Broadcasting (Jan - June 1936)

SAFE RADIO FOR KIDDIES Mrs. Hummcrt Explains How Prosrams Are Checked by Psychologist Before Going on Air Washing Machines Promoted by Discs Association Again on Air After Successful Drive in 1935 AMERICAN WASHING MACHINE MFRS. ASSN., Chicago, is sponsoring a series of 26 fiveminute household hints programs, broadcast Tuesday and Friday mornings for 13 weeks beginning Feb. 18, over 24 stations across the country. The programs are tallcs by "Helpful Harry", transcribed by World Broadcasting System and placed through Meldrum & Fewsmith Inc., Cleveland. Announcing the series and giving a schedule of programs, the Association said in a booklet sent 6 dealers: "The first radio campaign of The American Washing Machine Mfrs. Assn. proved so sensational a success that the engaging personality of 'Helpful Harry' will go on the air again starting Feb. 18. On Tuesday and Friday mornings — for 13 weeks — right through the heart of your selling season — fiveminute transcriptions will be broadcast over 24 powerful stations — stations that have a tremendous feminine listening audience over the length and breadth of the United States. " 'Helpful Harry' is considerably more than just an entertainer. He is a masterful salesman who sells both washers and ironers in a big way. He talks about the economies in time, effort, money and clothes that women find in these two marvelous machines. And he talks so convincingly that womenfolk just naturally are impressed — the way you want them to be. "Tune in on the station nearest you. See what The American Washing Machine Mfrs. Assn. is doing to stimulate your washer and ironer sales. Tie into the programs — mention them in your own advertising. Use the window stickers we are sending you. Remember, every new listener is a new prospect." The list of stations follows: WBAL, WBZ, WGR, WLS, WLW, WTAM, WFAA, WOC, KOA, WHO, WWJ, WDAF, KFI, WISN, WCCO, WOR, WCAU, KDKA, KGW, KWK, KDYL, KFRC, WGY, KOL. New Elgin Watch Series Will Go on Air March 17 ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH Co., Chicago (Elgin watches) will present a new series of musical programs over an NBC-WEAF network beginning March 17, Tuesdays, 10-10:30 p. m., the period Swift and Co. has been utilizing for the Sigmund Romberg program. Beginning March 16, the Swift program will be heard in the time regularly used by Vick Chemical Co., for the Grace Moore program, Mondays, 9:30-10 p. m., spot, the Vick program going off the air for the season after the March 9 broadcast. The new Elgin program will feature Eddie Dowling, Ray Dooley (Mrs. Dowling) and Benny Goodman's orchestra with Helen Ward, vocalist. The program will be entitled Elgin's Revue, originating in Chicago. J. Walter Thompson Co., Chicago, handles the Elgin and Swift accounts. WHEN Mrs. Anne Ashenhurst Hummert heard stories of children reduced to a state of nervous hysteria by the "blood and thunder" radio melodramas and heard mothers complaining that their srnall boys were glorifying and imitating the gangster heroes on the air and listened thoughtfully to maternal laments that children were adopting slang phrases used by radio characters, the pretty, dynamic young executive vice president of Blackett-Sample-Hummert Inc., decided that the situation, if true, should be remedied at once. Among the numerous radio shows she supervised for the agency were several children's programs, including Skippy. "It occurred to me that only an expert in child psychology was qualified to judge what was harmful to children," she explains. "So I set out about three years ago to consult psychologists. I talked with at least 20 of them. I found they differed widely in their opinions. It seemed as though no two agreed. Practically no child psychologist at that time had made any detailed study of the influence of children's radio programs on children. The Discovery "FINALLY, I discovered the man I was looking for. He was Dr. Arthur T. Jersild, of Columbia University. Unlike the others, who were largely theorizing, he had actually experimented and made tests which definitely showed the children's reactions. I had him pass on the Skippy program before we put it on the air." Mrs. Hummert, who was Mrs. Ashenhurst before her marriage to Frank Hummert last fall, is credited with having been the pioneer in employing psychologists to inspect radio programs for children. She started the practice about three years ago when a group of mothers in Scarsdale, New York, were protesting against the majority of children's program then on the air. Interviewed in her charmingly decorated Park Avenue office, she declared: "Of course, they were a fairly small group, but they received lots of publicity. Furthermore, the movement spread and women in other communities took it up. I wanted to find out whether they were wholly right or partially right. "I learned some Interesting and helpful facts from my work with Dr. Jersild. One point was that the hyper-nervous child can't be taken as a measure for all children. The mother herself, knowing her child's temperament must decide as an individual matter what entertainment excites him unduly, and should be excluded. "The average