Variety (Jan 1935)

R >% D I O Tuesdttf, Januar^r 22, 1935 (Merchandizing and Program Tieups) butstanding Stunts IRTROOM SC ENE 'THE O'NEfLLS'-^BS . BATTEN, BAftTON, DUfl. STINE A OSBORNE V ''•■I'otic <J6urt Room ' z ; New. York. . 'The O'Neills' will iiae a complete court setup. Including a mixed jury, during this episodes In which one of the characters, Danny, la on trial. : Stage of i the Coiumbla Playhouse No. 1. whence: the jprbgrama will be brokdcast, .wIU-be a jury , box, : a ' judge's;bench and. other-properties that go. with'a trial scene. : . . ■ Gdld Diiat Corp.; bankroUer of the serial script, will make a sample distribution tb. sideline audience during the trial series.; Charles Un- . defhlll, of B.B.D, :& p.. Is Handling ' ^he stunt.- .;. . -' A ' ■ ■■,■■''1 PingrPbnis Broadcast : ■ ; ;v .^Qinaha.-.-' bhe of those incidental broad- casts that let listeners .know a radlb station is on Its toes' 'wient over WGW Saturday (12). Program w'as ten minutes with the troupe of ' World chai n p loh tabl e-tennis wlz- ardis • wljo made Omaha on, their barnstpfmlhg toun They: had b'are- , ly arrived when Manager John Gllr —iiirmrrartged-^tt^Kiiu^h—the—Om Table tennis a^sbcIatloH to get them'oh the air. Glllln spotted them -ten : minutes before' 'the Saturday atteriiopn opera. • 8p6t somewhat hard to fill, Aijnouincer Harry Burke Jtjiew only ■ a lew jnlnutes^ before,the event that he was to conduct ., the event,, but ":p6 happened he had caught the na- tional broadcast some weeks before ■~ frbm" weaf: •.' B just took up :ifhere that . broadcast left off, and .^^eaiiy got the boys to talking about i tiie game and their trip. Only two ■ of thel four barnstormers went be- fore tiie mike, Coleman Glark.ajid Jlirimy McClure, the United: States . representatives doing the ta.iklne, while Viktor ^ Barha and Sandor Glaricz, the Hungarian, decided to —sleep-It-bfErneltherrbelng-BO^hot-on . this country's ilngo. .: The troupe of:■ four showed -to some 70fr cash ' customiers In the —Hotel Fbm«treller^ballroont-Sunday- . .(13) evening at prices' of 50 and 75c. From here the players travel ning, will be used. Reservations for tables are made by calling KSTP. Couples may i)la;y any ayatcm de- airedi provided U be' a recognized (Sims, Vanderbllt, Culbertson) one. T ourney Is oo nd ucte a on a non? profit basis, 35c.. fie^elng charged each contestant merely. to; cover operating expenses.; : With prizes awarded the various Avinners each night, istudlo figures' It'll ;:be; • wiay ahead on publicity and goodrwill If It . only breaks even financially. - Station vrill air. rfesult: aunimarles during each. evening's play, but no piay by play accouhts will be giyeir. If an butstandilngv charnp emerges from the weekly jousts,: KSTP plans to iet 'Im: air his system of garner- ing the; laurel.. The BUflop's Ball^ '■'-•: :■■ ■ ..: New York. WMCA'a initial effort as an Inde- iiendent station again was; to go after the annual butler;s ball at. the Hotel Commodore iast Wednesday (16) night. In which. doormen arid first maids cavorted to Meyer- DaVis' orcbestrav: ' Detailg of tbe affair were aired: from 12 to 12:30; with John. Praser handling the descriptive duties; In few instancies he managed to get butler up to the; microphone for some casual; remarks. Seyeral maids also contacted to chatter pver the air. ATT^Is^e'dTgt^tTlgroTnn iSio n jii nd few scared. r . ; ;; .■' ■.: Only, employers.present were Mrs, 'Marshall Field; who " arr anged .the east-to New Xork to sail for Lon?^ doh early In February.; event, anci Mrs. Richard -^Hltney, Several Jjoxed bought by the upper crust,- but the evehlng wias glyeri' over to the. domestics for their €n;>T .tertalnment. ;Very classy: mob it was,:to6.-; V ; Cphfroyersiai Coach ; : ; . .-. Baltimore..-: As soon as. the, news cracked forth; last week-that-DIck Harlow,; gridiron mentor at Western; Maryland Col- lege, liad been apt)olnted football coach aV Harvard,: Lee' Davis con- tacted him for - ah Interview over WCBM. Davis, , who Is station's sports spieler,; also arranged for Harlow :;to bring; down *wlth him from the green, turfed hills, of West- ern Maryland, Bill Shepperd. star baGkAeld-man-of-^ast-season.-DavIs will query the pair of 'pm on the air. It waft a good snag fpr station J?