Variety (Mar 1934)

Taeflday, Mwch 6» 1934 B ADIO VABJETY 49 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP (Merchandizing Stunts and Program Tieups) OTJTSTANDINO STUNTS: PAN-AMERICAN EXPRESS (Station WSM, Nashville) Nashville. EY^ry Afternoon at flV6 o'clock the pah-Amerlcan Express, crack train of the Louisville and Nashville rail- road is heard in actual reproduction over Station WSM as the fly«r zooms by a certain point; WSM has a .mike in a booth built alongside the track and as the ex press roars down the steel boule vard the inike picks up the. whlstlie • which the ehgiheeir prolongs for the benefit of the radio, Mijce remains alive as the cars click over the rails and are lost. It takes only a minute or so but there's an atmosphere, of authenticity, excitement, and ro jnance about It, A short commer olal announcement about the Louis- ville and Nashville's passenger serv- ice follows. Stunt is memorable and brings; the express Into the lives of radio lis teners In much the same manner as it.enters the lives of farmers living adjacent to the railroad tracks, something to set clocks by. it's WDAS' Sports Club Philadelphia. Neat idea being started here by "I, W.," sports commentator of WPAS. For some time this nightly program has favored the kids, get- ting a tremendous response; so I. W. has organized a Sports Club of the Air for the purpose of cre- ating open parks for the young- stiers, im.yr »vlrig playgrounds and oasttim^B and interests: and from, these tabulations the' club has been able to secu. valuable prizes of- fered as awards during frequent contests, with a local aviation school giving a $500 scolarshlp to be won In open contest. Although the club Is not directly sponsored by the station, but by the sportcaster instead, the outlet has found the organization coming into such prominence that spon- sorship may. result.- The pka:y of tlie mayor, city officials and . big names In sports has ja.fforded the air feature loads of news space in publicity. No fees are charged the kids for membership, and piromi- lient people are donating liberally eets Emergency Hartford. - - _ For two weeks this city and most possibly tie-up with a summei- towns in the Vicinity have been camp. To date the club totals a membership of 2,000. Meetings are held hxonthly in a local theatre and well-known ath- letes have already joined in.the ef- fort to put. this thing across. How- ard Berry, former Penn grid grad.. beset by huge snow storms which inflicted hardships upon the entire county. WDRC, with a small staff, turned over Its facilities to the pop-, ulace with broadcasts every fifteen minutes for three solid days ' on news flashes, postponements of membership frotn Jerry Nugent, owner of the Philly Ntitlonals, Harry Struhldrer, football coach of Vlllanova; .Connie Mack, Big Bill Tliden, Mickey Cochrane, Bing Miller, and famous representatives from all fields of sports. In joining the kids are required t<) fill out a questionnaire listing their .fiiyorlte as honorary head, has ^ocepled meetings, schools' closeups, toad Conditions and other news bits that arose during the day.. When calls came In seeking na- tional and foreign news Hartford newspapers sent staff reporters into WDRC and WTIC with regular broadcasts for fifteen minutes at a time. Efforts., fot; these stations brought favorable comihents froin listeners iand civic drganlzations and for the first time in many years.the news- paper really gave some space to the good worH radio can do»; furnishing the backgi'ound for the isinging. The program originates on a busy street comer near the stu- dios. While most folks seem to speak their mind better than they raise their voices In song, it made a good novelty. Alert Prihtep. . Pittsfieldi Mass. Synopses of the operas broadcast by Lucky Strike are being offered to the public by the Eagle Publishing Company, which prints the Berk- shire Evening Eagle.. The price is 15 cents. Raps Court Pick-up . Sian Francisco. Beginning a thrice weekly series of broadcasts direct froni the court room of . Municipal. Judge George Steiger, KJBS.,has ^un Into protests from the Frisco Bar Association, which claims the broadcasts are undignified. . Radio hookun was engineered by Ralph Bruntpn, manager of the indie station, who put the mike into the Chambers for half hour periods each Monday, Wednesday and Fri day moi-niiig; Judge; Steiger started first show off with a brief resume' of what was