Radio digest (1922)

5rt the STATIONS INTERESTING PLANS for Future Station Activities. What Artists are Most Popular. Other Facts and Figures "One surprising revelation (paricularly to broadcasting officials), is hat the afternoon audience is larger than hat of the morning. W hile the difference s slight, it had always been our opinion hat the morning audience was the argest of the daytime hours. The malysis shows that the after-luncheon itidience is 50. G3 percent as compared vith 4"). 63 in the morning. "The research report also revealed that *vcn percent of the total listeners are nned-in for the after-midnight programs >nce each week, and four percent follow his practice twice weekly. "The report discloses that popular nusic — that is, dance and jazz selections -are exceedingly popular with oneinarter of the entire audience. However, onrteen percent of the listeners favor food music of all kinds. While thirteen Krcent chose variety there is a twelve >ercent group who express a choice for he classics. "Stories, drama and semi-classical pro;ram follow in their order. Sketches, lialogues and monologues are popular vith 2.81 percent of the fans, while ocal music and comedy sketches are also 1 the two percent class. Old-time music hares the one percent class with lectures nd talks." Two extremes for you. Last Winter larry Jordan sat in his cabin in the rozen wastes of northern Quebec and irrote to WTIC requesting the dance une, Turn on the Heat. About the ame time Julia Doyle was vainly swing□g a palm leaf fan in the tropical heat if the Canal Zone, and wrote asking for Canadian Capers. Both heard one of he Mary Oliver concert broadcasts rom the New England transmitter. * * * tlTHAT is said to be the largest pipe » » organ ever built exclusively for *adio use has been installed in the tudios of WCCO, the Minneapolis Nation of the Columbia Broadcasting ystem. It is a three manual instrument vhich is the result of four years of experiment. Amateurs in Demand for Radio Entertainers By Robert Reinhart, Jr. Master of Ceremonies for the "Checker Cabbies" A MONTH ago a single column, oneinch ad appeared in the Radio section of one of New York City's evening newspapers. It stated, in simple language, that Radio talent was wanted, and those possessing it should apply to room so and so at a Fifth Avenue address. The following day, the little office looked like the "bread line" in San Francisco after the fire, back in 1900. Why do we seek Radio talent when there are hundreds of artists available at any Radio station? Why do we delve into the realms of the amateur, rather than the professionals? The answer is — professionals are sometimes too professional. It is a known fact that vaudeville entertainers and the theatrical business, in general, is in a bad slump. That the talkies have hurt vaudeville and that there are literally thousands of acts that are idle and awaiting booking is a known fact on Broadway. Wouldn't it be easy to grab one-half dozen of these acts, that have been so successful on the stage, and bring them into Radio? What is it that makes a Radio personality so different from any other type of entertainer? To begin with, as a general rule, everybody prefers the male to the female on the Radio. This is due to the difference in their personalities. A woman's personality is sometimes in her eyes, in her smile, in the movement of her hands, in the changes of expression. A man seldom resorts to these motions or gestures. His personality is usually his voice and so when Radio came into its own, man was at home. All the pretty smiles and the eyepleasing ways, of the woman were lost on the Radio. Actors and actresses, who have made great successes on the stage, have sometimes proved "flops" or "busts" on the air program, and until television comes in, they are absolutely "out." Even Rudy Vallee's voice is absolutely lost on the stage. If you heard him at the Paramount, New York, and happened to be sitting further back than the tenth row, you had to strain your ears to hear him, and at that he was using his megaphone. On the Radio he can whisper and his crooning style makes many a feminine heart leap. David Ross, the small boy with the big, deep voice, sounds resonant and powerful through the receiver and his diction is perfect. Yet, in speaking to a hall full of people, his voice does not carry. If you go to a show once or even twice a week, you hear a few songs and a few gags and the chances are most of them will be different. Sometimes you hear the same song repeated and you are somewhat annoyed. On the Radio, you are actually going to two or three shows every night and so before the week is over you probably hear every new song and many of the old ones. But then, you are listening in on the Radio. The second or third week you are just bound to hear the same songs and perhaps some of the_ same wisecracks. The songs you will forgive but the wisecracks never. That brings us back to the vaudevillians — they prepare one act, and that same twenty minutes goes on three times a day for as many years as they can get booking. All they have to do is to learn a few little gags and a few songs and they make their livelihood on it for years. How different is Radio! If you are on a weekly program which is sponsored between 8 and 8:30 every Tuesday, that means that every single week you must prepare a complete new program. Find new gags. Learn and sing new songs. That is one of the reasons why we seek new talent from the ranks of the everyday passerby. Certain requirements make it impractical for Johnny Doray and Mary Sola to be heard as vocalists on two or three GATEWAY Midship*! The breaking waves dashed high, all right, as Ray Wilkinson and his midshipmen docked their good ship WDEL, of Wilmington, Delaware. We are unable to determine just what sort of craft that is — a gondola or a Mississippi steamboat; but it makes a striking picture anyway.