Variety (Aug 1932)

Tuesday, August 2, 1932 rARiEtr 47 %encies Booking Talent Direct ■ Number of the major advertlsln; Itgencles are'Stfirtins the new sekson 0? Tvith a policy o< doing their tal- ent hooking for radio strictly tfirough their own offices. Means that the networks' artists services ilron't have a look-ln on the framing /cf programs . handled by these ''llKj^ncles. •Trend among the advertisers' reps against booking talent through the chains' bureaus has bfe^h gathering momentum the past two years. Toward the end of last season, sev- eral ot . the . big ten agencies. had already .adopted a; steadfast rule of doing their' business direct with the talent or his Immediate personal ]rep, and of passing up the networks completely.' - Ssp^dal casia In point was the Batten, Barton, Bur^tlne 'ft Osborne outfit, . Get Better Privet rAgenOy contention has been that they/have proved to themselves they can do better by .going out into the open or, tfe^\a,jicie market and picking up the talent require^, Cirlceaasked, . by the network biire^us,' say tl\e agen9y m^n, are Inyarlably out of line with the tal- ent's actual worth, and In mdst cases, as they claim to have dis- covered on personal Inquiry, con- jsiderably more than th6 artists'ac- tually expect.. ' ^. , ' 'Latter situation. ^generally pre- TalM, claim . the advertisers' repSi an artist Itt Involved who has been on a. sustaining' build up by the network. Salaries paid lor the sustaining programB, they aver, is considered by the chains In the light of an Investment, and in working out the commercial asking price for an artist there Is in- cluded pro rata the accumulated salaries already paid the. performer as a sustaining attraction. It's tiie, hope pi; the, chain to get most, If not ail, of this . 'Investment' back during the period of the artist's cbnimeroial connection. ' ' Agency men describe this method of :setting rsalaries'. as:,inequitable, holding that there Is inb-reason why the< ;<;ommer<;lal sii^oyld be sad.dled with an, expense thet,^ .should .have bMn jIgl^tfully absorbed by the net- work its.elf. . NEV N. E. NETWORK OF 5 IS NBC SUBSIDIARY •Worcester, Aug^ 1, Five New England radio stations, Including "WTAG of, "Worcester, have -formed a ehain known as the Kew. England network. I'he others are WEEI, Boston; WTIC, Hart- ford;. WCSH, Portland, Me., and WJAR, Providence,..R.< L All are members of the NBC red network. Most of the new networks' pro- grama will origlna,te. in WTIC and WEEI, which have been feeding flustainlng. features to the NBC chain.. The other three stations, hbwever, also will contribute. It Is planned to continue NBC advertis- ing accounts but four hours daily VrlU , be devoted to New England network programs. Another New . Englan4 .radio chain is the Yankee network, with headquarters in Boston, which sup- plies 11 stations with Its own pro- grams and those of the Columbia Broadcasting System. . . The new station/ WMAS, being built in Springfield will be affiliated Vith the .Tankeb network. iftstoCBS Investors Syndicate Is returning to the a.lr Oct. 9, but not pii NBb, ^hose steady customer the bond house had been the past four years. Contract with Columbia callis for a 16-mlnute Sunday evening ses- sion over a period of 13 weeks. Though entertainment hasn't been picked. It will likely be an- other name dance orchestra. Pro- gram will originate out of Chicago. P* & C's New Serial Galveston, Aug. 1. Harry Tuthlll, creator of the Bungles,, has signed a contract for a new radio comic serial to be known as the Puddle family. Procter & Gamble will sponsor the feature to be heard over WLW. ■ i-g. Crowe in Charge Of NBC Frisco Casting San Francisco, Aug; 1. Jten Campbell Crowe has been placed In charge of casting for NBC here. . Mrs. Crowe- came over when the network took . over KPO several months ago. She was program di- rector at that station. Talent letouts at NBC this wieek are Tom and Dud> harmony team, and Margaret O'Dea, contralto, in re-shuffling of thet staff acquired by the KPO take-over. Big Town Digmty Station-KFAB Idea Ijincpln, Aug. 1. KFAB In advance of selecting the. site for the hew 2&,000. watt system Is- doing a little expansion, stuiit to catch the attention ofv na- tional advertising