Variety (Jan 1935)

40 VARIETY R A D i ll Tuesday* January 8^ 193S GROSS IN 1934 IS FOR RADIO , Both : NBG and Golximbla ere .Blated to establish tor the current month of January a record month- _ijr_hlgh In incpnio from time fl^^ NBC Is flgUfied to'start pit the year^ with a tally cl6s(B to the $2,900,000 mark, exceeding for the first time the $2,8Q4,783 garnered In March, 1932, while Columbia is expected to gross arouiid ;|i.800,000 fbr / Janu- ary. ^: .. December gave NBC $2i806,736 and Coliimbla $I,674i087. Figures In elthei:. case represerited ,by a wide margin the highest turnover of-fa- cilities for the month of December in the hlstoty of the netWorJoi. For the previous December (1933) NBC drew $2,324,567 and CBS |1,372.716. Upbeat for NBC; was 20% arid .Co- iumbla-'^e'^.'■ '., On the yeaif 1934 NBC and Cohim- bia grossed f42,888,730,-: with "the Joint boost over 1933 Coming to 37%. NBC wound up 1934 with $28,062,885, or 30% better than; it did: for 1|J33, while -the- Columbia^, grand - total , 6t 4i4^6^46-meant^-a-^4jji-^t-^^ the 1933 total. ; -P . PMil W.^^^^k^ .-promotion and-adve rtising-the past !"- five .years, has been, named a Co- Iiimbia V. p. and made ah assistant to Edward Klauber, the web's ex- ecutlve v.p. Bgiost places Kesteri, who Is 33 years old, third In com- mand on the CBS executive staff. , Kesten came from, the Lennen & . _, Mitchellxgency. -^ef ore_,that_he VraS: in charge , pf mail order pro- motion fbr/theForman Clothing Co. ■ in Kansas City. - An outsider Is being negotiated smantuesa 2S^BillBiiforeFCC January :. . .>. ...v> • February i.... , • ? • March «. V«V. v. •. * • ' A.prir. •»«. .'>«-« • • f ■Alay .'.^ June.'. •'«.•'.. «.«'«.'*..'.• July '•.«..««....a...'^ August. ••••«*.. September : October November > •. • Decemb.er • • • • ^.... • 1934 $2,387,127 2,197,897 2,473,400 2,368,118 2,472,594 2,182,742 1,864,420 1,736,555 1,860,166 2,774,409 2,6831,494 2,806,736 NBC 1938. : $1,869^886 1,742,784 : 1,997,468 1,690,177 1.662,887' 1,612,139 1,370,098 1,407,843 1,656,608 :2,li30,046 2,188,342 2,324,667 ; 1932 12,635,447 2,571,609 2,864,783 .2,649,892 2,305,448 2,081,466 1,826,433 1,745,338 1,807,796 2;063,273 1,963,963 2,000,464 1931 $2,026,860 1,924,778 2,164,434 2,196,880 2,101,526 1,031,166 2,027,976 ' 1,802,427 1,961,826 2,318,091 2,476,906 2,696,186 Total • • • • • • ■ .$2.8,062,886 $21,462,732 $26,604,891 $26,607,041 CBS January ■rPebni: March April May . Jiine ....>> .4 . j;uly ....^V.. August ...'. September , October .... November : December 1934 $1,405,948 «T78i 1,624,904 1,371,601 1,266,887. 025,939 630,290 .513,316 700,491 1,762,601 1,679,689 1,674,087 1933 $941,465 . 1,016,102 776,48.9 624,266 663,066 ; 446,414. 499,638 547,203 ; 1,126,793 1,277,469 . 1,327,716 1932 . $1,348,843 ->i73i974H 1,436,060 . 1.364.5l&2_ 1,326,944. 916,830 : 691,183 640,342 686,163 ; * 072,368 1,106,896 1,006,229 • 1931.: :$692,ii4 7 607621r- 1,110,526 .1.016.1.(1.1 1,0j66,362 1,067,230 877,366 774,618 947,138 1,099,717 1,247,248 1,197,106 Total .$14,826,845 $10,288,968 $12,601,8.32 112,895,039 Washington, Jan. 7. " Jumping the gun on Federal Com-, munlcationa' "Commission, Repre- sentative Jludd of Ne'iv York last week introduced in Congress a bill cancelling all broadcasting licenses and requiring the setting aside of 25'% of all air facilities for educa- tional, religious and other non-profit applicants. '■■■■'f- Report oh this proposal is nearlng filial form and will be eubmltted on schedule next month. While' com- mission has not tipped its hand, In- dustry observers are confident the^ regulatory iagency will thrii thumbs down on the Idea of statutory allo- cation of facilities and back up the present method of assigning fre? quencles and time. ; v Rudd measure certain to be pigeonholed until report Is received and and chances' of action depend upon nature of cotnmlsh recom- mendations. • 14 Oat al NBGrFrisco San Francisco, Jan. 7. NBC has dropped 14 staff mem- bers. One left of his own volition. Droppers are all musicians. Include Ed Flt^patrlck, orchestra leader, arid Bob- Pltner, tenor.