DBC’s programming will take in a first. run feature 'picture per night, surrounded by well balanced weekly scheduled series, including six one-hour, musical variety shows; | six one-hour dramatic shows; four i “shocker” mellers; three 30-minute [ westerns; a 30-minute daily news J and commentary show with news- reel inserts, and a 15-minute daily sports commentary with sports personality interviews. The net¬ work will also bid for L!A. Dodgers and San Francisco Giants to tele¬ cast ballgames from the Coast live in 3-D. , Dimensional Broadcasting Co. is 1: being ^set up as a subsid of Dimen- X siorial pictures Corp. Financing ‘ of the new web and its. film pro-. ! auctions is. being arranged by Ed¬ ward V. Otis, partner of the . Wall St. brokerage firm of Gearhart & Otis Inc., underwriters of some 47 companies including DuMont Labs and Cinerama,. Toronto, Montreal Still Major Bases Despite Cross-Canada TV Trek Ottawa, July l.V Nothing new in production . is likely to result from the existence of the trans-Canada microwave tel¬ evision network due to open today (1). according to . the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s general man¬ ager, Alphonse Ouimet. He told j a closed-circuit press conference j in 10 cities that the coast-to-coast web’s major service would be to permit the corporation to. air “live” many items it; must telefilm, kine¬ scope or tape now. CBC will use magnetic television (picture) tape on the new web at a relay station in Calgary where eastern shows will be delayed for airing at regu¬ lar schedule times, in western areas. Several reporters located in the 10 cities on the closed-circuit con¬ ference, arranged to herald the new trans-continental network con¬ necting stations nearly 4,000. miles across Canada; asked if the im¬ proved facilities wouid bring about such innovations as diversity In origination of dramatic or variety shows, Ouimet indicated that CBC’s production was; likely to continue being centered in Toronto (for English) and Montreal (French), Technical quality of the closed- circuit conference was excellent. To demonstrate !he versatility of the 4,000-mile-long network, car¬ ried by 139 microwave towers and constructed jointly by CBC and the Trans-Canada Telephone Sys¬ tem, one gimmick, showed four stations (Halifax, ^Toronto, Winni¬ peg, Vancouver) on the screen at the same time, with CBC switch¬ board girls .giving the city names on \the quartered screen. CBC has scheduled a giant documentary airer to preem the web on July 1, Canada’s official birthday. Classman, Bilson Greensboro, N. C.—A $156,000 administration building Is being constructed at. Raleigh for WRAL- TV. The new building will be con¬ nected with the present studios by a causeway. The building is ex¬ pected to be completed by fail. Duke Goldstone is ankling Guild Films as executive producer. The telefilm company, which re¬ cently changed managements, is now searching, for a new produc¬ tion chief. John Cole. Guild prexy, said that Goldstone has teamed with George Bilson and the two of them are delivering to Guild a pilot for a new half-hour series. “The New¬ lyweds.” The stanza, which will be pitched at advertisers for a net¬ work start in January, is being penned, by Arnie Rosen and Cole¬ man Jacoby, and Bilson is said to be in the process of signing a name performer for the lead. Guild’s deal with, the Bilson- Goidstone; combo is the second that has been filmed. Cole has definite plans to prepare pilots on another eight half-hoUr series, all of which will be aimed at January launching. Second of the firm stanzas is "Smoke Bellew,” based on the Jaek ; London yarns and described by Cole as an "Alaskan ‘Gun- smoke’." Contract was inked with Barney Classman’s Jack London Productions. Pilots will be shot by Septem¬ ber, according to Guild. THEY LOVE ME IN Contact: RICHARD A. HARPER, General Sal.t Mgr, MGM-TV, a tervice of Loew't Incorporated\ 1540 Broadway, How York 36, H. Y. • JUdton 2-2000