Broadcasting (Jan - June 1940)

WCAR, Pontiac, Mich., with exclusive broadcast rights for the event, recently promoted and gave special coverage to the annual Army Day ceremonies at Selfridge Field, U. S. Army flying field near Pontiac. The exclusive arrangement was made after Selfridge Field authorities decided to see what radio could do to better the disappointing attendance of 6,000 at the 1939 show. More than 40,000 persons witnessed the mock maneuvers on the spot this year, following a series of special WCAR programs building up interest in the event. Climax of WCAR's coverage of the maneuvers came with a ground-air description, handled by Al Gordon on the ground and Stanley Schultz, WCAR program director, aloft in an Army bomber with a shortwave transmitter. KYSM, Mankato, Minn., cooperating in a city-wide clean-up campaign, recently arranged an essay contest on "The Citizen and the City Beautiful" among local junior and senior high schools. More than 1,900 students participated. Winners in both the senior and junior divisions were given identical cash prizes on a special broadcast on KYSM at conclusion of the contest. THE MBS program Laf 'n Sing Cliih was invited by the Massachusetts State Pharmaceutical Assn. to present the April 30th broadcast from the 1940 New England Drug & Health Show, held in Mechanics Hall, Boston. The entire troupe for the program made the trip to Boston and presented the program one hour earlier than usual from 8 :30 to 9 p.m. SALES must go on, so when W. E. Jackson, sales manager of KDKA, went to the West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh for a minor operation, his department continued to function as usual. Reason: He assembled his staff for regular meetings right in the hospital room. Those in the picture (1 to r), are: Richard C. Bachman, salesman; Sherman D. Gregory, general manager; Mr. Jackson, the patient; J. R. Luntzel, publicity chief; Waltern Horn, salesman; G. C. Zeller, sales service head. IN OBSERVANCE of a "Cradle of Fame Week" May 6-13 followed by a summer search for amateur radio talent conducted by Pic magazine, WNBW, New York, which claims the title "Cradle of Fame" because of the people it has launched on radio careers, will conduct daily quarter-hour programs to audition amateurs. The station will also dedicate a weekly program to each of four winners chosen each month from auditions held Sunday afternoons at the New York World's Fair. KFWB. Hollywood, is cooperating in a similar way with Pic in the national talent search. MIGHTY MIKE SAYS"TAKE A LOOK AT MYTIME aimiHE C. E. Hooper reports show 66-2/3% of Philadelphia's daytime WFIL is "second or better". This is made clear In a new WFIL folder "Daytime Dialing" with facts gained in a four-month Hooper survey ending March 1940. Take a look at "Daytime Dialing" and the aMractive daytime availabilities ready to do a sales job for you NOW! ASK FOR YOUR COPY OF "DAYTIME DIALING" NOW FOR LOW COST CIRCULATION BUY Ml NBC BLUE NETWORK • MUTUAL NETWORK REPRESENTED NATIONALLY BY EDW. PETRY, INC. ANNA HELLER, night telephone operator of WMCA, New York, discovered recently just how well it pays to hoard old papers when she was able to present the Court of Mlissing Heirs program on CBS with death and burial permits and baptismal records proving she was the daughter of the late Samuel Holmes, barge captain of New York Central Pier 4. Hoboken, N. J., and therefore became collateral heiress to the .$."5,000 estate left by an aunt. Mrs. Heller didn't hear the program on April 18, when her aunt's unclaimed estate was described, but friends heard the show and told her the story. WCKY, Cincinnati presented a style show April 15 at the Hotel Gibson in conjunction with Bond Clothiers, sponsor of the WCKY Morn Patrol. Prominent athletes including the Cincinnati Reds baseball team were introduced to the audience and WCKY staff artists provided entertainment. Free tickets to the opening ball game were distributed. CBS in mid-April established a completely equipped photographic studio, under direction of Fran Byrne, former Chicago Daily Times photographer, in conjunction with the WBBMCBS publicity department in the Wrigley Bldg. in Chicago. In addition to his studio work, Byrne will handle CBS publicity photography, special events and WBBM Mobile Air Theatre assignments. A TOTAL of 27,620 persons visited the NBC studios in Chicago's Merchandise Mart during March, 1940, an increase of more than 4,000 over the same month a year ago and the largest number of visitors in any single month during the past