agencies. A branch sttidlo and office is being opened In Omaha ready for busi- ness In the near future. . The present studio In the Hotel Cornhusker will be retained to carty the greater share of the broadcasting, but the need of a big- ger'town name was felt by the or- ganization to carry weight with outside enterprlsPiSv , The station , has already been granted a number of stays in the selection of the new site, the last one setting the .decline at Nov. 1. When the. new plant construction is nia^e Increasing the watt ppwer Qve .times, , it ;.wlllr,probably be lo- cated spmewliore between the t^^o towns.. BANEFUL RUMORS FORCE CRITIC TO QUIT RADIO >IiOul8vllle, Aug. 1. Dan -Thompson, picture critic of the lioulsvllle 'Times,* discontinued his Interviewing' the Actor* series over WHAS "as result' of .reports he was being paid by National Playersi Thompson - had Inter- viewed only one or two outstanding vaudeville stars, duch as Grant Withers', In the series, and belief Is that other theatres were jealous of the constant Indirect ad value of the Interview with stock players. As Thompson was doing the series as an advertlsen.ent for the 'Times'' dramiEitlc page without any addi- tional payment, he announced, without forewarning, during. his interview with Barbara Weeks, new leading woman of the National Players, that 'rather than be mis- Judged,' . he would remain off the air. 100% Air Test It's seldom a sponsor an- noiinces a radio adyerfisement Is being conhned exclusively to that medium, as: a test of the air and sta,tlon's pulling pow- ers, but such is the procedure followed on a new early- evening sports. and style talk over WGT, Schenectady, Warren Munsoh, In plug- ging clothing sale, states it will not be advertised else- where, because store wishes to learn listeners' reaction to air spiel. Apparently W.GY's ban on mention of specific prices is off for this test. NETWORKSCRY DOUBLE-X ON OLYMPICS KSO Scores Point in Plea to Move to Des M. Cla'rinda, la., Aug. 1. One leg of its determined try^ for removal from this point to Des Moines, state capitol. has been suc- cessful for radio station KSO, with federal examiners, recommending to the federal radio commission a grant wiilch will allow removal of facilities to the jjoint desired. Better talent and ability to serve Its listeners in a more efficient man- ner is salient point In application. Circus Air Bally Detroit, Aug.. 1. Novel tie-up by the HageniDeck- Wallace circus has Al Priddy in a series of talks on the training of wild animals. Circus only pays for spot an- nouncements before and after the. program and tlie talk is . used as a sustaining fcaturlitg running from three days to a week ahead of the show. ELLINGTON'S 5TH CHI RETUBN lAtest cry of the double-cross be tween the networks revolves arOund the broadcasting of the Olympic eamesi NBC-is accusing the op"- ppsition oiC' .breaking faith on an agreement between them not to carry anything about the Olympic games without first consulting the other;. 0Becaus6 of the $100,000 demanded by the Olympics committee for the «ther rights of the meet, the chains, so NBC now claims, had agreed on a freeze-out policy for the event, with the proviso that were either to change Its mind the other party to the agreement was to be ad vised. Regardless of this arrange- ment, charges the NBC program departnxent, CBS went ahead and schedttli^id 'a. resume of the games without first telling the opposition about It* Under the CBS . scheme, .which started yesterday (1), a resume of each day's events Is wired Into New York and relayed over the network for a quarter nf an hoUr late In the evening with- Ted Huslng doing the spieling asstghment. .' NBC has - framed an Olympics program of Its own, with Grantland Rice doing a direct, broadcast from the Coast. There Is also a •bulletin arrangement- similar to. Columbia's, with the broadcast originating frpm New York. '' Duke Ellington makes his fifth stage return to Chicago within eight months when he opens at the Tlvoli Sept. 16. House Is a B&K deluxer on the southside. Will be thie Ellington combo's first theatre appearance in that nabe. Hollywood, Aug. 1. Olympics^started with radio cpm- pletely left out. Up to last min- ute chains and local stations re- quested