Broadcasting (Jan - June 1940)

BEHIND ERNEST CHARLES, formerly in charge of the Hollywood office of the American Guild of Musical Artists, has been named temporary executive secretary of the New Tork office, following the resignation of Leo Fischer. The position will be permanently filled after the first of the year by an executive as yet unnamed. Mr. Fischer's plans have not been revealed. MURRAY ARNOLD, public relations director and assistant program head of WIP, Philadelphia, has been promoted to program director of the station, replacing James Allan, who resigned to assume a similar position at WFIL, Philadelphia. Allan Fort, WIP announcer, is the father of a boy born Dec. 18. ADOLPH LEFLER, of the NBC Hollywood traffic division, has been transferred to the transcription service. Harold Haklik, tour guide, has been promoted to the traffic division, taking over Lefler's former post. LAURENCE DYSART, Arizona educator, has joined KOY, Phoenix, as relief announcer. WILLIS WERNER, San Diego, Gal. columnist, has started the weekly Fact-o-graph program on KGB, that city. He reports on well known personalities and interesting events. BILL GOODWIN, Hollywood announcer on the NBC Boh Hope Show, sponsored by Pepsodent Co., is the father of a girl, born Dec. 20. RUBYE DOWNS, sales department secretary of NBC-Chicago, has announced her engagement to Bernard Schroeder, consulting engineer. JOHN K. CHAPEL, formerly of WOW, Omaha, has joined the announcing staff of KSFO, San Francisco. WILLIAM B. LAUB, on Jan. 15 will resign as chief of the writing staff of Audio Productions, Long Island City, N. Y. HARRY ROBATOR, formerly of WMAS, Springfield. Mass.. has joined the announcing staff of WNBC, New Britain, Conn. LOU KROECK. KOY, Phoenix, sports commentator, was chosen by the Sun Bowl committee to describe the New Year's Day Sun Bowl football game at El Paso, for release on the Arizona Network. DR. BYRON B. WILLIAMS, formerly program supervisor of WOSU, Columbus, O., has joined the staff of Town Hall Inc., New York, as educational advisor. Phillip Staley, formerly in sales work, and Page Boyer have joined the WOSU announcing staff. BOB WEISS, formerly announcer and assistant program director of WWAE, Hammond, Ind.. has joined the production staff of KFWB, Hollywood. ALLAN JACKSON, formerly of WHAS, Louisville, has joined the announcing staff of Texas State Network. MAURICE ZINN has been added to the writing staff of Edward Sloman Productions. Hollywood radio production unit, and is currently preparing scripts for a new half-hour transcribed show. JOHN CONRAD, formerly of WIND and NBC in Chicago, has joined the announcing staff of KTSM, El Paso, Tex. NORMAN BURNBTTE, new to radio, is now an announcer for WHBQ, Memphis. HELEN JANE BEHLKE has been appointed production and program director of the Texas State Network. Miss Behlke worked with NBC and CBS in Chicago and with the World Broadcasting System in New York before coming to Texas in March, 1939, as secretary to Elliott Roosevelt, TSN president. Beginning her radio work when she was a student at the University of Minnesota, Miss Behlke wrote and presented the Bridge Cluh of the Air for two years over WCCO and WTCN. JAMES ALLEN has been named program director of WFIL, Philadelphia, with Fred Dodge, his predecessor, appointed assistant to General Manager Roger Clipp. MELBA TOOMBS, recently of Stanford U, has joined the production staff of KFRC, San Francisco. JOHN BRADSHAW. formerly of WRBL, Columbus, Ga., and Jack Guideveld, formerly with WKZO, Kalamazoo, have joined WCOV, Montgomery, Ala., as announcers. MARK GOOD SON, recent graduate of California U, has been added to the announcing staff of KFRC, San Francisco. AL SIGL. news commentator on WHEC, Rochester, N. Y., and founder of the Rochester "Blood Donors League," which recently passed the 1,000th free transfusion mark, received tribute recently from the Menroe County Veterans of Foreign Wars as "The County's Most Outstanding Citizen.'' FRANK WOODRUFF, formerly J. Walter Thompson Co. Hollywood director of the CBS Lux Radio Theatre. who resigned last July to join RKO Radio Pictures, has been given his first film assignment. He will direct production of "Curtain Call" starting Jan. 15. FLETCHER WILEY. KNX. Hollywood, commentator, was recently presented during a special broadcast witli a citation by the Disabled American Veterans of the Woi-ld War for extraordinary services. BILL HENRY, Los Angeles Times columnist, war correspondent and former sports editor, has inaugurated a weekly quarter-hour news review program. By the Way, on CBS Pacific network. Program has the same title as his daily Los Angeles Times column. TULLY CLEMENT, for several years in radio on the West Coast, has joined the announcing staff of WBT. Charlotte, N. C. BOB LEWIS, formerly of WDGT, Minneapolis, has joined WTAQ, Green Bay, Wis., as chief announcer. David Rhodes, formerly with RKO and Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, has joined the station as chief news announcer, and Elliott Henry, formerly publicity director of Beloit College. Beloit, Wis., has been named publicity director of WTAQ. KENNETH AITKEN has been appointed production manager of KDB, Santa Barbara, replacing Robert Boyd, who has returned to the engineering department. EDDIE DAVIS and Matt Brooks, Hollywood and New York gag writers, were scheduled to join the writing staif of the NBC Tip Top Show with Joe Penner on Jan. 1. EMILY KOLLENBORN, new to mdio, has joined the audience mail department of KOMO-KJR, Seattle. TOM PRICHARD. formerly of WSAY, Rochester, N. Y., has iouied the announcing staff of WHAM. Rochester. CARL WIBNINGER, of KOA. Denver, wrote the words