Radio daily (Apr-June 1937)

Thursday. June 24. 1937 RADIO DAILY 3 Chicago Loses KAB 1938 Convention Chicago — Resolution that the next annual NAB meeting be held in Chicago was voted down with emphasis. Members were dissatisfied with the general layout of the convention here. It looks like onother midwestem city will get it next year, with New York in 1939 when the World's Fair is in progress. San Francisco has mode a bid for the meet in 1939. but no one seems interested. PROGRAM MANPOWER HIT BYPRYORATNABMEEI (Coiitii Kca from Patu' 1) gram department its man power is very poor, said Pryor. He stressed the point that no program is better than the man who produced it. He suggested that all program men be given a year to travel around the world visiting Hollywood, New York, London and other large radio centers seeing with their own eyes how others do the job, as program directors need contacts, ability and background to deliver the goods. Pryor then took a crack at station break announcements read by a stupid announcer and which he told the convention should be curtailed. The "Crossley report" and radio politics also came in for some verbal spanking. "With half the telephones located in New York state, how can the Crossley report give an indication of how many or how often people are listening to a radio program?" he asked. Continuing, Pryor said that he had only been in Chicago a day but he had a very strong indication that politics are being played by a number of radio station men. At one point in the talk, which was extemporaneous, Pryor called upon C. E. Midgely, radio time buyer of the BBDO agency, to give his views on some of the topics he had discussed, particularly the haphazard presentations made to agencies by the stations. Midgely said that he was in agreement with Pryor's remarks, that stations change time without notifying the agency, cannot clear time that was signed for and all sorts of foolish errors which embarrass the agency and make the medium hard to sell. Pryor said that at least once a day he has to apologize to a client for some stupid mistake made by a station. "Stations should do the very best job they know how when planning a program, whether it be a spot announcement, a sustainer or a full hour commercial, not just fill the time with anything that can be gotten together with a minimum of effort," said Pryor, adding that he thought stations should spend much more money for sustaining programs than is now the custom. He said he knew of one station whose sustaining talent bill for the entire year totalled $750. Remainder of talk was open for questions from the floor, and in answer to one query Pryor said that if he had a network program on 50 stations and could get just as good a program on 50 stations as a spot account using local talent he would take the latter. There is a much greater chance of a spot program with good talent being successful than a network show because of the local interest created in a local show, Pryor declared. In presenting a program to an agency for sale to a client, Pryor Arthur Church Scolds Members for Laxity (Coiilinucd from Page 1) able to attend the meetings in the morning. He said others don't want to take any responsibility. Attendance, except at the Tuesday morning election session, was poor, and it was at the Tuesday afternoon session that Church referred to directly. Only about 50 were present to vote on the resolutions. Department Store Finds Radio Excellent Medium Chicago— Radio advertising as used by department stores is an excellent medium for price goods or institutional advertising, said Marvin Oreck of Greeks Inc., Duluth, to the NAB convention. Why the number of retail store accounts has decreased in the past year, Oreck said, was due to advertisers and stations knowing little about radio advertising. Radio advertising is being used successfully by Orecks and they have found that through radio they can draw a class of trade which ordinarily would not come to the stock. Oreck said radio is especially good for children's department advertising, Orecks having built up this department with the use of radio. Oreck said that for direct sales he has found spot announcements much more effective in selling goods than a program. Looking into the future, Oreck said television will open vast fields for radio advertising, and the ones who have had experience with sound broadcasting will be first to profit in the new field. Oreck also stressed the point that radio station men should contact retail buyers personally to sell them the medium. "You may have sold the promotion man, but if the buyer remains unsold they will not buy the medium," Oreck concluded. told the radio men to sell the program to the agency, not just file a letter or promotion piece. Personal contact between the agency and the station personnel always helps in such cases, he said. "How can an agency sell a program to a client if the agency is not sold on the show itself?" asked Pryor. In his closing words, Pryor said that all radio stations should refuse programs if they have any doubts about the product or entertainment value of program. "Also, you make your station hard to buy and you will sell more programs," he concluded. Baldwin Re-Appointed NAB Managing Director (Continued fiom Page 1) the resolutions adopted by the convention. Matter has been referred to the executive committee. Entire afternoon of the convention's last day was devoted to a panel discussion lead by H. K. Carpenter of WHK, chairman. Discussion revolved around how the agency and the station can operate more closely. Arthur Pryor Jr. and C. E. (Ned) Midgely of B.B.D. &0., Elizabeth Back, radio time buyer of Ruthrauff & Ryan Inc., Edward Petry, of Edward Petry & Co., radio station managers and owners swapped questions and answers of interest to a large audience. Convention closed last night with the annual banquet. Dallas City Council Bans Airing Horse Race Dope (Continued from Page \) the municipal radio station, to discontinue broadcasts of race entries, results and comments. Several times in the past Dallas has attempted to stop the race result broadcasts during police raids on bookie establishments. The ban proved effective against horse selections being announced or sold by a local commentator over the station, but have never before halted the broadcasts of race results. The Dallas Morning News has announced the discontinuing of all race results in its columns. Standard Brands Shows Undergo Changes July 4 standard Brands Inc., sponsors of the Chase & Sanborn hour and the Bakers broadcasts on Sundays, will make changes in both programs on July 4. The new Chase & Sanborn show will lose the services of Werner Janssen who will switch to the Bakers broadcast. Robert Armbruster and his orchestra will take over Janssen's spot on the former. Robert L. Ripley leaves the latter show on this date, and will begin a new series of broadcasts July 16 for General Foods over an NBC network. DON KERR MASTER OF CEREMONIES GENERAL MILLS SPORTS PARADE WMCA 2:30 to 5:30 P. M. DAILY 36 COMMERCIAL HOURS WEEKLY NAB TO GIVE $83,000 FOR EDUCATIONAL WORK (Continnea from Page 1) adopted last year calling for sectional NAB chapters, and that a committee of seven members shall be appointed to carry out this resolution; that the FCC be petitioned by the NAB to accept the "Preliminary Engineering Report on Allocations" report and incorporate it into its regulations. New Broadcasting Firm Is Incorporated in N. J. (Coyitinued from Page 1) and Robert E. Lee of Orange. The statutory officer is William P. Wilkins, attorney. Capital stock will be $125,000. Martin Karig will be engineer oi the new concern's plant; Alwyn Karig will be business manager and Lee, who has had experience in dramatic work over WAAT, Jersey City, will be program director. The transmitter, a modern high fidelity model, will be in Livingston, and the studio will probably be in Newark or East Grange. S. F. Commerce Chamber Protests Shift oi Shows {Continued from Page 1) invites station to discuss with C. of C. the methods whereby local facilities may be increased. KSFO (CBS) already has shifted its Western Home variety show south, and KPO is moving "One Man's Family." In absence of Eickelberg, Assistant Manager Bill Pabst of KFRC said new productions will be developed here. WFAA's 15th Birthday On NBC Coast-to-Coast ^Continued from Page 1) and numbers from the Pan-American Casino and Billy Rose's Casa Manana Revue. Appearing on the birthday broadcasts, which will be on NBC beginning at 6:30 p.m. CST, will be G. B. Dealey, president of The Dallas News-Dallas Journal, owners of WFAA, also many artists who have been familiar to WFAA listeners. BARRY WOOD Presented by DRENE WJZ EVERY THURSDAY 7:45 P. M. Personal Manager MATTY ROSEN