Radio daily (Apr-June 1937)

2 RADIO DAILY Wednesday, April 7. 1937 Vol. 1, No. 41 Wed., Apr. 7, 1937 Price 5 Cts. JOHN W. ALICOATE : : : Publisher DON CARLE GILLETTE : : : Editor MARVIN KIRSCH : : Business Manager Published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays at 1501 Broadway, New York, N. Y., by Radio Daily Corp. J. W. Alicoate, President and Publisher ; Donald M. Mersereau, Treasurer and General Manager; Chester B. Bahn, Vice-President ; Charles A. Alicoate, Secretary ; M. H. Shapiro, Associate Editor. Terms (Post free) United States outside of Greater New York, one year, $5 ; foreign, year, 10. Subscriber should remit with order. Address all communications to RADIO DAILY, 1501 Broadway. New York, N. Y. Phone Wisconsin 7-6336„ 7-6337, 7-6338. Cable address: Filmday, New York. Hollywood, Calif. — Ralph Wilk and Verne Bailey, 6425 Hollywood Blvd. Phone Granite 6607. Application for entry as second-class matter is pending. Copyright, 1937, by Radio Daily Corp. All rights reserved. riNANCIAL (Tuesday, Apr. 6) NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE Net High Low Close Chg. Am. Tel. & Tel 172 171 171 V2 — Vi Crosley Radio 23 225/8 225/, _ 3/g Gen. Electric 5634 SSV2 55% — Vs North American .... 26V4 251/4 ISVi — Vz RCA Common 11 1/2 1034 1 1 Vi + % RCA First Pfd 75 741/8 75 + 1/4 RCA $5 Pfd. B (85 Bid) Stewart Warner 18% I81/4 I8I/4 — Vi Zenith Radio 34 333^ 34 — 14 NEW YORK CURB EXCHANGE Hazeltine Majestic 41/2 414 41/4 — 1/4 Nat. Union Radio OVER THE COUNTER Bid Asked CBS A 577/8 597/8 CBS B 573/8 593/4 Stromberg Carlson I51/2 161/2 New KOIN Program Portland, Ore. — "Dot and Four Dashes", new CBS Pacific network program originating from KOIN here, made its debut Friday and has received a favorable response. It goes on the air weekly, 1:30-1:45 p.m. PST. Cast includes Dorothy Rolfsness, James Riddell, Walton McKinney, Gail Young, Ed Secoure, and John Emmel at the piano. Art Kirkham in "This and That" also is on the coast network thrice weekly, while two musical programs, "Rainbow's End" and "Door to the Moon" are offered Sundays. Austin Joins Kass-Tohmer Charles Austin has joined the KassTohrner radio productions office in the RKO Building in a executive capacity. REEVES STUDIO RADIO TRANSCRIPTIONS Noiseless Film and Wax Recording • ALL WORK GUARANTEED 1600 Broadway MEd. 3-1270 New York Second of a series of expressions by the leading radio editors of the country on the general subject of broadcasting. By ROBERT S. STEPHAN Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, O. 1HAVE no complaints against radio. I do not think a radio editor should complain. Rather, he should reflect his readers' reactions and, if possible, offer such constructive suggestions as he feels might aid the industry. So here goes: COMEDY— We need more natural humor, less gagmen. The current back-slapping and feuds are sometimes tiresome. APPLAUSE — Studio applause is acceptable if not forced. As a natural background it may have its place in such a series as General Motors concerts. But there should be a law against "applause signs" and "radio cheer leaders." RADIO SERIAL— The radio serial needs an uplift. Why not dramatize our good novels? Too many actors and actresses "double" and "triple" weekly on serial series. The dialer recognizes the voices and associates them with other characters outside the sketch to which he is listening. DRAMA — Radio Theater leads. Yet in this series it has been demonstrated plays and casts must be chosen carefully. Weak plays can be instantly detected. Poor casting will injure a meaty play. Radio can be even more taxing than the theater. It is not "name" but acting ability which gets over the air. MUSIC— The dance band with individual style and personable front is the "tops" today. Symphonic organizations are rapidly developing the needed showmanship which reaches the mass mind. Serious musicians discover music should not be played because it has been the custom to play it — ^but to play it for its appeal and entertainment value. In the serious field the short work is of most value in radio. TELEVISION— Unless television is somewhere near comparable to sound broadcasting it should not be overly ballyhooed. The public is of a mind to expect something big in the way of television. PERSONALITY SINGER— The little girl who once sang about the moon is not so popular these days. Dialers are demanding good voices and musicianship rather than freak voices and styles. LOCAL EVENTS— Networks have taken too much of the individual station's preferred time. Each station should have at