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Spartanburg Sale Approved by FCC
New WORD Acquires WSPA; Walter Brown Is Manager
VIRGIL EVANS, owner of WSPA, Spartanburg, S. C, retires from the broadcasting business and that station, a 1,000-watt daytime outlet on 920 kc, will be jointly operated with the projected new WORD, fulltime local on 1370 kc, as a result of FCC approval granted May 21 for the sale of WSPA to Spartanburg Advertising Co. The transfer of WSPA ownership, involving a purchase price of $30,300, also ends the long litigation between WSPA and the proposed new WORD [Broadcasting, May !]•
Under the new setup, Spartanburg for the first time will have night as well as day service. It is planned by the new owners to take formal possession of WSPA June 1, with Walter Brown, prominent Washington newspaper correspondent, as manager. Mr. Brown is one of the stockholders of Spartanburg Advertising Co., which holds the construction permit for WORD. The latter station, he states, should be ready for operation shortly after July 1. It will for the time being use the same studios as WSPA and will operate from the same antenna.
Stock Ownership
Spartanburg Advertising Co. is headed by A. B. Taylor, president of Taylor-Colquitt Co., timbertreating concern, who holds 137 of the 400 shares of stock issued. Mr. Brown is vice-president and general manager, with 100 shares. C. O. Hearon, former local newspaper publisher, is secretary, with 25 shares. The other stockholder is Donald Russell, local attorney, with 138 shares.
Mr. Evans, a member of the State Legislature, has stated that he intends to devote his efforts primarily to his recently established weekly, the Spartanburg News. Mr. Brown, until the national political conventions in June and July, will divide his time between Washington and Spartanburg. A native Georgian whose father was prominent in the politics of that State, Mr. Brown is at present Washington correspondent for a group of Southern newspapers, including the Raleigh (N. C.) News & Observer, Greenville (S. C.) News and Piedmont, Winston-Salem (N. C.) Journal and Citizen and Asheville (N. C.) Citizen and Times.
Fels Using 17
FELS & Co., Philadelphia, which May 6 started a campaign of quarter-hour musical clock, morning and interview type programs for Fels Naptha soap featuring local talent, is using the following stations: KFRC, San Francisco; KOIN, Portland, Ore.; KHJ, Los Angeles; KIRO, Seattle; WDGY, MinneapoHs; WGN, Chicago; WIL, St. Louis; WCPO, Cincinnati; KQV, Pittsburgh; WJR, Detroit; WGAR, Cleveland; WQXR, New York, and five Yankee Network stations. Agency is Young & Rubicam. New York. The Fels company, placing direct, also has started a ' thrice-weekly quarter-hour, Golden Bars of Melody, on WFIL, Philadelphia.
BEAVERS and Burnsides were obligatory when Omaha celebrated Golden Spike Days in May, with Gracie Allen's "Surprise Party" convention headlining the event. All three Omaha stations participated in the occasion. The lineup at top, all of WOW, includes (1 to r) Bill Wiseman, publicity; Freddy Ebener, musical director; John Gillin Jr., manager; Harry Burke, program manager, and Foster May, special events director. Below, KOIL's Manager Don Searle and George Burns, Grade's partner and manager of her campaign for the Presidency.
OMAHA'S GOLDEN SPIKE FETE
Colorful Events Mark Second Annual Celebration; Gracie Allen Convention Staged
GOING the limit in promotion and coverage, all three Omaha stations —WOW, KOWH and KOIL— turned the bulk of their time, talent and facilities over to Omaha's second annual Golden Spike Days Celebration May 13-18. Radio's place in the event was established more firmly than ever through participation of Burns & Allen and their company in the Surprise Party Convention booming "Gracie Allen for President." In addition to intensive local angle coverage, the event was highlighted by origination of the regular Burns & Allen CBS broadcast for Hinds Honey & Almond Cream from the convention hall.
KOIL carried a total of 59 special events broadcasts during the six-day celebration, all sponsored by the. Omaha National Bank. KOIL, as the Omaha CBS outlet, took an active part in preliminary arrangements for Burns & Allen participation, with General Manager Don Searle as radio chairman of the Golden Spike Committee. KOIL broadcasts started from Salt Lake City, following the "Presidential Special" on through Denver and Grand Island to Omaha. In addition to general coverage of Golden Spike events, KOIL originated the CBS Burns & Allen broadcast May 15 and carried the complete Surprise Party convention May 17. Cliff Johnson, KOIL program director, was prominent in planning and producing the convention.
