Broadcasting (July - Dec 1936)

Would Bar Communists WHILE members of the New York State D. A. R. organization on Oct. 7 were passing a resolution which they forwarded to the FCC, demanding that Earl Browder and other Communists be barred from the radio, WVFW, Brooklyn part-time local, announced flatly that it would reject any and all broadcasts by Communists. Harold Burke, director of the station and past commander of the county Veterans of Foreign Wars, which backs the station, said the Communists have three times asked for time but that "whatever happens, they'll never get permission from us." GOOD PROGRAM AT SMALL COST Local Interest, Timeliness, N Cited at West ovelties and Pure Excellence Coast Meeting New Station in Lima SCHEDULED to go on the air early in November, the new WBLY, Lima, 0., 100-watt daytime station on 1210 kc. recently authorized by the FCC, will be managed by Herbert Lee Blye, the licensee and one-time owner of WTBO, Cumberland, Md., with J. R. Payne, formerly with Sipe's Paint Co. of Pittsburgh, as commercial manager. The transmitter is being built by Doolittle & Falknor, Chicago, and the tower is a vertical radiator ordered from International Derrick & Equipment Co., Chicago. J. LEWIS ASSOCIATES Public Relations Counsel Specializing in Radio Hotel Roosevelt New York THE guiding star of all radio broadcasting is entertainment, the thing station managers must not overlook, cautioned Harry F. Anderson, NBC western division sales manager in San Francisco when he spoke Oct. 8 at the radio departmental meeting of the San Francisco Advertising Club in the Palace Hotel, that city. Anderson had for his subject "What Am I Bucking?", and during his 30-minute talk gave a review of radio program types, commercial and sustaining, and an analysis of the different hours for broadcasting. The point of view of stations, their interest in building audiences by special events, were also stressed. Walter A. Burke, in charge of radio research for McMann-Erickson Inc., in San Francisco, who was chairman of the day, followed Anderson as speaker, to discuss "Program Competition", stating that: "The problem which presents itself most forcibly to us agencies here on the Pacific Coast and to our Pacific Coast clients, is how to meet the competition of highpowered and dynamic transcontinentals with our smaller talent budgets". The Small Budget "A PACIFIC COAST network program, and even a local broadcast, must in some manner obtain a 'qualitative equality'," he said. "It will get its recognition principally from this one factor. That is to say, when self-interest has Are You Ready For Wider Markets ? National Brokerage Company is prepared to serve efficiently and economically manufacturers of food products and grocery specialties who desire thorough distribution of their products in any or all sections of the country. Problems of distribution need no longer be based on hunches and hopes. NBC with its trained sales personnel in all markets offers you assured selling ability at nominal cost based on results. You can start with NBC in a single section or in several sections and extend as sales and production warrant — or you can cover the entire nation quickly. In anv casQ NBC service will be thorough and resultful. Inquiries are invited. National Brokerage Company A National Sales Organization Edward M. Power, Jr., President OLIVER BUILDING -: PITTSBURGH, PA. selected the type of program the listener wants, only a 'qualitative equality' will prevent him from tuning out the program and looking for something he likes that has a holding quality. By 'quality' we mean, of course, good showmanship. "Now, the question is, how is it possible to obtain this 'qualitative equality' with a purely Pacific Coast program on a small talent budget? We believe that it can be done. First by appealing to local interest; secondly by releasing a program that has an element of timeliness; thirdly by resorting to innovations and novelties, and last, by pure excellence of broadcast. "Occasionally a combination of "several of these factors may be necessary, but any one of them will give a coast program, or a local broadcast a tremendous advantage. The Gilmore Oil Co.'s Strange As It Seems program over the CBS-Don Lee network is a novelty and the talent cost is very modest indeed. Yet interest in this novelty is high. Perhaps as great as if Gilmore actually had Ripley as master-of -ceremonies. "The California Chain Stores Association program, the California Hour, over the same network, is also a novelty as well as an innovation. It's peculiarly a home-talent program and it concerns an issue vital to all of us. All together, these factors give it great local interest. Then there is the Richfield Reporter, sponsored by Richfield Oil Co., over NBC. This program has timeliness as well as some local interest appeal. The Associated Oil Co.'s football programs have both timeliness and local interest appeal. One Man's Family and the Standard Symphony Hour, both NBC features, have built up a large audience simply on the excellence of production. And our Home Economics programs have built up individual audiences through the self-interest appeal directed to housewives. Research organizations credit these programs with top rank circulation." More than 40 radio and agency executives attended the departmental meeting of which Clyde Coombs, NBC-sales representative, is chairman. Foley on Four Stations FOLEY & Co., Chicago (Honey & Tar compound), on Oct. 12 started quarter-hour morning programs, six days weekly, 26 weeks, on WLW, WLS and Western Network (KNX, KSFO). Programs are produced locally with live talent, using; the McCormick Fiddlers on WLW's Top of the Morninp period, Lulu Belle and Scotty on WLS, and Honey & Tar on the West Coast stations. Agency : Lauesen & Salomon, Chicago. Sterling on 20 Stations STERLING BREWING Co., Chicago (Sterling Ale), will start Sauire Sterling Entertains, a 15minute RCA recorded program, twice weekly for 13 weeks on a group of 20 stations in Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee. Kentucky, Georgia, Texas and Missouri starting in latter October. The aeency is Hays MacFarland & Co., Chicago. $34,000 PRIZES IN BABY CONTEST PEPSODENT Co., Chicago dentrifice manufacturer sponsoring Amos 'n' Andy, will offer prizes totaling $34,000 in a 26-day contest to select a name for Amos' and Ruby's baby. The contest will begin Oct. 20 and close at midnight Nov. 15. A total of 2,832 prizes will be offered for the best names: A first prize of a $5,000 U. S. Government Savings Bond; second prize, a $1,000 baby bond; 10 prizes of $100 baby bonds; 100 prizes of $50 baby bonds; 720 prizes of $25 baby bonds; and 2,000 cash prizes of $2 each. Each entry is to be accompanied by the cardboard carton from any Pepsodent product, the first time the sponsor has honored all sizes of all products in a single contest. Judges will be Prof. M. J. Freeman of the University of Chicago; Mrs. William B. Walrath, founder and managing director of "The Cradle", noted orphanage; and Miss E. Evalyn Grumbine, assistant publisher of Child Life. In addition to the broadcasts, the Pepsodent Co. will promote the baby-naming contest with a halfpage in Liberty and with comic strips, color half-pages in Sundav comic sections, and radio page advertisements, using 101 newspapers in 61 cities. During the week every Aynos 'n' Andy announcement featured "National See Your Dentist Week". This educational campaign was preceded by a letter to dentists, requesting their opinions of the plan, which evoked an unexpectedly large response, 98 per cent favorable to the idea. JACQUES BONJEAN, star announcer of Radio Post Parisien, Paris, who broadcasts under the nom-de-air of Jean Loup, was a visitor at WMCA, New York, early in October. He will shortly handle a series of broadcasts to be relayed via short wave to WMCA. Page 48 • October 15, 1936 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising