Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

4 RADIO DAILY Wednesday, November 23, 1949 SRI) fRQIKlSCO By NOEL CORBETT HAL BOCK, TV Director for NBC, Hollywood, in town for the KRON-TV opening. With him, his wife, Sybil who now has two TV shows on which she sings and plays her own accompaniment on Hammond Organ. Grant Holcomb, KCBS Director of Special Events, with Red Barber in tow. Barber was here to do the Stanford-Cal game. Eddie Cantor, here to cut two of his NBC "Take It Or Leave It" shows, did a special KNBC broadcast with Mayor Elmer Robinson for the Community Chest. Cantor is readying a daytime show which he'll do with Cookie Fairchild. Program will be from Cantor's Beverly Hills home. Artvogue of California, Inc., has signed a 26-week contract to sponsor "The Damon Runyon Theater" on KGO, beginning December 4, 10: 15 to 10: 45 p.m. Deal was set by Vincent Francis, KGO sales manager through Elliott, Daly and Schnitzer. Milton Seropan is the station rep. The F. H. Dailey Motor Company of Oakland, through the Ad Fried adv. agency has purchased three spots a week for 52 weeks on KGO. Harry Morris is KGO rep on the account. Clarence Leisure, KNBC announcer, has been elected AFRA prexy for 1950. Bert Buzzini, KCBS newscaster is 1st VP, Jim Moore, KGO announcer is 2nd VP, Bill Gavin, singer is treasurer and actor Ken Langley is recording secretary. Terms will expire October 31, 1950. HERE 'N' THERE. . . . Red Knorp, who is associated with Larry Allen, radio and talent agency, up from Hollywood. . . . Jim Aikens, writer-producer, and Bill Baldwin are in their fortieth week of "The Sunstream Hour." Disc show is sponsored by Standard Building Company. . . . KFRC's Dink Templeton emcee'd the Islam Shrine Big Game luncheon at the Palace Hotel. . . . Piano-player Judy Dean made her first radio appearance back in '28 on the Chronicle's then-owned KPO. Last week she appeared on the Chronicleowned KRON-TV station on its initial programRussell, Harris and Wood, Inc., have acquired the national rights to televise dancing lessons for the Arthur Murray methods of instruction. AC DC Transcription Players Tape, Wire, Disc Recorders Sales-Rentals-Service MILLS RECORDING CO. 161 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, III. De 2-4117 About Manhattan. . . • O • AROUND TOWN: The sharp eye of the FCC has been reported as opening wider and wider and wider to the renewed efforts of certain buyers of block radio time who gobble it up by the basketful and re-peddle it to unwary clients, offering them spot programming on various stations in various cities at various prices. . . . Wrigley bought "Life With Luigi" as of Jan. 10th. First 13 weeks the fee will be $5,000. If renewed, it goes up to net's original asking price of $6,000. ... Is Hooper planning to bring out a gadget that will be attached to listeners' sets — dispensing with the phone call approach? . . . It's an 8 lb. baby gal for the Bill Gernannts. Mom is the famous actress-singer. Lois January. . . . The Stork also visited the Frank Popoffs (Connie Meade) with a 7 lb. boy, Francis Victor. . . . Mimi Benzell, Metopera thrush opening Dec 6th at the Pierre, guests this Sunday on "This is Show Business." . . . Bonny Maid Versatile Varieties, produced by Charlie Basch and Frances Scott, will continue in its regular time slot (Friday 9 p.m., WNBT) despite earlier reports that the show was fading. . . . Hal Marc Arden, former script writer and director at WMGM, has joined the Bob Bories organization as radio and television director. . . . Russ Hodges' sidekick for the Giant ball-games next season will be Ernie Harwell, one of the real students of the game. What a gTeat team this will make. ft ft ft ft • • e Inevitable fold-up of FM Ass'n as an organization and impending merger with NAB was forecast many months ago by J. N. "Bill" Bailey, former executive director of the FM organization. Bill, now editor of the Catholic Review at Baltimore, warned some of his FM associates that forces were at work to bring FMA into the NAB fold. At that time he was severely criticized and a rift grew between him and Wm. Ware, president of FMA. Now Ware, a member of the NAB-FM executive committee, is reported to be reconciled to the merger. ft ft ft ft • • • Leonard Traube comes to the column's rescue this morning with some more of his salty observations. In Russia, he sez they have no trouble about what to call their television programs: Videology. . . . When and if all local TV stations fan out from the mast of the Empire State Bldg., the congestion oughta be something to behold. Only the other day I got a fuzzy but seeable image of an ABC program coming over NBC's channel. Is this a precursor of things to come or merely a freak in the ozone? . . . And talking about freaks, every once in a while I turn to the vacant channel 6 and get WMCA as clear as the proverbial bell. , . . TV is getting into an awful rut when directors, aided and abetted by emcees, etc., insist on guests looking into the "red" camera, i.e , at the unseen audience. How patternized can you become? . . . Not long ago, friends and admirers were saying of him: "Truex crushed to the earth shall rise again." Rise? He's way about the horizon now with the Truex Family on WPIX — slotted ideally, at 7:30 p.m., a time when it has heretofore been a terrible scramble to get something consistently tops. In one household, at least, the scramble is over. However, I like my own title better: "Nobody but nobody but Truex. ft ft ft ft • • • The decision to televise "Twenty Questions" this week surprised the cast involved just as much as it did the fans. Alexander Harris, Pres. of Ronson, was in a special railroad car coming in from Toronto last Sat. when he suddenly decided to approve of his show going on TV. The time was 7 p.m., exactly one hour from broadcast time, when a wire was dispatched to Bill Slater who subsequently made the announcement on the air while the Ronson execs were glued to the radio in the club car. CHICAGO By HAL TATE ARNOLD CARLSEN, MBS Central Division account executive heading south for his late-Autumn vacation. George Herro, promotion-publicity director of the MBS Central Division, narrowly missed being hit by a car while chasing his chapeau down Michigan Avenue. Mary Martha Toedt, MBS Central Division secretary, after limping around Mutual offices after a tussle with a door, turned up with a broken toe and was very pleased because that was the only way she was sure fellow employees would believe her — and not think it was just another "I ran into a door" story. Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys, heard over WGN and the Mutual network on Sundays, 5:005: 30 p.m., was in Chicago recently to attend the 37th Annual Convention of the National Safety Congress at the Morrison Hotel. Jane Nilles replaces Kay Holmgren as transcription supervisor for ABC's Central Division effective immediately. A new show premiered over station WENR-TV on Monday, October 31st, was the "Kiddie Parade." The time is 7:00 to 7:30 p.m., CST. "Kiddie Parade" is emceed by a husband and wife team — Don and Vern Ward. Weekly prizes are awarded to the talent winner and nominal prizes are given to all contestants appearing on each show. Kiddie Parade is sponsored by Tauber's Ford Motor Sales on Broadway for 13 weeks. The show is produced by American National Video Productions, Incorporated, of Chicago. Jean Jones, of MBS Central Division, is spending a few weeks in N. Y. WEVD 117 -119 W. 46 SL HENRY GREENFIELD, Mg. Director N.Y.19