to follow, and the prosecuting and defending attbr neys, if any, and the plaintiff la'nd defendant alike each had a crack at~the'mlke. Daily papers, in a. town where there's a close spirit of co-operation between sheets and stations, largely because of aflflliatlona, didn't pan the enterprise as was expected. In- stead they played it up, carrying pix and stories. Only one, Hearst's p.m. Call-Bulletin, quoted barristers and other jurists on the Idea, most of them decrying such a policy. But after two broadcasts S. F. Bar Association adopted a resolution calling vipon the State Judicial Council, the Supreme Court iand the State. Bar to cause the discontinu- anbe of the broadcast* No fui'thier action has been taken and remote control continues. A Music Publisher Commends the Columbia Broadcasting System .for the many courtesies which it extends the mem- bers of the publishing pro- fession. .for the splendid feeling of co-operation which has been created between CBS and the music publishers. .for.its recognition of the fact that the music pub- lishing industry is an all- Important factor in the suc- cess of Broadcasting. ROBBINS MUSIC CORP. W.CAX After Students Burlington, Vt.. WCAX Is trying to round aip all the local youngsters studying music Into, a club. Selected members will be given an opportunity to broad- cast once a month. Another come- Oiv for youngsters, is a letter writing, contest on music appi'eciation with prizes for the best compositions. Plan may eventually work Into a tie-up of some kind -with local music schools. Conserviative Philly Philadelphia-'. Local department of education, usually frigid towa,rd the ether, is going in for air lieups In a big way. With the okay of Dr. Edwlh C. Broome, superl.itenderit of the Philly public schools, WiP Is airing a series of weekly programs under .the sponsors! ip of the. city's educa- (Continued on page 50) is By it New Tork. Stunt that Grapenuts (General Food) had arra.nged to puU during ithe Byrd expedition broadcast of the previous Saturday (25) went askew because- the physician Involved, found that the Academy of Medicine would frown upon his participation. Rather than risk censure from this source he bowed out at the last min- ute. ' Through one of the wireless mies- sages received from the Anta,rctlc General Foods learned thfit one of the men In the crew had seriously wrenched his back. Account then obtained Dr. C li. Crampton to do a diagnosis by shortwave during the course of . the prberam and also suggest a remedy. The medical est change was to he a part of the regu lar broadcast over CBS. Time was allowed for this In the script pre- pared for the broadcast and the withdrawal of the physician re- quired a hurried revision of the en- itire broadcast just an hour before the hour of release. Oxydbl's Dish Mop Chicago. Prize contest for the naming Of a dish mop was worked into the script of the 'Ma t^erklns' Oxydol sketch, over NBC, members of the cast making direct appeals to listeners to enter the affair. 210 cash awards offered. Without the Odd New Tork. Health Products commercial copy on behalf of their strawberry- flavored codllver oil pellets Is a gem of' its kind. Codllver oil as manufactured by the humble North Atlantic deep sea denizen Is de- scribed in language that a small boy, given a Harvard vocabulary, might endorse. It Is, says the script from McCann-Erickson. 'a thick, flshy- smelllng, nauseous fluid.* But all that has been changed. Codllyer oil now Is available in pills that, one Is pursuaded to believe, are something like a lover's delight sundae. Street Corner Yodeling Charlotte, N. C. For a Washington's Birthday 'Man on the Street' program, dVer WBT, passers-by Joined in the mass singing of patriotic songs Instead of the usual Intervlev^s on pertinent questions of the day. Stunt was tried Chrlstn^as with carols, to great' success. Clair Shad- well and Orady Cole handled the broadcast, with a brass quartet Acknowledges The Sensitive Understanding of RALPH WONDERS JULES SEABACH JEAN MIGHT FREDDIE RICH and THE COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM Personal Representative ROBERT MILFORD Management COLUMBIA ARTISTS* BUREAU Columbia Broadcasting System Musical Director, WABC, New York BOmEN^m MINlJXE&JR MQUjm Presenting MARK WARNOWr Monday, 10:30A0 :4B P. M., Coast to Coast Sponsored Programs lF33-Postuiii All American FootbaU Show, Vicks, and Others MANAGEMENT COLUMBIA ARTISTS' BUREAU