NBC CHIEF VOWS TO KEEP NETWORK NO. 1

NBC is the No. 1 TV network-- and, not surprisingly, President Robert C. Wright vowed to keep it that way Monday in the keynote address at NBC’s annual affiliates convention here.

“What goes on all the time at NBC is the effort never for us to be complacent,” Wright told the 780 representatives of about 226 NBC affiliated stations gathered at the Century Plaza Hotel for the two-day conference.

“I hope that when this meeting is over, you’ll leave here convinced that we are very serious in maintaining the position that we’ve enjoyed and we’ve achieved,” Wright continued. “And that we is a collective we that involves everybody in this room.”

Added NBC-TV Network President Pierson Mapes, who addressed the crowd following Wright: “The problem is one of maintaining leadership.”

Even though complacent is a dirty word to Wright--a former executive of NBC’s parent company, General Electric, who took over as president of NBC last September--the network was complacent enough after two years in first place to make its annual showcase to the affiliates as much a comedy festival as a presentation of network policy.

Videotaped introductions by personalities from NBC’s comedy programs preceded each executive speech, including one very silly one for Wright by David Letterman in which the bemused late-night host believed he was actually introducing Lorne Greene. “Saturday Night Live” cast member Dana Carvey, in the bespectacled role of the sin-hating “church lady,” introduced NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff as “that little beast master” who runs the programming department.

Mapes furthered cheered the already-cheerful affiliate station representatives with two announcements: one, that unlike the other two networks, NBC plans to increase rather than decrease the compensation fees it pays to affiliate stations for airing NBC programming; and, two, that the 1988 affiliates convention will be held not at the Century Plaza but on the sunny island of Maui.

There were other topics of discussion between the bad jokes and grass skirts, however. In other announcements Monday, NBC said:

--Under his new contract with the network, Johnny Carson will only work three days a week on “The Tonight Show” except during the important ratings “sweeps” periods of November, February and May. Starting in September, comedian Jay Leno will be the show’s permanent Monday host, and a rerun with Carson at the helm will be shown on Tuesdays. During Carson’s vacations, the hosting duties will alternate between Leno and comedian Garry Shandling.

--Bryant Gumbel, a sportscaster before becoming host of NBC’s “Today” show, will serve as prime-time host of NBC’s coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games from Seoul, South Korea. “There is no one in the NBC family who is better suited to report on the games from a sports and news standpoint than a man who has excelled in the coverage of both,” explained Michael Weisman, executive producer of NBC Sports.

--NBC will televise a prime-time debate Dec. 1 featuring all of the announced Democratic and Republican candidates for President. Tom Brokaw will anchor the two-hour broadcast from Washington.

(NBC’s coverage of the 1988 presidential race apparently has begun already: During Monday’s presentation, Brokaw held a satellite interview with White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker--who declared that he would under no circumstances seek the presidency in 1988.)

Wright, known as a hard-line businessman rather than a creative animal like his predecessor, Grant Tinker, assured the station managers that General Electric had no “master plan” for NBC save to make sure it remains No. 1.

“The acquisition didn’t come with a special, secret plan to do things differently or to change the way the network business operates or to change the way the stations operate,” Wright said. “The program is simply to recognize that NBC was in fact the crown jewel of RCA and to do what we can to continue the success that NBC is enjoying.”

Mapes, while applauding NBC’s leadership position in most parts of the programming schedule, noted that the network still lags behind in one area: daytime TV. As a means of boosting those ratings, he encouraged affiliate stations not to preempt NBC daytime programs with syndicated product.

Mapes and other executives also sought support from the affiliates for the network’s biggest new daytime effort: the new Sunday version of the “Today” show, which will air at 8 a.m. beginning in September. Station managers were urged not to let the dismal performances of other morning fare, most notably CBS’ low-rated “Morning Program,” convince them to preempt the new “Today.”