year. OBSERVING the 300th consecutive weekly broadcast of Lahor News Review, a reception and special testimonial broadcast was conducted April 27 at WJSV, Washington. Hailed as the oldest consecutively presented labor program, Lahor News Revieio is conducted by Albert N. Dennis. With union officials cooperating, the special broadcast presented brief statements by Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor; Harry C. Butcher, CBS Washington vice-president ; Lawrence E. Williams, president, Washington Board of Trade ; John Loeher, president, Washington Central Labor Union, and several others, with A. D. Willard Jr., WJSV manager, presiding. KVOS, Bellingham, Wash., in midApril inaugurated its new remote studios in Mt. Vernon, Wash., with a 90minute salute to the city as the first step in establishing regular program service for the neighboring city, 27 miles away. The new studios, located in the President Hotel, are managed by Park Gagnon. WITH the shift to Daylight Saving Time on April 29, five NBC Pacific Coast stations plan to make individual recordings of the two NBC serials Guiding Light and Against the Storm which are sponsored by Procter & Gamble Co. from New York between 11 :30 a. m. and 12 noon, for rebroadcast on the coast between 2 :30 and 3 p. m. The programs, after April 29, reach the coast in the early morning, interfering with the stations' various Musical Clock programs, thus requiring the use of recordings for rebroadcast. WITH what they believe is America's largest record library surrounding them at WNEW, New York, Martin Block and Stan Shaw of WNEW's Make Believe Ballroom and Millcman's Matinee programs, respectively, recently took inventory and found they had 11,700 records, or enough for more than 48 days of continuous music. WITH the start of the baseball season on April 16, Bert Lee of WHN, New York, has resumed his nightly re-enactments of the day's major league games on his Today's Baseiall program. Sponsored by Gillette Safety Razor Co., Boston, as were Lee's hockey programs, the broadcasts are heard daily, 7 :15-7 :30 p. m. IN cooperation with the U. S. Coast Guard, WNEW, New York, will start a weather forecast early in May for small pleasure boats cruising local waters from Eastport, Me. to Sandy Hook. W^eather reports will be broadcast Friday nights and at intervals during the week-ends. FOUR staff members of WBBM, Chicago, have been recuperating recently from various ailments — Vincent Rossi, of the accounting department, appendectomy ; Dwight McPeek, of the engineering scheduling department, mastoid operation ; Robert Hanvey, radio sales research, breakdown ; Sally Rennie, of the office staff, bronchial pneumonia. WGN, Chicago, will originate for MBS a series of three well-known operettas to be heard May 2, May 16 and May 30. Henry Weber, WGN musical director, will direct music for the operetta series, which will be produced by William Bacher. The first operetta, Noel Coward's "Bittersweet" will feature Marion Claire and James Melton. KOA, Denver, having installed International News and United Press teletypes and has increased its news broadcast schedule by four periods daily. This is in addition to the twice-daily period of Denver Post news. WKY, Oklahoma City, recently carried a special pickup from O'Keene, Okla., during that community's annual rattlesnake hunt. The program was handled by Perry Ward, special events chief of WKY. WSPD, Toledo, O., tying in with the Willys Skyroad Parade on April 17, carried a quarter-hour program from the ofiBce of Joseph W. Frazer. president of Willys Overland Motors. The flight, bringing more than 100 buyers and dealers from the Chicago area in a fleet of airliners, was one of the largest mass flights in commercial aviation history, airline ofiicials reported. The broadcast, carried just before a luncheon, presented interviews with leading guests and visitors. WEOA-WGBF, EvansviUe, Ind.. co-, operates with the local Marylane: Theatre in producing a local talking newsreel shown regularly at the, theatre. The picture is shown several! times, with Hugh Chambers making notes, and the commentary is theni transcribed in the WEOA-WGBF studios. WKNY, Kingston, N. Y., on April 15| formally opened its new remote stu-, dios in Poughkeepsie, and a week later, inaugurated newly completed studios in Hudson, N. Y. Several remote programs from the branch studios are on the station's regular schedule, and i is planned to use them extensively o special events. Page 74 • May i, 1940 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertisin