The Busy Air

P: In Manhattan, ABC happily reported that the reruns of Disneyland TV shows were winning even more viewers than had the originals. Disney's Operation Undersea had a Nielsen rating of 43.4 on its original run, jumped to 47.4 on the repeat; Seal Island soared from 40.2 to 51.9.

P: In Cleveland, TV boxing reached an inevitable: professional fights are held in a specially constructed studio ring with crowd noises supplied by recording. The boxers' purses are put up by the show's sponsor, Pilsener Brewing Co.

P: In London, Expatriate Orson Welles began a new filmed TV series over the BBC. Called Orson Welles Sketch Book, the one-man show will feature Welles telling stories about bullfighting and black magic, or just chatting. None of the subjects seems capable of scaring the British as successfully as Welles did New Jerseyites with his Martian broadcast in 1938.

P: In Yuma, Ariz., discovering that he would have to shut down radio station KOLD for an hour to install new equipment, enterprising Station Owner Jim Hawthorne promptly sold the hour to a sponsor for $365 (plus a five-second mention at noon every day for a year), plugged it as "an innovation in broadcasting--one hour of absolute silence brought to this audience by Smith Mattress & Upholstery Co."

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