Profit & Loss

When Champion Joe Louis and Challenger Max Schmeling came out of their corners to begin the first round of their fight last week, radio listeners in both the Americas and in Europe expected to hear several rounds of fighting, a half hour or more of broadcasting.

NBC expected to sell for its exclusive coverage from 30 to 75 minutes of air time on its Red and Blue networks, had mustered 146 stations from Boston to Honolulu, had a beam open for Portuguese short waving to Brazil, another for Spanish reporting to other South and Central American listeners, a third to carry the German account to Challenger Schmeling's homeland. It was to be the biggest sport broadcast ever.

General Motors Corp.'s Buick Division had paid some $50,000 to sponsor the broadcast, was committed to pay about $35,000 more for the first 15 minutes of air time, was prepared to pay proportionately for as many additional 15-minute periods as the broadcast might run.

Within just two minutes and four seconds, Brown Bomber Louis gave all this elaborate and expensive machinery every bit of use it needed. When the books were balanced, NBC could count as maximum paper loss the profit on time charges for what might have been an additional broadcasting hour, came out with a profit on the flat rate Buick paid for the fight, the 15 minutes of time sold. Buick lost the potential advertising mentions planned at three or four round intervals, put on the air the longer opening and closing announcements. These totaled three minutes and 48 seconds of air time, 108 seconds over NBC's advertising average for 15-minute broadcast.

Uncompensated loss was Blow-by-blower Clem McCarthy's. The loss: his poise. Son of an auctioneer and veterinary dentist, he is vociferous, deft-tongued, sportswise by inheritance, has a record of 244 words a minute. Still warming to his work when Champion Louis had finished his, Ringsider McCarthy was reduced to dithering bewilderment. His most absurd dither: "This is the shortest fight on record wherein a title changed hands."

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