Broadcasting (July - Dec 1936)

i I jBce had previously notified newsI tpermen that he would develop ■J Hot news" with Crosley on the ^and, and suggested they send re.urters. Snapping his questions at the .ioneer broadcaster, and demandtg prompt and explicit replies, Commissioner Payne asked how iLuch of the WLW profits were flowed back into programs". Mr. jrosley said the question was one n'hich he could not answer offhand ' 4it that he would be glad to at*mpt to supply the information. The Telegraph Commissioner ;.fien asked whether the Crosley Corporation paid any dividends. |ad Mr. Crosley said they amountid to $.25 a share last year. Then •ie asked how much of the comiany Crosley himself owned and he answer was approximately one:ourth. Reading from a sheaf of corespondence before him, Commisioner Payne went into such things s the Crosley ownership of the Jeneral Pharmacal Co., manufacurers of two proprietary products: .lleged refusal by the station to ell time to competitive accounts n these lines; allegations that [Jrosley had given instructions that he station broadcast no^;~ ibout labor difficulties or strikes; Alleged refusal to broadcast TownSend talks and talks of other minority groups and alleged cancelation by Crosley of the Gruen tVatch Co. program last year feaurine Drew Pearson and Robert E>. Allen, authors of the Washington Merry -Go -Round. To all of chese allegations, Mr. Crosley, never losing his composure, entered lenials. Frank M. Smith, general sales manager of the station, provided certain of the responses and Telegraph Commissioner Payne, continuing his baiting tactics, interjected numerous caustic remarks about Mr. Crosley not making: the decisions in his own organization. Accusations Are Denied MR. CROSLEY denied that General Pharmacal refused to accept advertising of competitors, and asserted it solicited various such accounts; denied he had ever given instructions against labor or strke broadcasts. Mr. Smith admitted , that the station did refuse a Townsend talk because it was offered at the time a House Committee was investigating the Townsend pension movement and at the conclusion of those hearings the k rp^ made a survey of A City radio statron Kansas City ,arity a nrogram an lax-e advertiser, for a lai „ if =you v>-ant a Write us rt > copy of his report. I THE SPORTS STATION of the MIDDLE WEST LANDON'S DOUBLE — Those attending the allocation hearings thought they were "seeing things" when they spotted William C. Alcorn, vice president and general manager of WBNX, New York, who looks even more like the G.O.P. presidential nominee than this picture evidences. Townsend movement did not renew its request. Mr. Smith said that WLW had given the Lemke partv time and that the policy of WLW was to treat all parties alike under the same terms and under all conditions. As for the PearsonAllen case, Mr. Smith said that a question arose about the injection of personalities into the broadcasts which might have resulted in libel action against the station He said that WLW refused to take the program unless the libel responsibility was taken by the authors but that they elected to tem per their remarks rather than assume that responsibility. As a consequence, he said, the program was carried for the duration of its contract. Commissioner Payne concluded his attack with the reading of a letter from Senator Norris (RNeb.) in which the Senator was quoted as saying there had been complaints against WLW as controlled by financial interests that would not permit anything said over the station that was "detrimental to private interests." Called upon to answer the assertion, Mr. Crosley said that his company always leaned over backwards on controversial matters. The WLW case was concluded bR. J. Rockwell, technical supervisor, who put on a talking motion picture demonstration to prove the argument that even with its 500.000 watts the station does not blanket any stations up and down the dial even within the shadow of its own transmitter. He defined various types of interference that have resulted and traced them down. In virtually every case thev were attributable to "man-made" interference rather than to superpower. G-E "Hour of Charm" GENERAL ELECTRIC Co., Bridgeport, Conn, (electrical appliances), will feature Phil Spitalny and his girl orchestra in an afternoon series of programs to begin Nov. 2, Mondays, 4-4:30 p. m. on 21 NBC-Red stations. The program, entitled Hour of Charm, is signed for 26 weeks through Maxon Inc., New York. Pulling Power On his neiv program over WCAE a sponsor last week offered theatre tickets to listeners who could list correctly the unannounced names of singers and orchestras. The contest was not easy. The correct answers, however, just missed filling a downtoivn theatre. PITTSBURGH BASIC NBC RED NETWORK With 5,000 watts power, daytime, and 1,000 watts, night, KFH sells merchandise for its advertisers. Affiliated with CBS National Representatives EDWARD PETRY & CO. BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising October 15, 1936 • Page 73