Radio daily (Apr-June 1937)

8 RADIO DAILY Wednesday, June 30. 1937 STATICNS Cr Highlights in the Development of Outstanding U. S. Radio Stations: No. 47 of a Series WCSH— Portland, Me. 940 K.C.— 1,000 Wafts Night, 2,500 Watts L.S. HENRY P. RINES. President L. T. PITMAN, Comm. Mgr. GEO. F. KELLEY Jr., Supervisor WCSH, regularly servicing the rich norfheast markets of the country, is owned and operated by the Congress Square Hotel Co. Established in June, 1925, as a 500 watt station by its present owners, WCSH today has grown to be one of the most powerful outlets on the eastern seaboard. A member of the WEAF chain when that network was still operated by the American Telephone Gr Telegraph Co., WCSH became a member of the bas'c NBC-Red network when the National Broadcasting Company was formed in 1926. During the life of the New England network WCSH was a basic member, and is now a regular outlet of the Yankee network. Because of its network affiliations, and its value to national advertisers. WCSH devotes the majority of its 16 hours of daily broadcasting to programs of network origin. The staff of WCSH is headed by George F. Kelley Jr., who is supervisor of radio for the Rines interests. L. T. Pitman is commercial manager; Albert W. Smith, program director, and G. Fred Crandon, chief engineer. Studios and business offices are located in the Congress Square Hotel and the WCSH transmitter is situated in Scarboro, Me. Among the national advertisers to use WCSH regularity are Cities Service, Kraft Cheese, Maxwell House Coffee, Standard Brands, American Tobacco, Bristol-Myers Co., Procter & Gamble, Packard Motor Co., Lady Esther cosmetics. Grape Nuts, General Electric, Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., Sealtest Laboratories, Chase & Sanborn and Jell-0. Artists who appear on the station include Burns and Allen, Fred Astaire, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, James Melton, Jane Pickens, Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Lanny Ross, Wayne King and his orchestra, Phil Spitalny and his all-girl orchestra, Marion Talley and Don Ameche, W. C. Fields and Werner Janssen. Local talent is utilized for programs of local origin, but no artist bureau is maintained. V Philadelphia i^^ i> Viewpoints Says Radio Will Do Right By Shakespearian Drama "Can radio do the right thing by Shakespearian drama? Is radio the proper medium for the Bard's works? The answer is most emphatically yes. "Shakespeare's plays were written for the ear alone. Elizabethan playwrights did not have the facilities, nor did they deem it necessary, to cater to sight. Shakespeare, Dryden and John Denis would have been the highest paid radio writers if they lived in our times. Their works are not only appropriate for the invisible audience, but they were written in the language of the day. They were modern and up to the minute. In addition, Shakespeare was a coiner of words — a fashion which as far as language is concerned, is rapidly becoming more important in current writings. "But the chief important thing is the fact that a limited knowledge in the science of theatrical sceneries and properties made Shakespeare turn his entire attention to pleasing the ear — and the mind. And, if the current plans aren't changed, the networks plan to modernize the Shakespearian plays they will present to the extent where obsolete words and phrases will be deleted without losing the general effect and continuity of the story. It should prove to be the biggest thing in radio." —ROSALINE GREENE. Sees Television Ending Wordy Commercial Plugs "The listener's pet peeve — too wordy commercial plugs — will abate when television comes in. I visualize the program of the future wherein the audience will be commercially approached through the eye more than the ear. "This won't take much time and will contribute to an almost 100 per cent uninterrupted broadcast. When the audience looks at a commercial program, it will be able to see many pictorial evidences of the sponsor's product. The presentation will be much subtler, less obvious, and no doubt more effective."