and miisie of the new song, "In My Little Flower Garden", now being featured on several network programs. DON QUINN, Hollywood writer of the NBC Filler McGee & Molly program, sponsored by S. C. Johnson & Son (floor wax), has recovered from a serious throat infection. MARY MASON SO HOMEY in her manner that she's been dubbed "Cousin Mary" by listeners, Mary Mason is head of women's activities for NBC in Washington. Starting in radio in 1925 at WNAC, Boston, she has since directed women's programs in that city, New York, Hollywood and San Francisco as well as Washington. She particularly likes cooking and is partial to all outdoor activities. Recently Miss Mason started a new series of monthly open forum broadcasts on homemaking on WMAL, Washington. Titled Affiliated Wives Inc., the new feature is built around a party held in the WMAL studios the second Wednesday of each month, during which the wives pop questions and answers. The formal title of WRCWMAL Director of Women's Activities was conferred on Miss Mason on Christmas Day. EARL BBI, formerly of WWJ, Detroit, has joined the production staff of NBC in Chicago, working with Wynn Wright, former WW.J program director, who is now production chief of NBC. Chicago. ERIC MUNRO, formerly of the county tax office, has joined KTSM, El Paso, Tex., as merchandising manager. Harold Moon has joined the KTSM continuity staff, succeeding Dave Porter, who has accepted appointment in the U. S. Naval Reserve Air Corps and leaves shortly for training in Pensacola, Fla. RALPH DUFFY, account executive KYA. San Francisco, recently resigned to join the sales staff of Howard Automobile Co. GORDON R. KERR, formerly of WMCA, New York, has joined the announcing staff of WIS, Columbia, S. C. NOEL B. GERSON, of the news and publicity department of WGN. Chicago, married Mary Jane Bierman Dec. 21. JOEY KEARNS, formerly with Bob Crosby's orchestra, has been named musical director of WCAU, Philadelphia, as of Jan. 17, 1940, and will conduct a new 16-piece studio orchestra at the station. MARY DEVANT has succeeded Martha Dulin as women's commentator on WBT, Charlotte. She has appeared on various Carolina stations as motion picture reviewer, shopping service reviewer and women's news reporter. JAY FARAGHAN has been named to the regular announcing staff of KYW, Philadelphia. FRANK GRASSO, musical director of WFLA, Tampa, Fla., is the father of a girl born Dec. 18. Patsy Kent, who handles women's programs on the station, has announced her engagement to Ed Salvatore, connected with Bowey's Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y. Wedding is to be in Florida during January. JULIE JUNKER, feminine lead of the Findleyville dramatic series on WPEN, Philadelphia, early in December was married to Daniel Pratt Mannix III, author. GLAN T. HEISCH has withdrawn as producer of the NBC Tip Top Show, featuring Joe Penner, and returns to full-time duty as program director of KFI-KECA, Los Angeles. Larry Holcomb of Sherman K. Bills & Co., agency servicing Ward Baking Co., sponsor of the program, has taken over production until a successor to Heisch has been appointed. TOM Mcknight, Hollywood producer of the NBC Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, sponsored by Grove Laboratories (Bromo Quinine), has been signed by Warner Bros, to work with Elsa Maxwell in the scripting of her first picture. How Not To Give a Party. JIMMY HAYES, new to radio, has joined KOY, Phoenix, as junior announcer. H. ARNOLD TIEMANN, traffic manager of WWJ, Detroit, for the last five years, has started a new early morning show, Happy Highways, in which he gives road information against a background of piano music. Mabel Munroe, formerly his assistant, has taken over as traffic manager. BILL TRAUM. on the announcing staff of WROK, Rockford, 111., for three years before joining WJIM, Lansing, Mich., last September, on Dec. 18 returned to WROK as promotion manager. NORVIN C. DUNCAN, Jr.. formerly production manager of WWNC, Asheville, N. C, has joined WFBC, Greenville, S. C, as publicity director and announcer, succeeding Dan Crosland, now in newspaper work in Columbia, S. C. TED HUSTON, formerly of WBRY. Waterburv, Conn., has joined WMAS, Springfield, Mass., replacing Stuart Wayne, now with WTHT, Hartford. Harry DeVorken has been named commercial manager of the WBRY New Haven studios, succeeding Ralph Gottlieb, now with WGBI, Scranton, Pa. LOIS BERG, of the CBS Hollywood script department, has announced her engagement to Robert Johnson, Los Angeles oil executive. Wedding is planned for early summer. JAN DROHOJOWSKI has resigned from the CBS staff of foreign language broadcasters to join the Polish Embassy in Washington as third ranking officer. He has been appointed counselor of the Embassy in charge of press and emigration matters. JOHN GROVER, announcer of KPOKGO, San Francisco, last month exhibited one of his murals at the San Francisco Art Museum. One of his latest wood carving creations will be shown soon. Dupre Aids Lewis HENRY DUPRE, special events director of WWL, New Orleans, has been chosen by Sinclair Lewis, famous American novelist, to assist him in the preparation of a new play concerning the life of a career woman in radio. Dupre will assist Mr. Lewis in radio terminology. HEYWOOD BROUN, newspaper columnist and president of the American Newspaper Guild, died of pneumonia Dec. 18. He was regularly heard on MBS in its Author! Author! program. The Dec. 18 program was cancelled in tribute to his memory and replaced with a eulogy by John Chapman, a fellow journalist who appeared each week on the program with Broun. Page 44 • January 1, 1940 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising