Variety (March 1959)

56 ra»h>-television KftmETT Wednesday, March 4, 195^ AD 3 TV Webs on Clock-Time Sked This Summer; FareweD to Hot Kines CBS-TV has resolved the prob-< lem of scheduling its Pacific Coast Network in a manner designed to gain approval of clients, viewers and most stations, j Effective April 27 with the start of daylight sav¬ ing, and permanently thereafter, CBS-TV will go on clock time on the Coast (they’re presently an hour behind Gotham, except on Sundays). This marks the first t'me all three webs will be operating on the Coast on clock time and marks the end of the hot kine period as far as the Coast is concerned. Unhappy over the new move are Los Angeles indies which in pre¬ vious years benefited considerably from the confusion surrounding de¬ layed broadcasts. In fact, they’re already hurting due to the order that tape has brought to web sched¬ uling and it is expected that the CBS-TV move will pinch them still harder. William H. Hylan, veep of sales administra'.ion of CBS-TV, in¬ formed clients and agencies of the upcoming move, also telling them that - “our mutual interests will benefit through a ‘clock time’ schedule which will give the Coast viewer an 8 o’clock network pro¬ gram at 8 local time rather than at some other hour. “During our period of experi¬ ment and, more recently during our discussions with affiliated sta¬ tions on the Coast, we discovered that daytime programming devel¬ oped problems making difficult a complete diversion to ‘clock time.’” Hylan said. “Therefore, the Coast schedule during the daylight hours Monday-to-Fridav has been com¬ promised, sensibly, by retention of ‘Chicago Time’ up to noon. Pacific Time, and by adoption of ‘clock time’ thereafter. “Accordingly, starting April 27, all commercial programs prior to 1 pjn. (NYT) will be released by the Pacific Network one hour ear¬ lier, local time, than i s release in N.Y., that is 10 a.nr. Pacific Time for an 11 a.m. N.Y. time program. Network programming 1 p.m. (NYT) and thereafter will be re¬ leased by the Coast on a ‘clock time’ basis 1 p.m. for 1 p.m. and so on.” Northwest, however, will con¬ tinue to be a problem because sta¬ tions in this area do not, tradition¬ ally, observe daylight saving, con¬ sequently outlets in this area will keep “Chicago Time” schedule throughout the summer. CBS-TV affiliates in this area will* start. on “clock time” basis Sunday, Sept 27. Hylan made it clear that the only exceptions to the new sched¬ ule will be the telecasting of live shows such as pro football, base¬ ball game of the week. Masters’ Golf, etc. Like the other webs, CBS-TV won’t charge its affiliates for video tape operation necessary to deliver delayed network telecasts. William B. Lodge, veep of affiliate relations and engineering, .assured, stations that the web did not expect its affiliates to pick up- any of the ex¬ penses involved in extensive video tape operation underway. NBC’s Wm. McAndrew. On Cross-Country Junket William R. McAndrew, veep of NBC News, leaves tomorrow (Thurs.) for a two-week cross¬ country biz trip with first stop in Washingtpn. On the Coast he’ll be joined by St. ~ .1-/ . who’s been ; r- -r*—> ipco conventions for NBC News. They’ll gander facilities for the 1960 Demo¬ cratic party huddle. McAndrew also will look in on La» Vegas, scene of the April 19 hour-long “space special” to be sponsored by General Motors. He also has a date in Chicago with NBC News Central Division per¬ sonnel before returning East. KLOG'S 60S BUY Hollywood, March 3. Radio station KLOG, in Kelso, Wash., has been purchased for $60,- 000 by James D. Higson, local KHJ-TV program director. Higson will remain at his KHJ- TV post while operating station through a representative. ‘Manie’s Friends’ TV Spec As RCA Victor Album To Swell Memorial Fund McCann-Erickson’s C. Terence Clyne ordered special taping equip¬ ment to put “Some of Manie’s Friends” ultimately on wax as an RCA Victor album. A second LP may also emerge from last night’s NBC-TV 90-minute salute to the memory" of the former NBC-RCA veepee, based on some of the in¬ dividual songs from among the all- star talents participating. The complete roster last night had Dinah Shore emceeing from the Coast and Perry Como dittoing from New York. The LP proceeds from the one or both albums would go to