Kukla, Fran and Ollie TV ratings

KFO begins live broadcasts in New York in early 1949. By the fall of 1950 it is regularly winning its time slot, according to the American Research Bureau, which uses the diary method:

Sample households are given a diary and asked to note down all the programs they see and hear over a seven-day period. On the whole, the method is cheap and permits a comparatively large sample (2,200). The diaries reach all kinds of homes—rich and poor, telephone and nontelephone, urban and rural; and the method allows more detailed information to be gathered, if desired, by asking the householder to jot down such extras as the ages of the people in the audience, their attentiveness to commercials, and so on. But the placing of diaries can be a haphazard method scientifically, since many people refuse to accept them, which could throw an entire sample out of kilter. Also, there is a tendency to neglect filling out the diary until the last day of the week. Here, too, memory is unreliable and people will put down anything that comes into their heads—including, occasionally, shows which haven’t been on the air for years, like the old Ken Murray program. As comedian Herb Shriner put it, “If you stop a woman leaving a supermarket and ask her to tell you everything she just bought, she won’t be able to. So how can she be expected to remember what she listened to a week ago?” (from "Who Knows Who’s on Top?" by Bill Davidson, Colliers, 1954.)

Nationally, Kukla, Fran & Ollie is watched in about 2 million homes, according the the Nielsen rating service - less than Howdy Doody or Super Circus, but more than Frank Sinatra or Burns and Allen, and far more than Captain Video.

The Nielsen device, called the Audimeter, is a small black box about the size of a portable typewriter case. It is attached by wire to all radios and television receivers in a household, and it records on film every station to which the set is tuned during a two-week period. The householder then mails the film to the Nielsen Company in Chicago, where electronic computers add up and analyze the data. But the Audimeter method is not infallible. There are mechanical breakdowns, and many people simply don’t want the black box in their homes. Another major complaint is that the Audimeter—unlike other systems—measures tuning, but not listening or viewing. A children’s program may be watched by 15 youngsters gathered around a set, yet the black box records only one viewer. Also, a housewife who had the TV or radio turned on might actually be in some other room doing her housework. A few TV people object, as well, to the fact that Nielsen keeps Audimeters in homes permanently and does not change the sample.

Nielsen ratings for December, 1950:

	Millions of Homes		% of Homes
	Current	Previous
1. Texaco Star Theater	5.47	5.98	56.0
2. Your Show of Shows	3.80	3.39	48.0
4. Toast of the Town	3.70	2.64	42.5
10. Stop the Music	3.06	3.18	34.6
11. Howdy Doody	3.01	3.33	32.2
26. Super Circus	2.63	2.70	31.5
49. Kukla, Fran and Ollie	2.05	2.27	27.8
54. Kay Kyser	1.91	2.05	21.0
62. Frank Sinatra	1.85	2.08	20.6
77. Quiz Kids	1.52	1.40	21.3
91. Burns and Allen	1.30	0.97	16.7
96. Smilin' Ed McConnell	1.25	1.11	18.6
106. Truth or Consequences	1.10	0.96	15.3
116. Mr. I. Magination	0.87	0.94	12.1
119. Captain Video	0.81	0.84	16.8
121. Lucky Pup	0.78	0.48	18.9
145. Tom Corbett	0.48	0.62	10.1

On the other hand, The Pulse, Inc. reports that Captain Video is more popular.

Under the roster-recall method, used by The Pulse, Inc., among others, interviewers go from home to home, show the householder a list of programs, and ask what shows were listened to in the preceding few hours. This method is fast and inexpensive, and it can include more people in the sample than any other technique (67,000 families). But the roster-recall has disadvantages, too. The person interviewed generally is the housewife, and she often has no idea what programs attracted her husband and children. Also, the memory—or the interviewer—can play strange tricks. Not long ago a rating service using the roster-recall method inexplicably came up with a complete set of ratings for the evening programs of a San Antonio radio station. The catch was that the station goes off the air daily at sunset.

Here is its ranking of the top daily shows in the New York area for January of 1950:

1954

NBC asks the troupe to move to New York and become a part of The Home Show, but the Kuklapolitans instead sign with ABC, initially airing only in Chicago and New York. By October 1st, 30 stations air the show, far below the number that aired the show when on NBC.

The ratings reflect that: ARB reports that the show is regularly beaten by bothThe Early Show and Captain Video. Here are ratings for 7 p.m. in the New York area:

Oct. 7th

.......

Oct. 8th

.......

Oct. 11th

.......

Oct. 12th

.......

Oct. 13th

The Early Show

12.8

Guy Lombardo

15.5

The Early Show

13.1

Janet Dean, RN

8.7

The Early Show

14.3

Foreign Intrigue

6.9

The Early Show

11.9

News

4.2

Political - Javits

8.4

Captain Video

4.2

Captain Video

3.6

Captain Video

2.7

Captain Video

4.2

Cowboy G-Men

3.6

It Seems Like Yesterday

3.0

News

3.6

KFO

2.4

KFO

3.9

News

3.3

KFO

2.7

KFO

2.7

News

1.2

Regal Theater

2.1

Captain Video

3.3

Cowboy G-Men

2.4

Cowboy G-Men

2.4

Hollywood Preview

0.9

Political

0.6

KFO

3.0

News

1.8

We'll never know how accurate these ratings services were, but advertisers and networks took them quite seriously. Kukla, Fran and Ollie's network television run ended in 1957.

Home

1. Howdy Doody	17.8
2. Captain Video	15.6
3. Small Fry Club	12.4
4. Lucky Pup	11.9
5. Junior Frolics	11.7
6. Kukla. Fran & Ollie	11.1
7. Camel News Caravan	11.0
8. Western Features	11.0
9. Children’s Theatre	9.1
10. Mohawk Showroom	9.0