Variety (Jan 1935)

Tuesday, January 22, 1935 A 111 VAXIETr ss Breach in ftess % Me^^ Lqb Angieles,, Jan, 21. Two of ;the downtown ne\^Bpaper^ The Illuatra.ted Pally News. (mbrii- ing) and ;PpHtrReicord (afternoon) liavp deaerted ■ the other papers in, their ijllent treatment of: KNX, which has been In / existence , for 10 months and followed the refusal of KNX to ,duihp Its independent ne^irs:; bulletins in favor of the Press Radio service. . Following the ■ protest . of the dailies which KNX refused to heied, all the downtown sheets Jerked 'the station's programs from their 'daily logsi leaving the Hollywood "XliWeTT^ews'-afl^only-Lios--Angeles' ; daily caTryihg the listings. Daily News and Post-Record resumed their listing of KNX programs -Wedhesday (16). " Althonph E. Manchester Boddy, publisher 6f the News, fought •gainst the banning, he neverthe- less complied, not wishing, to carry on a lone fight. But last weiek, when he took . over the Post- Becord, Boddy considered that with two • papers he was strong •hough . tb buck the . bpppsiti'on oh this issue. Also thert's no bones ntiade that concern '. oyct circulation ipgurei? in the move. ■ This leaves the Times (morn- ing) and the . Hearst papers, Ex- »mlner (morning) and Hera ld-Ex- press (aftetnoon) still In the fleht against the> Hollywood st ation. Plus this is a suit of IWipOTtfTof libel pending against the Times, ■flled"W KNXr"fbllowiffg-th^n Ushing of an alleged unfavorable "•dltoirlal: afealhst^^ the station at the time of the break. - Bathtub Crooners ' 'Philadelphia, Jan. 21i- WPEN'S Radio Centre build- ing which also hbusies: Wi>AS headquarters,;, is ; going sum- mery in' the smartest fashion. Edifice Includes a swimming pool which has been made syn- thetically tropical by the' in- stallation of wavins palms and Bhlpboard atmosphere. ' . Studiw talent, ependihg a goodly share of its leisure time in the brine. Is having the in- formal pleasure! of hopiping up to the mike and airing in bath- ing^BUits. All-the outfit: needs- is a couple of cabahfis. \ . WOULD TE" Almost simultaneously with the filing of ar statement by Elisha Ha!n,- Bori. chief cou nsel for the "American Newspaper Publishers' • AssbciStlpn; with the Federal Communications NBC CONTAa MEN DELAYED ■Commission, thS^Tfansrsdlo-^resr Service and the Havas Agency, rushed-lnto-printrlast-week-to-dls- clalm having any "further connection with each other. In their announce- ments-Trahera41o^andlHftyas_*h,ch took credit for Initiating the break. Hanson, during a talk bVer NBC Ayleswortli and McCosker D e si g n a t e d to Canvas Possibilities of NBC Act- ihg on Behalf of Com- petitive Hook-Ojp . ODD ANGLES WFIL Is Planning to Pay III* a Routinie out of NBC reps with the Bcw station contracts hsls beeii put ftt to/ the, latter part of this week. %eb's men were slated to start Jpiaking their tour of NBC afflHated tutlets last Thursday (17). What's een holding thiem up is the failure St the statistical and clerical divi- loi(iS ■ to vcomplete^he^mass— of Eatbematlcal data due. to be :Bubj=_ Itted with each contract. : Formula upon which the new sta- tion contracts are based had been Approved the week before by the fTBC board of directors.; Since then the web's home offlce Btaft has been ilrorklhg on individual presentations Sibodying this formula for each -of e 72 stations that will ,be offered new contract. It la proposed that «LCh presentation will show the sta-:: on what It can approximately «x- Hct from the web in commercial In iinder the new compensation M.W. AM OFFERS SHOW if. yrU Ayer has auditioned for loky fitjflke a acrlpt show based on !• blitoriea of the Royal Oana- Norttawestern Mounted Police, program as; presented to the ae- -toouat alto eontained a 4|0-piece ■NMa band under the; direction of .jB»ham';Harrl8.:-,.;L/;: Jplioeb^ Elkins Opens a Phil. Advertising Agency —T—-Phlladelphia,--Jan.-tl.- JPhoebo iliklns, WIP priginatorr of I* ; station's Town Tattler and raelno of the Air shows ahd the I's only iFemme announcer, lias Bned Iter own adVertiBlng agency Mre., Qkl wlU retain her "WIP affllla.- ■■«on.:-. .■■ last November, charged thit Amer- Ican broadcasting had through a connection with a ijew news service propaganda. FCC called on Han- son to be more speciflc about his allegations, and last Monday (14) the corhmisslori received from him a letter in- which he named Trans- -radlo-as-^phtainlngMts-Jorelgri news through . Hayaa and, described Havas as an agency subsidized by the I^ench govemmeat'. About the same time that Han- eon's lettier went on.Hie' with the cpnimlsslbns intimations, were made in "Washihgton that the Trahsradib- JIavaB-iilllance^WMlBla-^d_lP_jC2pe. tip for an airing on the_ floors of Congress. 