- ;- - Will Aubrey resigned so . that he could wander to Hollywood. ' to r by th e network to succeed Ko b- ten in the sales promotion asgiga- ment. ; NEW ORLEANS HEARS LONG BUYING WDSU ALCOIffy^SW^ LADY ESTHER AGENCY Chicago, Jan. 7. Plans are now in the making for the organization .of.his. own-advert tislng agency by Al Cohn, chief: of the Lady Esther company. This will affect Stack-Goble agency which how handles the: Lady Esther account. ' ■ .■. -; ■.•:■: ■ : •.. Lady Esther' has been a heavy .radio. adYjartlaer-ior the past-tew: MR. & MRS. HCKARD OUT OF HOSPITAL' Sam Plckard, CBS v.p. In charge of station relatloris, and Mrs. Pick-, ard have left the hospital and are now at their home in Pprtchester, N. T. They figure on leaving for Florida around March i. Plckard's auto and a trolley car .crashed la Manhattan several weeks agp; wltii the result that t"he CBS ofBclal suffered- seri ous g la ss-cuts about the face and Mrs. Plckard a broken kneecap. .:. —. —' ■ ' '. —1 —:-- .. Brophy Gete Withycomb Post as NBC Diplomat R. M, Brophy has been named to replace Donald Withycomb NBC manager of station relations. Brophy joined the web as Withy- comb's assistant several months ego,; coming from CFCF, Montreal. ~ Wlthycomb's new post is tTTat of general manager of WFIL, Phila- delphia. New Orleans, Jan. t. It: is reported that Huey Long will buy Station WDSU. local Uhalt cta- tlbn projecting Columbia programs, and employ It as an addenda to Louisiana State University. ; Station is to remain In New Or- leans with Baton Rouge as a remote studio. ■. "Joe Uhalt Th'eritlbried" tiflitlck" as general boss. •' years, having been on both NBC and pB3 with the Wayne King orcheis- tra, which Is now doing six jperlods weekly for the cosriietio fam Lum-Abner's Own Web Cincinnati, Jan. 7 -Xum-_and-_Abner,:_Bponsored-:by- jHorlick's Malted Milk, and program starter of the lAutual Broadcasting System, embracing WGN, Chicago; WLW, Cincy; WOR, Newark, and WXYZ, Detroit, bits four more sta jtlojis regularly. comji«5riclri.g_t (7). New outlets are WNAC, Bos I ton; ICIN, Los Angeles; KGO, San I Francisco, and KOIN, Portland, Ore Program hits here on weekday Penner's'Duck Farm' ,.. Joe Penner may opc^n a Broadway •atery to be Iinown as a Duck Farm. George Glvot has had In mind an Acropolis No. .7 restaurant for some time. N.T.G., who has the show at the Paradise cabaret-restaurant, almost had a Times Sq. set-up ready to finance either Penner or Glvot In the respective eatery ventures. ^lght8""from"7;i6"to~y.3UnESTT Cal-Aspirin, sponsoring the Mary Sothern: series ot° weekday after noon , quarter-hour programs, i WLW solo for several months, re cently expanded .to ..the other .three original Mutual stations,' plus WNAC, Boston; WCAE, Pittsburgh arid WGAE,- Clevclarid. Capt. Dobbsie for S-W Chicago, Jan. 7. Stewart Warner company has set its deal' with: Columbia network, starting a program schedule on Feb. 19 on a Tuesday and Thursday night ride. Show, will be Capt. Dobbsie's and will emanate from the. coast Deal wag set through the lobal Blackett- Banh.ijle-Humniert agency. Bushman Back on WGN Chicago, Jan. 7. . Francis X.; Bushman Is back ori WGN, the Chicago Tribune station, after a twb-weel: layoff. However, now. riding on a sus talnlng schedule with the same 'Movie Personalities'- program he had been doing for Two-Minute '-Dessert.