— TED LEWIS. Helen Kiley, of the WIP press department, rushed to the Misericordia Hospital for an appendix bobbing. Dr. and Mrs. Paul Meyer (she's WIP's Mary Haines of the program department) leave Friday for a twoweek belated honeymoon-vacation in Maine. Clifford C. Harris, WIP technical supervisor, has appointed Martin Oebbecke as assistant technical supervisor and James Peterson as equipment supervisor. J. Jessie Kane, Nsecretary to Benedict Gimbel Jr., WIP prexy, married and resigned. Anne Emilie Schmidt shifted to succeed her. As a farewell gesture to Jan Savitt and his Tophatters, KYW-NBC swing band starting on tour for the month of July, more than 50 radio stars of the KYW Artists Bureau will be featured in a mammoth one hour program tonight at 10:45. Show is being whipped into shape by James Begley, KYW program manager. Murray Arnold, WIP director of public relations, button-holed with carnations all week to mark his second wedding anniversary. Bill Harris, of the WDAS engineering staff, off to Georgia this week to get in a couple licks at duck hunting. A. W. Dannenbaum, WDAS president, back at his desk after a spell in the hospital to get his appendix spliced. Lanse McCurley, sports editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, airing the blow-by-blows from the outdoor ringside at the Cambria Stadium via WDAS. Pat Stanton and Harold Davis on the assists. Peggy Farnsworth, formerly secretary to James Begley, KYW program director, takes a similar post as secretary to A. W. Dannenbaum, WDAS president. Laura Morgan Button, director of the Vogue School of Fashion, starts her new series of broadcasts over WIP on July 2. Norris West, assistant program director at WCAU, will vacation at the seashore. Charley White, dancing teacher, plans a series of radio programs for the fall consisting of dancing lessons. Wayne Cody, WFIL "Jolly Man," celebrates his 1700th broadcast this week, doing six shows weekly since 1931. Ben Alley, WCAU tenor, won a poll conducted among listeners for the most popular 6 o'clock program on the air. He handles the Household Finance Co. show. Paul Metcalf, cousin of Ethelbert Nevin, is doing a guest vocal stint over WHAT, Bobbie Burke accompanying at the piano. Sylvan Levin, conductor of the Curtis Institute Symphony Orchestra, a regular winter feature of CBS, eloped with Elizabeth de Young. Albert A. Cormier, vice-president and general manager of WIP, leaves this week on vacation. * ''Quotes"* RICHARD HIMBER: "The task of radio is three-fold. Not only do broadcasters have to patiently develop stars, originate numerous ideas, but they must protect these ideas for itself. The numerous inroads of stage, night-club and screen upon radio have not decreased the value of radio as a top-ranking entertainment medium, but have caused the men behind the mike to work just that much harder to keep the radio where it is. It seems unfair to all concerned that radio cannot erect some type of 'idea control' which will permit it to originate ideas which can't be jumped upon by the other entertainment fields and stolen from under the broadcasters' very noses." MILTON BERLE: "The real comedian is the radio comedian who can hold his place in radio through the years. Because radio comedians must have completely new shows every week, because radio comedians must always be on the alert to turn the news-of-the-day into the humor-of-the-day, and because radio comedians have such a short time in which to prepare their programs, they must be credited as the real comedians. Motion picture funsters have months and even years to work up their picture situations. Vaudeville and night club funsters can use the same material for ages, but not so with the radio comedian." LEE WILEY: "The vocalist on radio must be a specialist in the various types of songs she sings. Radio more than any other medium of song vocal expression demands that its stars be perfect in every qualification. The vocalist on the stage or screen who has the chance to roll her eyes, move her feet, or use the 'mugging' effect can get by on the minimum in song interpretation. But, the radio singer must be able to sing her songs to perfection and the perfection must be musical perfection." CAROL WEYMAN: "There was a time when a girl was considered 'plebian' if she looked for a career, especially in radio or its allied fields. Today, if a girl is fortunate enough to have received offers from any radio studio, she can use that as an 'in' for her social contacts." Peter Kent, the orchestra leader, originally studied to be a minister. | I €NE MINUTE INTERVIEW MILDRED CHETKIN "I think dramatic presentations on the air would benefit if the material were written directly for radio, instead of adapted from plays intended for some other type of presentation. Contests, backed by sponsors, the object of which would be to select the best one or two act play submitted, might be one way of encouraging this kind oi literary endeavor."