^y.. -^fteiv jiarlo.w was^^ appointed, "1lTe-^eriinson;*-?ifi^ sheet attacked Ha^low^ saying he has In." past been associated with WKRC's House Stunt Cincinnati. • lirojecl, exploitation stunt in; the . Federal liome moderhlzatioh- cam- . yalgh.: An old dwelling was moved ! fr o m p obrrsectlPmcf-^ilty-to-aubur^ ban spot opposite WKRC arid re.- ^bristructed along up-to-the-nilnUtc lines. ■; Progress of ImHrov^ment re- ceived generous: publicity in daily ._'I'ririts.^:; ; ■'■:■ ■■;■■ ' ■:. ■ ' Mayor^Wilsori's talk aT dedlcatlott of public Inspection., period ; picked up by WKRC and station also piped detailed descriptiori by Ruth .liyons, its home economics narrator, on her " . . tour of tiieT-esideTfce. . Kidnapping Sisrviee .: - ■ - . '; : Pebria, ni , WMBD, Peoria, El., -went ■ .man hunting recently and delivered with in a half hour.; ■ ' Rudolph'Bl Jbeger, 48, auto sales man . of Pekln. 111., near here, was kidnapped arid robbed on a recent eveulns by ithree bandits who ; forced hlni to:drlve them to; Spring field, 111., the state capital. Arriv Irig' there, ' the bandits trufSaed up Joegeir and left him in his car in a deserted sectlpn of the railroad ■yards..:.'".--"'.- ■ ■ '- In the meantime, a paaaerby who liad. seen .the hpld-up nptlfled_^ the Tazewell county sheriff, who got In tcuch -with the Peoria broadcasting station by long distance phpne. The —pt<jffi^m---SGheduleh^jnfa3ilnteiTUpted while a descrlptlcri of Joeger and his car waa broadcast.- : Tbe police 61: Sprlrigfield, 75 miles iaway, heard the .broadcast, and In a half hbur had located Jpeiger and hia car aiid had ' notified fraritlc relatives; ' • -. ....' ,- ■.■ ■ kiSTPfS Bridge Tournament ■ ■■■y'-:^..-""- : St. Paul . Twin Cities bridge enthusiasts ■ cariie in etrorig -at the- bperiirigt-;bf .: - the-KSTP Bridge "Ileagiae -Monday (21) night at Hotel, Badlsson in - -Minneapolis and Tuesday (22) night ; at the St. Paul hptel ln St, Paul, •. Tpurriey- Is _±ield under auspices, of ^~flifeTAm'erlcaTr-Bridge-4iej^ueHR-ua- ■■ —-seH--j.—Baldwln,--leagu.e_treasurer, here to supervise the opening : nights: play. , . ^, . •During the tournamfent this ■tvlnter the How^lt . nibyement, Whereby the first hand dealt at each :table is put In a tray and /these .hapds . transferred - jfrbm ; tftble te t^ble, givlne. eyeryorie; a chance to :' play thd 'saihib' .liarid durl^ ever part in the. observance, rather than have the larger conivmunlty troop get all the time. In addition the .sta- tion Ib saluting all the tropps in the territory with a program of Us; own. ; Police Chief on WAAT ' , ■ - "Jersey CItyj N. J, Bremer Broadcasting Corpbratlon through Its station "WAAT, Is pre- senting a series of dramatized crime stories oji Suridays." Material Is gleaned from police files with the purpose pf showlrifi? tliat crime dbes 'not'pay;^^----'---'--';-—'-^--T-"--^;- Chlef Harry Walsh of the city; pp^ lice dejjartment appears pn each prbgram, pplriting out the .weak- rieases of the criminal's act, Alao the varloua methods In which they are tracked down..: Programs are confined to 30 -minutes ruhnlng: time. - <IMiflhty Oracle' ■ ■ Syracuse. , WPBIi has revived the 'Mighty Oracle,' sustaining vShow,' tied ' In with Loesw's State at an expense to the theatre of 10 pairs of passes weekly. ■ ■■[■■:' . George Perkins, assistant prbgram director. Is the new 'Mighty Oracle,' with script written by -Robert Q. Soule, director, • Originally, the 'Oracle' answered questions which presumably. puzzled listeners. ; Now the continuity uses unique questions, with the theatre passes. going to those who bring them up. WE^G's Special Elrrilra, N. Y. ■ Messages from the governors of two states as Well aa greetings from ■the-^Whlte -Houae.-dramatlzation of leading news highlights of last year, messages of,mayors within the sta- tion's coverage, ereetlri&s In the .triey. I n"atlve~rongues-of-l*-forelgn—lan=' guages were a: few of the ' stunts packed Into twp hours: of: rixuslcal entertainment as WESG of Elmlra, N.. Y., reviewed 1934. IJrider the title 'The Wprld T.urns a. Paige' the twp-hour afternpon brpadcast • approached the seven leading news stories •f; the. past year With special' script employing' a cast of 28 written by Charles Ciithbert, Chosen for" dfamatizatfon, with, all Incidental music supplied by an orchestra and richly embel- lished with numerous-sound effects, such news highlights as the Baer Camera fight, shooting of Dlllinger, Morro Castle disaster, the appre- hension of Hauptmann and the as saaslriatlon of King Alexander were portrayed. ATi-8g5grregate~cast;tDtallng-T0"per' sons participated' in the broadcast, which was considered outstanding ;by_an_Indep.endent-station. Listen s^cnppis that proselyted gi'ld giants. The newspaper wire services burned with the news, and people from Maryland almoist rose In arms and .sallied forth to fight the North once more when they he»rd of Harvard .'Atma' ■ w 'msTtir^r^ewr-^OTowr who is something of an idpl in these parts.; . .'