the Emanuel Sacks Foundation of the Albert Einstein Memorial Hospital, Philadelphia. The telecast basi¬ cally will yield $200*000 to the Sacks memorial fund, donated by the agency which is waving all fees and commissions and the talent which is donating its fees below the line. Besides Como, Sid Caesar and Rosemary Clooney participated from New York. From the Coast, either live or via tape (because of the many farflung commitments by some of the stars, either in Las Vegas, Miami Beach or, as in the case of Debbie Reynolds, on loca¬ tion in Spain > the participant's in¬ cluded Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, Jane Wyman. Tony Martin. Nat King Cole, Betty Grable & Harry James, Kay Starr, Bob Hope and Danny Thomas. ! The NBC time costs $125,000 and ; the below-the-line charges total $375,000 from which musicians, choreographers et al. are paid and from which the $200,000 is de¬ ducted for the Sacks Fund. Incidentally, the national press, plus Time mag which plans a spe¬ cial piece this week on Sacks, sparked to “this great unknown who seemingly attracted so many celebrities.” Several queried Vabiety on the who, what and why of Sacks’ postmortem “hold on all these people.” NBC made yesterday’s telecast a VIP invitation affair on both Coasts. Clyne planed to the Coast to supervise the dominant orig¬ ination point. Huntley-Briukley News Grubs Off Sponsor Com Flock of new biz came into NBC- TV studios this week with Kemper Insurance Co-. placing order with “NBC News-Huntley-Brinkley Re¬ port” and R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, Sterling Drug and Carter Products upping their schedules on the same show. Kemper \.IA r.jcuac,* ‘ „.AC News” Tuesdays over 10-week period, starting immediately., Rey¬ nolds’ upped schedule means spon¬ sorship of 10 additional programs over five-week period while Sterl¬ ing ordered six more alternate- Thursday shows. Carter Products decided on two additional al- ternate-Monday programs this j month. NTA SS Continued from page 23 which, other than those previously mentioned include “Montavani,” “Flying Doctor,” and “Adventures of Sea Hawk,” latter two Gross- Krasne properties. Whenever feasible, NTA will in¬ troduce one property at a time In syndication, a system in practice at most major telefilm syndication houses. If there’s an overlap, a special task force will handle the second property. First taped show to hit the syn¬ dication will be Peter Potter’s “Juke Box Jury,” followed by “Bishop Sheen,” and then David Susskind’s “Open End.” Other taped shows in the hopper include wrestling from Minneapolis, Alex¬ ander King, Henry Morgan and Mike Wallace interviews* JOHN CROSBY SHIFT REPORTED ON TAP Final answer on whether the N. Y. Herald Tribune’s tv critic John Crosby will be able to broad¬ en the scope of his column is due within a week or two at most. Chances are very good for an ex¬ pansion by Crosby, of whom there was talk eight months ago that he’d be indulging in anything and everything apart from video. Paper has granted its permission, and the syndicate carrying the Crosby column is said ready to go along with the fundamental shift in emphasis. At the moment, the columnist is working on a new name for the column and the other technicalities going with a change. Once the Trib editors have o.o.’d the physical layout and given their okay, there is apparently nothing to stop Crosby from dealing with any subject he finds provocative. Zenith Profits Dp 48% in /58 Chicago, March 3. Zenith Radio Corp. enjoyed a 48% increase in profits and 22% gain in volume in 1958, make that a record year for sales and earn¬ ings. So prexy Hugh Robertson declares in a preliminary report to stockholders. Net income topped $12,009,000, or $12.30 a share, vis-a-vis its 1957 mark of $8,165,577, or $8.29 a share. Sales soared from over $160,000,000 in 1957 to more than $195,000,000 in 1958. Robertson said the first quarter of the present year is shaping into another record breaker. Mark Twain Study A la Lincoln TV’er For ‘Project 20’ Don Hyatt is prepping a “Project 20” show on the life and times of Mark Twain similar in format to the recently-produced “Meet Mr. Lincoln” on NBC-TV. Telecast date hasn’t been set. Hyatt, who heads up NBC Spe¬ cial Projects operation, will use the still picture animation techni¬ que in combination with new film to be shot on location in Hannibal, Mo., Mississippi River, at Twain home in Hartford, Conn., in Nevada and other Western states where the author worked. Twain production, one hour in length, will take six months to ma¬ terialize. Don Jones, chief re¬ searcher on project, left .Monday (2) in search for pictures. Hyatt will produce and direct and Rich¬ ard Hauser, who scripted Lincoln show, will do likewise on Twain program. Arthur Scourby will narrate and Robert Russell Ben¬ nett will do music. 