- .: ■' ■ Heitmeyer at KNX . . . Hollywood, Jan. .7. ,' P&ul R. Heitmeyer, former man ager of KGW arid KEX, Portland Ore;, is the new promotion manager of KNX. He succeeds John F. Ness, who died recently. . Gay Lee at WINS Gay Lee Joins-WINS, New York, as director of women's activities, new pbstV Was formerly with; WLW .and_later several .Chlcag.CL-BtatlQns Miss Lea will air shortly on weekly broadcast stressing buyer's Information. Guest artists to liven up the session also. - T :— HAMPSONGARY OFF FCC; JOB TOPRAU . San Francisco, Jan. 7. .Pacific Coast, headquarters of NBC will not be moved from San Francisco to; Los Angeles. So says Don Gllman,"vlce-prexy of ■'the web. 01lma-» nlxefl all poBBlhinty of a shift. He said that Inadequate stu- dio space in the South forced the hunt for new iand bigger facllltlea: 'NBC wants a studio in Holly- wood large enough to handle the big productions which originate there The Playhouse . (from which the blggeiilprbductlons originate) does not have a stage largfe enough'. He pointed out that NBC has no transmitter in Los . Angeles, that San Francisco Is more central geo- Washlngton, Jan. 7. " Acting by prearrangement, Coni« triissloner Halmpsom Gary, chairman of the broadcast division, stepped dow;ri from the Federal Communlca-: tlona. <Comriilsslon last week to clear the way for appointment of Repre- sentative Annlng S. .Prall of New York. ■ ■: Appointed last June following ad- . Journment of Congress, Gary, a Texan who at one time was iri the dlplommatic service quit in accord- ance with an understanding nego* tlfited at the time of -his appoint- ment for one-year: term. This was noted in the letter of reslgna"* tlon in which the Commissioner i^e- ferred to" his intention to serve only until January this year. :: Originally named to fill the first district vacancy oh the old Federal' Radio Commission, Prall was in- illgtble to accept -an appointment to the new communications body on account of an act of Congress .which prevents members:, from,: rS'^. signing to ta,ke Jobs on boards they helped create. Since his term in the House expired technically on Jan. S when the 74th Congress convened, Prall now la eligible for appoint- ment whi'rh :s expected to be made this week. . -Expectation is that the New rbrk" Democrat -will be named to a seven- year term and will .assume chair- manship of the commission, with -Judgfi:-!ug©ne--O.^Sykes-i-steppI.n«-^ aside to opei. the path for Prall. Sykes then would take charge of th* broadcast division, succeeding Gary. gra p hically. — 'Ww are iiul guhig tv mak. the mistake that has been made before. We are going to stay where the business is located, ft" few years ago Los Aiigeles: meant nothing as..a radio town; now there Is a great ■ deal of talent to be found there. However, San Francisco Is the Western head quarters for all the large adver- tising agencies. We would be fool ish to move away from 'our busi- ness connections when modern radio erigineeflhg can bring the Los An -geles -programs to-lis.'-. Desplte Oilman's strong avowal, feeling still persists, la other radio circles hereabouts .that NBC • will move to L. A,— --- - - - ——; •; Congoin Co. Exonerated No Code Violation-—Sponsor M Trade Pr-ogram-for—Time^AlEect»-Heartty Also James W. Baldwin, executive of- -flcer-pf-the-broadcasting-code au-- thority, has decreed that-it is not an unfair practice for a station to ex- change free advertising for-a—ris- corded prograiri. . Ruling arose'from the case of the Congoin Tea Co., which, several broadcasters ■ com-- plained, was making a practice of Inducing stations to speculate on future contracts by .the device of putting on a gratis test campaign in return for cufto transcriptions furnished them by the