Radio: CBS Shake-Up

“My imagination went wild over the possibilities of radio. But wild as it went, it didn’t go wild enough to keep up with the realities.” In 18 years, William S. Paley has not changed this opinion of radio. He was only 27 when he paid $400,000, partly from cigar-peddling profits, to buy the Columbia Broadcasting System. The date: 1928. Since then, “Wild Bill” has personally directed his lusty, incredibly wealthy network, kept it staffed with an unusual collection of young men. When he returned to his desk after 24 months overseas, Bill Paley decided to shake up his first team. Last week, after four months of line-up juggling, he had a gang as open-eyed as himself.

No. 2 man (vice chairman of the board) is Paul Kesten, who looked after CBS while Paley was overseas. But Kesten is on leave because of ill health, so the second biggest wig is now worn by Dr. Frank Stanton, 38-year-old former psychology professor, and new CBS president.

Frank Stanton got into radio because of a thesis he wrote for his Ph.D. His thesis: people are more impressed by what they hear than by what they see. Kesten read the paper, quickly hired Stanton to tell it to advertisers. He told them so well that Paley made him director of research, later general manager and finally president.

Stanton’s ten vice presidents (average age, 45) agree with him and Paley that CBS must concentrate on news, drama, public service programs and music to offset NBC’s stranglehold on comedy. Last week, two new V.P.s—39-year-old Davidson Taylor and 41-year-old Edward R. Murrow—took over programming completely after Vice President Douglas Coulter “resigned.”