Radio daily (Feb-Mar 1937)

Serving the Better Interests of Commercial Radio and Television VOL. 1. NO. 24 NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 15. 1937 FIVE CENTS Femme Series on 6 Lucky 5 Campaign Directed at Woman Clientele Will Have Five Weekly Programs On the Columbia Network START WORK IN YEAR ON CBS RADIO CENTER " Plans of Columbia Broadcasting System to erect a complete new broadcast center and network head-quarters for its own use, on a site recently acquired at the southeast corner of 59th St. and Park Ave., are -rapidly maturing and breaking of ground for the project is expected to take place within a year, it is stated .by William S. Paley, president, in the CBS annual report made public Saturday. CBS also has bought a site for a Hollywood studio and office building which are to be erected soon. A factual report will shortly be "made by CBS on the working of the general policies placed in effect some 20 months ago. These policies have -been a success, Paley says, citing particularly the determination to sell time only for advertising of goods .and services and refusing to sell it for propaganda, with the single exception of the sale of facilities to a political party during an actual campaign for election. Making radio an impartial, nonpartisan forum for the discussion of ^public affairs, rather than seeking to exert editorial sway on the outcome of issues, was one of the great les -sons of 1936, says Paley. Rejection of (Continued on Parte 5) WBS Disk Campaign Started by Schlitz * Schlitz Brewing Co., Milwaukee, has begun a series of WBS quarterhour transcriptions twice weekly on WHO, Des Moines. Show is entitled "The Schlitz Palm Garden of the Air." Expected that more stations will be added later. McJunkin Ad ' vertising Co., Chicago, placed the account. Cub Announcer Tulsa. Okla. — KTUL is following ! the newspaper tradition of having ; a cub reporter. Billy Conine, Central High School I student, has been employed to work before and after school as cub announcer. The idea is to have a trained announcer ready in case a regular spieler takes ill or leaves the staff. CBS on Television Status of CBS on television, summarized by President William S. Paley in his annual report to stockholders, follows: "There is much still to be done. At the moment I believe that anything like satisfactory television broadcasting is still well in the distance. Yet sudden achievements in the laboratories could accelerate its coming. We are doing our part to hasten it. We shall soon be in position to tell something of what we are doing." NBC DISK BUSINESS UP 113%JAST MONTH February gross revenue booked through the NBC transcription department increased 113 per cent as against the corresponding month last year. This is the largest monthly receipts since the organization of the transcription section. New clients for the Thesaurus are WCOA, Pensacola, and CKPR, Fort William, Ont. Renewals have been received from WOWO, WRJN, and WTAD. New Buckeye Network Going in Action Soon Cleveland — The recently announced Buckeye Network begins to look as though it will soon go into action. A wire hookup is established between WHK and WJAY of Cleveland and WHKC, Columbus. WKBN, Youngstown, and WSPD, Toledo, are also (Continued on Page 5) By M. H. CONGRESSMAN William P. Connery unleashed another tirade against radio, mainly the webs, last Thursday, and charged the industry with everything short of kidnapping and rape . . . House Rules Committee, after listening to the charges of alleged monopoly and what have you, voted to continue until this week the hearing on Connery's resolution for appointment of a committee to investigate radio. . . . The same day, playing into Connery's hands, came an FCC order to reopen certain cases wherein it was COAST NET TO BUILD UP LAST NIGHT AUDIENCES West Coast Bureau of RADIO DAILY Los Angeles — Columbia's Pacific coast network is going out to fight the notion that late night hours are not pay hours. First, it is going to build up an entirely new type of night audience, and when opportunity is ripe, set about selling time that heretofore has been filled in with sustaining dance bands. Donald W. Thornburgh, CBS vicepres. in charge on the Coast, has upped the KNX budget to provide for more productions, and given the go ahead to Charles Vanda, program director for the coast, to hop on it and launch major productions and (Continued on Page 7) Sinatra, Guest Talent Set for Cycle Series The Cycle Trades of America program, which premieres April 1 over the NBC-Blue network, will feature Ray Sinatra and his orchestra and a series of guest stars. Frank Parker will be heard on the April 1 broadcast; Ruth Etting, April 8; Fibber McGee & Molly, April 15; Hildegarde, April 22; Jean Ellington and the Revellers Quartet, April 29; Mary (Continued on Page 5) SHAPIRO ' alleged, there was a bit of irregularity, as it were . . . One consolation from the Capital, hearings on the Dickstein bill came to an end and the measure is to be considered in executive session some time this week. February gross billing by the major webs did the usual leap, with NBC showing a 21.4 per cent increase over the same period a year ago, while CBS came thru with an 18.6 jump . . . Mutual, with its first February as a Coast to Coast net revealed (Continued on Page 2) American Tobacco Co. (Lucky Strike cigarettes), to reach the feminine radio audience, will start a five-times weekly program, Mondays through Fridays, 12:15-12:30 p.m., on CBS beginning April 5. Network will eventually extend from coast to coast, but for the first four weeks all CBS stations except the Mountain and Pacific Coast groups will be used. After April 30 the two latter units will be added. Edwin C. Hill will be featured in the series, which will be a news program. It is not definitely decided whether Hill will use spot news or comment on current events. There is a possibility that the quarter-hour will be combination of both. In addition to reaching the women listeners at home the program will also reach the large Eastern market during the lunch hour. Whether George Washington Hill, president of American Tobacco Co., has any plans to start another contest similar to the Sweepstakes which proved so successful last Fall is. not stated. The Sweepstakes it will be remembered broke all records for the number of entries into a radio contest. In one (Continued on Page 5) KRMC, Jamestown, N. D. Makes Its Debut on Air Jamestown, N. D.— KRMC, North Dakota's newest radio station, made its official air debut yesterday at 10 a.m. Owned and operated by the Roberts-McNab Co., the station will broadcast on a frequency of 1310 kilocycles and be on the air continuously from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. For the present the station will oper (Continucd on Page 8) Co-op Campaign Portland, Ore. — MacWilkins & Cole, local advertising agency, will launch a radio campaign next month for the Columbia Empire Industries, Inc., embracing a group of Oregon manufacturing companies who are cooperating in a united ai; campaign. The series will be of an institutional nature. * THE WEEK IN I Al K * . . . Congressman Connery Squawks