WOW also furnished extensive coverage of Golden Spike events, using five uniformed special events crews and five special events cars furnished by automobile sponsors — sprayed with whitewash paint and
identified with call letters. WOW's principal broadcast was a panorama of the special train's progress across Nebraska, with special events crews meeting the train at various points outstate as it approached Omaha, transcribing interviews and then playing them for broadcast via wires. The pi-ogram concluded with a pickup of the train's arrival at the Omaha Union Depot. WOW also picked up the parades and carried special programs from the convention, aggregating 22 broadcasts. WOW coverage and descriptions were handled largely by Foster May, special events chief, Harry Burke, Lyle DeMoss, Bill Wiseman, Gay Avery and Russ Baker.
The Golden Spike celebration, particularly the Burns & Allen participation, drew heavy local newspaper publicity also. The Omaha World-Herald, in addition to a special Golden Spike Days session on May 14, carried front page news and feature stories of the doings of the radio troupe from the time of their departure from the West Coast, through the Surprise Party Convention, and tmtil the celebration concluded.
Drops 'Gangbusters'
COLGATE PALMOLIVE PEET Co., Jersey City, which has sponsored Gangbusters on CBS for the past 4% years, is discontinuing after the June 15 broadcast. The program is currently on 55 CBS stations, Saturdays, 8-8:30 p. m. for Cue dentifrice, and formerly was heard for Colgate shaving cream. No substitute program or further plans have been announced, according to Benton & Bowles, New York, the agency.
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE IS BEGUN BY NAB
PREPARATORY to the annual convention to be held in San Francisco, Aug. 4-7, the NAB May 27 launched an intensive membership campaign directed by C. E. Arney, recently-appointed assistant to the president. The drive is to reach all non-member stations. The effort was launched with the dispatching of a personal letter from each of the 17 NAB district directors to each non-member in his district.
Preparatory to the drive, 43 broadcasters in as many States were named by district directors to serve as State or area membership chairmen. The campaign will include a series of nine mailings to every non-member, the last to go out July 15. The mailing pieces will stress the value of NAB membership and the responsibility of every broadcaster to participate in its all-front activity, according to Mr. Arney.
NAB Districts to Hold Elections of Directors
SEVEN NAB districts will hold meetings between June 1 and June 22 to elect new directors preparatory to the NAB convention Aug. 4-7 in San Francisco. Chairman James Lawrence Fly of the FCC, plans to address the District 4 meeting June 1-2 at the Sedgefield Hotel, Greensboro, N. C. Other meetings will be addressed by NAB department heads and by Carl Haverlin, station relations director of Broadcast Music Inc.
Originally eight district meetings had been planned, since half of the district directors are elected annually prior to the convention. John E. Fetzer, District 8 director, including Indiana and Michigan, however, recently was reelected at a special meeting. Other district ineetings scheduled are District 10 at St. Louis, June 8; District 12 at Wichita, June 9; District 14 at Salt Lake City, June 12; District 16 at San Francisco, June 17; District 6 at Memphis, June 20; District 2 at Rochester, N. Y., June 22.
NAB Code Praised
THE NAB Code was heralded as "a notable step in recognition of their responsibility toward the radio audience in promoting an even higher standard of culture, while safeguarding freedom of speech and of the air" in a resolution adopted May 16 at the annual convention of the New Jersey Federation of Women's Clubs in Atlantic City. The resolution added: "We acknowledge our individual responsibility in supporting programs of fine quality and condemning those which are unfit, believing such recognition is a new duty of citizenship which will promote the best interests of radio and preserve the foundations of our democracy."
Lever Summer Shift
LEVER BROS. Co., Cambridge, Mass., on June 18 is understood to be replacing the Big Town program for Rinso on 61 CBS stations, Tuesdays, 8-8:30 p. m., with Uncle Jim's Question Bee, half-hour quiz program sponsored in 1939 on NBCBlue by G. Washington Coffee Refining Co. The summer change appears definite, although unconfirmed by Ruthrauff & Ryan, New York, agency in charge of the Rinso account.
Page 50 • June 1, 1940
BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising