Variety (March 1959)

54 KAMO-TKLEVISION Wednesday, March 11, 1959 Radio & 'Corporate Ego 7 Continued from page 31 ; executive poo-poohed the prol> local, regional and national spot ability of the Government entering advertisers by the stations th'em- network radio upon the departure selves), “it can be so arranged (by of the last of the commercial sys- NBC) that the compensation the terns. But here is a perfect ex- network pays affiliates will pretty ample of “corporate ego,” a not-so- much equal the amount of money intangible psychological mechan- the affiliates pay NBC for the co- ism. which also is reflected in re- operative programming.” Thus, it marks from the ABC camp. It was is alleged, the NBC plan becomes noted at CBS that board chairman “merely a matter of bookkeeping William Paley would “die hard” instead of bartering.’ before giving up CBS Radio. There have been many thoughts Nobody Wants To Be First why the radio networks continue At ATJ n __rTTrrLQT-tt tt-oo their struggle. One, which for the , ^ tnnwHjnwhndv in mom ent is unprovable, is that there nu.de. Do jou know anybody in . g a slight but hopeful tide back frSSfn.lir'Ti 5 in the direction of thinking in £rs 5® e .SlilJS?’ terms of “network sound" instead * be n ?“!5 nment interven ‘ of simply the independent station’s f Po? network, formula of 5“* music and news. For years, the rndio notworks mv • ^ • nnnoiriftnnfi ___ A p p-»_ _ spent abundantly and lost abund- ?h? d ATir reasons why the ABC, CBS and antl>, as so much of the evidence Inpfu-nrkc; »rp trvinff «;n hard lately available is inclined to show, fl S’? g n a Beginning less than 12 months ago, t0 £na a !o “ bslst the obvious belt-tightening began, Those Hefty Line Charges blending finally with what are gen- Economically, there are two im- erally assumed to be the realities mediate things which keep the net- of radio economics and with un- works from making anything that proven theories about the chang- resembles a universally desirable ing market of radio. financial profit. The first is that The cynical speculation as to standing American Tel & Tel line which of the four radio networks j charges for network cables cut each will be first to collapse has not j of the webs out of roughtly $1,500,- really ended but. temporarily, it 1000 apiece yearly. Second, and has subsided. The tenacity of : : probably more fundamental still, ABC, CBS and NBC Radio net- i is that so long as networks must works now’ becomes a source of: continue to compensate affiliates great trade interest. In the search 1 in the face of diminished business for a modus operar^di, i.e., a; from national advertisers, the net- method of continued operation j works cannot hope to make a kill- vithout continued losses, ABC ! ing, much less break even. (One grandly spent several million dol- of the webs reportedly lost last; lars a year ago, and, after less than year nearly $5,000,000 alone in half a year, severely retrenched in station compensation, money which programming and personnel, to find otherwise W’ould have gone to pay a more cautious way of function- for web facilities.) ing. Little more than a month ago, Without the lure of profits as CBS eliminated the * much-loved the motivation, it was once thoiight radio soap operas and, still stress- that the networks were holding ing <the feeling being, w r ith some out against tv odds just to feed justification) the glories of net- prestige programming to the net¬ work newscasting, launched upon work owned & operated outlets, the CBS Consolidation Plan. NBC, Thus, the networks were thought on the other hand, announced to exist fundamentally to feed net- three weeks ago that it w’as ex- work-owned outlets; the stations panding the daily program sked could sell locally to advertisers the by about 60 minutes, and further time periods adjacent to power- announced that this was not. as fully attractive network showcases, alleged in the case of CBS Radio, Remember, not too long ago, the another form of barter; the net- might of CBS’ Arthur Godfrey in work w j as going to continue com- attracting local adjacencies? The pensating affiliated stations for the 0 &o’s, in this fashion, made it hand network time they carried, plus over fist. making half of the new program- But, today adjacencies aren’t ming available for co-op (local) the vogue, -Sponsors "*are buying, sale. But some NBC affiliates and more and more, run-of-station ad- all its network rivals retorted that vertising schedules, it is felt, using this initial program-compensation a s the general yardstick of ac- “expansion” w'as the first step in ceptability not the station’s individ- a calculated plan *to narrow 1 eveniu- U al programming so much as the ■ ally the scope of network program- station’s overall “listenability.” ming. Sources antagonistic to NBC Network o&o’s, it is increasingly point out that while NBC isn’t contended (especially now that technically .asking the affiliated CBS has cut back), are sounding stations to participate in a barter 0 ff i oca i ra dio operations, plan (relinquishing any and all Since local commercial tie-ins claim§ ^ to compensation on pro- reportedly not what realisti- gramming s o 1 d^ nationally by cally keeps the networks in the NBC, in return for network pro- business of staying in business, the grammmg to be sold entirely to logical question then arises. Is it _ the national-international news- ' feature-sports-public affairs mate- Cv*am1«i(a KmmUhI rial—the "qualitative sound” of | ElBCinVO ASSIStallI networking—which keeps them. ; B The best answer is, it is and it Major Talent Agency f ,«t ; ACCOUNTING BACKGROUND ,networks. hlYe ** ‘ tun serted that their owned & operated 1 **«»AKT t Any stations—which, in the main, are ! TALENT BACKGROUND still profitable and which they want ; I HELPFUL to keep profitable—need qualita- j tive as well as quantitative news ; Write Fell Detolls coverage to maintain the higher Bex V-5, VARIETY • audience shares. But, as an other : )ti w tz *. v. w Y , v v point.in this study of adversity- J9t% "• u perversity,' there are cropping up J ^^ — ^ — corporations which are strictly in Execitive Assistant Major Talent Agency ACCOUNTING BACKGROUND NECESSARY. LEGAL AND TALENT BACKGROUND HELPFUL Write Fell Details Bex V-5, VARIETY • 754 W. 44 St., New Yerk N. Y. 5EE THE SUPER UNIVERSAL • SUPER STUDIO ZOOMARS Video DISPLAY AMPEX N. A.B. CONVENTION = the business of feeding national and international news, etc., to sta¬ tions—for a fee, and not for a spon¬ sorship. At present, nobody is _ sure that they will succeed, but it “ is frequently contended that if the 1 networks were out of-business, the news-hungry network'o&o’s would ^ either set up their own news e bureaus or turn, less expensively, 7 to these new services. Fees from ?. these ex-network majors market “ outlets, it’s believed, would be a 1 key factor in turning the services l into money-makers. j ABC Radios New | Improved Status • ABC Radio, relative to the entire - network radio picture and its own J picture a year ago in particular, is 1 rucking headway. Outfit, under the cautious aegis of vsepee Ed DeGray, who has - lately made it a practice not ta - accept advertising orders until he t first checks each deal with all his i affils, this week signed Dr. Pepper, t in its first use of radio in recent i years, to sponsor a musical stanza i with Eydie Gorme. Deal begins - April 6. in the 6:50-6:55 p.m. Mon.- I Wed.-Fri. slot. . In a second deal, DeGray got t Chas. Pfizer & Co. for a new 5 Frankie Avalon stanza, Saturdays ) from 7 to 7:30 p.m. A major point in ABC Radio’s ’ improved status is the fact that : Don McNeill’s 9-10 a.m. strip from 1 Chicago is 80% sold out today. 1 Once, this early morning program l was the strongest seller the web had, but when the network was functioning under former Ameri- ; can Broadcasting Network prexy • Robert Eastman show was virtually ; sponsorless — ignored while East- ( man and his associates devoted most of their time in the effort to build new shows. Newest partici- • pating buvs in the McNeill show. ■ “Breakfast Club,” are by Scholl > Mfg. and Perkins Division of Gen- s eral Foods. Weekend news continues pretty ; much paying its own freight, what 1 with the recent renewal of several [ weekend spots by R. J. Reynolds, ! plus new spot business from Gray Rock Brake Lining. Notre Dame football, a DeGray addition last ■ season, is set for this fall with > Pontiac bankrolling. All in all, the web reports, it’s ; not a bad picture. Whereas just a year ago things looked utterly ‘ dismal, today’s radio biz is “re- ; spectable,” albeit not enough to put ABC over into black ink. D. C. Cut-In for Emmy On Pabaffairs Awards Washington, March 10. The Emmy awards telecast May ; 6 will, for the first time, cut into Washington where honors for news and public affairs programs will be handed out. Five awards are In¬ volved. Government VIPs will be invited to attend Mayflower Hotel dinner here held by the new local chapter of Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. John Seeondari, ABC news-public affairs chief here< is . prexy of this Academy affiliate. Lewis Schollenberger of CBS Washington news operation is din¬ ner chairman. Other pickups will be, as usual, New York and Hollywood. L&N’s Talent Tryont Minneapolis, March 10.’ Something new for this broad¬ casting production centre is the current “tryout” of a young male singer arranged by a New York advertising agency to determine his potentialities for radio and television. Lennen & Newell agency has sent young warbler Garry Wells " here for the extensive tryout, or test, and is footing the bill. Following his appearances at colleges, on television and at night clubs and style shows hereabouts,” Wells next week starts a nightly . 6:30 o’clock 13-week 15-minute WCCO Radio program to round out the test period. Memphis—Ron Meroney, Mem¬ phis State Univ. freshman here, ha$ ■ been inked by WHBQ-TY to emcee •its Saturday ’night . Channel 13 Dance Party. Inside Stuff—Radio-TV NBC-TV has bobbed up with novel on-the-air promotions to hypo in¬ terest in the “Steve Allen Show” time changes beginning Sunday (15) when Allen starts a half-hour earlier at 7:30 p.m. Several of the pro¬ mos are takeoffs on commercials with Allen, Louis Nye, Tom Poston, • Don Knotts, Gene Rayburn and Dayton Allen spoofing Viceroys, Marl- boros and Crest Toothpaste. Project, conceived and supervised by Mel Howard, assistant manager of NBC’s on-the-air-promotion, consists of series of 10 and 60-second spots on the web, with 20-second spots dis¬ tributed to stations carrying the show. Whole thing has been done with the approval of agencies representing the clients spoofed. Spots are produced and directed by Jack Marshall. The idea of Cuban Premier Fidel Castro’s appearance in the U.S., scheduled for next month, may have been realistically implanted in his mind during his chat with an American television producer in Havana a few weeks ago. The former rebel leader now in Cuba’s top seat has been invited to appear before the annual convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington April 16 (a private coup that is causing the U.S. State Dept, some embarrassment). Castro,,then a couple of weeks away from becoming premier, was having a talk with co-producer John Aaron arfer appearing on “Per¬ son to Person.” According to a diary of Aaron’s trip to Havana, the conversations with Castro relating to a possible trip to the States runs about as follows: First, Castro was anxious tp know how his use of English stacked up. So Aaron asked; “When do you think you’ll really come to the U.S.?” Instead of answering, Castro asked: "Do you think if I came to the U.S. they’d let me talk to the American people?” Aaron said he was sure they would. “Then,” said Castro, “I’ll come to the U.S. after I practice my Eng¬ lish and speak it better/’ Appearance of Rube Goldberg on “Person to Person” last Friday may have come as a surprise to some in the trade who raised their eyebrows on Jan. 22 upon appearance of a Goldberg cartoon on the editorial page of the N.Y. Journal-American and other Hearst outlets. The cartoon, entitled “They’ll Not Censor This!,” showed a fat news vendor with a “K” (for Russia’s Khrushchev) on bis shirt holding a read-all-about it-extra from Pravda saying, “U.S. Radio Broadcasts Use of Call Girls to Promote Big Business.” This was a reference to that week’s “The Business of Sex” aired by CBS Radio with Ed Mur- row as narrator. At that time, Goldberg was having talks with the high brass of MuAow’s Friday night show regarding an appearance which finally resulted last week. That the “P to P” talks did not have an adverse affect as far as Goldberg appearing on the show is con¬ cerned is said to relate to an unpublished rumor that when "the car¬ toon broke, Goldberg disclaimed responsibility for. creating it. The subject matter was dictated by a Hearst editor, according to the rumor. WPIX, N.Y. has acquired exclusive U.S. tv rights to a series of Brit¬ ish tv interviews with people close to Adolf Hitler. Series of interviews feature Frau Paula Wolf, Hitler’s sister; Julius Schaub, late dictator’s adjutant, and the adjutant’s wife; Erich Kemp- ka, Hitler’s chauffeur; and Hans Brauer, ex-dictator’s personal pilot. Negotiations for the acquisition from Associated Rediffusion was made by William Cooper, WPIX film manager. Films, being flown from London, will be edited and translated—the German language is used. N.Y. Daily News indie will set a telecast date later. Series also will be syndicated by the station to other tv outlets in the U.S. WPIX, in a separate project, has recently completed a film documentary on the Hitler story, “The Secret Life of Adolf Hitler.” Durgom-Katz, personal management reps headed by Bullets Dur- gom, is expanding its operations to include legit, television and motion picture production. William Chambers, who has been a director and stage manager, has joined the agency to head up the story sector and negotiate for thea¬ tre, tv and motion picture properties for production in New York and Hollywood. Durgom in the past has been most prominently identified with Jackie Gleason Enterprises. Gono Continued from par* 31 deal over the two-season span) has- much more lucrative overtones than the Como deal. The answer- lay in one word—residuals. Araaz owns the hour film entries. Ulti¬ mately, they’ll be good for millions of dollars on the residual circuits, whereas the Como shows, by virtue of their live originations, are “one time things.” Then there’s the Dinah Shore- Chevrolet new season ride for ’59- ’60, again representing a $24,000,- 000 time-program investment on the part of the client over a two-season, stretch. Unlike Como’s ownership stake in the Roneom package, and such peripheral benefits as his 10- year consultancy “good will ambas¬ sadorship” for Kraft, Miss Shore is working at a straight fee—$20,000 every week she goes on. There are other deals upcoming for the new season that denote multi-million splurges iff clients’ embracing of single properties, but the Como - Dinah - Sullivan - Desilu deals are outstanding. In addition to his weekly "Kraft Music Hall,” Como and his Ron- com Productions will have the privilege of producing the sum¬ mer series for Kraft Summer ser¬ ies bows May 20, with Como teeing off on Sept. 30. 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