permission to broadcast from Stadium, hut were Ignored by committee, which was chagrined by refusal of chains to pay |100,000 for exclusive air privilege. As a Ttoiilt of the refusal to ex- tend press courtesies to an Imporr tant NBC executive for the games, latter communicated with New York, resulting In Iiistriietlons to get Grantland Rice to broadcast a resume of Events each evening. Deal was made Friday for 15,000 for two weeks, with KECA remov- ing an account to. put it on at 8 p. m. each evening, starting the 30th for 16 minutes. All local papers having radio tie- ins will also broadcast a brief sum- mary of events, but there will be a genera! feeling of indifference at statipns so'-f^r as the Olympiad and its social activities are con- cerned. LUCKY Sm AFTER A SAT. NITE COMIC Despite the announcement that its Saturday night program is washed up on using any more comics during the summer. Lucky Strike is still auditioning them. Latest to be given a hearing is Herman Tlmberg.; Pilots of the hour not only listened last week to Tlmberg but several of his own protege warblers. Fannie Brlce, Walter C. Kelly and Jack Haley had also been o.P.'d. Cbico Si Verdi at KHTB Hollywood, Aug. 1. Chicp Dl yerdl will be orchestra leader at KMTR, now under re- organization. Other new talent In shift of own- ers Includes Peter Grosso, tenor; Jeannie Dunn, personality singer, and Joan Stone, contralto. [tequentCha^^ Cosdy> Say Irked Radio Editors NBC's Chi Landlord on Air as Radio Client : Chicago, Aug. 1. . NBC's Chicago, iandlord, the Mer- chandise Mart, will become an NBC client , Aug. 16 when launching the 'Merchandise Revue/ This wlli be confined to the middle west. : Exploitation motive Is to drive home to this area the Importance of the Merchandise Mart as the wholesale center of Chicago. Build- ing, 20 stories high. Is the largest ih point of ground coverage of any structure in the world.-; And with plenty of office space it would like to rent. Too Macli AdTertiser Interference Ousts MJB Hour from L A. Hotel . . Los Angeles, Aug. 1. Abe Frank, manager of the Am- bassador Hotel, is passing up $40,000 a year by cancelllhg his contract to broadcast a half-hour program twice weekly for M. J. B. Coffee from the Cocoanut Grove of the hotel. He claims he Is tired .of catering to the entertainment whims of some 60 people In the adverr. tisers' organization who have differ- ent ideas of what kind of program is best. ' ■ ■ ■ . Account has been broadcast by -remote control over KPI for the past two years, with John P, Med- bury as master of ceremonies. It has been very popular on the Coast. Comes off Aug. 16, switching to the Blltmore hotel, with direct wire over the same station starting Aug. 22. Medbury will continue to handle the program with the Jlmihle Grler or- chestra, formerly at the Ambassa- dor, taking the place of the - Phil Harris'outfit. : Frank states It was too tough to. please the three heads of the cof- fee company and various executives and employees of the .concern who. all had> different ideas as to the pro- .gram. . - . > • M. J. B. people say cancellation was agreeable, to them, stating that the Cocoanut Groye people would not give them a larger variety of talent to support Medbury^ Pin BASEBALL FANS PUT WWSW ON MAP Pittsburgh, Aug. 1. Biggest inspiration a small radio station has ever had around here was WWSW's lining up play-by- play broadcasts of Pittsburgh "Pi- rates' games away from home. It's the biggest feature on the air at the moment locally and has monopolized the afternoon radio audience for town's smallest and newest station. Pirates, are in first place, fighting for their first National League pen,- nant since 1927, and excitement over them here is at fever pitch, with older stations looking with plenty of envy at the young but up-and- coming WWSW. Broadcasts aren't a, description from the field of battle but an ac- count gathered from telegraphic re- ports. Station has a direct wire, with its own "operator at' foreign field pf battle, but details are so complete that average listener-ih has a hard time feeling broadcaster isn't actually in the press box. Radio editors on the dallies figure' that the.frequent changes of sched- ule made by the networks ahd the individual