Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

-MORE CHATTER Apparently the West is going to have a big double NBC network, as they have in the East. Don Gilman, head man in charge of the Pacific Division of NBC, delved into his jeans the other day. hauled off and bought out the Northwest Broadcasting System, consisting of stations KJR, Seattle; KEX, Portland; KGA, Spokane; and KYA, San Francisco. Looks as if he were going to hang on to them personally awhile, though, before making any arrangements with the NBC National Chain. • Winnie Fields Moore, for the first time since her debut at KFI several years ago, is going to loosen up and tell the folks about some of her thrilling adventures on her world travels. Dark nights in Egypt, slimy narrow alley ways, opium dens and tortures de luxe in China, uncharted islands inhabited by savages — gosh! That gal must have been around. And she's spilling it in her own charming way over KECA Wednesday and Friday afternoons at five. • In the old days nearly everyone played some sort of instrument or other, from a jew's harp to a mandolin — and took a big pride in it. But now it seems we're too lazy, or something. We've often wondered why someone didn't start a crusade to make everyone play an instrument, and lo and behold, somebody has! The Southern California Music Company has inaugurated a new program, called the "Everybody Play Hour", over KFAC each Monday and Friday evening, in which the good old simple instruments are featured in an atempt to revive interest in personal music-making. So get out your old mandolin, put some new strings on it, or go up in the atic and take out the harmonica, and "Everybody Play." • Doggone it, there ought to be something done about this. During a weekend visit to the beach, Kate Smith, the Swanee Girl, was writing a few "Wish you were here" cards to her friends, and stepped away from the hotel desk a moment. When she returned, she found that her ensemble coat, which she had laid down, was missing. A thorough search failed to locate it, and Kate returned to the city sans coat. A few days later this letter arrived: "Dear Miss Smith — "I feel you ought to know what happened to your blue coat. I have a fondness for collecting souvenirs of my favorite celebrities, and had watched you for several hours, waiting to add something that belonged to you to my collection. I hope you wont mind. Good luck to you. "An Admirer." • Seth Parker's comin' to see us, folks! He and his "githerin' are all set for a nation-wide stage tour, beginning the first week in October, that will take them first to Canada, through eastern cities, then to Denver, Salt Lake, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. The tour will end at Miami, Fla., December 15, where the Jonesport folks will take a boat for New York. His act will consist of the usual evening "sings", and rural philosophy, that have made him loved by millions. • Well, ladies, cheer up. Rudy Vallee, crooner extraordinary, will be with you over NBC for some time to come, at least. He has just signed a new contract for another three years, exclusively with the National Broadcasting Company. His contract will run until March, 1934, so until then, mesdames, your Vagabond Radio Lover will continue. Incidentally, a recent popularity contest found Rudy in the lead, with 6000 votes more than his nearest competitor, Ted Weems. • It looks as though people were laughing more than they used to. At least, from a survey made by the Columbia Broadcasting System, it was found that comedy and humorous dialogues during the first six months of this year showed a greater increase in the number of hours they occupy on the air than any other type of CBS program. In January they occupied 1.16 per cent of the total time, and in June they took up 2 per cent. • Harrison Holliway, the Second, son of Harrison Holliway, KFRC's manager, disrupted broadcasting for a brief period the other day when he visited the station. It was quite an occasion for him — his first birthday. He was accompanied by his mother, the former Juliette Dunn, radio artist. • Some KFRC True Confessions: Tommy Harris has a favorite author, none other than 0. Henry; Earl Towner, musical director for Feminine Fancies, has admitted (under very strong pressure) , that his favorite reading comes under the head of mystery and detective yarns; one of Bill Wright's admirers, hearing of his penchant for cigars, sent him one a foot long; Chester Smith, guitarist, who has a reputation for punctuality, attributes it to his fondness for clocked hose. • Now here's a "believe it or not" for you. Kolia Levienne, KOMO cellist, has a story about the time his cello saved his life. It seems Kolia spent an evening with a friend in Petrograd, where he was attending the conservatory, and they played chess. After the game, on his way home, Levienne took a short-cut home across the frozen Neva river. In the darkness he fell into a crack in the ice, and if it hadn't been for the cello, which straddled the hole, he'd have been drowned. "And the best part of it all is", related Kolia, "the tone of the cello was not impaired one bit." Speaking of television, Colonel Stoopnagle of CBS fame, was asked by a friend the other day what he thought of the new art. "Well", replied the Colonel . . . and just then the beautiful and blonde Harriet Lee, contralto, passed by . . . "I don't know much about it, but I certainly can tell-a-vision when I see one." Well, we had to put something in here, didn't we? • You can talk all you want about your "fake" cowboys, "Radio RoughRiders" and other wild-west heroes of the air that don't know a halter from a corral, but we've got the lowdown on one who is the real thing. The "Old Timer", who tells such absorbing tales on the "Empire Builders", is really Harvey Hays. This summer he has been all dolled up in his old cow-puncher regalia and conducted tours of visitors through Glacier National Park on horseback. We have a darn good snapshot of Harvey, but it wouldn't reproduce well for publication. But he looks swell on a horse, and seems as much at home as an old cow hand. • If his dad hadn't fired him, it's ten to one Tommy Harris, popular KFRC song bird, would have still been selling bananas and apples in the family wholesale fruit business. Pa Harris, however, figured that his young hopeful would learn more of life by working for someone else, so handed him the blue envelope. Tommy went up to KFRC for a tryout, and was accepted. His first success was on the Happy-Go-Lucky Hour. Page Thirty RADIO DOINGS