NBC NEW YORK OUTLETS Z°

[Pages:1]NBC NEW YORK OUTLETS ';a=nZ?

NBC'S NEW YORK stations, WNBC and WNBT (TV), sometimes have seemed submerged beneath the greater prestige of their parent network, but last week both were embarking on a vigorous program to establish their own identity.

Under the new management -of Ted Cott, former vice president of programs at WNEW New York, WNBC and WNBT were revising local programs and promotion in an effort to acquire individuality.

Indicative of the new thinking at the stations were new station breaks already being aired. Examples: "NBC covers America. . WNBC belongs to New York "; "You're aboard the NBC flagship anchored in New York."

New sign-on and sign-off announcements extolling New York (and incidentally WNBC's position in .the city) are being written by the celebrated writers Louis Untermeyer, Norman Corwin, Fannie Hurst and Norman Cousins.

- On WNBC a heavy swing to disc

jockey programming-usually the

backbone of independent stations is in the wind. The early morning Skitch Henderson show, Monday Saturday, 6 -8:30 a.m., and Mr. Henderson's Monday-Friday 12:151 p.m. program are already on the air.

Treacher Show

Scheduled to begin June 25 (yesterday) is a program featuring Arthur Treacher as disc jockey for Gilbert and Sullivan records. Mr.. Treacher's commentary is to be done in verse of the Gilbert and Sullivan style. The show will be aired Sunday, 12:30-1 p.m.

Starting July 11a series featur-

ing Leopold Stokowski as a disc jockey for transcriptions of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach will begin. Mr. Stokowski's commentary (like Mr. Treacher's) also will be recorded. The Stokowski show will be heard on Tuesday, 7:30 -8 p.m.

Another series, as yet unscheduled, will present Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops, in a recorded disc jockey show featuring records of his own orchestra.

WNBC also is at work on a documentary series on New York City, with programs to be written about the garment industry, Broadway and other aspects of local interest.

Among local shows in the works

at WNBT is What's the Good Word ?, a joint effort of the TV station and the New York Board of Education. The show will be educational, with an entertaining format, and will pertain to correct English usage. In return for being given the program, the Board of Education will grant special seals of approval to WNBT programs

it considers worth them.

Another WNBT program scheduled for fall presentation will be based on photo contests conducted in various communities within the station's range and will tie-in with local newspapers. To be called Mayor's Tour, it will present winning photos as well as the mayor of the community and the editor of the participating paper.

RADIO PROFITS In Step With TV Affiliate

VITAL statistics at WHAM Rochester show that radio billings are growing at the station despite a current 99% "sell out" in WHAM -

TV sales, according to General

Manager John W. Kennedy Jr.

The

disprove "prophets of

doom" that there's not enough

advertising money to go around

for both AM and TV, he concludes.

Figures add up, he says, to this:

WHAM-TV, now two years old, "has not grown at the expense" of the AM facility. He reports spot billing in AM for January and February greater than the same months last year. February

spot alone, he says, was highest in the station's history and total business in March a record for that

month.

Basic problem in WHAM-TV

sales is "to find ways of opening up

additional periods of time so that

program service may keep up with

public demand and more advertisers

can be accommodated." He esti-

mates that '70% of TV advertisers

at WHAM have never been radio

clients of the station nor have they

ever used radio before.

Attending a party given for Ohio news editors by WAKR Akron are (1 to r) Bernard Berk Jr., WAKR vice president and host; Masora. Mann and Day, and Prof. William Taylor, chairman of Kent State

U.'s school of journalism.

e

Has Little To Fear From TV,

RADIO NEWS Says Davis at Kent

RADIO news, judged by foreseeable developments in news gathering

processes, faces little threat from television, according to Elmer Davis,

noted ABC news commentator, who was featured speaker at the second

annual conference of Ohio News Directors Assn., Kent (Ohio) State U.

on June 17.

Mr. Davis also declared that radio news programs always will

have sponsors. He said he saw little hope for television news to reach the prominent position enjoyed in radio newscasting. TV's best forte, he indicated, was in the fields of sports and special events coverage.

Main problems confronting TV,

Mr. Davis said, was the inability of the camera eye to tell in advance where and when the news will

take place, and the fact that much of the day's news has to be ex-

plained to be understood.

Value of news programming to the smaller radio station was accented by two station executives, Gene Ragel, program director, WCLT Newark, Ohio, and Verne

CAMPAIGN COSTS

Nolte owner, WHIZ Zanesville.

House Okays Probe Group

PROPOSAL to provide for establishment of a five -man committee to look into radio, television and other media sums expended by its members during the current election campaign won House approval last Wednesday.

The resolution (H Res 635), is sponsored by Rep. John McCormack (D- Mass.).

As a result of its adoption last week, the special group, yet to be selected, also will look into amounts subscribed for radio and television time by labor, corporation and

Oberlin Speaks

Other highlights were Dick Ober lin's explanation of how his station, WHAS Louisville, puts together its local TV newsreel [TELECASTING, June 19], and emphasis on public service programs "coming of age," by Don De Groot, W WJ Detroit.

Other speakers included Howard Absalom, news director, WAKR Akron; Floyd Weidman, WEWS (TV) Cleveland, and Larry Mann, CHUM Toronto. Charles Day, news director, WGAR Cleveland, was director of the conference.

other groups [BROADCASTING, June

12] on behalf of any candidate.

Block Fails

NATIONAL NIELSEN RATINGS* TOP RADIO PROGRAMS

(TOTAL U. S. INCL. SMALL-TOWN, FARM AND URBAN HOMES--and including TELEPHONE and NON -TELEPHONE HOMES)

Curant Previous

Rank

Rank

1

1

2

4

3

6

4

11

5

16

6

22

7

41

8

38

9

12

EVENING, ONCE -A -WEEK, EXTRA -WEEK, MAY 14.20, 1950

Program

Lux Radio Theatre (CBS) Godfrey's Talent Scouts (CBS) My Friend Irma (CBS) Fibber McGee & Molly (NBC) Mystery Theatre (CBS) Mr. Keen (CBS) Hallmark Playhouse (CBS) F.B.I. in Peace & War (CBS) Day in the Life of Dennis Day (NBC)

Current Rating Homes

21.0 17.0 13.9 13.0 13.0 12.5 12.4 12.4 12.3

Current Previous

Rank

Rank

Program

Current Rating

Homes %

10

9

You Bet Your Life (CBS)

12.1

NOTE: Number RATING" ( %) to

of homes 40,700,000

-isthoeba1i9n5e0d

by applying the "NIELSENestimate of Total United States

Radio Homes.

(') Homes reached during all or any part of the program, except for

homes listening only 1 to 5 minutes.

Copyright 1950 by A. C. NIELSEN CO.

A NATIONWIDE NBC audience last Thursday heard the re- enactment of the murder of a Michigan husband and two children despite legal efforts on behalf of the convicted murderess to block the broadvast. Circuit Judge Clifford A. Bishop of Flint, Thursday dismissed a request to prevent the

Big Story broadcast as an invasion of the prisoner's right of privacy. The convicted slayer, Mrs. Julia Kulnich, is serving a life term. The

broadcast, sponsored by American

Cigarette & Cigar Co., used fictitious names, as customary.

Page 34

June 26, 1950

BROADCASTING Telecasting

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