Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

I. STATION NOTES KMOX, St. Louis, is installing a large | new four manual Kilgen organ in its ! studios. The organ will be the largest used in any broadcasting studio of the j world and will contain all the most I modern improvements. WMCA, New York, used the newly I designed baby transmitter (a 1-watt) I in broadcasting the Motion Picture Club ball on Feb. 20 from the WaldorfI Astoria. The transmitter, recently li| censed by the Radio Commission, was designed and built bv Frank Marx, j technical chief of WMCA. Though smaller than a telephone receiver, the microphone is said to be the most efficient set of its kind yet built. THE OPENING of the new Beliot studios of WCLO, Janesville, Wis., was celebrated on Feb. 15 with an all-day program. More than 2,000 I visitors inspected the studios during the day. A WURLITZER pipe organ is being installed in the studios of WKJC, Lancaster, Pa. This organ is of the same type and built to the same specificalions as those being used by Lew White and Jesse Crawford in their network broadcasts. It will be ready | for use by April 1. KROW has opened new San Francisco studios in the Manx Hotel with Lester Smith, formerly with stations in Portland and Seattle, in charge. Main studio and transmitter remain in Oakland. WCAU, Philadelphia, on Feb. 15 added three hours and thirty minutes to its weekly programs, according to Stan Lee Broza, program director. The station now goes on the air at 7 :25 a. m. and signs off at 1 a. m., making the total operation 121 hours and 30 minutes for the week. A W1XAZ, the Westinghouse short wave station in Springfield, Mass., carried WBZ-WBZA programs to a total of 18 foreign countries during 1931. The countries hearing broadcasts from W1XAZ included the following: Canada, New Zealand, Newfoundland, England, Portugal, Panama, Uruguay, Haiti, Mexico, Japan, Hawaii, Ireland, Australia, Scotland, Porto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica and El Salvador. During 1931 WBZ-WBZA received mail from every state in the union with the exception of Arkansas, Mississippi and Nevada. WOR, Newark, celebrated its tenth birthday on February 22. PROGRAM NOTES KFOX, Long Beach, Cal., on March 5 will celebrate its eighth anniversary with an all-day program which will reach its climax in a revival of the first program broadcast by the station. Hal G. Nichols, president and general manager of KFOX, with his cousin, the late C. Earl Nichols, form-d the original company, which in 1925 became Nichols & Warinner, Inc., with the addition of W. H. Warinner, for the past seven years secretary-treasurer and commercial manager. The first announcer, Frank P. Goss, now city editor of a Long Beach paper, will take part in the anniversary program. THREE studio programs of WTIC, Hartford, are now carried on NBC networks: "Orchestral Gems," directed by Moshe Paranov, over four New England stations on Sunday evenings; the WTIC "Pop Concert," directed by Christiaan Kriens, over 20 stations on Monday afternoons; and Norm Cloutier with his Merry Madcaps dance orchestra over several stations on Tuesday afternoons. CHAPPEL BROTHERS, Inc., Rockford, 111. (Chappel's Kennel dog foods), on March 3 celebrates its 100th "Rin Tin Tin Thriller" on the radio. The program has been running two years with success, its sponsor reports. P. M. Chappel, president of the company, will appear on the anniversary program over the NBC-WJZ network to be dedicated to Chappel dealers. The account is handled by Rogers & Smith, Chicago, under E. G. Opie, program director. "SKY DOINGS" is the title of a new Monday program at KFAC, Los Angeles, sponsored by the State Chamber of Commerce aeronautical committee. It is planned to develop the series by the inclusion of a dramatic playlet to be tied in with the talks by pilots, military, commercial, airmail and private aviators. A SPECIAL two-hour program was broadcast by WOR, Newark, on the night of Feb. 23 in celebration of the station's anniversary, which actually fell on Washington's birthday. Among the speakers were Edgar Bamberger, Alfred J. McCosker, managing director of WOR; O. H. Caldwell, former Radio Commissioner. Radio and stage celebrities also participated. KMOX, St. Louis, will originate a "musical memories" program for the CBS chain Sundays at 5:30 p. m. (CT) with Mike Child's orchestra, Melodymasters male quartet and Frank Spahn, baritone. WTMJ, Milwaukee, opened its studios on Feb. 12 to 250 editors of Wisconsin weekly newspapers who were guests of the Milwaukee Journal so that they might see as well as hear a one-hour feature program broadcast in their honor. Practically every announcer, artist and entertainer on the WTMJ staff participated in the program. KDKA has arranged for broadcasts every third Sunday of music by the three band units of the Western Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. The program, consisting of selections by the band, dance orchestra and symphony orchestra, may be heard from 3 to 3:30 p. m. KFJF, Oklahoma City, Okla., has spotted a lecture period by representatives of the state department of agriculture just preceding the Columbia farm network program on Tuesdays. WALDO ABBOT, son of Willis John Abbot, editor of the Christian Science Monitor, is director of broadcasting for the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, which is sponsoring semi-weekly educational lectures over WJR, Detroit. The programs are head at 8:30 p. m. on Saturdays and at 5 p. m. on Sundays. WTMJ, Milwaukee, has inaugurated a novel shopping service which it reports to be highly successful. Under the program title of "What's New in Milwaukee? . . . Ask Mrs. Grey." It is broadcast every weekday from 8:30 to 9 a. m. Mrs. Grey canvasses stores, shops, theaters, and the like and reports on anything new that she finds. WHAT'S in a name? The derivation, meaning and variable forms of women's names are featured in the triweekly programs of the Frigidarians over WBZ-WBZA, Boston. The talks are given by Charles B. Driscoll, lecturer and writer, Tuesday and Wednesday at 8 p. m. and Thursday at 7 :45 p. m. WTIC, HARTFORD, observed its seventh anniversary early in February. A number of the station's most popular features were presented in a two-hour gala program to celebrate the occasion. IN AUSTRALIAN elections last month, radio was used liberally by the various candidates who are unable to cover their constituencies personally because of the great distances. "MARCH" To Greater Sales With ^fc7tfk I £ Newark, Station ft " *1 New Jersey CONCENTRATION in highly populated centers has never been so desirable as now. » WOR offers such concentration in the world's greatest buying market and the world's greatest listening audience. BAMBERGER BROADCASTING SERVICE, Inc. NEWARK . NEW JERSEY New York Office: 1440 R R O AD WAY • New York City March 1, 1932 • BROADCASTING Page 21