child wants adventure. This can be given to him without glorif jnng crime or gangsters. He can have the enjoyment of adventure, while still being given to understand definitely that the law is on the right side. After all, as he grows up, he will have to realize that a certain amount of opposition to the law or right is part of the world he lives in. It is not teaching him life and giving him the best training to fit himself MRS. HUMMERT for it, to shield him from that knowledge. "Furthermore, I have always held that dramatic situations for children differ from those which appeal to adults. For instance, to a child the death of his dog is tremendously dramatic and vital. He can find as much drama in that situation as an adult might find in any amount of machine-gun shooting. "We tried to keep drama and adventure in our programs while exeluding the harmful elements. Whenever our child characters were in danger — whenever there was anxiety as to what might happen to them — we always had an adult beside them, to give our youthful listeners a feeling of security, even while they had the thrill of high adventure." Mrs. Hummert, who has a nineyear-old son, has decided ideas about the use of slang by radio characters — one of the "evil influences" about which the Scarsdale mothers complained. "I am strongly opposed to having the characters talk like hoodlums," she confided. "Every mother knows how imitative children are. Certainly, she doesn't want her child to go around saying things like, 'Okiedoke', and 'Olive oil'. It's a reflection on her own character and ability to bring up her child properly. "Of course, in our Skippy broadcasts, we had to include certain 'skippyisms' that were part and parcel of the personality created by the author of the newspaper strip, Percy Crosby. We did, however, avoid slang as much as possible. "Whatever the plot of our drama might be, we stressed principles of character-building. The good qualities of honor, honesty, integrity, personal cleanliness and good manners were always emphasized. Children imitate good things as well as bad. Admiring the hero, they also admire the qualities he stands for." Mrs. Hummert is in active charge of over 40 radio performances each week, including Manhattan Merry-Go-Round, Hammerstein's Music Hall, Broadway Varieties and an integral part of the popular Sunday evening feature, American Album of Familiar Music. NBC NET ADDS TWO IN SOUTH CAROLINA EXPANDING further toward its j avowed objective of establishing | two nation-wide networks which < can be sold as complete units, NBC last month followed up its addition of KLO, Ogden, Utah, by announcing the signing of two South Carolina stations, WFBC, Greenville, and WCSC, Charleston, effective March 1. Both stations will operate as optional units in the NBC Southeastern Group, carrying programs of both the Red and Blue networks. It is NBC's ultimate plan to have two national basics instead of offering its supplementaries to both the Red and Blue networks, although the present outlook is for the continuance of many stations on a supplementary basis. As of ! March 1 the NBC's Red, Blue and ( two Pacific Coast networks and their supplementaries link 96 stations. WFBC started as a 100-watter | in 1933 but recently secured a 1 grant of 5,000 watts day and 1,000 ) night on 1300 kc. It has installed j modern equipment throughout. It is operated by the Greenville NewsPiedmont, published by Roger C. Peace, with B. H. Peace as station manager. WCSC began in 1930, ; and is owned by the same inter i ests owning WIS, Columbia, S. C, also an NBC outlet, and operates with 1,000 watts day and 500 watts night on 1360 kc. G. Richard Shafto is in supervisory charge of , the two stations, and last week announced the appointment of J. [ Dudley Saumenig, formerly man i ager of WNOX, Knoxville, as i WCSC manager. I Both WFBC and WCSC will be listed on the NBC rate card at $120 an hour. Shick on Four Stations , MAGAZINE REPEATING RAZOR Corp., New York (Shick razor) is using spot announcements of various lengths to promote special Shick razor sales in four key cities. The announcements are on a staggered schedule to run until Sep \ tember. Four stations — WXYZ, WJSV, WFBR and WSPD — are I broadcasting the announcements I with possibility that others will be I added. J. M. Mathes Inc., New York, handles the account. \ Book Mart Tests Radio AMERICAN BOOK MART, Chicago, is trying out radio as a means of bringing to light first editions and other valuable old books which have been packed away in cellars and attics for years. This company is sponsoring test campaigns of 13 quarter-hour programs over WFAA, Dallas, WSM, Nashville, and WIBW, Topeka, using local live talent of the hillbilly variety. E. H. Brown Adv. Agency, Chicago, is in charge. New York State on WGY STATE OF NEW YORK PUBLICITY BUREAU, Albany (Saratoga Springs and other state parks) will launch a once weekly program on WGY, Schenectady, beginning March 23, Mondays, 7:45-8 p. m., for 13 weeks. Talent had not been decided upon as Broadcasting went to press. The agency is Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn Inc., New York. Page 14 BROADCASTING • March 1, 1936 ]