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Show itelevSsnoini comm mmemi'fca iry By Dick Hughes are afraid and hostile to me because am hostile to them. But doubt very much anybody reads this column. What think has happened is that the Nielsen ratings refusal to answer is just some more of the cloak and dagger comedy that makes television so funny when it is not on the air. And other delusions of grandeur. But of course they did reply and I ,1 I so now cant say that They replied nicely, I might add, and patiently explained to me which page the numbers were on. wont bore you with all that, hovewer. It is enough to say that only 15 per cent of the samples in the latest Nielsen survey were color sets, which is close to the percentage of the actual number of sets, black and white plus color, in Utah homes I I today. There was a theory wmsperea around televisions Social Hall Alley in Salt Lake City lately that perhaps 10 5J 114 the reason KSL-T(CBS) finally 1 won the news rating race this sea14 son after eight years was that 80 11(SJ per cent of Nielsens samples were taken from homes with color sets. Unable to find the color penetration figures in the latest Nielsen Station Indexs detailed and lengthy lists of numbers, this columnist wrote the Nielsen company and asked could they explain? must confess Sadistically, 140 hoped they wouldnt reply so could chortle in print and say something 2.00 to the effect that Nielsen was hiding and that "The Guide 12J these figures 2.30 was onto a real hot story. had a whole paragraph written to the effect that Nielsen was afraid 345 to reply since revelation of his com3,30 with numbers in pany's hokus-poku400 this column would bring the whole 4:30 ratings system tumbling to a justly 43 300 deserved bad end, like the quiz 313 10 21 1030 I I I I s fcows. 5.30 3:43 be flattered, the paragraph went on, "to think the Nielsen ratings have read my column and would Which means that everyone got a fair share of their news aired on the Nielsen ratings, both the heavily black and white stations and KSL, which broadcasts its news all in color. So there goes another whispered theory into a Cocked hat. The question now is, can anyone explain why KSL news is first? Please address your replies to , 145 Social Hall Ave., Salt Lake City, Utah. The whispered theory aroused its ugly head mainly from the fact that while KCPX-T(ABC), the leader in the news ratings for eight years, uses color when its news is on film, KCPX lacks color equipment in the studio. This means News Director Roy Gibson is in black and white when on camera while stories covered in the field can be shot in color. Theoretically, because of this KSL would pull more color set viewers because they would prefer to see all Meanwhile, in competing with his across the alley, seems to me, is achieving more of the look television color opponent Gibsons news, it news should have. That means more films, more action, more work done in the field. It It means you see less of the old stilted humdrum of a newsman sitting behind a table reading from a sheaf of papers and looking at the camera once in awhile in hopes you're still watching. If television was to live up to its potential for bringing us all the news live, in action right before your eyes, then it would be fulfilling the idealistic goals laid down for it when television was presented to the world in 1939 at Chicago. The man the television world knows as Sarnoff said at that time that television would open the eyes of man, bring understanding through vision and a lot of other stuff. Lets hope some day its does. But right now as far as news is concerned its not about to happen. "Bringing the pubNc a completely newsreel type news program is impossible, says Roy Gibson. We simply cant afford it. there's KSL-TV- i the news in color. This aint so, says the Nielsen ratings, and they should know. After all, the ratings arent completely cuckoo. the guide, may 19, 1966 page 16 |