■ . 'Hear Self Telaphoriln fl Dubuque, la. WKBB tried a stunt recently that drew more than passing Interest The staff'spbtted a'thoriei/rieSr the inike3_bn_a. sp.eclal-request program and ■then'-cut' in,-whenover:possIblei bri the ;phorie calls' so that persons calling could hear their own re quests go out over the air as. they made them. It took about five miri utes for-the-ether-gang-to-get-wlse after which telephone was swamped As a novelty it proved a bang up stunt and attracted no end of com ment. Not generally feasible and many dLsappblrited in riot being able to get on the air via ;the telephone route. Reporting Cataistrophe . Charlotte,' N. C • When a Southern railway crack passenger train piled up near the city limits In one of the moat spec tacular wrecka of state history, WBT dispatched staff men to the scene, to the hospital, to police and fire headquarters, and picked nip on every possible angle. In addition eye witnesses were gathered up and taken to the stU dios to tell their stories. -ionKKj;oo(rvoTt« :.i Schenectady. ' W2XAF, .WCY's . experimental short waver, has a new sigh-on sign-off which should Identify the station anywhere. It's the nblse of the discharge of 10,000,000 volts of lightning, touched off In the Gen eral Electric Company's Schenect ady research laboratories. Called 'The Voice bf Electricity,' this novel Ihemer. Is.. a tribute to the late Charles P. Stelnmetz. Boy Seout Week Feb. 8 . : ;. ;. . . Dubuque, la.. In cooperating for the observance of National. Boy Scout week, Feb 8-14, ■ thls-yearrrWK-BB;: territorial outlet,—Is—dblngs-.an -'"unusual—Job through cooperation with national scout headquarters, rather than with the local unit. Tb this .end' troops from niariy of the smaller cpmmunl ties, and executives, will share time allotted by the station to; the scout movement. ).'.''■■ - '.■ ■• fn this, -marihei: each .conimurilty Will feel that It ha« a distinctive era advised m advance by news- paper. publicity and announcements over the air Mugging The Shadow'.. New York From a two-time announcement offering a picture of 'The Shadow' Blu^^ (i:!oal^^yg (eelved around 70,000 takers, ^^rnough the charactei has been on the air five years, thia was the first time that the account con- cerned let the loudapeaker element in On t he pl ayer's , pi ctorial Identity, Football OD'Coast (Continued from page 87) sport as iriUch as possible!. . The Conference decided to continue to be. hosts to the Stations and the use games are sponsored by . an oil company. About the only other sport that mearis anything, over the radio put here la boxing, with the main bbute at the Hollywood Legion; Stadium (Friday nights) and at the Olympic Auditorium (Tuesdays) getting, ether. KNX has the Legion permit and KFWB , the Auditorium. And the annouricing Is on a par with; the fights, the fans still looking for the papers after the contests to learn what It .was all' about. 'They have baseball here too-^ Pacific Coast League—If anyone cares. Games are broadcast mostly by the smalllei^, but putalde the restaui ants and shoe shining parlors the ball games are a yawn. Base- ball, outside of the World Series, is a dodo here; Tennis and gplf also figured dur^ Ing the past year in southern Cali- fornia , broadcasting but to a siriall degree. An Innovation In sports broadcasting here was KPWB's coverage of the Los Angeles open (golf) when, via'portable apparatus, this Warner:, station covered the final round frbrii hole tp hple. That's been "done in ths^'ast but was new here. Racing fans; looking forward to •ethering—ofr^the—racea-at-rthe: iijew Santa Anita track, are In for dis- appointment. Operators' t^o far have set on: keeping patronage; coming through the turnstiles by .deoldlrig the races will stay off the air. Jjpw ever, expected they'll relent fpr 'the cpriilng $i00i000 classic on Feb, 23: (Continued from page 37) here because of; It's Chicago Tribune ownership, that paper going out ; and promoting . Its own sporta—eyjanta. -Thfi .Goldfin. Gloves amateur fistic tournament, the. Chicago Bears-College All- Stars football gariie; and wrestling matches were all exclusively on "WGN since they were launched by the Tribun e Program Is cleared over 12. CBS stations. . Collegiate News . . Hollywood. KNX- is attempting- to <!op-eollege and university llsteners-ln by de- voting a 15-min. program weekly to news of activities at the various schools. : . Saturjiay. night chatter_by—Lon-_ don Corbett is tabbed 'Campus Game and Gossip,' and is. retailing news of spprt arid . other activities at the colleges, gathered by a cor-; respondent -at: each -schobh- - ; Later, statipri will, put on a con- test between various' / ,musical groups at the schobls. : ; • . Anythihg-Can-Happen San Antonio; , , KTSA is feeding Southwestern Broadcasting company an Any- thlng-rCa^-Happeri. period created by Lewis Lacey, station mgr., who spiels in a humorous vein on char- acters arid events in the day's news. News angle is ignored with chatter confined .to the., human Interest angle exclusively on a humorous plane. Material Is culled from the dallies but—n o Infraetien of press-radio agreement since the news angle is Ignored. Hits the air at 7 p.rii. five nights weekly. • Indoor. Circus on -Air / Canton, O. ■ Complete two-hour circus pro gram will be broadcast here from 8 to 10 Monday night (21). Station WHBC arranged with Canton Shrine .Trumdrum to air the two- hour pf-emlere performance of the -luinual Shrine- circus:: from- the-clty auditorium on; the opening night. Will catch the show from the operilng ■ band nuriiber: tb • the' final act on the program, with as much half, believing that by alrjng the opening performance hundreds who do riot take the newspapers will be obntacted. Other cities where the show is coritracted for later Itt the season are watohlnir th*'experiment And today Chicago has the latest step in the broadcasting of sports events. ,This is the daily program of . horse-racing over WJJD, the Ralph -Atlasa::4tatlpri. agpnsbred 'by mistletoe G; .1'- •Pb'sslbllltJ^'"' 'of broadcasting the races has been discussed from time tp time in the past .but' no statlori had the nerve. 1100,000, or an average of (4,006 weekly over the baseball eeasori. These prices are matched on other stations throughout the midwest. The Ipcal newspapers are en the spot. They would like to drop baseball, as a sort of tevenge "fpr the desertipn of the g:ariie te brpad* casters, but they can't; They know ■ that their drculatlpn will dwindle If they kill the bbx ecpres. On the pther hand, radio knpws .What-basebtULmeanELbn the.rev«nue end .and It has been careful tc cement the relatlenship' as clcsely as possible. It is going out of Its way to make the rpad smobth for the ball games and is doing every- thing possible to build attendance. Last spring radio was a little ap- prehenaive when It appeared that P.. K. Wrlgley might kill off the Cub broadcasts In -line with the; stand taken by. several other big league cities. But an agreement;. was reached, mainly through the efforts pit Atiass, head of WBEM and for CBS in Chicago. Baspball's Agreement In the terms of this agreement ; the stations were to give three free aririounceriients each mbrriing :pre-'- ceding the day's game. Also the stations agreed to. censbr the baso- ball. announcers so that they would sa • nothing that might impede .at- tendance—no mentioning that it. was windy, too cold, top hot, or uricpmfortable in any way; . There was to be no nieiitlun If a baKebnH~ hit a patron, etc. : ■ ■; Despite all this, there was ''much doubt among air, men whether; big league ciuds. wpuia accept or rejecr" broadcasting, The field, was pretty much divided with such towns as Cincinnati,. St. Louis,; and others refusing to allow the mikes to come into their parks on the contention that broadcasts would hurt 'at-- tendance. . . ' ^ ... -. . ;■. ;■.; ... Ford's Series $460,000 . But today there Is rib question, that all dpubt haa beeri erased as to whether baseball will snub pr. hug radio. Judge Land is settled that problem once .and for all when he delivered the paajt World's. Series to .the F'prd Mp:.tbr conipariy, for $150,- 000. It was the first.tlme