Radio stars (June 1933)

RADIO STARS concerned. Can't find a sponsor. And the Mills Brothers. They came into the Big City flat hroke. Their top money during their Vape.x broadcast a year later was $3,500 each week. And they're still going strong. Of course, these are all Big Names. Big Names in any business cost money. Small stations not hooked-up to the giant networks have a far different story to tell. Their coverage is small, they appeal to a specific locality, and the local advertiser can get his money's worth without pawning the family jewels. In Harrisburg, Pa., for example, you can hire a good dramatic actor for $2.00 a broadcast. In Terre Haute, a fifteen-piece concert band gets only $50.00. Rock Island, Illinois, pays its actors $2.50 a broadcast. An old-time fiddler in Louisville, Ky., costs just $5.00. An organist and organ (in the First Methodist Church) can be rented for $18.00 per program in Wichita Falls, Texas. Hawaiians are available in Omaha, Neb., for $15.00. and a string quartet gets $36.75 in Maine. So, you see, this story of money in the broadcasting business has its peaks and valleys just as any other business. There is this difference, though. The royal families of radio are rewarded by a veritable deluge of gold, while the day laborers drudge for their bread and butter. Drudging, they hope and pray for the break that will rocket them to the top. They don't mind, really, for, as one told me recently, "In this business, you wake up each morning thinking, 'Well, maybe today is the day my ship will come in.' In any other business, in these times, you wake up and know darn well nothing is going to happen." Radio City ! It's the house that jack built. It's the house that many a pair of young eyes are fastened on these days, for it represents success and fame and that certain extra something that people call money ! money ! money ! Little Odd One (Continued from page 19) prettily and so she determined that since she couldn't do anything about her looks, she would concentrate on her voice. She might even be an actress — a tragic actress, of course, and hold great multitudes spellbound ! As yet, Mother was not told anything about these aspirations but suddenly Elsie was taking part in every school play and evinced great interest in church singing. About this time Mrs. Hitz decided that Gertrude, the eldest, (and to Elsie, the most beautiful,) should begin elocution lessons. A teacher was sent for who looked Gertrude over and explained her course, but all the time there was Elsie standing in a corner of the room and eyeing the teacher as if she were cakes in a pastry shop window. Finally "Aren't you unusually rough tonight, Percival?" "Sorry, dear boy, but I really am annoyed, you know." "Of all things! Why?" "You borrowed my Film Fun and forgot to return it." AND let that be a lesson to you, too, gentle reader. Always have your own copy of FILM FUN on hand and you'll run no danger from infuriated wrestlers, athlete's foot, pyorrhea, or the seven-year itch. Not that we claim any medicinal qualities for the screen's only fun magazine, but it'll keep you so busy laughing at the antics of Hollywood you'll never have time to think of your troubles. Try this laugh tonic today. Dash up to the nearest newsstand and ask the dealer — when he stops laughing over his own copy — for the latest issue of THE HOWLS OF HOLLYWOOD! 47