least an hour across the board in time between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in which to stress itself locally by stressing community broadcasting. COMMERCIAL — Best commercial bulletin on the air today is one so short it can not be dialed off. Bulletins should come at the beginning and end of a program. Networks should make some financial adjustment with affiliated stations which would cut down the "spot advertising" bulletin. E D U C A T I O N— All educational broadcasting should be "box office." Just because a series is "educational" should not be the key which unlocks air time. We need more educational research rather than more educational air time at this point in radio's progress. VARIETY— Producers should select their acts by listening to them unseen. What happens in the studio many times does not get to the air. Many stage acts are not good radio acts. INTERVIEW— The air interview as an act is not good radio unless the interview is natural. Dialers detect when the person interviewed is not speaking his own thoughts. The "hero should always be himself." If he makes a poor showing before a mike he should not be considered as interesting radio material. All CBS Sustainings Are Listed in Booklet CBS sales promotion yesterday published, as part of its regular monthly service, a complete list of all sustaining programs on the net. Sustaining list was a part of the monthly client list which CBS has been sending out in mimeograph form, now printed on gloss paper stock. List of sponsored and sustaining programs will be revised and issued monthly. Along with the new booklet a postcard was attached asking if you wanted to receive the information regularly, throw the card away, if not mail the card to CBS. A little reverse English. N.Y.U. Sets Its Plan For Radio Workshop New York University yesterday announced completion of plans for a six-week session of the Radio Workshop to provide training for persons wishing to enter the new fields of educational broadcasting. The course is to be conducted by the university in co-operation with the Radio project of the Office of Education, U. S. Department of Interior. All students enrolled will be given an opportunity to hear the ideas of the leaders in commercial and educational broadcasting. Plans are now being completed whereby the students will write and produce their own shows over one of the New York local stations. cominG and Goinc WILLIAM MURRAY, head of the William Morris Agency radio department, returned from the coast yesterday. PERCY HEMUS is back from Chicago. DALE ROBERTSON, vice-president and general manager of WIBX, Utica, is in New York on business. WILLIAM A. SCHUDT, JR., general manager of WBT, Charlotte, has returned to his office after a week's business trip to New York. JOHN J. GILLIN, JR., of WOW, Omaha, will visit New York, Detroit and Chicago on business after attending the board of directors meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters. HELEN MORGAN sails today on the Lafayette for Europe. VIRGIL REITER of Transamerican is In Chicago for the rest of the week attending sales conferences. FRANCO GHIONE, conductor, arrives tomorrow on the Rex. WARREN and DUBIN will return to Hollywood on Friday. While in New York the team completed score for "Mr. Dodd Takes The Air," new Mervyn LeRoy flicker which will star Kenny Baker. Recommends Awards For Best Local Shows While commending the work of the Women's National Radio Committee generally, Joseph J. Weed, station representative, is seeking to have the WNRC also take into consideration the outstanding programs being offered on some of the unaffiliated stations, or those that produce good shows for local audiences. Weed stated that with over 600 stations in the U. S., many have worthy shows heard locally and that sub-committees of the WNRC might offer some recognition and encouragement to these programs. Non-network features have a definite value in communities, says Weed and if placed in nomination by the subcommittee, might result in obtaining national prominence and eventually go network. Barnsdall Refining Shifts Midwest Show Because the repeat program on the Rex Chandler show which CBS signed yesterday comes at 10:4511:15 p.m., Barnsdall Refining Corp., will have to shift its mid-west program on April 18 to the Sunday, 77:30 p.m., spot using the same split CBS network. CBS contract with Barnsdall contained a two-week cancellation clause. L€0 SAys When it comes to best bets Col. J. C. Flippen's original amateur hour still leads the field. I liW WW DIAL 1010 tfl-G-M* LOEW S