20-Market TV Sports Spec for Tidewater Oil Hollywood, March 3. Tidewater Oil will sponsor a 60- minute color spec saluting the west’s top sports personalities over a western regional network on NBC-TV March 15. Barry Shear has been set by the web to produce and direct the spec, which will reach a total of 20 western markets. Shear has lined up Willie Shoe¬ maker, Greata Andersen, John Ar¬ nett, Rafer Johnson, Jimmy Bryan and Alex Olmedo thus far to re¬ ceive the honors, and Esther Wil¬ liams, Joe E. Brown, Jack Garson and Roy Rogers are already set to make the presentations. The spec will be beamed to 20 markets, air¬ ing in Los Angeles March 12 and being taped at that time for a March 15 feed to all but five other cities, which will carry a delayed b.vadcast. Foote, Cone & Belding agency set the deal. Honolulu — Fin Hollingerv exec v.p. of Radio Hawaii and general manager of station KPOA, has re¬ signed because of what he termed “a sharp disagreement with operat¬ ing policies being dictated by New York principals” of Founders Corp. He’s managed the station for eight years. TV Radio Production Centers j Continued from page 28 aa—^j tional Children . . . Earl Kramer, former publicity director at WISN- WISN-TV, Milwaukee, switched to sales force of competing indie, WITI-TV. in boston ... WNAC-TV, Channel 7, marking 25th anni of Yankee Network News Service and highlighted actual date Sunday (1) with interviews of Le- •land C. Bickford, editor in chief; Norman Knight, prexy; and George W. Steffy, exec veep, Yankee Div. RKO Teleradio Pictures; on “Yankee Camera,” with Roy Leonard doing the interviews. Yankee Network News Service went on the air at 7 a.m., March 1, 1934 . . . Louis Lyons, WGBH-TV, nabbed Nat. Freedoms Foundation Medal award for “Es¬ sentials of Freedom” tv series developed and distributed by Nat. Edu¬ cational Television net . . . Norm Ziegler promoted from continuity to national sales dept, at WHDH-TV .... Frank Luthur, WNAC-TV personality, nabbing new sponsor Old Mother Hubbard Dog and Cat Food for his “Frank Luthur Show”. . . WJAR-TV, Providence, bought a package of art films and kicks off with “The Red Shoes” . . . Louise Morgan, WNAC-TV personality, guesting Helena Carroll and Brendan O’Reilly of the Irish Players ... Curt Gowdy guesting sports person¬ alities on his “Curt Gowdy Show” on WHDH-TV with the 17-year-old B. U. freshman, John Thomas of the 7-ft. high jump, skedded. IN WASHINGTON ... Art Lamb left WRC-TV effective Monday (2) to join Larrabee and Associates, ad and p.r. firm, with Mac McGarry taking over Lamb’s “In Our Town” daily week days tv show . . . Chicken pox didn’t bar Herb Davis from carrying on his ARL d.j. shou*; he broadcast from his bed . . . Felix Grant (“Mr. Jazz”) radio show on WMAL has been ex¬ panded from one hour to four-and-a-half , . . WWDC reports 1.000 winners in a single week for its “Pick Hit” stunt, inviting listeners to guess the next week’s top disk . . . WMAL-TV has arranged to bring Rin-Tin-Tin, Jim Brown (Lt. Rip Masters on the show) and Lee Aaker (CpI. Rusty) here to be “grand marshals” of ’59 National Cherry Blos¬ som Parade . . . Pa tsp Cline, Decca disker, has joined Don Owens “TV Jamboree”, on WTTG-TV . . . Vacationing in Florida is WWDC’s Art Brown. IN LONDON ... Norman Hoskins moves into Associated-Rediffusion on March 30 as press officer, working und€r Brian Begg. Hoskins quits Associated Television, where he’s in the press room specializing on the light en¬ tertainment side, on March 22 . . . Southern TV has skedded an* eye¬ witness report for Monday (9« on Prime Minister Macmillan’s Russia visit from Cyril Ray, being the only local web to send a man to cover the trip ... “A Life Of Bliss” comedy show next Wednesday (11) on BBC Home Service is