'The""sub^Jecl, IfWasiBiaidr would be Introduced during the dls- ouBsiOn of the measure seeking to malce the United States- a member of the World Court. ' ; Tw^o 8tatemerila , : Transradlo and Havas each re- leased a statement. Tuesday (IB). In both cases . the assertion :waB made that it had beisn decided not to renew theT cbhtractr which 'ex- pired Jan; B. CamiUe Lemercler, Havas gen. mgr. fof Nprth ,America; averred . through the Aaspciated ^esB that his organiziatlon's action had been prompted by the possibility that the release of its newS: through broadcasting stations In Ajnerica might; cause misundeirBtandlng ;as -tCH-Havas^bllcy. Havas, he aald,. doesn't want to appear to be taking BldeB^nTthe-issue-bet-we^riTthei-new^-^ paper publishers a;nd the broad- castdrs. -■ ■ ■ ■ • • Herbert Moore, head of Trans- radio, declared that his service had continued to handle ^Havas dis- patches up to Jan.: 12 without hav- ing any Intention^ of renewing the contract. In support of this claim Moore cited the bircuThstince thif he had" during the; Intervening week negotiated a hookup with Reuter|s, Litdi, British news service. Affilia-: tion between Transradlo and Reu- -ters-W6nVinto-el£ect-Ja.h. 18. NBC would like to serve as a sales agency for the Mutual Brba.d- castlng System. Proposition which NBC hais Bubmltted to Mutual would place, the former-:web in'- the..posl-- tlon of retailing not only time on the Mutual station setup , but NBC afflliated artists t^ Mutual clients. For the time it sold oh Mutual NBC would expect a 16% commission, ^Jiider^he-urrangement^uggeBtedr by Nbc the Mutual group would have available for either eusta,lhing. or commercial booking, any of the talent represented by the. NBC Art- ists' Service. Stations responsible for the salei of this; NBC talent to commercials would be eligible to ei split on the commlssiohB. ; .; Working out "of details on the NBC proposition arid also the draft- ing of an agreement to cover it has been left by the Mutual board of directors to M> H. Ayleswprth. and Alfred J.-McCpslcer of WOR. Under- standing is that in return for ,tiie ri ght, of tjme an d tftlnnt rpprftHP.ntn.- tion NBCI will make its studios in bo th New York and Chicago avail - able for Mutual commercial pro- grams in the event the required space is hot available at the sta:' ■tion^-lncluded-In-the" ifutual com bine,.' Oddity of the Bituatlon la that WNEAV Buzzing Kayldr Eogers to N. T. - ■ Hollywood, .Jan. 21. ; Naylbr Rogers, general manager of KNX, left today for the east. ; Will Spend three weeks contacting accounts. • •. . Mutual's chief selling point has been approximation of major network coverage at less, than network time ,(5psts; Chicago, Jan. 21. Wlllard Tablet Is going on the Mutual web. Will use a three- times weekly program featuring Physical aspect, of WNEW, New York, changed consider- ably this past week with the change-over to metropolitan link for .the American Brbad- caating Company. Line of busi- ness callers flooded, the outer office and all corridors. WNEW is ' going ahead as an Independent station. ABS may take additional space on ■ the floor- above. - No thing def- inite. FOR RIGHT TO Philadelphia, Jan. 21. Phllly talent is walking . around with smiles for the. first time in years since plans for the operation of the new WFIL station began to leak out last week. The only thing that is being talked aLbout here is the fact that Don WlthyCbmb'a out- fit is budgeting to pay sustalnlnsf artists. According to local mike tal- ent, this is the millennium.. Wlthycomb, who moved from NBC station relatlpns, began his official duties last Monday from a suite in the Ben Franklin hotel. -where-he is still ensconced. Pending the au- thentic merger of WFI-WLIT, which became effective today, the new manager devoted the week to giv- ing _ the studio s' prog ramming the Raltlmore, Jan. 21. .Group of dentists will be heard in Circuit^Cbju.rjtjJbere_tp_day J;Mpi^^ day) under Judge Joseph. Ulman in an argument over the valid ity of the law passed In " the Mafyland" General Assembly back In 1933 prohlbltlnr-dentlsts-from-advertis- ing on the radio. Test . Of this law" Is being moti- vated-by-an Injunction brought last week by . a loop dentist against the state board of dental examiners. the attorney-general oi Maryland, Herbert O'Corior, and State's at-^ totney, ^Bernard .l^^'elis. ^ ^ I Jji the action fi led I n C ircuit is unreasonable, arbitrary and un- constitutional, and that it was in- stigated by a group of dentists who have the bulk of Balto's busIneBs ln 0.0. and formulating operation plans, for the combined outfit. It is ex- pected- that new studio quarters and transmitter will not be com- pleted until June arid WFIL will make application to operate via WFI solely and dismantle the WLIT tower. ; .. , . .. l.V With Withycomb comes Keith McCloud as program head, Stanley , Chambers handling sales, and Joe' Nassau, former WLIT manager, aa; chief engineer. First two were NBC staff men. "There " has been' largre amount of talk in Philly as to what WFIL'a -pollcr'of-shelllngrout- for-talent-wlll- do to the entire local set-up, since a^tolary check-hereaboutsJias-been,- a scarce enough Item to frame. It Is. expected that, the better warblers _ and spielers will come out from hiding and station will have little difficulty In building an okay pro- r .