Evening star., 1951-04-20
By Harry Macarthur

went INSIDE the House, Wnere seats
were at a premium. and looked on
and listened as he had his say
about the facts of life in the Far
East and the rest of the world
today.
They came outside again. then.
the viewers at home, to see the
General leave the Capitol. to whiskI
up the Avenue to watch the mo-
torcade pass the Treasury, then
beat. him to the Monument
grounds to watch him arrive and
to sit in on the ceremonies there.
The beauty of television is that
the Ali 900 accomplished all of
this sitting down. with no jostling
elbows.
The estimate of the local TV
audiences size probably is a con-
servative one and is arrived at
from examination of the results
of a special survey conducted by
the American Research Bureau.
The ARB. which measures tele-
vision audiences and trends by
diary studies, often tests these
against what it calls telephone
coincidentals" and it was one of
these it conducted yesterday.
The phone sampling was made
only during Gen. Macarthur
speech before the joint meeting of
Congress. starting at 1890 pm. in
Washington, New York and Chi
cago. The results showed sets in
use in so per cent of the Wash
ington television homes. 81 per
cent of the Chicago TV homes
and A per cent of those in New
York.
Projecting its poll results ma
itionally and. the ARB thinks, con-
servatively, the bureau is sure that
the Macarthur address to Con-
greSs was seen and heard in six
million homes and by (including
those not: at home) 18.60O, 900
viewers.
In Washington you can. with
out feeling that you are out of
line, multiply 2.7, the ARB esti-
mate of viewers-per-set, by so per
cent of 253. 760. the April figure
for TV sets-in-use here. That
comes out 411.091 without adding
in those who watched the telecast
In restaurants and cafes.
y Y II X
The television coverage of the
Macarthur welcome was almost
completely satisfactory and clear
evidence that the directors, cam
eramen and other technicians
have learned lot in few years
There were a great many COM
plants after the almost fabulous
ly elaborate job TV did on the last
Presidential inaugural, for in
stance. With an intricate camera
setup, the TV people beamed as
they demonstrated technical dex-
terity by flashing back and forth
from one point to another along
the parade route. The only trouble
was that the viewers at home
couldn't figure out what was going
on.
/ Yesterday. there was continuity
and a clear flow to the POOP
telecast. The viewers left the
hotel with Gen. Macarthur. went
to the Capitol, returned up Penn
Isylvanla avenue and went down to
the Monument slope. No one get
lost and not much that hap
pened. was missed, if anything was
1t was fine coverage of the days
big story.
To bring it all about required II
cameras and crews, five mobile
units, 100 technicians, 100 more
from program departments and
the announcers and commenta-
tors. Six coaxial cable lines were
set UP and two microwave units
were ready on a standby basis
iOrigination points were set up al
the Statler Ctwo cameras. the
Capitol Zone camera with Zoomal
llenS), the House Cthree cameras)
Fifteenth street and Pennsylvania
avenue 1.-TWO cameras) and the
Monument grounds (three cam.
eras).
~ *x
In a pool telecast such as this
the four networks (ABC, CHS
DuMont and NBC) divide up the
origination points, each providins
its own cameras and crews fol
one or more. The producer "or
location" selects from available
pictures as he would on any Other
program. Picture and sound arr
then sent to central point, where
the overall producer selects the
one to go on the air. Then pic.
; ture and sound are sent back
]: Ito the four networks for norma,
broadcast.
Yesterday the central point usec
was the NBC studio at the Ward.
man Park. where the program wa.
Ico-ordinated by Charles Kelly
; (ABC) and Ralph Burgin (NBC)
They may have faced many crises
but few showed on the air
Funniest, to an outsider, was tn,
one that occurred when NBC il
New York tossed in Commercial
just as Gen. Macarthur was leav.
ing his hotel. NBC viewers almos
missed him.
The most serious TV crisis O.
the Macarthur visit occurred dur.
sling his arrival at the Nationa
Airport. An Army captain at tn,
: MATS terminal decided peopl,
there could see better with tn
lights off and went around pull,
ing switches. Pulled televisiol
right off the air.