the Series Jin4^^yeje-bfiei]LJ3oldJLQ-ajponsor and the r^esults are general]jj agreed to have been favorable tp' everybody concerned; ' • . •■' ~That seven game festival Is esti- mated to have cost Ford $460,000, but radlp considers that Ford got his money's worth. The trade was also Impresaed with the way Ford handled the plug, holding It down to aim'ple «'courte;sy' announcements. Ford was on both networks and on WGN/'-latter, unafflllatip.d. "with".'thl»' two webs. Tribune put up such a yell at first, at being cut out of the gamca that the station Was given or the vision, to jump, into the field, fearing ' possible reaction from the public.,; In view of this fear It Is remarkable to note that 'WJJD has riot. recelY.ed: _orie._s.quawk_. from listeners, and the station covers a lot of territory. 'The fact is that there . has been a flood of con- gratulatory letters from fans. —Nbfenlydoes thlsTtatlon-broad- cast the races but also the mutuels Descriptions are, of cburse, built from tlie; nieagre wire; reports from the ■ regular; track service." Practically every sport has been broadcast over Chicago statl'bns Inr eluding the six-day bike grind, the Iridia.napolls 500-mlle auto race, the aririual corn-husking contest, horse- shoe pitching, basketball, :walka- thons and darice marathons, bil- liards and pool, swimming and clay pigeon shooting. Newspapers' Problem While , all this is going on, and the stations are really making a lot. of nnioney on sports broadcasts, the newspapers are running around wondering—what's hit 'em ahd-wha' they're going to do about this radio Invasion pf a field which has always been strictly a newspaper child and frorii. which they get practically nothing but circulation. The news- paperQ are sore, and plenty, but don't know what to do about. It. The press has devoted years to pro- fessional basebair and college foot- ball, gaye. baseball front page posi- tion, three, and' four pages-inside, the best writers to be had and a special department with a, heavy overhead. They .built baseball tb what It Is. And In return the news- -real -clrcus-atmosphere-as-posslble- p apers K etr~may b e , a t wo-inch—ad going out on the two-hbur plug. ;; ;' circus executives decided tp give the radio a try and have cut their newsp.aper advertising budget in and radio draws-good-cbln-for-send-- Ing out the same $hlng. In 1935 the Columbia station here, WBBM, will get $85,000 for the Cubs' games and the bill will be paid by Kentucky Winners dgarets. And' thp option en th'e WBBM game< la 1986 (eallfl for a atralght the Series under the sppnsprshlp of the Chicago Ford dealers. The Ford expenditure . In those seven days broke all records fp,r coin spending; on.the..ether. In, that space of time.;., And thrbugh it all the; newspapers could do nothing but silently froth at the mouth. They have threat- ened to switch their affection to other sports. In several tow"ris~tliey~ ~ have done what radio did when It was locked out of professional games.. That was to build-up sand- lot baseball; ;' ">.;."' ' ■ . ■ Announcers' Out of the midwest have come a couple of . the biggest . names in sports broadcasting. Irt Chicago; the men. who stand out are Quln Ryan and Bob Elson of WGN; Ryan on special events and college football, Elson on baseball and pro football; Pat Flanagan on WBBM, Hal Tot- ten for NBC, Bob. Hawk on NBC and. Buell Patterson of WJJD are, other promlnents. And In two other midwest cities the sppr,t.3 luminaries are France Laux of MOX, St. L o ula, arid Tyy^y aoii, of "WWJi Detroit. L.aux arid Flana- gan have both handled the World's Series for Cplumbla, and In Detrplt; the fans gbt up a general petition to have Tyaon mike the aeries for that • towri. . . : " Case of Flanagan on WBBM con- tains a bitter pill': fpr . the- press. Kentucky Wiririers clgarets broke intp- tPwn by:u3ing- only the WBJtM . base.bali hrpadcasts, .pperidin£_npt... one . cent for newspaper space. ; Flanagan did; a lot of actual beg- ging for the listeners tp help him make good-on the account by going out andTjuylrig the. cigarefs'tb show the-sppftspr that FiaMagan had^a toi- ;- lowing. '^And the station was fiooded . with orders f pr cartpns of Kentucky Winners. And with ea'ch carton Flanagan sent a message of thanks. This Is the type of seling which: newspapers, partioularljr resent on th» part of tht ftfaw.