Radio age (Jan-Dec 1926)

RADIO AGE for June, 1926 world knew what it was all about WENR had moved into a downtown studio and had become a ! personality to reckon with. ! WENR, a lusty likeable youngj ster for so many months, sudi denly sprang into the long pants j class. Now Has Loop Studio THE downtown studio, (located in Kimball hall in Chi| cago's great "loop") is a very beautiful affair. Indeed, it is such a jump from the homey litj tie studio of WENR's first days that when I first went into it I was quite dazzled. It has all the rich rugs and period furniture and lamps and silk scarfs and whatnots that any radio studio would want. It has a waiting room for its artists, a reception room for its guests, names on its doors and a score of studio attendants to keep you from slamming into places that are more or less sacred precincts. Moreover, WENR has an air. It is still whole-hearted and cordial and thoroughly democratic but it has an air never-the-less. It is an air of distinction that comes from having arrived at some place, not through a sudden boost, but by a steady, honest growth. You have a feeling that WENR has built from the ground up and that it's going to keep on building. The last time I was in WENR's new studio there was a quartet on the program that I had a great time listening to. Frank Westphal said, "Oh, that's a regular barber shop quartet." But he grinned and I knew he thought it was a good quartet. So did I. Then there was a girl with an Irish name on the program and although I think sentimental ballads are an abomination in front of any microphone, this girl sang them so heart-movingly that the telephone operator and I who were listening in out in the reception room, nearly broke down and sobbed. There was a blues singer who had the blues beautifully and there were a couple of song writers who could sing as well as write and then there was music by the All-American Pioneers' orchestra which gave me a The Magazine of the Hour 27 mingled feeling of pleasure and pain because I liked to listen to it but had no facilities for dancing. I stayed until the finish of the program and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I relate this because I want to make it clear that WENR is doing what it set out to do — entertain folks and while of course this particular brand of entertainment may not appeal to everybody it must appeal to the majority because WENR has enough fan mail to choke a good-sized river. Buys Its Talent YOU'LL hear some people say that WENR is an advertising station ; that is, that it sells "time" to various corporations and collects money for so doing. WENR does sell time (not much), to various corporations and it does collect money for so doing. But it doesn't sell its time to make money for the company. The money is used to buy radio talent. Not highfaluting, exalted entertainment, but entertainment that the average American citizen will enjoy listening to when he goes home in the evenings and wants to have a nice, pleasant time with the radio and the family. "I want to make WENR a station that everyone will enjoy," says Mr. Rauland. "Kind of like a newspaper that everyone can read and understand. I don't want to cater to a select few. I want to please everybody." In a little booklet that contains "facts of interest about WENR," it may be noted that "WENR has been heard in the farthest corners of the United States and Canada, in Cuba, Mexico, Central America, Alaska, Hawaii and New Zealand." That gives you some idea of the station's power. Further, "Whatever the character of the program, we endeavor to keep our modulation so perfect that our listeners may enjoy unimpaired tone reproduction at all times." That's true too if you've listened in. Frank Westphal, station director, and whom, I might say in passing, is a mighty good one, told me not long ago that those interested in WENR were trying to make it the WEAF of that section of the country of which Chicago is the heart. I don't believe WENR is ever going to be that. I think it's going to be too big to be referred to by any other name but its own. I'm inclined to believe, that, after all, that's what Mr. Rauland, Mr. Westphal, and the rest of the people back of WENR, think too. The New Kimball Hall Studio of All-American Radio Corporation station WENR, Chicago. Frank Westphal at the piano