stations. daily must cost the newspapers, of this country, in the aggregate, hundreds of thou- sands of dollars a year. For the! past two years these scribes have been trying to get the networks, at least, to work out a system whereby the major part of this waste could be eliminated, but. so far their'ef- forts have proved fruitless. ■ Keeping the. program listings straight and accurate, complain tlie radio eds. Is turning out to be more of a headache every day. S.itua« tloh lapsed into its -worst phase this summer. With commercials quitting on sudden notice, networks and sta- tions have been hard put rushing sustaining programs into the breach. No sooner has the listing' on; this sustaining show gone out to the papers, -the program depart- ment goes through a. change of mind for any one. of myriad rea-. sons, such as conflict with whai cpmes before or .after or unavail-%' ability of the talen.t picked, an^ an-- other session is substituted.. That means sehdihg out another listing for the newspapers. According to one radio page pilot, there Is a class A station in the midwest that, this summer, has made it a - practice of switching shows for the same niche as many as six times before the actual broadcast. Thaty within a.; period of one week. All this necessitated not only revision on the part of the editor himself but down through, the composing room mob. • • Higher-Up Kickbacks Anxiety to ihalntaln b' .cPrrest lifting isn't actuated by ttie 'rildio editor's pain8ta.kihg ' pehdhe^iit as much as it is to avoid the pr^'s-. sure brought by the managlhg ed or ^publisher of the.. piLper. Readers who have come Ip dep'eiid oin; th'ei^e listings write in 'their kicits anil when thie latter become, too .thick the m.e. or pub, neither' bit''v^hpiii are as a rule too kindly dispoised to the medium, blow" up. and pull a line .to the effect that .i' the ^chedw ules can't be carried accunttely. they might, as well dp away. wltb. the radio department altogether. . Networks on the: A-verage .shoot out three schedules on each .day'v program, the first two weeks la advance. Corrections are dis*. patched nine days later, with.these followed by another batch of revi^ sions two days before the piiblicax tion date. Further changes come by; wire and telephone. In many .In^ stances these being due tp the tm^ portance or insistance of the com-' meroial. One editor tells of 'making; over 60 changes In one day's sched-^ lite before It actually went to press. Radio editot's 'rate this' listfn^ complication arid dilemma as brbiad- casting'9 biggest bugbear. If not nightmare. They admit they have no solution for the problem, but that's something for the' networks and the stations to wprry about inyway, they say.^ ^ OLD GIMMICK PCiPS UP IN RADIO TALENT HUNT Arthur Lake's 'Harold Teen' Serial for Ether Arthur Lake, screen Juvenile, who played 'Harold Teen' in the picture of that name from the comic strip, and whb is now RKOyhg jtvlth his sister Florence, has been given per- mission by the cartoonist, Carl Ed, to use the 'Harold Teen' idea for a series of radio broadcasts. Young Lake was the guest of Ed at the latter's Chicago home for a month. Ted Dahl on KFWB Hollywood, Aug. 1. Ted Dahl's orchestra, formerly staff at KMTR,, goes to KFWB for three; half hours weekly of dance stuff, around dinner time. Replaces an organ c o n c er t. KFWB's staff combination schedule not disturbed. Lps Angeles, Aug. 1. Local advertising agency In en- deavoring to seir one of the major stations here on an air talent search racket, smacking. of the old 'be a motion pldture star' gimmick. Offers more profitable variations, however, with stations approached having turned It down. Proposition is for station to an- nounce ai .contest, with a year's air contract at $40 a week for the win- ner. Grayy would come from charg- ing all competitors $5 for a record for 'audition purposes.' , Cut of $3 from each Sucker would go to the station. ZUGSMITH'S P. A. FABTNERS Al Zugsmlth, personal p.a. for, Paul Whlteman? until tho maestro' decided to turn everything in pub- licity and management over to the NBC, has allied with the Jay.Fag- gen-Harry Sobel publicity team Jh a , trl-partnership. George D. Lottman and Earle Ferris have also merged publicity offices.