Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-08-28

Maybe the spirit that impel
something, but all at once it Sc
up and be counted, too. Thei
latively minor thing, in view
today, but we'd like to focus O
order in which they were receiv
/. Summer TV.
2. Commercials.
8. Reruns.
A. c., in a letter too vitupera-
tive to repeat here, suggests
that Tv critics very often COM
pound the insult" that is sum-
mer TV by deliberately calling
attention to fall programming
and ignoring the hot, humid
waSteland.' Well, er, true. by
rights, you should rerun your
columns on the shows being re-
peated," he adds.
Next comes a housewife, re-
commercials to inquire, indig-
nantly-"Do you know they're
selling Christmas toys already
on the Ranger Hal program"
I didn't, mainly because I
haven't watched Ranger Halls
show in, uh, some time, prefer
ring slightly more adult pro-
gramming. We CHI ecked and
she's right; the firm is suggest
ing layaway purchases for
Christmas, which is something
that a lot of firms are doing,
including Supermarkets, in
other me dia. I think she's
right, though; it certainly is
ridiculously early. And who,
among the small fry listening,
knows what layaway means2
Here's an excerpt from a
speech by new F. c. c. Commits
sioner Lee Loevinger cat the
University of Nebraska last
Monday which, we believe, is
one of the best ever made in
the communications field, not
excepting Newton Minow's
"wasteland" classic. 1t is the
paragraph in which Loevinger
deals with the unacceptable diff
ference between broadcasting
and other media that (makes)
commercials become objection
able and sometimes intolerable.
"
There are several reasons
for this" he explained. ITO
begin with, broadcast program
ming is strictly linear; one
thing is presented at a time
and the audience has no choice
about watching and hearing
what is presented, while news
paper advertising is easily and
often ignored. Further, broad
casting time-and therefore
contents limited. Every mo-
ment devoted to commercials is
necessarily taken away from
substantive program features.
Newspapers, in contrast, can
add space almost without limit
to accommodate whatever adj
vertising news and feature vol
ume the day affords.
BroadcaSters have the same
amount Of time available every
day. While these programs are
inherent in the nature of the
medium, q third factor is the
creation Of the broadcaSterS
themselves. This is the inter-
ruptive nature of commercials.
While other media attempt to
sustain attention and mood,
broadcasting seems to make an
effort to lose attention and
shatter mood by frequent and
ill-timed intersection of COM
mercialS into all types Of pro-
grams. This is the aspect of
broadcasting most frequently
and most vehemently criticized
by all segments Of the audi
ence."
Amen.
Zone of the Loevinger prop
ositionS that should stun the
industry is the one that would
require "as a minimum that
each station devote at least as
much broadcasting time to
news as it does to commercial
advertising" He admits this is
a crude way to measure broad
casting performance but that
it does offer "clear operation
criterion" 1t sure doeS.)
On the subject of reruns and
CBS's apparently inexhaustible
stock Of tired reruns starring
Jack Benny, Phil Silver, Lucy
and DeSi, ETC., ]. c. D., of Falls
Church, observes that the TV
executives must at least be
granted q certain animal
cunning"
This summer, instead of
presenting reruns from last
season, they are offering reruns
that are several years old in
hopes that confused viewers
will forget whether they saw