Radio Broadcast (Nov. 1925-Apr 1926)

APRIL, 1926 WHAT LISTENERS THINK OF BROADCASTING 669 WILLIAM DIEFENDORF A well known performer on the musical saw who was heard during the recent International Tests from whaz, at Troy oh why, couldn't we have heard something a little less threadbare from her? Dvorak's Humoresque, Massenet's Meditation, and the rest of the above pieces have become hackneyed for the very good reason that they are beautiful tunes. So charming in themselves that they defy the efforts of the vilest cat gut scratcher to completely disguise their beauty. Ever assured of an enthusiastic reception, they have become fixtures on the repertoires of every fourth rate vaudeville or radio fiddler. But hackneyed they nevertheless are. Of course any alert musical theorist can furnish proof beyond contradiction that a great composition can never get old, no matter how often it is heard. But, aside from theory, the facts of the case are we do get tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. And for this reason we regretted that an artist of Miss Hansen's ability allowed these musical banalities not merely to encroach on, but to completely monopolize her program. On the strength of her skillful interpretation she could have made just as enjoyable a program of less familiar, though equally worthy, selections — and thus enriched our musical acquaintanceship, leaving these sure-fire-hits to her weaker sisters. We ramble on at such length not because this concert alone would seem to warrant it, but because it is typical of many other offenses in kind. The John McCormack concert, for instance, was made up largely of the ditties that you, as do we, sing so effectively in the bath tub. And we are not entirely convinced that John sang them a bit better than we have ourselves under the stimulus of fragrant soap suds. Doubtless there are some more difficult tenor airs that Mr. McCormack could do more justice to than we, but they were, in the main, lopped off his program. Which seems to us somewhat of a waste — rather like using a nice shiny silver cocktail shaker to mix up the baby's barley water. have been "played to death" on the radio, the eight directors of the concert orchestras whose programs are featured weekly by station wrc, at Washington, will for one week include in their programs only those new-old compositions which are seldom, if ever, heard on the concert stage or on the air. Working in cooperation with Ralph Edmunds, Program Manager of station wrc, the eight directors will search their libraries for musical compositions whose melodies lie half-forgotten on their shelves, and will eliminate from their programs any numbers that they themselves have played in radio concerts in the past year or any which they may have heard played by some other orchestra. This innovation was decided upon following numerous requests from listeners for "new" music, instead of the almost continual repetition of selections which in many cases have become prevalent during the past six months. So far, a list of more than a hundred such compositions has been compiled by Mr. Edmunds and submitted to the directors for their consideration. Included in the programs for the "music revival" week will also be a number of original compositions which are being written by the directors and members of their orchestras. A second list of more than one hundred and fifty selections has been made, all of which are placed definitely under the radio ban for the week. Is It too Early for the Burlesque Program? OME time ago it occurred to us that radio had attained of sufficient age and accumulated enough foibles in the ageing for some intrepid station to undertake a burlesque program, poking fun at the broadcasting game and possibly effecting some reform through the medium of mild satire. As we rotated the idea in our mind we were struck by the limitless number of opportunities for screamingly funny burlesque that are offered. In fact we had almost reached the point of writing to some station director and imploring him to hazard such a program when we ran across the following article in the New York Times, whereupon we decided 'twere better not. LONDON, Jan. 17. — Great excitement and fear were caused here and in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland last evening when radio listeners-in, by a comedy of errors, heard on the air the announcement that a revolution had broken out in London. Among other things they were told that the National Gallery had been laid in ruins by an army of unemployed; that the Savoy Hotel had been blown sky high, s* FRED SMITH Formerly program director of wlw at Cincinnati, and lately the guiding spirit behind the splendid and entirely unique civic music programs sponsored by the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and broadcast through wsai. Business men of that city have subscribed more than $15,000 to support twenty monthly programs which have featured such artists as Fritz Reiner, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Marguerite Lizsniewska, Mieczyslaw Munz, Francis McMillan, and Paul Althouse. Edward J. Hoff, of the Chamber of Commerce, is Chairman of the Broadcasting Committee that the interior of the House of Commons had been bombed, and that there had been a massacre of people in St. James's Park. A realistic touch was given to the terrifying details by sounds as though of distant explosions, the tumult of terror-stricken crowds and the crash of falling buildings. The listeners-in spread the news and soon the newspaper offices everywhere were bombarded with telephone calls from people anxious to get further details. These offices were kept busy all day today reassuring frightened inquirers, for the rumors were still circulating in country towns and villages, and the fact that bad weather delayed the arrival of the morning papers was taken by many persons as confirmation that the worst had happened. It was learned later that Father Ronald Knox had been broadcasting from the Edinburgh wireless station a series of burlesque "news items" and it seems that many in the radio audience had failed to tune-in soon enough to hear a preliminary announcement warning that the stories should not be taken seriously. But the British Broadcasting Company is being severely criticized for what is described as a" bad ioke and has found it necessary to issue an explanation to the public. It regrets that any listeners should have been "perturbed by this purely fantastic picture," but points out that preliminary warning was given that the entertainment was not to be taken seriously. Father Knox's burlesque news bulletin was given with so many touches of humor that it seems incredible that what he said could have been taken literally, yet at least one woman fainted when she heard it. The Listeners Speak Themselves for T: After writing the above the information below came to our attention. The novelty week referred to was inaugurated last January. Banning all musical selections that THE CAST OF THE WGBS PRIZE PLAY, SUE EM Recently presented at the New York station. Last year, a contest was conducted by the station and the prize for the best manuscript for the group was given to Miss N. B. Brosius, of Cleveland. In the photograph, left to right: John Huston, Eugene Lincoln, Marion Berry, and Jeanie Begg. All are members of the Provincetown Players of New York 'HE following statistics should be of interest. They were arrived at by a canvass of 2800 radio fans scattered through 48 states. The poll was undertaken by A. Atwater Kent of Philadelphia and its result catalogued by Carl H. Butman of Washington. Practically all listeners agreed that there are far too many small broadcasting stations operating in the lower wave band, and that there is too little high-class entertainment, although many believe that the chain broadcasters are giving excellent service. Lack of variety in programs and poor announcing from many stations, are given as constructive