Evening star., 1951-03-22
On the Air
| On the Air
Vote eWouId
| Prove Berle
|StiII Tops
By Harry Macarthur

| title When the CnarleS-W WalCOCt
fight topped him in the TV ratings.
Just stop and think of all the
people who hate the fights" she
@. writes, "and all who love Milton
Berle. I think if every woman
and child could speak. it would
show that he is still tops"
Well. the women and children
with whom this department comes
in contact most not only can speak,
but do-almost all of the time
and generally all at the same time.
Not one of them ever has been
detected shouting Milton Berle is
still tops" however.
This does not mean that nonC
has said it, just that none mas
ever said it loudly enough and
firmly enough that banishment to
the bedrooms might be decreeo.
Still. there will be no quibbling
with the Berle admirer who pens
this note. Her firm faith in HIM
may be ever greater than his own.
It's a lead-pipe cinch that he
wouldn't have signed that fabu-
lous 30-year pact with NBC if
he had been expecting his popu-
larity to increase rather than de-
crease.
Il * X
+, II Must Prove Something: There
are, the above Berle supporter
should know, a number of people
who do not hate the fights. This
is indicated, at any rate, in the
newest set of figures to turn ur
in the TV-radio department. This
is a pair of lists indicating thu
results of analysis of the Pulse
viewer survey for February-one
listing program types by the time
devoted to each and the other
listing the popularity of each pro-
gram type by average ratings.
A speech by Gen. Dwight Eisen-
hover tops the latter list by a
wide margin, but of the regularly
scheduled fare boxing is the
leader. This is followed, in order,
by westerns, drama and mysteries,
comedy-variety, situation comedy,
talent tSuch as Arthur GodfreyS
"Scouts"), news, children's shows
and musical variety.
The surprise, if you think net
works and advertising agencies
are guided blindly by ratings, is
the other list, showing how much
time network television devotes
to each program category. Com
edy-variety leads this one, fol-
lowed by children's shows, drama
and mysteries, quiz-audience par
ticipation shows, women's pro-
grams, musical variety, talent
hunts, interviews, situation COM
edy and basketball Westerns,
second in popularity, are in 14th
place here right behind the roller
derby, news is 18th and boxing is
20th.
| What happens, of course, is
that several high-rating comedy
variety shows inspire imitators of
the pattern; the imitators get
lower ratings and the overall av-
Ierage drops. At the same time,
with much less time on TV, box
ing concentrates its audience and
brings up the average rating.
See, if you stay around the
Ifringes of the broadcasting busi-
ness long enough. you can learn
to prove anything you want to
prove with any given set of fig
ureS.
Add Crime Hearing Notes:
WNBW received rs calls of protest
yesterday when it cut off the SEN
ate Crime Investigating Commit
tee to televise the second lesson
in the Board of Education's edu-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS experiment.
The management still thinks it
was right and so does this de-
partment. Nothing Senator Tobey
or Frank Costello had to say
about CoStello's money and how
much of it he has was more i'm
portant than keeping a promise
to 200 sixth-grade pupils and con-
tinuing worthwhile experiment
as planned The hearings were
also on WTOP-TV anyhow.
THE question of Mr.. Costello's S
right to object to being televised
is as yet undetermined by law"
Sen. Kefauver has written to
NBC, land in view of the fact
that our existence as commit
tee expires by law on March 81, we
felt it would be unWise to en-
danger the possibility of our hav-
ing his testimony by insisting on
his being televised. 1t is much
more important, in the opinion of
the committee, that we have his
testimony than that he be tele-
vised in the act of giving it ;"
WNBW will carry a one hour
him OF the committee hearings on
Sunday night at 11:15.
X X
Off the Shelf: The illness of
Margaret SULLIVAN Ga combina-
ton of flu and strep throat has
forced cancellation of THE
ITouchstone," which was sched-
uled for Ford Theater" tomor-
row night at 9 (WTOP-TV). In
its place the drama hour will
present the kinescope recording
of Heart of Darkness" originally
presented on November 3. The
televersion of the Joseph Conrad
story was one of the most elaborate
productions yet seen on TV.
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