Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

PROGRAMS & PROMOTIONS continued OLDTIMERS gathered in studios of WHO Des Moines this fall to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the WHO Cornbelt Farm Hour. Milestone broadcasters were (1 to r): Don Hovey, WHO music director; Ernie Sanders, manager of WOC-TV Davenport, Iowa, first announcer on the show; Chief George Young Bear, Tama, Iowa, farmer who appeared on one of the early broadcasts in 1937; and Herb Plambeck, WHO farm director, who has been heard on all the Cornbelt Hour's total of 1,040 weekly broadcasts. Listeners sent flowers and cakes for the birthday broadcast, which presented 20-year highlights of the show. WCUE's Two-Month Teaser for 'Doc' For two months WCUE Akron, Ohio, has been running a teaser campaign to introduce Doc Lemon, the station's new personality to its listeners [People, Nov. 18]. Direct mail pieces were sent to advertising agencies, the press and record distributors in Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Buffalo with a picture of a lemon headed, "What will you do till the Doctor comes?" On the days following, a blond nurse visited the recipients and gave them a prescription, which, when deciphered showed the mixture would be lemonade. WCUE put ads in a local paper showing a picture of Mr. Lemon with the caption, "The Doctor Is Coming Nov. 11" and, accompanied by the glamorous nurse, he called on the agencies, press and record shops. A cocktail party wound up the campaign. THE GENERAL SAID "old soldiers NEVER. PlE..." AMD WE WPM'T WVET RADIO ROCHESTER,^ ANNIVERSARY L WPEN Begins Live Broadcasts Running 13 Hours on Sundays WPEN Philadelphia announced Thursday it has adopted a policy described as new to the city's radio structure — 13 hours of live Sunday programming. William B. Casky, vice president and general manager, said the station's schedule now includes "front-line, top-selling personalities seven days a week." The basic WPEN program format now is based on live personalities around the clock. The 13-hour Sunday bracket features, effective yesterday (Sunday), Jack O'Reilly and Red Benson, who join Mac McGuire and Frank Ford. Eventually the entire Sunday schedule is expected to be live, following what Mr. Casky terms "a bold, new concept in Philadelphia." Sputnik Helps Plug Oldsmobile As Sputnik 2 and the '58 Oldsmobile were due to arrive in Indiana about the same time, WFBM Indianapolis and a local Oldsmobile dealer cooperated to air a special sputnik program Nov. 9, 4-5 a.m. The car dealer, as sponsor of the early morning show, recognized the coincidence of the two advents as an off-beat way to introduce the new model automobiles and (together with Oldsmobile-plugs) the show featured: interviews with planetarium officials, weather bureau personnel, persons who had earlier reported seeing the satellite and other space objects, as well as presenting general information and data on Sputnik 2. WFBM also made arrangements with the Allison Division of General Motors to use a plane in covering the sputnik's flight over central Indiana and assigned news staffer Jim Bechtel to do a remote broadcast from the plane. Boston Symphony in Hi-Fi Series A complete series of stereophonic concerts by the Boston Symphony Orchestra is being carried by WCRB-AM-FM Waltham, Mass. The stations have been scheduling four or more hours of stereophonic broadcasts per week for the past four years and, with the present orchestra series, it now offers 12 hours a week. During the Fourth Annual New England High Fidelity Music Show the stations presented a total of 28 hours of hi-fi music in three days. The Northeast Plymouth Dealers Assn. sponsors part of the Boston Symphony's concerts and a stereo recording was produced of the automobile's motor for use in its commercials. WCRB has had made a "Stereo Listeners' Guide," which incorporates a slide-rule that shows how to set up speakers according to room size. Several thousand have been distributed to listeners. Basement Decorated for Sounds Somebody will have won himself a basement by tomorrow (Tuesday), courtesy of WVKO Columbus, Ohio. Since Nov. 1 1 disc jockey Bill Mertz has been airing a series of "mystery sounds" on his morning Bill's Basement Show (Monday through Friday) and requesting that listeners collect and submit them when the , contest closes Nov. 26. The owner of the entry card t|jat has the most correct answers, the earliest postmark and is the neatest will win the materials to completely decorate a basement, including the ceiling materials, flooring and knotty pine sheet rock paneling for the walls. WSRS Promotes Its Own Facilities In a series of announcements directed at the woman of the house, WSRS Cleveland Heights, Ohio, is promoting its own advertising potential as well as advertisers' products. The spots begin by asking if her husband has been "on the complaining side lately," then suggests that perhaps his reason for being in bad humor of late is due to his company's sagging sales. The station then suggests that she get her husband to call the WSRS sales department for complete station data. The final portion of the announcement reminds the listener that it's still a good idea to get the advertiser's product — because he too, uses WSRS. Wins $500 for 2 Bits of Bread More than 30,000 entries were received by WRR Dallas, Tex., during its five-week Mystery Sound contest that ended Nov. 5. Starting at $100, the prize money was added to each week and reached $500 before the sound was identified. In spite of repeats of the mysterious sound and the 21 clues that the station aired as to its identity, some rather strange guesses were received, such as, "A grasshopper with a wooden leg picking seeds out of a dill pickle," and "a crosseyed snake lost in a rope factory." The actual sound proved to be two pieces of bread being rubbed together. ATTIC FIND Programmers of WTOP-TV Washington, thumbing through a film catalog, found a two-year-old Army film which they quickly screened and pronounced "as timely as tomorrow's newscasts." No time was lost in scheduling "The Challenge of Outer Space," presenting Dr. Wernher von Braun in a lecture at the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va., and a questionanswer session between officers and the Army missile expert. Programmed by WTOP-TV Nov. 17 at 1:45 p.m., the lecture had been filmed in October 1955 and released in March 1956. Station management commended the film to the attention of sputnikconscious congressional committees in advisory letters. Newsman Roger Mudd, who provided commentary for the show, singled out a timely quotation at the end of the film. An officer moderating the session concluded: "Well, gentlemen, I think time has run out on us." Page 100 • November 25, 1957 Broadcasting