Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

12 AUGUST 22, 1960 Programming CBS radio is clearing out its block of veteran soap operas (Afa Perkins, Young Dr. Malone, etc.) to make room for music-&-feature formats this fall. Daytime personality shows {Arthur Godfrey, Art Linkletter, et al.) will be retained. The plan has been green-lighted by CBS radio affiliates. ABC radio, meanwhile, has invited N.Y. admen to an Aug. 22nd preview of Flair, which the network describes as “a plan rather than a program.” Flair, once the title of a short-lived Cowles magazines, will center on various name personalities (Theodore Bikel, Toots Shor, Dick Van Dyke, among others) as well as subjects that will range “from baby care, gourmet cookery, beauty 6 fashions to physical fitness, Hollywood and table manners. NBC eliminated most radio entertainment features (apart from Monitor) in favor of music, news & comment more than a year ago. ABC-TV is dropping Dick Clark’s 7:30-8 p.m. Sat.night show, effective Sept. 10, although Clark’s American Bandstand show in late afternoons is remaining. Reason: A new 60-min. Warner Bros-produced property. The Roaring 20’ s, will occupy the 7:30-8:30 p.m. segment, starting Oct. 15. ABC tried to clear the 7-7:30 p.m. period for Clark, but couldn’t produce a full lineup in station-option ■time and couldn’t find another Clark berth at night. Beechinut-Life Savers Inc. billings for the Sat.-night Clark show, via Young & Rubicam, amounting to some $2 million annually, are however being transferred to the daytime Clark show, so there are no losses for ABC in the deal. Analysis of one week’s programming for Los Angeles’s 7 TV stations, as listed in TV Guide, has been completed by the Rev. James A. Brown, S.J. for a USC seminar. Despite the common impression. Rev. Brown found that only 8%% of the 3,307 station quarter-hour periods during the week (April 30-May 6) were Westerns. Comedy & variety-comedy actually surpassed Westerns with a 13.8% figure. Crime-action took 20.7%. The categories of news reports, special events, public issues, public institutional, general information & information-instruction totaled to 14.8%. Religion got 1%. Music & variety-music ran 6.1%. Children’s programs totaled 5.9%. Network show for doctors is planned by Medical News Inc., N.Y. as a 15-min. Sun.-afternoon series starting Oct. 30 on NBC-TV under sponsorship of Ciba Pharmaceutical Products Inc. At the moment, the network is trying to clear a time period for the series, which will be produced by the editorial staff & medical consultants of Medical News, a biweekly newspaper for physicians published under Ciba auspices. The show has been TV-tested in 4 cities (Dallas, Kansas Cityj Miami and Binghamton). Index of U,S. Home TV Usage TV viewing per home increased slightly from June 1959 to June 1960 — 8 mins, per home, per day. This audience data chart was prepared for us by A. C. Nielsen Co. June 1960 June 1959 May 1960 Day (10 a.m.-5 p.m.) 17.3 (7,820,000) 16.5 (7,343,000) 17.8 (8,046,000) Night Daily Avg. Hrs. (7-11 p.m.) Per Home, Per Day 47.4 (21,425,000) 4 hrs., 19 mins. 47.0 (20,915,000) 4 hrs., 11 mins. 51.3 (23,188,000) 4 hrs., 36 mins. Final NBC-TV Nielsen score for the Democratic convention brought just about the same victory margin as reported earlier by Arbitron (Vol. 16:30 p5). The Nielsen score: NBC — 14.4 average audience, 6.5 million homes reached, 41.4% share of audience. CBS — 10.7 rating, 4.8 million homes, 30.6% share. ABC— 4.2 rating, 1.9 million homes, 12.2% share. Arbitron’s relative ratings ran 1.37 to 1 in NBC’s favor; Nielsen’s, 1.35 to 1. Nielsen also reported that the Democratic convention was seen by “the biggest reported audience in TV history” during the week of July 11. A total of 38.7 million U.S. homes (86% of all TV homes) look in on the proceedings for 6 minutes or more. And the average time spent per viewing home was 9 hrs., 38 mins. During any average minute of the 3-network coverage, 13.2 million homes (29.3% of TV homes) were watching. Daily audiences ranged from a Wed. July 13, 1960 peak of 32.7 million homes to a low of 25.6 million on the closing day (July 15). Previously, Sindlinger & Co. had reported “up to 135% larger TV audiences” for the conventions, compared with 1956 (Vol. 16:33 p6). Campaign service: KOLO-TV & KOLO Reno are devoting 3% hours of prime time throughout this week to a program series. Of Primary Interest, introducing Washoe County, Nev. candidates for local & statewide office before the primary elections . . . WTIC-TV & WTIC Hartford are offering free time between Labor Day & Election Day for six 30-min. debates between major party candidates for the House of Representatives . . . WNHC-TV New Haven has asked both major Presidential candidates to supply the station with 5,000 copies of each party’s platform. They will be sent to requesting viewers as part of the station’s 8month, “Study-Think-and-Vote” coverage of this election. Live drama on ABC? Yes, indeed. In a surprise move last week, ABC-TV program vp Tom Moore announced that ABC’s heavily-film programming next fall would be augmented by a quartet of 90-min. original drama specials, all in a serious vein & featuring feminine stars, to be produced by Fred Coe & directed by Arthur Penn. Two will be taped in London, and one will star Vivien Leigh. William Morris Agency represented Coe (who used to produce Philco-Goodyear Playhov.se on NBC-TV) and Penn. “Celebrities for Nixon” will recruit TV-movies-sports figures for campaign work — including personal appearances & broadcast performances — ^in behalf of the Republican Presidential ticket. Work of the “Celebrities” committee, headed by Hollywood producer Mervyn Le Roy & actress Helen Hayes, was officially launched at a press conference in the Vice President’s Senate Office Building staff offices. Le Roy & actor George Murphy, active in GOP politics in Cal., said they expected to enlist some of the biggest names in show business for the Republican pool. Deal to sell General Artists Corp., 3rd-largest talent agency (representing Perry Como in TV, among others), is reportedly in the works between GAC Pres. Lawrence Kanaga and Philadelphia industrialist Herbert Siegel. Siegel is chmn of the Seeburg jukebox concern. Principal owner of GAC is Mrs. Thomas G. Rockwell, widow of the talent agency’s founder. Price is said to be “around $1,760,000.” GAC sources late last week admitted to us that “a > deal was being discussed,” but refused to say if it had been completed. Radio WABC N.Y. is dropping 7 hours of paid religious broadcasts and will substitute 90 mins, of free time for the 4 largest organized religious groups in the N.Y. area. The station will continue to carry the ABC radio network’s full religious schedule.