Evening star., 1951-04-16
On the Air T.
80 VI
Somebody
Must Foot
T he Bills
By Horry Macarthur

By Horry Macarthur
The Senate Commerce Commit
tee is being urged to probe tele-
vision, which probably can get
along fine without any additional
heckling. Senator Benton, DEM
ocrat, Of Connecticut feels. how
ever, that the matter of educa-
tional and public-service programs
needs looking into. Such pro-
grams. he thinks. should make
up 25 per cent Of nv broadcast
ing, rather than the 10 per cent
the Federal Communications
would like. s.'
Right now, before any more
agencies of the Government come
around to. tell the broadcasters
what to broadcast. 1t might be
a good idea to define public serv-
ice more accurately. The FEC
has a clear definition, all right,
but the justification for it has
been questioned. To the FEC
there are two kinds of programs
in commercial broadcasting. A
sponsored program is commercial
and an unsponsored sustainer is
q public-service program.
Meet the Press" and Zoo Pa
rade," to name a pair of notable
Sunday afternoon examples, are
by the standard no more public
service programs than Captain
video" is. Yet. if Jerry Lester
did a sustaining show. the net
work could proudly point to that
as a public service, though there
might be doubt in some quarters.
** Il 4
The Kefauver committee hear
ings, which seem to have, con-
vinced a lot of onlookers that
the TV cameras ought to be pres
ent when more than three people
get together to discuss something
here, produced their own para
dox. On CHS, Du Mont and NBC
the pooled telecasts. of the hear
ings were public-service programs.
On ABC the same telecasts were
commercial programs. because
ABC signed up a sponsor to help
pay the costs.
Until some one comes up with
O new definition Of public service,
q proposal that TV stations de-
vote 25, per cent of their time
to such programs would merely
mean. that they could accept pay
ment for only rs per cent of their
time on the air. This would make
nobody happy except few deal
ers In red ink in wholesale lots.
More television Of the same
nature as the Kefauver commit
tee hearings would be fine, of
course, but there is a drawback.
One station here lost $1,000 in
lost advertising revenue. operat-
ing costs and line charges in two
days Of those telecasts. No one
could keep that up indefinitely
There is an alternative to put
ting governmental proceedings on
the air under commercial spon-
sorship. but we have enough trou-
BILE already without the Govern
ment going into the television
broadcasting business.
X * r. *~ce ..
Personal, Not Too Private: Mar
tina Wright, who takes over the
Mary Martin role in South Pa
cif1c" on June /, may have to
give up her role as a panel men,
ber on CBS-TV's Celebrity
Time" Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein I'd, the musi-
calls producers, don't want her
appearing on television regularly
while she's in their cast +. Two
of television's brightest assets
"Garroway-at-Large" and "The
Victor Borge Show"-are reported
ailing with an often disastrous
disease, sponsor trouble. Gar
roway's is happy with the praise
and awards the best-produced
show in television has won, but
is dissatisfied with its rating
Borge's sponsor is just plain dis
satisfied with the rating as il
compares with the competition
Sam Levenson. A new time, moi
q new show, is what he needs.
- n -
Go Away, Please: NBC is 60
ing to come out this summer and
break one of its own rules, right
there before the radio audience
and everybody. It's the one read
ing: "An announcement made
on any NBC program calling at
tention to program over COM
peting facilities must be so word
ed as to avoid diverting the audi
ence from listening to NBC at
that time"
Well, coming up is a summer
series calling Shock" which will
include plays heretofore regarded
as, we'll, too shocking for radio
At the opening the announcer will
read a synopsis, then, for the
benefit of those who are shocked
enough by that, tell the listeners
what's to be heard on the op.
position. '
*S<
Programs and People: Miltor
Berle will. as you might expect
salute the new baseball season
when he returns to "Star Thea
ter" tomorrow night (WNBW-)
His guests will include Phil Riz
zuto, Yogi Berra and Announce!
Mel Allen Somerset Maugh
hams appearance" on "Somer
set Vaughan Theater" tonigh
(WNBW-9:30) is the result o.
another TV first, this "the frs
foreign location trip in televisior
history" Cameraman Fred Bor.
net made a flying trip last weel
to make the film at Vaughan!
Riviera villa Cloris Leachmar
will make her second consecu.
tive, appearance on Suspense" to.