Radio daily (Feb-Mar 1937)

VOL. 1. NO. 30 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 23. 1937 FIVE CENTS Ken Dyke NBC Eastern Sales Head looking On t»----AND LISTENING IN OPPORTUNITY Tame, fortune (and fat movie offers) await any new comedian or other personality with the talent, material and courage to offer a show for at least a 13-week period without resorting to a single guest star. Variety programs have been swapping talent and using the same guest stars to such an extent that few of these productions have any individuality left. And some "stars" have played so many "guest" engagements that dialers are beginning to have suspicions about it. If an artist is good enough to appear as a guest on half a dozen different programs a month, he ought to have a series of his own. Nor is it good showmanship to have so much inter-visiting by stars of current programs. Sponsors' representatives, for the sake of getting an extra ad plug here and there for their clients, are unwittingly creating a lot of bad will for them and for radio programs in general. • GENTLE HINT Pardon us, if this little yarn has a slightly commercial tinge — it also contains a chuckle and a bit of a moral. Program Director Wauhillau LaHay of KVOR, Colorado Springs, writes that "everybody at KVOR enjoys Radio Daily so much that there's a fight to get it first." That's nothing. Wauhillau. At another station — whose identity is politely withheld — the chief engineer and the sales manager got into a fist fight for possession of Radio Daily on its arrival one morning. Result: the c.e. gave the s.m. a black eye, costing the latter S10 for medical attention alone. For half the price, the s.m. could have avoided the indignity of that shiner and received the paper in his own name for a whole year besides. \ir Lovelorn Column Omaha — A radio column for the lovelorn starts in two weeks on KOIL, 15 minutes weekly, with a sponsor. Omaha Bee-News also will share plugs. Gertrude McLaughlin, who conducts the paper's "Open Door" column under the tag cf Julia Craig, is rehearsing the program with the KOIL Dramatic Players, directed by Arthur Faust. REVISED MUSIC CODE SUBMITTED TO F.T.C. Committee representing the popular music industry revised and approved its Code of Fair Trade Practice and the new language has been sent to the Federal Trade Commission. It is expected that on Thursday of this week, John G. Paine, chairman of the board of the MPPA, with a member of the Joseph V. McKee law offices, will go to Washington and confer with representatives of the Trade Practice Division of the FTC. Language of the code has been broadened, possibly to conform with (Continued on Page 4) New RCA Transmitter Is Dedicated by WROK Former General Advertising Manager of Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Will Join Network on April 1 Seek Joint Station To enlarge the public news facilities of the two Mass. cities, the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram and the Northampton Daily Hampshire Gazette have formed HampdenHampshire Corp. and are seeking a permit to build the highest powered station north of Hartford. Studios would be in both Holyoke and Northampton. Rockford, 111. — WROK last week dedicated its new $14,000 RCA transmitter, with Mayor C. Henry Bloom touching the switch that placed it in operation. The spark-coil arrangement used in the ceremonies was con (Continucd on Page 4) Fill-in Comedy Talent For Summer Is Not Set KOCA DOES HEAVY DUTY IN TEXAS SCHOOL BLAST Kilgore, Tex. — Located closest to the scene of the New London school explosion last week, KOCA here bore the brunt as East Texas stations were called into action to aid in the calamity. KOCA operated by Oil Broadcasting Ass'n, of which James G. (Continued on Page 4) According to Young & Rubicam agency, nothing whatever is set in the way of summer fill-in programs on the three comedy shows which go off for the summer. Three shows handled by the agency which will require summer talent are Jack Benny, Phil Baker and Stoopnagle and Budd. Business Is Doubled By WNBH Solicitors New Bedford, Mass.— WNBH's ad force in the past three weeks more than doubled the amount of business contracted for, the accounts including: Raytex Clothing Stores, Thursday (Continued on Page 4) NBC Broadcasts Apology For Cutting Off Gov. Cox Hear Testimony Today On Connery Resolution // ashmglon Bureau of THE RADIO DAILV Washington — Congressman John J. O'Connor, chairman of the House Committee on Rules, has set today for Congressman Richard B. Wigglesworth (R., Mass.) to present testimony supporting the Connery resolution looking toward investigation of alleged monopolistic practices within the radio industry. He will appear at a continued hearing on the Connery Resolution before the full Rules Committee. NBC at 10:30 last night broadcast a public apology over the NBC-Blue network for unintentionally cutting off former governor James M. Cox of Ohio, scheduled to introduce former Supreme Court Justice Clarke who was to talk on the President's Court proposals at 9-9: 15 p.m. over the NBC-Blue. It was the first time in the history of the network that it apologized publicly for cutting a program. Similarity of an introductory phrase to a switching cue was the cause of (.Continued on Page 3) Ken R. Dyke, formerly general advertising manager of ColgatePalmolive-Peet Co., and chairman of the board of ANA, will join NBC on April 1 as eastern division sales manager, it was announced yesterday by Roy C. Witmer. NBC vicepresident in charge of sales. Dyke succeeds John H. Bachem. who has been made assistant to Witmer. The appointment of Dyke to the post confirms reports that Lenox R. Lohr, NBC president, was looking for a man for the sales post who had a wide practical experience and pTiuaintanceshiD in the advertising field. The eastern sales division is (Continued on Page 3) National Ice Switching To Sunday NBC Spot National Ice Advertising Inc. (Ice and ice refrigerator?) will switch its Wednesday night show, heard 10:30-11 p.m.. over the NBC-Red network, to a Sunday night spot. 10-10:30 p.m. over the same network effective April 4. On this date the General Motors concerts, heard 10-11 p.m. on the NBC-Red. switch to the (Continued on Page 3) MPPA To Radio City; Rubinoff Also Moves Music Publishers Protective Association is now ensconced in its new offices in the International Building in Radio City. Dave Rubinoff and staff will move into the offices formerly occupied by the MPPA on the 30th floor of the Paramount building. Rubinoff is now in smaller quarters on the 29th floor of the building. Webs Nock and l»ok Breakdown of the appropriations spent by the 100 leading network radio advertisers, as prepared by the NBC statistical department, reveals somewhat of a nip and tuck proposition between the two NBC webs and CBS. The study, covering 1936. places 72 out of 100 leading advertisers on NBC and 59.5 per cent of their money spent on this network.