Broadcasting (Jan - June 1940)

VARIATION of the quiz program was inaugurated by ^KLX, Oakland on March 1. Titled Musical Court, the program is broadcast from the Downtown Theater, Oakland. Four KLX announcers take microphones to various parts of the audience where spectators are asked to identify titles of song hits for which musical cues are played on the theatre organ. Persons guessing the titles are awarded $1. If the guesser sings a part of the song, he is given $2. All money from the tunes incorrectly guessed goes into a "musical jackpot", to be given away at the end of the program. PROGRAMS HARTFORD«CONN BLUE RIBBON PROGRAMS YouMl want our new bro^ chure ^^Blue Ribbon Programs'*. Write for it. It gives you full details on all WDRC shows that are available for participating announcements or outright sponsorship. BASIC STATION OF COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM National Representatives PAUL H. RAYMER COMPANY Student Drama LOCAL high school dramatic students get a shot at treading the boards in original plays on the weekly Campus Playhouse, sponsored by Monnig's, local department store, on KFJZ, Fort Worth. Casts of each of the half -hour plays are composed exclusively of high school students, with no student appearing more than once. Auditions are held each week for new aspirants. With the series giving an opportunity to a large number of students by the single appearance rule, both sponsor and station have a solid tie-in with schools and students through school paper and bulletin board notices and classroom announcements. The series was renewed for the remainder of the school year after a 13-week trial, and the sponsor is considering carrying the program annually during the school term. Wally Fordproducestheshows. * * * School Bands DESIGNED particularly to interest young people in good music, WHP, Harrisburg, Pa., has started a news series of Sunday afternoon hours, presenting the music of high school bands of the localitv. Midway in each program the superintendent or principal of the individual school represented is put on the air with a two or threeminute resume of the school's history and an admonition on the importance of music in education. It's Not Our Fault 1570 Listeners Forgot Their Morning Coffee! ^ It happened between 7:00 and 7:15 in the morning, when many of us are just rubbing sleep from our eyes . . . Thousands of alert morning listeners in small towns and rural districts had already tuned in their radios to WFBL's Musical Clock. 1570 of them forgot their breakfasts and reached for pens and paper in response to a special broadcast offer. 1570 eager letters from 238 towns in 33 of New York State's 62 counties (not counting 22 towns outside the state) wrote in. Response that proves WFBL listeners are not only early risers ... but eager buyers. What WFBL did for this special advertiser * they can do for you regularly. To start the ball rolling, act now and write, wire or phone WFBL, Syracuse, N. Y. * iVame of sponsor on request. Hourly Time NEW time signal device, accurate to 100th of a second, has been installed by Chief Engineer Charles Topmiller of WCKY, Cincinnati, to enable the station to supply automatic time signals each hour on the hour throughout the broadcast day. The hourly "beep" is broadcast regardless of what is on the air at the time, and registers automatically on an electric impulse from Washington, carried on Western Union wires directly from the Naval Observatory. Health Protectors DEALING with local health problems, WPEN, Philadelphia, has started a new public service series, Guardians of Public Health, presented under auspices of the city department of public health and arranged by Dr. Hubley Owen, director of the department. The series features talks by various health department heads and persons prominent in directing the health activities of the city. AH talks stress prevention and give information on the health clinics and public medical centers in the city. * * * Missing Letters FIVE contestants are asked to name a word after a broad definition of it is given, together with the word's consonants or vowels, on the new Missing Letters quiz feature conducted by Jerry Belcher on WRVA, Richmond, Va. Belcher also is conducting As America Thinks, for which he visits conventions and meetings all over the state to solicit spontaneous opinion on subjects of topical interest via personal interviews. The latter show is sponsored by Larus & Bro. Co. for Edgeworth Tobacco. :1s Pin Money TIPS on how to make extra money on sparetime occupations and hobbies are furnished by Robert D. Newman, The Extra Income Counsellor, heard on the new weekly quarter-hour How to Make Money series of WEEI, Boston. A former newspaperman, Newman has made a hobby of meeting and knowing people who have made money from their hobbies while unemployed. On the programs he not only relates actual cases, but brings the people to the microphone to tell of their experiences. ■is if ^ Sports Prizes NEW prize feature on KTSM, El Paso, is Sports-Eye Treasure Chest, sponsored by the sports publication. Southwestern Sports-Eye. A local phone number is called during each program, and the party answering is offered a sports question. If he answers correctly, he wins $100. If he fails, or if no one answers the phone, he receives $5, and the remaining $95 is carried over to the next program. OBLIGING to the nth degree in the midst of the worst snowstorm of 15 years in upstate New York, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt in mid-February smilingly shivered through an interview with Fred Jeske, of WSYR, Syracuse. In zero cold, with 16.9 inches of snow on the ground, Mrs. Roosevelt came out to the street after an inspection of the Syracuse Housing Project to find Jeske standing up to his knees in the snow, on the possibility that he might get her on the air. * * Gaslight Days GAY NINETIES is the theme of the new Gaslights & Bustles program started early in February by Leisy Brewing Co. on WGAR, Cleveland. The program features oldtime songs, Cleveland's history, three song-title quizzes and singing by the studio audience, with regular participants, including a 10piece orchestra, quartet, guest singer and m.c, in costumes of the period. Tickets to the weekly show are distributed only through regular Leisy dealers. The opening broadcast, before 500 dealers and their families, was so successful that five similar dealer audiences will be treated to the show before it is opened to a regular studio audience. BBDO, Cleveland, handles the Leisy account and program. * * * Child Problems CHILD psychology is discussed during the weekly quarter-hour program, Nancy Prentice Mothers Club, on the Arizona Network. Presented under supervision of the psychology department of the Arizona State Teachers College, the program originates from KOY, Phoenix. * * The Listener Speaks SELECTED fan mail, along with answers to listeners' questions about different programs and artists, is read on the new Mail Bag program, heard twice weekly on WLAW, Lawrence, Mass. CAROL GAY —the foremost feminine name in St. Louis radio — exclusive over ST. LOUIS KWK ONONDAGA RADIO BROADCASTING CORP. Syracuse, New Vorfc MEMBER BASIC NETWORK COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM National Representatives, Free & Peters, Inc. Page 66 • March J, 1940 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising