Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1961)

A radio studio for eggheads No telling what a fellow will do these days to get a little peace and quiet. Richard Hughes, owner of WQRS-FM Detroit (dedicated, it says to cultural items), to achieve a spe cial kind of mood, lined the walls of his studio with egg cartons. Hence, a studio for "eggheads." Here Mr. Hughes (r) chats with visitor James A. Harrington. Booth, who expects more details on initial applications and renewals. He and Mr. Wall advised broadcasters to keep day-by-day records of public service programs. Editorializing should be approached with caution, Mr. Wall told a questioner. It is often hard to choose from many opposing points of view for "equal time" replies to editorials, he warned and added that the commission feels the broadcaster should seek out opposition to an editorial stand. Two of 26 NJBA radio members editorialize at present. In business sessions Frank Matrangola of WCMC Wildwood, chairman of an NJBA committee setting up an Emergency Fm Weather Network, said this new hookup should be ready July 1. The system will work from a direct line between the Atlantic City weather bureau and WSNJ-FM Bridgeton, which will relay warnings around the state. Jerome McCarthy, WTOA 'Trenton, was named to head a committee carrying out a statewide safety campaign throughout the summer. Dr. Mason Gross, president of Rut gers, reported on university growth and thanked broadcasters for supporting higher education in New Jersey. Howard Green, WOND Pleasantville, president of the NJBA, conducted the meeting. The group will invite the Delaware Assn. of Broadcasters to a joint fullmembership meeting at Atlantic City in October, day and place to be announced. New employment service A new radio-tv station employment service named Broadcast Personnel is scheduled to open on June 1 as a division of Jerry Fields Assoc., New York advertising executive placement service. The division will be headed by Sherlee Barish, who has resigned as a sales executive for Official Films Inc., New York, to assume the new post. Miss Barish said registration will be taken from all over the country to supply stations with all types of employes, including general managers, sales representatives, talent and technicians. Broadcast Personnel will be located at the Fields' headquarters, 16 E. 52nd St., New York. ADVICE TO RADIO Don't forget small accounts, SCBA told A major problem facing radio stations today is the division of new clients, the Southern California Broadcasting Assn. was told May 18 by Vick Knight, veteran radio producer, now producing commercials for broadcast advertisers. Today's trend is toward fewer and bigger advertisers, rather than increasing the number of small accounts, he asserted. He noted that the trend was accelerated by union rules which do not discriminate between the small book shop proprietor, who buys a spot once a week adjacent to a program of book interest and the advertiser who buys 100 spots. There is the same original fee and payment, he stated, urging station managers to take up the problem with the unions to work out a solution which will encourage small businesses to make even greater use of radio. Knight was one of three producers who played tapes of successful commercials. One was the jingle urging listeners to visit the race track, "where the surf meets the turf down at old Del Mar," a commercial which has been on the air in Southern California for nearly 26 years and was originally sung by one of the track owners, Bing Crosby. Only after 23 years when it was impossible to get any more pressings from the original acetate, Mr. Knight was called in to remake it. This he finally did with as few changes as possible. Don Quinn, another producer who left the radio program field to concentrate on commercials, played spots his organization, Adstaff, produced for Speedway Fuel Oil of Detroit and National Beer of Baltimore. A beer jingle describing Maryland as the "land of pleasant living" won a citation from Maryland legislators for creating a valuable regional image, he reported. It also sold beer, he added. Dal Williams, who presented some of his spots for the Comet car and the Culligan water softener, declared that the familiar adage about one picture being worth 1,000 words is completely false. "Give me a baggage allowance of 1,000 words," he said, " and I'll take the Lord's Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, a Shakespearean sonnet, the preamble to the Constitution and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and have enough space left over for most of the Boy Scout oath. I wouldn't trade that group of words for all the pictures in the world." The most effective form of communication, Mr. Williams asserted, is the human voice, one person speaking to 50 (THE MEDIA) BROADCASTING, May 22, 1961