Broadcasting (Jan - Mar 1950)

1 VETERAN stage and screen star, Joe E. Brown (r), and a group of radio executives, all old friends, exchange greetings at a luncheon in Chicago. In the group are (I to r): Al H. Morrison and William M. Ramsay, both of Procter & Gamble; Les Lear, mgr., NBC's Welcome Travelers; Tom Revere, Blow agency, and Mr. Brown. FULTON LEWIS jr. {2d r) is commissioned a member of the sheriff's posse of Dallas County during his lecture at the Dallas Athletic Club. At the ceremony (I to r): E. O. Cartwright, WRR Dallas; George Smith and William Hensen, Dallas Athletic Club; Mr. Lewis, and Sheriff "^^^ Bill Decker. PROMOTION of Musically Yours. half-hour nightly program on KSFO San Francisco, is discussed by (I to r): Tom Maschler, advertising director of H. R. Basford Co., appliance distributor and sponsor of show, and Wallace Aron, account executive for Beaumont & Hohman Advertising '^^^ Agency. WHEN WONS Hartford, Conn., sponsored "Frank Luther Day," the noted children's entertainer presented some of his records to Governor Chester Bowles (c) at the State Capitol. With the governor are: Mr. Luther (I) and Jim Hogan, of Post & Lesser, Hartford distributor of Decca ""^^^ Records. JAMES E. EDWARDS, president of WLS Chicago and the Prairie Farmer, was host to nine Midwest farm homemakers at his firm's annual advertising luncheon in Chicago. Guests included Mrs. Mabel Obenchain, president of the Women's Advertising Club, who discusses the proj"^^^ ect with Mr. Edwards. SAM B. SCHNEIDER (r), farm director of KVOO Tulsa, is thanked by Robert Koch, executive secretary of the National Agricultural Limestone Assn. Inc., for his assistance in setting up in Washington the association's radio department, designed to promote notionally the values ''^^r' of agricultural limestone. March of Dimes ( Continued from page Sit ) favorable comment and had a large following. KSOO: At KSOO Sioux Falls, S. D., Program Director Ray Loftesness and Newsman Orrin Melton cooperated in getting the 175th National Air Guard Squadron in Sioux Falls for a flight to Hot Springs, S. D., to make a recorded program in the polio wards of the Lutheran Hospital. Although hampered by bad weather, airmen and studio representatives accomplished their mission and the half hour program was presented on KSOO. WXGI: Disc Jockey Harry Curran of WXGI Richmond, Va., didn't have much of his pay check left — if any — during the March of Dimes campaign. To help put the drive over the top, Mr. Curran made a bargain with listeners to his Curran's Corner that he'd match in amount any contributions to the campaign they sent in along with their requests. Since he is a man of his word as well as a man of his music, and since he received many contributions, other WXGI staffers have admiringly nicknamed Mr. Curran "Empty Pockets Curran." KORN and KIJV: When the second annual "battle of two cities" for the March of Dimes between Huron and Mitchell, S. D., was conducted KIJV Huron and KORN Mitchell cancelled all commercial programs after 9:30 that evening. Hooked together with telephone lines as last year, both stations presented talent from the Mitchell Corn Palace and the Huron College Auditorium. Listeners were urged to phone in pledges which were collected by members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce calling at homes by car. WKRT: Impetus was given the March of Dimes by WKRT Cortland, N. Y., when one afternoon was turned over to a request show to promote the drive. Aided by a staff' of telephone operators. Herb Koster and Fred Elliott did their best to play all the requests, which were sent in accompanied by pledges to the campaign. ROIL: Omaha's March of Dimes campaign was given a helping hand by KOIL when the Downtown Kiwanis Club and Lions Club held their annual race to see which could collect and lay out the longest line of dimes in a half hour. Four KOIL loudspeakers were installed at the scene, one of Omaha's busiest downtown street intersections, as the service clubs started laying dimes collected from pedestrians. The Kiwanians emerged victorious and the March of Dimes benefited by some $700. ,s * * WSNY: In Schenectady, N. Y., the infantile paralysis fund was given ?1,262.20 after WSNY cleared its commercial schedule for 13 hours and staged its March of Dimes Radio Day. The public was invited to phone in and make pledges of aid along with requests for selections. Announcing chores for the stint were handled by more than 40 civic and business leaders. * * * WBSM: For one day, WBSM New Bedford, Mass., eliminated all commercials from 7 p.m. to midnight to present an all-telephone request program devoted to accepting pledges ;j for the March of Dimes. A total of , 1,868 phone calls v/ere received, of , which 1,618 were pledges totaling $1,262.15. In addition, the local ' telephone office counted 2,822 incom ' pleted calls, making a grand total of nearly 5,000. WGLN: The Glens Falls, N. Y., area, one of the hardest hit during the last polio epidemic, got a big helping hand in the current drive on WGLN when Dorothy Beckwith and Bill Krough asked their listeners to "buy" an election via their WGLN Bulletin Board program. Each listener was asked to vote for a child polio victim most de ; serving of a television set donated by • sl local merchant. Each vote had to be accompanied by a contribution to the March of Dimes. To facilitate the election, a voting ballot was placed in the local newspaper. * « * WLOK: The tables were turned on Tommy (Welcome Traveler) Bartlett when WLOK Lima, Ohio, said "Welcome traveler" to him when he flew to Lima for a special interview for WLOK's Command Performa.nce show. The NBC outlet had Mr. Bartlett's ' engineer's cap to auction off' for the March of Dimes fund. CHARLESTON DISC JOCKEYS: In Charleston, S. C, Disc Jockey Bill Hedgepeth, of WCSC, spearheaded formation of the Charleston Assn. of Disc Jockeys as an outgrowth of a cooperative effort on the part of all disc jockeys connected with the five Charleston stations to raise money for the March of Dimes. Disc jockeys played tunes requested for each dollar contributed. WHBC-AM-FM: A dozen languages were used on one show to voice the March of Dimes appeal by WHBCAM-FM Canton, Ohio, in that city's radio kickoff. Representatives of na(Continued on page 72) KUOM CONCERTS Minn. U. Airs Symphony WITH the emphasis on "humanizing their symphony orchestra programs," KUOM Minneapolis, the U. of Minnesota's non-commercial outlet, again this year is giving top priority to the planning and presentation of programs aimed at building interest in the famed Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Conducted by Antal Dorati and produced by Burton Paulu, KUOM manager, 38 special programs are brought to listeners in the upper Midwest during symphony season. Eighteen of the broadcasts are designed for young listeners in schools — the other 20 for an adult audience. The "humanizing" aspect probably receives its heaviest emphasis on the day preceding each of the scheduled young people's concerts. The Minnesota School of the Air presents a symphony preview at which three pupils from public, parochial and private schools discuss the next day's concert with Conductor Dorati. In addition, KUOM presents previews for adult audiences of the 20 regularly scheduled evening concerts during the symphony season. BROADCASTING • Telecasting