Broadcasting (July - Dec 1938)

Lewis Reid to KMBC J. LEWIS REID, former program director of WOR, Newark, on Aug. 2 was named program director of KMBC, Kansas City, by Arthur B. Church, president. He succeeds Frank Heyser, who has gone to Des Moines to assume production of the new General Mills program Caroline's Golden Store with Caroline Ellis over WHO starting Aug. 15. Mr. Reid, one of radio's oldest microphone personalities, joined WJZ in 1922 as announcer and script writer, after having toured the country for a number of years with Elsie Janis and her gang. In 1929 he joined WOR and a year later was named its program director. In 1935 he resigned to head a talent unit in London, handling a number of broadcasts for Standard Oil, through McCann-Erickson. Upon his return he became a free lance writer and producer and left that work to join KMBC. Blocking Out of American Broadcast In Latin America by Germans Claimed AMERICA'S chief competition in South America is in the field of radio, and its chief competitor is Germany, Linton Wells, roving radio reporter for NBC who has just returned from a 27,000-mile survey of Latin America, told New York newspapermen and correspondents of Latin American newspapers at a luncheon given in his honor Aug. 2. Stating that Germany sends to South America good programs that come in with practically no interference, Wells said that Germany is not content with that, but also uses its powerful signal to block Mr. Wells out programs from the United States. On June 25, he said, he tried to pick up a speech made by President Roosevelt, which had been announced well in advance. As the speech began, he reported, it was blotted out by a German piano recital which went off the air immediately upon the conclusion of the President's talk. This was in complete violation of all international radio treaties. Treaty Violations Italy and Russia both broadcast to South America, but their signals do not compare with those from Germany, he said. Aside from German interference the chief handicap for American programs is the ignorance or disinterest of officials in charge of local broadcasting, he 11 GAMES AT HOME AND AWAY AVAILABLE FOR SPONSORSHIP NOW Wm u lOOOWatts fit el September /) said, citing an experience he had in one country in which, on attempting to tune i n W3XAL, NBC's shortwave transmitter, he received a program from a native station. When he went to investigate he discovered that a citizen who wished to operate a broadcasting station had applied for permission to use W3XAL's wave because it seemed to be a good channel, and had received the right to do so. Only in Argentina, Wells stated, was there any visible evidence of an attempt to live up to the Pan-American radio agreement. Programs from the United States are popular in Cuba and Central America, he declared, and would be popular in South America if they could be heard there. President Roosevelt's "good neighbor" policy has created a friendly atmosphere toward the United States that was formerly lacking, he said, although there is a tendency to let this country make all the overtures without reciprocation from the Latin American. However, he stated that he saw no evidence of the European doctrines of Fascism, Naziism or Communism gaining I any foothold in South America. " During his four-month trip, made mostly by airplane, Wells visited every Latin American country except Paraguay and Bolivia. Each Sunday he broadcast a report of his experiences as part of the RCA Magic Key program, being heard from Managua, Nicaragua; Panama City; Bogota, Colombia; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Caracas, Venezuela; Trujillo City, Dominican Republic; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Havana, Cuba. Three Serials Continue THREE programs of the daytime serial variety, sponsored by five clients of Blackett-Sample-Hummert, New York and Chicago, from 10 to 10:45 a. m., Monday through Friday, on a 19-station Red Network, have been renewed for another year, effective Sept. 26. Programs are: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, sponsored from 10 to 10:15 a. m. by Midway Chemical Co., Chicago, for Fly-ded and Aero White; John's Other Wife, from 10:15 to 10:30 a. m., sponsored the first three days of the week by Affiliated Products, Chicago, for Louis Phillipe lipstick, and the last two by Wyeth Chemical Co., New York, for Freezone; and Just Plain Bill, 10:30 to 10:45, which is also co-sponsored on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by Kolynos Co., New Haven, for its dentifrice, and the other two days by Anacin Co., Jersey City, for its headache tablets. Nurse School Testing PIERCE SCHOOL of Practical Nursing, Los Angeles, has appointed Faraon Jay Moss Inc., Hollywood, to direct its advertising and using radio for the first time on Aug. 9 started a test campaign on 13 California Don Lee stations. Contract is for eight weeks and insitution is using weekly participation in Early Morning News. 1 2 3 O ICC • A BAD thunderstorm recently forced a temporary shutdown at WTAR, Norfolk, Va., singeing beyond use more than $200 worth of equipment. Lightning was so bad on the antenna that engineers were not able to get to the towers until the storm subsided. Page 30 • August 15, 1938 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising