Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

STILL MORE CHATTER Cheerfully speeding along home from a midnight broadcast at KNX the other night, Wesley Tourtelotte. organist, heard a dying gasp from his PierceArrow — yep, he owns one — and he was marooned at 1:30 a. m. in the wilds of Hollywood. A passing motorist offered to push him home. Accepted! The good Samaritan who pushed Wesley's heavy car clear up to his home on a high Hollywood hill must have wondered if Wesley was "on the level." # The record for speakers' fan mail in the NBC studios in Washington is held by William Hard, who is heard transcontinentally every Wednesday on "Back of the News in Washington." • Sherrill Whiton, interior decorator on the Radio HomeMakers' Program, is worried because of a letter he received from a young woman in response to a recent broadcast in interior decoration. "I was very interested in your broadcast. You know so much about color, perhaps you can help me with a problem. I am 27, brunette, weigh 137, am five feet seven, and somewhat plump. I wonder if you could suggest an appropriate color for me for a pair of pajamas." He hasn't yet answered the letter. • The studio staff at KHJ is having a great time adjusting itself to the newly finished, remodelled studios comprising the entire second floor of the magnificent Don Lee building. And the KHJ people have a right good reason to be proud. The whole studio has been re-constructed and redecorated. Three separate soundproof studios have been constructed, one of which is large enough to accommodate a 200-piece orchestra. The rooms are modernly and luxuriously decorated, with thick soundproof partitions filled with glass wool, a separate monitor room for each studio, and more conveniences than one can imagine. Of course, all of these changes have had their effect on the acoustics, and Ray Paige and his boys are adjusting themselves all over again to the new studios. To accommodate audiences, comfortable seats for 500 have been arranged behind a glass partition along one wall of the large studio. With this new arrangement the audience may come and go, talk and move about, without disturbing the performers inside, and can still listen to the programs. • There has to be a first time for everything, and the honors this time go to Captain Hugh Barrett Dobbs, skipper of the famous Happytime cruises on the "Ship of Joy." better known as just plain "Dobbsie." Dobbsie will take 20 members of his "Ship of Joy" crew to sea July 1 1 . where they will broadcast the first regularly scheduled program over a network of stations from a studio on board a ship on high seas. The stage for this historymaking event will be the S. S. Malolo. sailing from San Francisco for Honolulu Saturday, July 11. According to present plans, there will be eight broadcasts from the ship at sea, two regular morning broadcasts from Hawaii, and a third special Hawaii broadcast scheduled to reach the Pacific Coast between 9:30 and 10:00 a. m., Friday, July 17. The first program will be heard over the NBC network at 8:00 a. m. Monday. July 13. Programs on subsequent days will be at the same hour. By special license from the Federal Radio Commission, the programs will be broadcast by shortwave from the ship, picked up either at Point Reyes, Calif., or at Koko Head, Hawaii, and thence to Point Reyes, where they will be relayed to the San Francisco NBC studios, and from there to KPO. KFI, KHQ, KOMO, KGW and KSL. Although Dobbsie and his crew have sailed the "Ship of Joy" over the ether waves on hundreds of mythical cruises, this will be the first time they actually go to sea. Avast, me hearties, and all you landlubbers! Tune in on the first oceanic broadcast in history! a When it comes to "sheriff-ing," Loyal Underwood, of the Arizona Wranglers, KNX, doesn't have to take a back seat for anyone. Of course, he's a deputy sheriff of Los Angeles County. But Loyal is also a deputy sheriff in Umatilla County, Oregon; Virginia City, Nev., and in Kern and Fresno counties, Calif. All bona fide, too. So Sheriff Underwood hopes there'll be no public riots and disturbances in these places, or it'll keep him busy holding down his respective offices. It would be a predicament if trouble broke out in all of these places at once, Loyal. • Gwynne Elliott. KVOS blues star, tells of an amusing incident on a recent visit to a friend's house, where a talkative woman had been holding sway. "What was Mrs. B. asking you about?" Gwynne inquired of her friend. "Oh — business," came the answer. "Yes, I know," said Miss Elliott, "but whose?" • The new 50,000 watt transmitter of KFI, the most powerful station west of Chicago, is ready to begin regular broadcasting after a series of tests are made, Earle C. Anthony has announced. The increase in power from five to 50 kilowatts was not carried out to increase the station's service range nor to attempt a national coverage. KFI will still consider Southern California within a radius of 150 miles as its only guaranteed coverage. The main purpose was to sharpen tuning and increase modulation. Reception will not be louder or more powerful: rather it will be sharper and clearer. Reception in such "dead spots" as Riverside, San Bernardino and Bakersfield, will be greatly improved, it is expected. • After one of his Tuesday evening programs over the Columbia network, R i c h e y Craig, Jr., the Blue Ribbon Malt Jester, was discussing the country club where he had been a golfing guest that morning. "Ritzy.''" said the Jester. "Ell say it's a ritzy club! Why. they have swivel chairs in the dining room just so the members can turn their backs on one another!" © Then there is the gag employed by Frank Mayo, CBS announcer during the dance music program, to explain away an exceptionally loud crash of cymbals at the end of a number. "That," Mayo often will say, "was our conductor. Nat Brusiloff, 'Falling in Love Again RADIO DOINGS