Word: sarnoff
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...kind of TV program that no sponsor could possibly afford: the high-priced talent ranged from Board Chairman Robert Sarnoff (delivery somewhat stiff) to Broad Comic Milton Berle (delivery better than ever). Packed into a two-hour closed-circuit preview of the new season were all of NBC's top stars, presenting snippets from all of the network's evening programs. The audience: station personnel, admen and newsmen in 140 U.S. cities. Madison Avenue time buyers, the cold-eyed crew whom Bob Hope greeted as "the grey flannel Mafia," seemed satisfied at show's end that their...
...familiar fashion, the brawnier contestants match skills in athletic derring-do.) An announcer's throbbing voice pledged continued loyalty to Twenty-One. But the irrepressible comics had a field day kidding the quizzes. "When the subject of my new show came up," cracked Bob Hope, "all General Sarnoff said was, 'Never mind if it's funny. Is it honest...
...replacement. He had done well with a radio program and a daytime television show of his own, but never well enough to make it big. One TV executive dismissed him as strictly a "pipe and slipper type." What happened next is told by NBC's Board Chairman Robert Sarnoff: "We faced a critical decision. The America After Dark version of our Tonight show was a shambles. Sponsors were shunning the program. Some stations were defecting from the NBC late-night line-up in favor of old Hollywood movies. We were under heavy pressure to give up late-night live...
Behind the elevation of Kintner, a onetime Washington newspaper correspondent (for the New York Herald Tribune) and syndicated columnist (with Joseph Alsop), lay some pretty satisfying sales figures. During the first five months of 1958, thanks chiefly to a vigorous Kintner-Sarnoff policy of boosting news and special-events coverage by 20%, NBC network TV sales were $90.8 million, up a hefty $11 million from $79.1 million at this time last year. This was almost twice the gain registered by the longtime front-runner CBS. (From January through this May, CBS racked up $104,300,000 in network TV billings...
...Sarnoff warned that all the sales gain possible from improvement in TV programing has now been registered. "The balance of our effort will have to be in sales, because this is a rougher selling period than a year ago." As a measure of the roughness, NBC last week was laying off a "couple hundred" of its 6,000 employees. For the fall and winter season, NBC still has about five hours of prime evening viewing time (usually figured as 7:30 to, 10:30 p.m.) still unsold v. three hours at CBS without a sponsor. At this time last year...