Radio daily (Feb-Mar 1937)

Commercial Radio and Television VOL. 1, NO. 11 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 24, 1937 FIVE CENTS Hollywood Talent Race looking On Li ....AND LISTENING IN AUDIENCES Suppose motion picture producers, after releasing a film, were to take the whole cast to a theater and giver the very same production in the ilesh. You'd call it nutty, wouldn't you? Well, it is no more nutty than the practice of permitting audiences in broadcasting studios to witness radio shows. The most important thing in radio is the LISTENING audience. And few things aggravate the listeners more than the studio audiences who laugh at things that didn't sound funny to the fireside tuners-in, hold up the show with applause when there is nothing to warrant applause, and in general make the listeners at home feel that they are missing the best part of the program. Any show where a studio audience appears to be deriving more enjoyment than the listening audience is a bad show from the ultimate standpoint of radio. COMEDIANS Another bad result of studio audiences is their effect on comedians. Many of them contend they need auditors for purposes of reaction and timing. This provides no consolation for the listening audience. Comics who owe their success chiefly to pantomimic ability, rather than vocal personality, should develop a new technique. Performing antics which make the little studio audiences roar but cannot be seen by the millions of listeners in is the wrong kind of radio acting. The laughter and applause of the (Continued on Page 2) $50,000 on Voice Ice Industries (refrigerators) have taken a $50,000 insurance policy with Lloyds of London on the voice of Gladys Swarthout. who appears on their broadcasts over NBC every Wednesday night. A statement from the producer said Miss Swarthout was irreplaceable, and any last minute cancellations would prove too great a financial risk without adequate insurance. SPONSORS DEFER TAKING BRADDOCK LOUIS FIGHT Altho contracts have been signed by James J. Braddock and Joe Louis, calling for a championship bout in Chicago, June 22, nothing definite is set in regard to radio angles. Potential sponsors are holding off for the time being, due to the possibility of legal tangles expected to develop. Madison Square Garden interests declare they have first call on Braddock for the Garden. NBC program department, thru John F. Royal, is in contact with fight promoters on the subject of broadcasting the fight, and it is presumed other webs are doing the same with a sponsor in mind. Buick Motor company sponsored several of the important fights during the past two (Continued on Page 2) Alfred Morton to Make Tour of NBC Stations Alfred H. Morton, NBC manager of owned and operated stations department, expects to take a swing around the country next month visiting all NBC owned and operated stations. If he cannot clear the time necessary for a coast-to-coast trip, will take in a few stations at a time starting with the eastern NBC stations. This will be the first time Morton has visited NBC owned and operated stations since he became head of this division on Jan. 1. Don Gilman of NBC Predicts Coast Will Surpass New York as Center for Radio Artists Wilkins Made V.P. Berne Wilkins, formerly of the WNEW sales staff, has been made assistant vice-president in charge of sales. GONAN DOYLE'S SON FOR 'SPOOK' SERIES Negotiations are on for the ether appearances of Denis E. Conan Doyle, son of the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle is being groomed for guest engagements and later for a series of his own. Talks will deal to great extent with (Continued on Page 3) Congressional Speakers For New CBS Feature Columbia Broadcasting System will introduce a new semi-weekly educational series over a coast to coast network on March 3, 3:30-3:45 p.m., titled, "Current Questions Before Congress." It will feature a member of the House of Representatives. The second program, to be aired Thursday, 5-5: 15, will feature speakers from the ranks of the U. S. Senate. Adult Serial Dramas Voted Most Popular Day Program Small Bands to Hit Air On Local Chi. Stations Chicago — Secondary or "relief" bands in most of the smart cafes and hotel dining rooms here will be given a chance for air-time in the latest tie-up between the night spots and smaller stations which are set to broadcast melodies of the "number two" orks just as soon as lines are readied to pick-up these remotes. Hitherto, only the "name" band or featured attractions in the cafes and (Continued on Page 3) Adult serial dramas are the most popular type of daytime radio program, occupying one-half of the commercial network time before 6 p. m., according to a report of the Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting based on information supplied by more than 161,000 radio homes located in 33 leading cities of the U. S. Entitled "Radio Audiences — May to September, 1936," the report gives detailed information on over 800 hours of commercial network broad(Continued at Page 2) Hollywood is definitely headed to equal or pass New York as a talent center for radio, said Don Gilman, NBC vice-president in charge of West Coast activities, before the Los Angeles Advertising Club's NBC Day luncheon yesterday. Not just movie talent but all kinds of artists are establishing here, he said. NBC's own Los Angeles staff has grown from 18 to 60 in one year, and the NBC West Coast staff has (Continued on Page 3) TELLS HOW TELEVISION WILL AFFECT ARTISTS E. P. H. James, head of the NBC sales promotion department, speaking before the members of the Art Directors Club last night as the first lecturer of the 1937 season, explained in non-technical language how television would affect the artists. Present and coming developments {Continued on Page 2) NBC to Revise Setup Of Washington Station In an application filed with the FCC, NBC is seeking approval for the complete revision of the technical set-up of WRC, its Washington station. The application asks for permission to install a new transmitter at a new location, increased power, and new vertical antenna. WRC is asking for an increase in (Continued on Page 3) F. D. R. on CBS-NBC President Roosevelt's address to Democrats assembled at Victory Dinners throughout the country on March 4 will be broadcast from 10:30-11 p.m. on that date over the CBS and the NBC-Blue networks. The President's address will be delivered at the dinner in the Mayflower Hotel, Washington. The dinners were arranged to liquidate Democratic indebtedness.