commercial. ' The . complaining broadcasters charged that the Congoin outfit got around the no free time' provisions of the code by basing its billing for the 26 quarter-hour musical re- cordings ori what the station would normally charge for 26 quarter-hour periods. Instead of the ad copy being Incorporated iri the trari-- scrlptlons, the ari-angement pro- vided that the commercial patter be aired by the station's announcer before and after the broadcast of the recording. If after the 26 dliscs had been run off, the accumulated mall rated 60c or less per inquiry, as based on the regular cost of the station's time, the outlet would then be given a 62-week 'pntract at the oard rata. • While the complaint was being Investigated by the code authorltyi "iJ. S. "VToPlrlch^ president of the Congoin Co., Interposed an explana tlon of his firm's method of doing business with radio stations. Wool- rich held that the. arrangement was strictly on the" up : and upi' sirice there was nothing- in the broad casting code that prevented a sta- tion from giving Its time for some thing else of equal value.. If ♦he station charged $60 regularly for a quarter of an hour, the outlet and the Congoin Co. had a right to agree that the value of the recorded pro granv-furnished by the later was $50, ■:■;'-■■::-■■. In his final letter to Woolrlch on the subject Baldwin .wrote: Tour proposal, as we now understand It, is one which Involves an exchange of bona fide ■V'alues which, in fact, may or may not be equal,. It Is your: prerogative to flx the price of the 26 non-commercial elec trlcally transcribed pr" grams, and it is for the station pwrieV to de- termine what price he will pay for them.' One of the heaviest users. of the Idea Involving the exchange of trariscrlptlons for free time is the Hearst publishing enterprises. ■ ISAAC LEAVES WGN FOR LORD & THOMAS Chicago, Jan. .7. G eo r g e F.. Isaa c , for the piast fly» years commercial manager of WGN, the Chica go T ribune sta tion, is leav- mg -tne station on Jan. SniTbecome chief of the radio department : In Chicago for the Lord & Thomas agency. Understood that Isaac will, ac- cording to hfs contract • with the agency, have complete charge of the. radio section of the agency here, including even personnel, sal- aries, etc. Isaac Joined the Chicago Tribune advertising' department in" 1 924 and in 195 0 joined WGN in charge of sales. With the shift of Isaac it marlcs the second WGN exec to move into the agency; post^ Henry Sellnger- having shifted from the station to .. Xiord—&. Tbomas .'ladio-Jdepaiitment- - several'years ago." . . No decision yet made on the re- pla cement of Isa ac at the satloii though certain to be someone at present In the ranks of the Chicago Tribune organlzatlori." : V ~ KOMO-KJR Orch Leader Seeks Seattle Council Seat . Seattle, Jan. 7. .First Iri line -to file- as -a-locat cburicllmanlc candidate last week was Henri DamskI, KOMO-KJR or- chestra leader. Last musician- candidate "was Vic Myers, also an orchestra leadier, who now presides over-the state senate:as lleutenant- governpr, and runs his local caba- ret. Club Victor, on the side. ' Damskl'S: intentions are serious and he is not going to clown. 'I'm not a politician,' he saya. Bing Smith in N. Y; ' Vernon 11, (Bing) Smith, of WREN, Kansas City, around New York last week contacting business. . Smith curious to know what con- stitutes radio 3hbwrn.T.nshll),, any-: liow. ■ ■ ■ :■. :. : .;■■■:■ '.. ■ Lewis to Buffalo Syracuse, Jan. 7. Charles Le-svis, dean of- Syracuse announcers, moves up to Buffalo Jan. 12 to Join the staff of WBEN. \ Lewis has seven yeai's of service to-his credit at WSYR, and has handled practically all the network shoTvs originated by that station.