Broadcasting (Jan - June 1936)

WILLIAM ALMON FAY IF RADIO'S inaugural squeals had been delayed another decade, William Almon Fay — Bill to all of you, for he neither uses the middle name nor the initial — might today be a bass fiddler or a piccolo player instead of manager of upper New York State's big 50,000 watter, WHAM, Rochester, which has just celebrated the ninth anniversary of its acquisition by the StrombergCarlson Telephone Mfg. Co. For the chief executive of WHAM once pictured his ideal career as one spent in an orchestra pit, with diversions galore just overhead. A non-conformist always, Bill Fay is credited with having given WHAM the character it enjoys as one of the country's most distinctive broadcasting institutions. Yet there are folks backs in Hartland, Conn., where he was born Nov. 9, 1899, who still shake their heads when the Fay boy is mentioned. He often skipped classes in his grammar school days, but not to go fishing. Like other hookey players he got caught sitting beside the creek with a string of trout — but the fish were purely incidental. He was there to practice on his piccolo. Years later, the piccolo mastered, he ran away from home while attending high school in Oneonta, N. Y.. whither his family had moved. After they had spent a week frantically searching for gypsies and circuses, Fay hitchhiked back to town, his savings left behind in a Manhattan music store. Over his shoulder was a dusty bass viol. Before he was 16, he was earning enough with the instrument to pay for voice lessons. There followed somewhat prosaic years pursuing courses in higher education at the state normal school and at Albany Business College; then a year as a chief dispatcher's clerk for the Delaware & Hudson R. R. at Oneonta. and a term as accountant for the Otis Elevator Co. at Albany. In 1923 the tedium of meaningless figures combined with the restlessness of spring to make deskbound existence unbearable. With characteristic independence he resigned, packed his belongings and set off to join a traveling production of "S. S. Pinafore". Held over in Schenectady, he visited WGY, sang for Kolin Hager, and wired the opera company to delete his role or find another baritone. At WGY Fay devoted a few months to organizing a radio opera company and treating radio fans to entertainment hitherto unparalleled. That satisfied his "bass fiddle instinct", but the deposed accountant training rebelled at the sight of so much money being cast upon the waters. So abetted by Hager and A. 0. Coggeshall, Fay induced the Beech-Nut Packing Co. to risk a portion of its budget on air advertising. The contract signed, he arranged the program and sang as one of the "Beech-Nut Harmony Twins" for over a year. It was while at WGY that Bill Fay met Mildred Nadler. They were married in Amsterdam, N. Y., in August, 1924, destined, as he now knows, to have at least two children. Bill Jr. is nine, a minature edition of his idolized father, and tiny Julie Ann, a three-yearold miss of the type agencies use to beautify their advertising. In 1927, I. R. Lounsberry, then of WMAK, Buffalo, found himself in need of a program manager. Being familiar with available material through his connection with the once famous New Y'ork State Network, he sent downstate for William Fay. In Buffalo Fay had enviable success in building prestige for his station through his daily broadcasts of International League baseball games during the seasons of '27 and '28. On the occasion of the opening of the Peace Bridge between Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, he introduced the then Prince of Wales to the radio audience. Meanwhile Stromberg Carlson Co. had in 1927 taken over WHAM in Rochester and likewise was urgently in need of a program director. Again the New York State Network entered the picture. WHAM was affiliated with that chain, and E. A. Hanover, Stromberg-Carlson vice president in charge of broadcasting activities, knew of Fay's success in Schenectady and Buffalo. Fay entered Stromberg's employ in August, 1928. Ever a diplomat, and an organizer and executive by virtue of his PERSONAL NOTES J. DUDLEY SAUMENIXG, formerly manager of WXOX, Knoxville, Tenn., has been appointed manager of WCSC, Charleston, S. C, with Hugh Deadwyler, former manager, becoming field representative of both WCSC and WIS, Columbia, S. C, which is under the same ownership. Frank Shepard of the WNOX sales staff has joined the commercial staff of WCSC. CARL FRITZ, formerly director-announcer of WSUX, St. Petersburg, Fla., on Feb. 1 became commercial manager of WATL, new station in Tallahassee operated by Gilbert Freeman, publisher of several Florida weeklies. XEIL TUTTLE, formerly of WGX and WBBM, Chicago, has joined the sales staff of WNOX, Knoxville, bringing the sales staff to five. MOTT Q. BRUXTOX, president of Julius Brunton & Sons Co., which operates KJBS, San Francisco, has been named foreman of the San Francisco grand jury for the next six months. ROBERT J. SMITH, formerly with Hicks Adv. Agency in New York, has joined WFAS, White Plains, N. Y.. as dl ector of development, which includes promotional activities. PARKER WHEATLEY, recently an account executive with Aubrey, Moore & Wallace, has joined the staff of the University Broadcasting Council, organization set up by Chicago, X^'orthwestern, and De Paul universities to experiment in the field of education by radio. Mr. Wheatley was previously program director and assistant manager of KYW. J. LEOXARD RBIXSCH, commercial manager of WHIO, Dayton, was married in February, the station's first anniversary, to Miss Phyllis McGeough, of Chicago. They spent their honeymoon in Xew Orleans. FRANK KELLY, publicity director of WHAM, Rochester, has been promoted to sales director, effective March 1. pioneering in the new art, William Fay met the precise requirements of Stromberg-Carlson and in 1929 was elevated to the managership of the then 5,000-watt station. For three years WHAM progressed as Fay interpreted the industrial ideals of Stromberg-Carlson, shaking off the station's provincialism, crusading for higher ideals in the radio business, disdaining the allure of "easy money". The Stromberg company did it the "hard way", but 1933 brought a reward in the form of permission to use higher power. In March of that year WHAM went to 25,000 watts, and ten months later to the Valhalla of radio men — 50,000 watts. It is not Fay's weakness to talk company business for publication, but it is generally known in the industry that WHAM came through the depression without retrenchment. More eloquent than any narration of Fay's originality, aggressiveness and ability is the sincere testimony that 38 staff members appreciate the genius which carried them through the depression with ranks unbroken. Radio is Bill Fay's chief interest, although he finds time for the game of squash and for his avocation of Boy Scout Commissioner. He is a Mason and is active in Rochester Advertising Club affairs. He is one of those chaps who detests pretense, demands and gets loyalty. BERT A. PHILLIPS, for the last two years an account executive at KHJ, Don Lee network station in Los Angeles, has been made commercial manager of KFRC, San Francisco. He succeeds Owens Dresden, who was recently appointed manager of KHJ. Phillips has a background of nearly a decade of commercial radio experience. He was radio committee chairman of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce for 1934, and chairman of that committee for the U. S. Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1935. HARRY W. WITT, manager of KGB, San Diego, on March 1 is to be transferred to KHJ, Los Angeles, as sales manager, replacing Bert A. Phillips, transferred to KFRC, San Francisco, in a similar capacity. Robert K. Huston, KGB sales manager, has been elevated to the managerial post. BARKLEY SHROEDER, for the last five years publicity director of WLWAVSAI, Cincinnati, and prior to that on the news staffs of Cincinnati newspapers, has become promotion director for the Duluth (Minn.) Chamber of Commerce. C. L. JEFRY, formerly with West Coast stations, has joined the sales staff of WLBC, Muncie, Ind. PHIL J. MEYER, owner of KFYR, Bismarck, X. D., and Mrs. Meyer are vacationing in the South and Southwest and plan to return to Bismarck about March 10 after a month's trip. XORMAX BAXKS. of 3KZ. Melbourne, Australia, arrived in Los Angeles in February and planned to include Mexico City and New York in his itinerary. W. ST. JOHX PYM. chief inspector of schools to the London County Council and a former fellow and tutor of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, has been appointed director of staff administration of the British Broadcasting Corp. MARTIN CODEL, publisher of Broadcasting, and Mrs. Codel are parents of an 8% pound daughter, Martha, born Feb. 20. Charles D. Isaacson CHARLES DAVID ISAACSON, who in 1926 and 1927 was director of the old WRNY and WGL, New Y^ork stations, and who later became a music naii'ator on WOR, died in New York Feb. 15 after an illness of several weeks. He was 44. Recently he was associated with the Brooklyn Eagle in its quest for a broadcasting station license. A former newspaper musical columnist in New York and at one time with the former George Batten agency, Mr. Isaacson was also an opera impresario and concert director and was the author of several books on musical and other subjects. He is credited with having helped many young musicians who later achieved fame, including Mischa Levitski, Erno Rapee, Rosa and Carmela Ponselle and Max Rosen. Burton Harrington BURTON HARRINGTON, advertising manager of Ross Federal Research Corp., died suddenly Feb. 13 of a heart attack resulting from injuries suffered in the World War. He was 40, and is survived hy his wife and two children. A noted copywriter, he was with various publications and was advertising manager of the Williamson Candy Co. (Oh Henry) and the John F. Jelke Co. (Good Luck mai-garine) before joining Ross Federal in 1934. He was buried Feb. 17 with military honors in Arlington Memorial Cemetery. March J, 1936 • BROADCASTING Page 39