Noble Experiment

The American Broadcasting Co., onetime stepchild of NBC, last week put on its long pants. The Federal Communications Commission approved the ambitious expansion plans of Owner Edward John Noble, 63.

First thing ABC plans to do is to float its first public stock issue of 950,000 shares. That will bring in some $13,000,000, of which $3,630,000 will be used to buy Detroit's King-Trendle Broadcasting Corp. Other millions are earmarked for big, but nebulous, plans for a nationwide chain of television and FM stations. Although the new stock issue will cut Noble's interest in ABC from 71.39% to 36.52%, no one was happier about the FCC action than Ed Noble.

Big Money. The son of a Gouverneur, N.Y. coal dealer, Noble was selling advertising back in 1913 when he saw an opportunity to make some big money. With a partner, J. Roy Allen, he bought the Life Savers business for $2,900 from a chocolate manufacturer who had no confidence in Life Savers' future. By shrewd advertising, they put Life Savers into the mouths of 100,000,000 people. By 1925, Partner Allen was able to retire with $3,300,000; in 1938 Ed Noble's Life Savers was valued at $22,000,000.

After a turn in Government jobs--chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, Under Secretary of Commerce--Ed Noble bought New York's station WMCA for $850,000. With it he acquired a lawsuit by ex-Owner Donald Flamm, who charged that Noble had coerced him into selling cheaply, for fear FCC would take away his wavelength. Flamm won another $350,000 in court. But Noble still liked radio. So after FCC ordered NBC to divest itself of either the Red or Blue network, Ed Noble paid $8,000,000 for the Blue, the biggest deal in radio history.

Big Time. The Blue had been running largely on NBC's left-over programs. Ed Noble had to start almost from scratch. He has done best with his stable of commentators, probably the most popular on the air. Noble has also done well with ABC financially. He has boosted the number of network stations from 168 to 204, the gross network sales from $14,000,000 to $40,000,000. (One reason: in the boom war years ABC has had more time to sell than NBC or Columbia.) Gross profit rose from $9,250 in 1942 to an estimated $2,000,000 this year; net profit from $52,000 to about $1,250,000.

Like other chains, ABC has been hit recently by contract cancellations (TIME, May 27). But Ed Noble thinks the "hysteria" is now over. Of his Noble experiment in radio he quipped: "I've had the damndest lot of headaches, and damndest lot of fun, I've ever had."

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