•irram schedule, : " ' ■ ' - •' Sfiow will be 'Remember 'Way Back When,' with Ryan, chief of WGN, handling the mike to tell the folks about the days of the , hoop skirts, etc. Cadets, who have been a CBS-WBBM feature for the past couple of years, will warble "way back-when'-Bongsr—Understood-that the typb ,of _WiUatd_.cppy will, be changed Idrastically for the network program. Med Maxwell to WWAE Fort Wayne, Jan. 21. Medford Maxwell, program man- ager of WOWO for past three years has; resigned to assu me new duties as manager' of WWAE, Hammond. Calumet Broadcasting:. .enterprises controls this station, Move becomes effective on Jan. 28. No successor has been named as yet. Quin-ltyail-and-the-Cadets-quartetr^^ -thelr-clutches and-seek-to-keep their. priceia up by limiting advertlslngr. , Though there Is no advertising directly plugging Individuals en- gaged In dentistry, a program will start pver the Americein Brpadcast- ing chain this' week which will be carried locally by WCBM. A bl- -w-eekly.. affair.. ..wiU. be framed in story form a nd t agged 'The Dentist Bays;' "Wlir'Fe~sponsored by Dential Assns. of various states, and call public's attention to dentistry in general. ProigramS will be quarter-^ hour a.m. shots; Initial : will; debut tomorrow (Tuesday). , Bernice Claire for Chevie Bernlce Claire sings on the Chevrolet (CBS) show. Jan. 29. ... _ It will be MisB Claire's first New York date flince closing her Coast concert trip. ' Approaches Union ItJs claimed that Wl'.5'..iB,.ap.PlX^ injr for union pe raalsjit p inBtail Its Romeo Cella, musician leader, .suf- fered a relapse upon receiving Withycomb's voluntary action re- garding the house band. In the lead to snaro-the- Job'-are-^-incent-Trav»- erB, now batoning at the Pennsyl- vania hotel, and Howard ■ Lahin, whose ork played . the inaugural L.... today. Question in the minds of. localltes is whether the Levys of WCAU and KYW Will follow the WFIL lead in .establishing a fund forjtalent. JVC Ajj_ capitulated to union demands last faU by buying a legit house unit after station became the key for the CBS-DIxle web to which it pipes about BO shows weekly. The new KYW (NBC) addition, how- ever, maintains. no studio ork and, like WFIL^ originates no progi'ams to NBC. Consequently, if Wlthy- comb pays talent and hires a sta- tion orki will the Levys do the same?; -'That's the -question which Philly Is perspiring to have an- swered, and hopes It's affirmative. They've been getting peanuts for so long they are beginning to whistle. WLW in Transcription Biz Expecfr^fb Mat^Discs of Sustaining Shows IS and Also Mutual Commercials WLW iB arranging to take on the transcription business as a sideline. Cincinnati BUtlori has ;aa its pri- mary objective the etencilllng of some of Its sustaining programs while they are in process of broad- cast for sale to commercials. Same transcribing oft the air service will be available to WLW clients who' want to place these discs in mar- kets not covered by WLW's trans- mitter. ■■ -■; WLW's transcription ; making plans were disclosed by. John' L. Clark, the Crosley outlet's geh. jngr., while on a vj!sit to New "Tork last week. Clark came In for the pur- pose of Ironing out some of the technicalities Involved In the project. Report current In the New York broadcast trade last;; week .^was..that WLW would, In soliciting prospec- tive clients for the Mutual Broad- casting System, offer to make avail- able transcri ptions o f Mutual pro- grams "for placement~on", stations outside the MBS combine. NBC al lows for a similar supplementary service to Its network custoiners In the case of NBC the booking of these off the air recordings la re- stricted to stations affiliated with NBC. . . Adams Hat Fight Show Goes Oyer ABC Network Adams Hats is picking up the . qrpoy •Rnag-irrnnMft yUck flgbt in Miami this Thursday night (24) for release oyer the stations In George 6. Storer'fl American chain. V Because of previous obligationf,- the New York source of the broad- cast will be WMCA. : . 1. B. Wilson in N. y.; L . B. 'Wll.sonj, _rad.lp; and theatre showman of Covington, Ky., is in New York City on one of his peri- odic trips. . Expects to spend a week, ; . Actor a" Spbriiidr"" " " Chicago, Jan. 21. Norm sheer, Chicago CBS - Btafjf .artist. Is buying time on the WBBM Chicago hour. Sherr does not appear on his pro- gram..