Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

AN "ORCHESTRA" whose total investment in instruments is exactly S5 is one of the featured programs on KOIL, Council Bluffs-Omaha. The bass drum is a box with an inner tube stretched across it. Snare drum is a coffee can with shingle nails. Tom-tom is a larger coffee can. also with an inner tube across. Kazoos with funnels, adhesive tape and proper use of hands give the entire ensemble the proper orchestral "balance." BEHIND THE MICROPHONE DONNA (MARGE) DAMEREL, of "Myrt and Marge," has been voted radio's typical "It" girl in a nationwide poll just completed by Radio Guide magazine. Ruth Etting ran a close second. FRANK SALERNO, versatile accordionist, has been added to the staff of WBBM, Chicago. "SAM" SAMPSON, formerly on the sales staff of KXA, Seattle, is now assistant to the commercial manager of KOL, Seattle. ROBERTA HOYT, taking part in the Wheatenaville Sketches from NBC in San Francisco, was married in November to William L. Naylor at Del Monte, Cal. NOT ONLY was Vic Meyer, well known Seattle orchestra leader, elected lieutenant governor of the State of Washington in the Democratic landslide last month, but Carl Luck, saxophone player of Spokane, like Meyer, well known to the radio audience, was elected to the state legislature. PAUL STEWART, stage and radio actor, has been added to the staff of WLW, Cincinnati. EDWIN J. O'MALLEY, formerly chief announcer of WAMC, Anniston, Ala., is now chief announcer and program director of WJBY, Gadsen, Ala. ANDY ORFIELD, who has joined the announcing staff of WJJD, Chicago, was northwestern tennis champion for four years, ranked eighth nationally in 1929, and was twice Minneapolis champion. GEORGE GERHARDI, German announcer of WDAS, Philadelphia, and dramatic tenor in the Philadelphia Grand Opera Co., has been given a prominent role in "Music in the Air," the recent Hammerstein-Kern-Fears production. GEORGE T. CASE, senior announcer of WCKY, Covington, Ky., recently was voted the most popular announcer of five greater Cincinnati radio stations. HARRY STEELE, formerly a reporter on the Chicago Evening Post, will do the WLS, Chicago, news flashes exclusively as a result of the purchase of the Post by the Chicago Daily News. "OKLAHOMA" Bob Albright, well known on the vaudeville stage for his cowboy ballads, is now doing a program on WLW, Cincinnati. THE THREE KEYS, NBC Negro entertainers, filled a week's engagement at a Philadelphia theater during November. DR. WALTER DAMROSCH, conductor of the NBC Music Appreciation Hour, was given an honorary degree in music by Brown University Nov. 12 during a special program sponsored by the university's Institute of Art. HARRY HERSHFIELD, noted cartoonist, is now heard over WOR, Newark, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 7:15 p.m. in a series of humorous monologues. THE ARIZONA WRANGLERS will return to the studios of KNX, Hollywood, Cal., on Dec. 5 after an eightweeks' tour of 40 western cities. BORN to Fred Shields, night announcer at KNX, Los Angeles, and Mrs. Shields, a 7-pound girl, Sylvia. WILLIAM NORVELL, onetime manager of KEX, Portland, Ore., has joined the staff of KFJI, Klamath Falls, Ore. J. NEWTON YATES, onetime organist at KFVD, Culver City, Cal., has been added to the staff of KNX, Hollywood, in a similar capacity. RUSSELL BANKSON, Spokane newspaperman, has joined KHQ as news commentator and writer. MORTON DOWNEY has signed a new contract with CBS for another long period. ALICE REMSEN, crooning contralto, has left New York to join the staff of WLW, Cincinnati. The Sunshine Boys (Joe and Dan) have also joined the staff of WLW, after radio experience in New York on NBC and CBS. HUGH WALTON formerly of CBS, has joined the announcing staff of WCAU, Philadelphia, according to Stan Lee Broza, program director. ROY McDANIELS, yodeling cowboy once heard over XER, Mexico, has crossed the Rio Grande and joined the entertaining staff of KFXM, San Bernardino, Cal. BILL GOULD, of the announcing staff at KGER, Long Beach, Cal., late in November was promoted to chief announcer. BILL SCHREIER, announcer at KGGC, San Francisco, was wed to Ivy Beatrice Kennedy, stage singer, after a romance that began in the studios. HAROLD ISBELL, formerly with KNX, Hollywood, has gone to KFAC, Los Angeles, as chief announcer. JIMMIE MURRAY, the Herman of Mike and Herman, is back at the studios of WLW, Cincinnati, after an absence of two weeks caused by his injury in an automobile accident. TODD ROLLINS and his orchestra are back at WINS, New York, after a New England tour and will be heard regularly this winter. RUDY VALLEE, now in his fourth year of continuous broadcasting for the Fleischmann Yeast Co., has been signed to continue throughout 1933 for the same sponsor. VICTOR CAILLE, organist at WDELWILM, Wilmington, Del., and El