the 100th to he aired . . . BBC-TV has signed Scottish comedian Jimmy Logan to an exclusive 12-month contract, with option. Main plan is to feature him in a skein of Saturday eve¬ ning “Jimmy Logan Shows” at two-week intervals . . . Series of “Dick¬ ie Henderson Half Hour” shows now being telerecorded at Wembley Studios by Jack Hylton Television Productions Ltd., for transmission by A-R from May 4 and on a minimum seven subsequent alternate Monday nights. IN SAN FRANCISCO . . . Don Sherwood, probably the top personality developed in Frisco tv in last three to ofur years, is coming home— to Oakland. KTVU will start new, live half-hour weekly show, tentatively titled “Sherwood As Is,” March 19, with Renault dealers as sponsor. Sherwood Frisco exposure was scheduled* to end next weekend, when Bm-germeister Beer drops sponsorship of his Hollywood show, qn KHJ-TV, which was picked up on tape by KPIX, Frisco . . . Folksinger Helen Bashford Kennett, known as “The Looking Glass Lady” on Frisco tv stations, got a divorce from her doctor-husband . . . KSFO’s Russ Hodges starts his 10-minute daily “Grandstand Manager” show April 6, with baseball just around the cornor. Castrol Oil is picking up the tab . . . KCBS got a George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedom Foundation for its public-service “You Count in Your County,” but neither Wanda Ramey, who narrated, nor Tom O’Leary, who produced, are at the sta¬ tion now—Miss Ramey’s newscasting at KPIX, O’Leary’s freelancing after a European junket. IN MINNEAPOLIS ... KMSP-TV exclusively televised the Minnesota State High School hockey tournament final championship game from the St Paul Audi¬ torium . . . Back into sports, WTCN-TV Sunday (1) had what it be¬ lieves to have been the longest single commercial broadcast in Twin Cities tv history—the full five hours of the action-jammed Minnesota State Catholic high school basketball tournament’s finals. It was tele¬ vised exclusively by the station from the St. Paul Auditorium, start¬ ing at noon. Another of the station’s sports exclusive will be the Twin Cities’ coverage of the Minnesota State high school basketball tourna¬ ment from the U. of Minnesota field house here March 19-21 . . . When WCCO Radio’s morning program host, Howard Viken underwent major surgery he missed only two broadcasts. Going into the hospital Thurs¬ day night and operated on Friday, he was back on the air from his hospital room Sunday IN PHILADELPHIA . . .. , WIBG bought eight-page insert in the Philadelphia Daily News (27) to. tee off its increase in power to 50,000 watts . . . WRCV-TV’s Grady arid Hurst booked to run a Steel Pier, Atlantic City, record shop Easter Sunday . . . Bob Brugger’s “Town Talks,” WFLN. marked its ninth anni on the air. Show, which is unrehearsed, is the oldest one-man program in Delaware Valley radio . . . “Deadline April 15,” special on income tax problems, returned to WFIL-TV for the third year (1) E. A. McGinhes, director of Internal Revenue for the Philly district, acts as host . . . Dana Latham, new Commissioner of Internal Revenue, answers the questions on.WCAU-TV’s “Is It Deductible?” . . . WRCV- TV preemed Marilyn Grey-Joe Early late night “Poolside Party” ses¬ sion . . . Bill Curtis celebrates first anni at WHAT with a “B.C.” Con¬ test. Top prize goes to longest list of expressions starting with the two letters of deejay’s name. IN. DETROIT . . . WWJ-TV adds another candle to its birthday cake today (WedJ, it’s 12th, making it the oldest Michigan tv station . . . Dr. John Dempsey, associate professor of political science at the U. of Detroit, has been appointed news analyst for WJBK-TV. He will present a five-minute nightly news analysis from 6:40-6:45 p.m., cross-the-board . . . Live wrestling will originate from CKLW-TV studios every Tuesday 10-11 p.m., with Sam Menacker serving as announcer. Show will be sponsored by editors of Wrestling Life who also are producing wrestling shows in several other cities . . . WWJ-TV, in cooperation with the Michigan State Medical Society, the Wayne County Medical Society and Smith, Kline & French Labs, will present a live telecast showing the re¬ moval of a cataract from a human eye on Monday (9) direct from De¬ troit’s Providence Hospital. News Director James Clark will handle the commentary.