Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-17
On the Air
On the AIT
1t Took More Than Wishing
To Bring Back Mr.. Davis
By Harry Macarthur

Before you complain too bit
terly about the shortcomings of
television programming you
should know something of the
problems involved. What ap-
pears to be indifference on the
part of a station management to
your tastes and desires may be
something else entirely. Often
it Is clash between an irresisti-
Bile force and an immovable
object.
The program managers are
not always right. to be sure. but
they try harder than you may
think. There is just more in
VOWED in getting a TV program
on the air than a mere decision
that 1t ought to be on. .
An example is the case of Ed
ward r. Murrow's Person to
Person" The Columbia Broad
casting Systems decision to air
that on Friday nights at 1890
did not mean Washington view
ers would see it until the spon-
sor arranged for WMAL-TV to
carry it. WTOP-TV. the CHS
outlet here. had the time period
sold to some one else.
-
A more recent case is the set
of circumstances which came
between Elmer Davis and his
Washington following. Even be-
fore Mr.. Davis local admirers
discovered that he had been
dropped from the WMAL-TV
schedule, the station manage
ment had started negotiations to
get him back on it. The result,
finally. was the announcement
the other day that Mr.. Davis
would be seen here again, start
ing April 4.
AS a matter Of fact. dropped"
is not the precise word for what
happened to broadcasting's calm
voice of reason. When Mr.. Davis
started his present TV series for
the American Broadcasting Co.,
he was on Sundays at l pm,
and WMAL-TV transmitted his
weekly comments with justifiable
pride.
Then. four weeks ago. the net
work announced that some
changes were being made to boil
ster the program schedule. Re-
peat film Of the hour-long melo-
drama. THE Mask" would be
shown on Tuesdays and Wednes-
days at 8 pm. This meant,
among other complications, that
a new time would have to be
found for Martin Agronsky's "At
Issue"
It was decided to put both
Peabody award-winning COM
mentators into one Sunday pack
age, Mr.. Davis at $3.50 and Mr..
Agronsky at 3:45 pm, starting
February %. The only catch
with this arrangement was that |
this particular half-hour was
station time. not network time.
ABC, in other words, did not |
have an option which would per-
NIT it. to usurp the time period
at will.
Since it was station time, 1t
already was being put to COM
mercial use by WMAL-TV and
there was nothing that could be
done about it Immediately. A
contract is a contract even If it
covers only a spot announce
ment during Sunday afternoon
movie. Contracts are what |
WMAL-TV had, for both spot |
announcements and film rentals.
AS soon as the network adj
vised of the proposed schedule
change, with its attendant con-
f1ict, the WMAL management
tried the next best solution. Al
ready pressing for Washington |
origination for both Mr.. Davis |
and Mr.. Agronsky. it now sought |
kinescope recordings for later |
telecast. Since the February %
schedule change. the local sta
ton has received one film re-
cording of one Agronsky AT
Issue" program, none of Mr..
Davis program.
There was small added COM
plication not readily visible ex-
cept to those behind the scenes.
According to a WMAL spokes-
man, Mr.. Davis and Mr.. Agron-
sky are now sitting there like
an island in the middle of Sum
day afternoon surrounded by
no network programming. To
carry them requires not merely
the opening up of one half-hour
time period but revising on a
local level of the whole Sunday
afternoon schedule.
For awhile some thought even
was given to the possibility of
breaking the film in the middle
for Mr.. Davis and Mr.. Agronsky.
It was decided. however, that the
contrast between 1854 fact and
1894 Hollywood fiction would be
too much for almost any one.