Thompson, author and actor, have recently composed "Smiling the Blues Away" and "Fooling." HUGH BARRETT DOBBS and his "Shell Happytimers," heard on the CBS-Don Lee Pacific coast network, will do a talkie to be called "The Phanton Ship of Joy." Production will be done by Robert Connell Productions of Hollywood, with most scenes done aboard an old sailing craft near Sausalito harbor. ELEANOR ALLEN, organist, Fred Lane, announcer, and Gene Eubanks, assistant production chief, were recently dropped by KFRC, San Francisco. REX DUNN is out as orchestra conductor at NBC, San Francisco, with Nathan Abas getting most of the former Dunn programs. HENRY C. WOEMPNER, first flutist of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, nationally known in music circles, has taken over the musical directorship of KSTP, St. Paul. SAN COSLOW, who wrote "Was it a Dream," "Just One More Chance," "Sing You Sinners" and others, is now heard over KHJ, Los Angeles, and Pacific CBS stations, weekly in a sustaining feature to be called "The Voice of Romance." IN THE CONTROL ROOM JULIUS C. VESSELS, former chief engineer of WAMC, Anniston, Ala., has a similar post with WJBY, Gadsen, Ala. L. E. BOWDEN, former technician at KFRC, San Francisco, will have charge of production engineer activity on weekly broadcasts of Ted Fiorito and his orchestra from San Francisco to the CBS chain. FRITZ MAUER, former Army radio engineer, is now chief engineer of KGBX, recently moved from St. Joseph to Springfield, Mo. His control operators are Jake Jacobs, formerly of KMBC, Kansas City, and Edward Stone, formerly of WGST, Atlanta. Orville Simpson, with the station when it was at St. Joseph, is operator. LEWIS BAIRD, formerly with KFH, Wichita, and KGBX, St. Joseph, Mo., has joined WHB, Kansas City, as control operator. HENRY GROSSMAN, CBS division engineer in New York, has constructed an amateur station, W2HM, at his residence in the Hotel Taft. THE INSTITUTE of Radio Service Men, headquarters of which were changed Nov. 1 to the Boyce Bldg., 510 No. Dearborn St., Chicago, announces that its first intersectional convention will be held in the Hotel Sherman, Chicago, Jan. 9 to 11. Local Stations Called Superior to Net Outlets For Local Advertising NETWORK stations cannot reach ;| local audiences as effectively as J local or regional outlets, Leroy Mark, owner of the 100-watt WOL, . Washington, D. C, declared in an I address Nov. 18 before the Advertising Club of Washington. "What would you advertisers do t if you were compelled to pay the rates of the Saturday Evening I Post or the American Magazine j because they are the only publica I tions circulated in Washington?" he asked. Evening hours are not neces I sarily preferable for a local pro j| gram, Mr. Mark said, explaining: j "Did you ever stop to realize that | as the sun goes down static is elim j inated and you can sit in your own home with a normal receiving set J and tune in 20 or 30 stations all over the United States? That is the competition you have among ] Washington listeners when you j broadcast from 8 p.m. on." Discussing spot announcements and price quotations, the WOL head said: "Did you ever stop to realize i that everything on the air is a spot announcement. It may be sur , rounded by one program or an , other, but it is still a spot. And what good is an announcement un J less it tells the price of your merchandise? Local stations, which have been quoting prices for years, have brought regionals and chain | outlets to the adoption of price quotations because the locals were positively moving the merchandise after 6 p.m." Mr. Mark recommended consideration of sustaining programs by potential advertisers on the ground that an established feature would have a greater pull than a new program. He warned against expecting too much from radio advertising, however, and cited examples of business houses that had tried to get rid of inferior merchandise through such a medium. Dawes in WKBF Deal CHARLES C. DAWES, nephew of the former Vice President, has announced the organization of Indianapolis Broadcasting, Inc., which has purchased WKBF, Indianapolis, from the Curtis Radiocasting Co. Mr. Dawes is vice president of the new company, with William E. Vogelback as president and Edmund J. Haugh, secretary-treasurer. James D. Carpenter continues as manager of the station, which will have complete new studio and transmitter equipment and which, according to Mr. Dawes, will seek an affiliation with NBC. New Electrical Units THE NEW ABSOLUTE electrical units may go into effect Jan. 1, 1935, according to Dr. H. L. Curtis, of the U. S. Bureau of Standards, who recently attended the meeting of the International Electrical Congress in Paris. Adoption of these units are derived directly from the three units of length, mass and time. Page 20 BROADCASTING • December 1, 1932