Radio & TV: The Campaign

In the race to sew up the choice television time, the Democrats got off to a fast start. They lined up 18 network TV shows at a cost of $630.000. As early as last June, the Democrats staked a claim to a 30-minute period that was available on alternate Tuesdays (CBS, 10:30 p.m., E.S.T.) until election day. Explains the Democrats’ Washington radio chief, Lou Frankel: “As we book our man on speeches around the country, we can fit him into the radio & TV time already purchased.” The Democratic program is simple: there is only one star, and such supporting players as Harry Truman and Vice Presidential Candidate John Sparkman will get only a minimum share of the limelight. Of Adlai Stevenson, Frankel says: “He’s our John Barrymore, our biggest radio & TV asset.”

The Republicans reserved time on TV as early as the Democrats, but they did not make firm purchases until after the convention. Result: they found all the best spots already bought up by commercial sponsors. A political party may, by law, bump an advertiser off the air if it wishes—but it must then pay the sponsor the entire cost of the program, plus commissions. In taking over a 45-minute nighttime period next month, the Republicans must not only pay an $80,000 rebate to Pabst beer, but also take the risk of irritating and alienating voters who had been expecting to watch a prizefight rather than Eisenhower.

Neither party has yet decided what sort of a show to give on election eve. The Democrats formerly used Hollywood and Broadway stars, but this year, says Frankel, “we don’t plan any wingding—even though the talent is gratis, the production cost is murder.”

The Republicans are showing the greater TV ingenuity. Last week in Kansas City, General Eisenhower answered questions posed by voters in the TV studio and from remote pickups on street corners. Another project will feature Harold Stassen and Republican governors, attacking and answering Candidate Stevenson on specific points of his campaign and record. Candidate Eisenhower put in an eight-hour day filming 40 spot announcements on such subjects as taxes, corruption and peace. Sample: Housewife—”They say I’ve never had it so “good, yet I’ve had to stop buying eggs and everything expensive.” Eisenhower—”No wonder. You actually pay 100 different taxes on just one egg. We must cut costs and taxes.”

On radio, the Democrats are trying a new kind of radio show: It’s Up to You (ABC, Mon. 2 :45 p.m.). Starring National Committeewoman India Edwards, the 15-minute program elbows its way among the soap operas to plug the Democratic ticket. The show features a two-voiced character named Skizo Phrenia, who identifies himself as a split-personality Republican: “My motto is yes. And then again, no.”