The Busy Air

CJ The DuMont and ABC television networks, which carried the McCarthy-Army hearings live through 36 days and 186 1/2 hours of testimony, figured out what the public service cost them. ABC paid about $500,000 out of pocket to feed the hearings to as many as 71 outlets, estimated that it would have cost an advertiser $2,700,000 to sponsor the entire telecast of the hearings. The smaller (ten stations) DuMont network used $700,000 worth of air time to carry the hearings, would not say how much the telecasts actually cost.

After the first two days the West Coast did not get a chance to see the spectacle live, but an average of 9,000,000 viewers east of the Rockies looked on daily.

P: In Washington the American Research Bureau reported the ten TV programs with the biggest audiences for the 1953-54 season. In order: I Love Lucy (see above). Dragnet, You Bet Your Life, Talent Scouts, Jackie Gleason (a newcomer to the top ten), Milton Berle, Life of Riley (another newcomer), Godfrey and His Friends, Our Miss Brooks and Toast of the 'Town (newcomer). Missing from the list this year: Your Show of Shows, Comedy Hour, What's My Line? P: From New York the Rocky Marciano-Ezzard Charles heavyweight-championship fight (see SPORT) was telecast on a closed circuit to 61 theaters in 45 cities--the largest number of outlets since theater TV began. Despite the price of tickets ($2.75 up) and the fact that the fight was carried on radio, approximately 200,000 theater customers turned up.

P: In New York NBC estimated that as of May, two-thirds of all homes in the U.S. have television. That is 30,083,000 sets in use.

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