Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

The National Daily Newspaper of Commercial Radio and Television VOL. 49. NO. 2 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1949 TEN CENTS SERIES' DOMINATES RADIO-TV SCENE Probe Plane Crash That Killed Clark The Civil Aeronautics Board has begun an investigation of a plane crash in downtown Los Angeles Saturday night that took the life of singing star Buddy Clark and seriously injured two NBC coast executives. Clark, who was 38, died in a hospital an hour after the accident. Jennings Pierce, head of station relations for NBC's western division, sustained a cerebral concussion and other injuries. Frank Berend, (Continued on Page 6) Adair Program Director For Mutual's Coast Web West Coast Bureau of RADIO DAILY Hollywood — J. Carlton Adair has been named program director for western regional network of Mutual, effective immediately. Announcement was made by Willet H. Brown, president. Adair succeeds Charles Bulotti, Jr., who has been program director for last three years and has been associated with Don Lee for last 10 years. Adair joined Don Lee (Continued on Page 2) Ludens Takes lA Hr. On "Sing It Again" The tab on the 10:45-11 p.m. segment of CBS' "Sing It Again" program has been picked up by Ludens, Inc., to bring the total sponsorship on the hour-long show to one-half hour, effective Nov. 26. Carter Products, Inc., began sponsorship of the 10:30-10:45 p.m. period on Oct. 1. The agency is J. M. Mathes, Inc. Pioneer Boston — W. Gordon Swan, WBZ-WBZA program manager yesterday celebrated his 25th year with the Westinghouse outlet here. Swan first became associated with WBZ as an announcer when that station was first located in Springfield, Mass. He later was named traffic manager, and in 1941 was appointed WBZ program manager. Endurance B'dcaster Ends State Fair Vigil Trenton, N. J. — After one hundred seventy-three hours, seventeen and one-half minutes of continuous broadcast performance from the mobile studio of station WTTM at the New Jersey State Fair in Trenton, Emest Kovacs, special events director of the radio station surrendered the microphone at 1:20 p.m. Sunday. Kovacs began his marathon broadcast at 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. The radio announcer had daily physical examinations and finished his sleepless tour with a loss of only ten pounds in weight due to special diet and prescribed exercises. He revealed yesterday, he had not resorted to benzedrine to keep him awake, as numerous reports had ventured. Kovacs and his wife left the city yesterday for a two week vacation at an undisclosed resort hotel. Kovacs said besides catching up on lost sleep, he will devote some thought on what feat he will perform at next year's New Jersey State Fair. He also stated he doubts if his record of one hundred seventy-three hours, seventeen and one-half minutes of continued broadcast work will be broken — and he is certain that it will never be broken by him. Alabama Broadcasters Will Meet October 6-7 Tuscaloosa, Ala. — The Alabama Broadcasters Assn. will hold its fall meeting on the University of Alabama campus here Oct. 6 and 7. Mrs. Wilhelmina Doss, of WJRD, Tusca ( Continued on Page 6) AM-Radio And Television Staffs Ready For Yankee-Dodgers Opening In New York Tomorrow By AL "DODGER" JAEGGIN and IRV "YANKEE" MARDER With 740 radio stations carrying the proceedings to all points of the globe and fifty-odd television stations in the United States presenting sight and sound coverage, the 1949 World Series' baseball games between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers will get under way tomorrow at the Yankee Stadium, with 72 of the stations CBC outlets. Indicative of the Series interest is the report that television dealers in cities served by video stations report heavy sales and a scarcity of the name table model receivers. Likewise radio receiver sales have been stepped up and the demand for portable and table model sets have exceeded expectations. Gillette Safety Razor Co. will sponsor the Series on both radio and TV, the 11th time on the Mutual Broadcasting System's radio network. Included in the sponsored programs ' will be the MBS network of 520 stations; the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.; the Cuba Network; the Aloha Network in Hawaii, including Mutual's affiliate, KHON, in Honolulu; the Mexican Network; stations in (Continued on Page 7) Quiz Show Format Revised For Don Lee West Coast Bureau of RADIO DAILY Hollywood— "Tello-Test," the radio-telephone quiz program that recently received nationwide publicity by serving as a test case under the proposed giveaway ban by the FCC, was launched in a revised version on the full Don Lee network, yesterday, 6:30-6:45 p.m. The show will be heard five times weekly. The program, one of the oldest quiz shows in radio, made its debut in Chicago some ten years ago. Under the original format, people (Continued on Page 2) NAB District 13 Convenes, Talks Sales With Mitchell Dallas, Tex. — Clyde Rembert, general manager of KRL.D, Dallas, and district director of the NAB District 13, called to order another "off the record" NAB session yesterday in the Hotel Adolphus. The highlights of the two-day agenda were to include a preview of the BMB Study No. 2, by Dr. Kenneth Baker, NAB director of research, a luncheon address by Judge Justin L. Miller, president of NAB, a sales session stressing methods of increasing radio's share of the advertising dollar, and station operation costs. Most popular general interest was focussed on the sales session, occupying the entire first day agenda, presented by Maurice B. Mitchell, director of BAB, with a straightfrom-the-shoulder pitch of the sales problem — both national and local — (Continued on Page 8) Chicago FM Stations Will Buy Listings Chicago— Ralph J. Wood, Jr.. president of the FM Broadcasters of Chicagoland, announced that FM stations affiliated with this organization have voted to institute a space-buying campaign in the daily newspapers listing special and sports events which can be heard over local FM outlets. Present plans call for a once-a( Continued on Page 2) Public Service Three Philadelphia television stations— WFI LTV. WCAU-TV and WPTZ will combine their facilities in behalf of the Community Chest to present a halfhour solicitor training program on Sunday, October 16. Program will be heard from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m.. and will be produced in the studios of WFIL. Later kinescope recordings will be offered.