Broadcasting (Jan - Jun 1944)

FLU BARMAID treating flu victim, John Kent, announcer of WWL New Orleans, is that station's sports commentator, Jill Jackson. Empty bottle of flu bar's most popular remedy has sign: "Sorry Boys, All Gone." AT&T to Reduce Interstate Rates Cut Effective March 1 Will Effect 10-million Savings A REDUCTION approximating $10,350,000 annually in interstate telephone and teletype rates, effective March 1, was agreed to last week by AT&T following negotiations with the FCC. Designed particularly to aid members of the armed services and war workers away from home, the addition of an extra hour, 6-7 p.m., in the lower night rate bracket for long distance calls, also will aid in easing the peak traffic loads which usually jam the lines in the early evening hours by spreading the traffic over a longer period. TWX Overtime Cut Overtime rates on interstate teletype messages will be cut from onethird to one-fourth the initialperiod rate on all traffic for which the initial-period rate exceeds 30c. It was stated that benefits from this reduction will go principally to the Government and war industry subscribers. The Government alone now makes up one-half of the TWX traffic. Through arrangements with the Bell System, all surcharges now collected by hotels, apartments, clubs, etc., on interstate and foreign calls will be prohibited effective Feb. 15. This is expected to save the public an additional $1,700,000 annually. In January 1943 the largest single rate reduction in Bell System history was announced. The cut of approximately $34,700,000 annually related to overtime charges on all interstate calls and rates charged for interstate leased private-line telephone, telegraph, and radio program transmission services. It was estimated that this reduction would effect savings of i ?2,145,000 yearly to the radio industry [Broadcasting, Jan. 25, 1943], particularly aiding the I small station group. DANIEL FREES, 50, Hollywood ralio writer, died following a heart at:ack on Jan. 17. Woodell Advises Selling Friendship to S. America SHIRLEY WOODELL, asssitant account executive of the foreign department of McCann-Erickson, New York, told members of the export advertising field last week that their post-war objective for the Latin American market should be not so much to sell more goods, but to establish in Latin American minds the fact that we in America are permanent friends and fair to do business with. "God help us if we don't," he added. Mr. Woodell spoke before a luncheon meeting of the Export Advertising Assn. at the Belmont-Plaza Hotel, Wednesday, Jan. 26. Regarding American export advertising activities in southern countries after the war, he said that either someone else will offer more generous terms, or "we will stop pump-priming with the purchase of war necessities that will no longer be required in peacetime economy." Following a market-by-market analysis of advertising outlets, Mr. Woodell was asked for an estimate on the number of radio sets in Latin America. He said that he believed about 5% of the population has a radio set available. Pinkham Increases Time ADDING ANOTHER transcribed daytime serial to its schedule and moving into Eastern and MidWest markets, Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co., Lynn, Mass., on Feb. 1 starts Mr. Good on WIRE WCAE WLAW WMCA, as a five-times weekly quarter-hour feature. New series promotes Lydia E. Pinkham tablets, and centers around the title character, a kindly person who helps people with their problems. Just Home Folks, a similar quarter-hour program started last fall, continues on six southern outlets. Firm maintains a limited spot announcement schedule as well. Agency is Erwin Wasey & Co., New York. Esso Farm Program STANDARD OIL Co., of Indiana, on April 1 begins sponsorship of a series of noon farm broadcasts daily on 100 spot stations. Awards, consisting of $25 War Bonds, for outstanding agricultural accomplishments, will set the program format. Everett Mitchell, farm news commentator, will be featured. Contract is for 26 weeks. Agency is McCann-Erickson, Chicago. New Airport Station VAUG is the call of a 300 w broadcasting plant operating on 1340 kc at Goose Bay Airport, Labrador. The station was put in operation Jan. 7 by the signal section of the Royal Canadian Air Force and is using U. S. Army equipment. The station broadcasts music and news for United States, Canadian and British troops at the big trans-Atlantic base. A similar station has been in operation since Jan. 1 at Gander, Newfoundland, air base. Call letters and other data on this station have not yet been released. CHARBOY PRODUCTS Inc., Red Bank, N. J. (Medicinal Preparation) has been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to cease and desist from false representations in radio and other advertising that its product, Cuproloid, is a cure for various skin conditions. Quiz Moves to WMCA AFTER three years on the Blue, Wake Up — America! the quiz-debate program presented by the American Economic Foundation, went quietly off the network a month or so ago, and is now heard as a transcription on 147 stations, and live on WMCA New York. Discs are cut by NBC Radio Recording Division. WMCA New York started carrying the debates live last Sunday, Jan. 30, in the 5 :30-6 p.m. period. DON McNEILL, m.c. of the Blue Network's Breakfast Club program, is taking his second vacation from the program in 11 years, spending two weeks in Florida. He served as m.e. for the annual President's Birthday Ball at Jacksonville. Durward Kirby is .handling the Breakfast Club. CAROLE MATHEWS, Chicago announcer-actress, has been signed for major role in the Columbia film, "Girl in the Case". Fulton Lewis, jr. GOES EVERYWHERE HUNTING FOR NEWS Wherever the four winds blow . . . there you'll find Mutual's Ace Reporter digging up the facts . . . getting to the bottom of things . . . reporting certainties instead of rumors. No wonder Fulton Lewis, Jr., is America's "most listened to" news reporter. No wonder he's the man with more satisfied sponsors than any other news reporter. You can sell him at your one time quarter hour rate per week. Call, wire or write WM. B. DOLPH, WOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. ORIGINATING FROM WOL WASHINGTON, D. C. Affiliated with the MUTUAL BROADCASTING SYSTEM BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising January 31, 1944 • Page 69