Variety (January 1961)

42 RADIO-TELEVISION Channel Squeeze Battle Goes On, ith 135 Replies Going To FCC Washington, Jan. 10. 4 Second round in the battle of comments over Federal Communi¬ cations Commission’s VHF dropin rulemaking featured more charges and counter-charges be¬ tween rival industry camps. FCC received over 135 reply comments in the proceeding launched in January 1960 to help relieve the channel squeeze. Un¬ der the proposal. FCC would waive in “exceptional” cases minimum co-channel separation require¬ ments with a view toward drop¬ ping In third VHF assignments in major two-channel markets. There would also be an across-the-board slash in minimum adjacent-chan¬ nel separations to 40 miles and a permanent reduction in certain engineering standards. Spearheading the opposition to the rulemaking, Assn, of Maximum Service Telecasters called for an immediate end to the proceeding. AM ST, representing stations op¬ erating at the highest permissible power, reiterated its previous as¬ sertion that the rulemaking is based on the “mistaken notion” the public is suffering from a “pressing scarcity” of tv services. Parties supporting the “un¬ sound” proposals, AMST contin¬ ued, provide the best argument whv FCC should not adopt the interim VHF drop-in policy. AMST said briefs backing the rulemaking have suggested short-spaced as¬ signments for about* 60 communi¬ ties involving more than 150 in¬ stances of short co-channel or ad¬ jacent-channel separations. These suggestions, AMST said. 4 maKe alarmingly apparent the stagger¬ ing impact on existing service to the public resulting from the in¬ terference created under FCC’s proposals.” AMST was in turn attacked by American Broadcasting Co. for be¬ ing acainst ary move to solve tiie allocations problem and pushing for “interminable further proceed¬ ings” to forestall any FCC deci¬ sion. AMST has proposed a “Mar¬ ket Pre-Planning Case” which would place before FCC at one time all requests for channel as¬ signments at short mileage sepa¬ rations. It contends this procedure would not lead to any delay that wouldn’t otherwise occur before actual operation of any new short¬ spaced assignment. Joint Council on Educational Television assailed ABC, declaring that it would he “chief beneficiary” of the drop-in plan. The rulemak¬ ing. it said, was “an unwarranted preoccupation with the commer¬ cial aspects of television.” NBC urged that if FCC okays ' the idea droo-ins be limited to ; markets of at least 400.000. Citing = flood of filings for drop-ins for j small markets, it warned that such a limitation., is needed in order to assure the top 62 tv markets of three VHF outlets. Watertown, N. Y. — James W. Higgins, formerly director of WCNY-TY here, has been pro¬ moted to general manager ot a newly created broadcast division of Brockway Co. Company owns the Watertown Daily Times, W’CNY-TV and WWNY-AM, Watertown, and WMSA. Massena. X. Y.. radio station.. Director of WCNY since early 5j£, Higgins previously had been with WWNY. BROOKS :costumes 3 W.tl Ut J St, N.Y.C. •T»l. n. 7-5800 Warner-Lambert’s 350G Into NBC-TV Daytime A $350,000 order from WarnerLambert was added this week" to the $5,500,000 in daytime business that of late has floated into the NBC-TV house. The Warner-Lam¬ bert money was reportedly supposed to go to ABC-TV. NBC-TV says that the total of $5,800,000 in time and program¬ ming sold represents only firm daytime business. Wr-L coin is for Anahist, via Ted j Bates, and includes alternate-week quarter hours during the first quarter of ’61 in “Say When," ‘•Price Is Right,” "Jan Murray Show” arid “From These Roots.” NBC Puts June 1 As Cutoff Date On KRON Mil San Francisco. Jan. 10. NBC-TV has given KRON formal notice that the network intends to cancel its' affiliation with the Chronicle-owned and operaed chan¬ nel next June 30. NBC has purchased independent KTVU, Frisco-Oakland, for about $7,000,000 in stock, pending FCC okay. KRON has appealed to FCC to block the sale and has also filed an antitrust suit aimed at stopping 1 sale. In December KTVU president Ward Ingrim and general manager William Pabst (both substantial KTVU stockholders, along with oil¬ man Ed Pauley' made a formal presentation in New York to NBC board chairman Robert Sarnoff, president Robert Kintner and two NBC viee-nresidents seeking the NBC affiliation July 1, when NBC’s two-yea’ contract with KRON ends. KTVU apparently is seeking affil5ation whether or not FCC has acted on s’ation’s sale by July 1. Harold See. KRON general man¬ ager. said negotiations are planned to try to reta:n the NBC affiliation for KRON. He implied that the network’s cancellation notice was a technicality, necessitated by the fact that failure to serve cancella : ‘ tion paners by Dec. 31, 1960. would I have tied NBC to KRON inescap j : ablv for another two years. See’s statement was: “The NBC affiliation agreement with KRON-TV will continue at lea^t until June 30, 1961, and nego¬ tiations have already been sched¬ uled to establish a basis for con¬ tinuation of the affiliation beyond that date. “These negotiations, however, will not take place until after Jan. 1, which is the automatic renewal date specified in the present con¬ tract. ‘"In view of this fact, NBC has notified KRON-TV of non-renewal so that the present contract would not be extended automatically in the meantime.” Presumably, NBC-KRON nego¬ tiations are now underway. Milwaukee — Lew Breyer, execu¬ tive veepee, film buyer and sales manager for the UHF’er WXIX-TV since Gene Posner bought the sta¬ tion from CBS, has resigned his post, effective Jan. 14. m [NBC Telesales to Tape Pre-Inaugural Bash The Democrats, unable evident¬ ly to sell the stanza in advance to either the networks or TelePrompter, the closed-cifcuit outfit, hashired NBC Telesales to tape the pre-inaugural bash being done Jan. 19 by Frank Sinatra & Co. Purpose. it’s understood, is to have the tape available so that the Dems, who have some campaign debts to clear up, can perhaps sell it later as a tv special to one or another : of the webs. Besides Sinatra, who was instru¬ mental in setting up the entertain¬ ment the night before the. Inaugu¬ ration of President Kennedy, the show will have the entire "Clan,” save for Sammy Davis Jr. Tom Duggan Fired From $135,(M)0 Job Hollywood, Jan. 10. KCOP has had it with Tom Dug¬ gan. For failing to show up for last Thursday night’s program, he was summarily fired by AI Flana¬ gan, general manager of the sta¬ tion. “This time for good,” . he emphasized. Last August >he was suspended by Flanagan and later reinstated. Flanagan gave as his reason for ending the five-year reign of Dug¬ gan as “frequent and repeated failure to report for his nightly program.” Duggan has been re¬ ported drawing up to $135,000* a year for his nightly commentary. His Sunday night show,’ “Thougnt Clash.” has also been taken off schedule. In his late nightly spot, Flaria • gan has scheduled an hour pro¬ gram called, “Comment,” in whicn the studio audience will air its ^ grievances and exchange views on current topics. Moderators will be Baxter Ward and Dick Garton, with Hal Parets as producer. ABC-TV Meet t Continued from page 17 ^ in terms of audience'. This, natu¬ rally, affects, in some measure, biliings. * It’ll . be a time, this week, for careful scrutinizing of the pro¬ gramming changes that are occur¬ ring. In tv, it’s still ABC’s aim to , raise the audience levels of some < of the o&o’s to that of the entire network. However, the tv o&o’s are making a bucketful, it’s report : ed — giant audiences or not. ; Meantime, Goldenson has de¬ cided to make sure that all his o&o managers carry vice-presiden ; tial stripes. The three left with • out them until now — KABC’s (IIol 1 lywood' Ben Hobcrman, KABC-.' TV’s (same city) Elton Rule and ; KGO-TV’s (Frisco) David M. Sacks ' are getting them this week. They ■ are all recent appointees to their ' managerial posts and that accounts 1 for the delay in stripes. 1 After the o&o operators finish [ their meetings (probably later to : day, Wednesday), some key ABC , TV affiliates are going to start their own meetings at the Bal ! moral. They’re being repped on ‘ the tv affiliates board of governors. These men will have their first ( chance, in most cases, to meet the new ABC news veepee, James Hagerty, who is taking four days j off (without pay from Ike) to meet ; the station bosses. [ Hagerty is expected to explain : to the affils that he might soon < want to use some of their local i news facilities in upbeating ABCTV’s national coverage. Wednesday, January 11, 1961 Television Reviews — — Continued from page 26 — , is obviously the most controversial domestic issue likely to corhe be¬ fore Congress, much more time could have been devoted to pre¬ senting an expanded summary of developments. As anchor man. Bill Shadel han¬ dled the introes competently, al¬ though occasionally resorting to some strained rhetoric. ~ Hern. CAMOUFLAGE With Don Morrow, Paul Taubman, others Producer-Director: Gil Cates 30 Mins., Mon.-Fri. 12 (noon) { Participating ABC-TV from N. Y. The giveaways are again gather¬ ing in force. Once thought to have been dealt a mortal blow by the recent scandal exposures, the do¬ nation sprees have been cleaned u j [ and are again in business with lavish bits of largesse. The gimmick on “Camouflage** is the tracing of a hidden picture. Two contestants are told what to look for and the first to find tne hidden object picks up the fnarbles. The loser gets a travel case and transistor radio and the win¬ ner all sorts of gifts. In the event, the contestants do pot get the item on the first try, part, of the camou¬ flage is removed and the contestant s answering a question correctly gets the first try The major giveaway is an automobile. It’s not the most interesting kind of program. There’s little humor and the pattern stems too repeti¬ tious to show itself off to maximum effectiveness. Don Morrow was a personable and hardworking conferencier, but there was a need for some added vitality on this ses¬ sion. The musical cues were well played by organist Paul Taubman. Jose. CANDIDA With Jeff Morrow, Jean Engstrom, Stephen Franken, Alan Dexter, Elizabeth Perry, Adam Stewart Producer: Alexander Ramati Director: John Newland Writer: George Bernard Shaw 90 Mins., Sun., 5 p.m. LINCOLN SAVINGS & LOAN ASSN. KNXT, Los Angeles The KNXT-Pro j ects '58 produc¬ tion of George Bernard Shaw’s j “Candida” was much more than a ! rich and memorable 90-minute : slice of American television. It was also the flickering promise of , fulfillment for a medium still and was most certainly, a bold, ) significant stride in the direction j of adult entertainment. The odd, ; the ironical thing about this ; renaissance of quality is that it has J arisen on the local scene without the benefit of outside assistance. Little need be said about Shaw’s play itself save that, it contains some of the most penetrating Shavian wisdom as well as some of the playwright's most gilt-edged wit in a physically confined, but intellectually uninhibited package. Although its sheer verbosity was bound to be too much of an atten¬ tion-strain on sonje viewers, it translated powerfully, from the stage (its ideal habitat) to the more intimate confines of the electronic ; box. The gratifying thing about : this production was that the play . had been faithfully and vivaciously • reproduced by a gifted cast under j expert guidance. j To synopsize skeletally, "Can1 dida” pitted the poetic, visionary . genius of the character, March j banks, against the bold, but ulti¬ mately conventional Christian! Socialism of clergyman Rev. Morell ! iri a contest for the affections of ■ Morell’s wife, Candida. The wife ; chose the more destructible candi j date, her husband. | All of the playing was superior. ! Jeff Morrow emerged a compas¬ sionate, human figure as Morell. Jean Engstrom brought the re* quired strength, dignity and per¬ ception to the title character. The cream of the dialog was inherited by Marchbanks and. Stephen Franken played the role convinc¬ ingly and wholeheartedly, captur¬ ing and blending the unconven¬ tional vision of the poet with the romantic realities of the ^ youth. Alan Dexter was a deliciously comic addition as Candida’s father. There was a vigorous, persuasive and attractive portrayal by Eliza¬ beth Perry of the shy secretary enamored of Morell, and also a good performance by Adam Stew¬ art as MoreH’5 assistant, ! John Newland’s direction gener¬ ated static electricity in a physical¬ ly limited one-set play. The set, an accurate replica of the period, was the accomplished work 'of Claudio Guzman. It is to be hoped this won’t be producer Alexander Ramati’s last such production for KNXT and, eventually, syndica¬ tion. Television needs more of same. Tube. SAY WHEN With Art Janies Producer: S. Robert |towe Director: Dick Schneider 30 Mins., Mon.-FrL, 10 a.m. PARTICIPATING NBC-TV, N.Y. The Goodson-Todman-NBC suc¬ cess with the “Price Is Right” quizzer no doubt had a lot to do with new entry "Say When.” Latter, in fact, might be called "Son of Price.” Using two contestants instead of "Price’s” four, this replacement for "Dough Re Mi” as the launcher of the daily morning quiz and audi¬ ence participation festivities also has as the gimmick the estimating of the retail price of varied mer¬ chandise. Instead of ‘bidding for each prize, however, contestants are given a maximum figure (upwards to $2,000 on show caught •, trying to come as close te it as possible on price estimates of several prizes. “Say When's” half as many con¬ testants apparently generate about half as much excitement as “Price’s” quartet, but the new en¬ try still shapes as a good eve open¬ er for morning quiz buffs. As usual, the contestants are nice folk of the next-door neighbor stripe. Emcee Art James, who appears to be the youngest among the morn¬ ing’s gaggle of beamers. is fully equipped . with the basic require¬ ments of good looks and handsome crockery, and should soon develop the necessary casual projection; this inspite of a trace of tenseness which surfaced in his forgetting a contestant’s name (and you’d of though they were lifetime buddies). Bill. New Orleans — John Vath, gen¬ eral manager of WWL for past two years, resigned to take over Similar . duties at WSMB here starting Jan. 15. He succeeds Max Keiffer who resigned. Bill Dean ;of WWL-TV staff moves in as ne\y manager of WWL radio. TEMPORARY ‘EXTRA MONEY’ ALLIED TEMPORARY SERVICE 15 E. 40 St., New York Lobby Floor MU 6-090? Creator-Producer-Salesman Young married man desires position with TV production firm or with agoncy, network or station program dept, ft yrs. exper. selling, creating and producing radio 'tv programs. Was self-employed as R/TV consultant and natl. rop. for Calif, production co. 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