Variety (Mar 1935)

Wednesday, March 6, 1935 FIFITEN A B I O VARIETY 39 Feb., % Up Over Last Year for Both Incomes from time sales for NBC and Columbia last month showed an ease-off In either case on the -webs' -upward-stride. - Coitipared- to February, 1934, NBt's tally for last month represented a boost of 13.4%, while a like parallel for CBS figured an 18% Jump. NBC In January, 1935, did 20,6% better than It did in January, '34, and the difference be- tween the two months for Columbia constituted an upward nudge of 22%. ■■\ ■ NBC's gross for last month was $2,952,655, exclusive of the Pacific link's take, which it Is estimated will figure between $60,000 and $70,- 000. In beruary, '34, it accounted fo- $2,197,297; In February, 33, It garnered $1,742,784 and for the same month the year before, $2,671,609. . Columbia turnover of broadcast -fapilltles-T^aat—mont^i— bFought—1 $1,638,421, as compared to $1,387,- 823 for February, '34, $884,977 for February, '33* and $1,319,414 for February, '32. Brooks Connally Upped San Antonio, March 6. . Brooks Connally, chief announcer, hafl been-inade-prbgram'director for KTSA. Connally came to KTSA from KTAT, Fort Worth. Walter. Beck, lately of KRLD, Dallas, has joined the KTSA staff as announcer. Jim Crocker, lately with WFAA, Daltasi jbeconies pro- duction manager for KTSA. Copy-Reading Error Causes CBS to Issue —^Rate-Card-Numbei^21 Immediately after It had Issued another rate card to supplement the one, showing the new rate setup, which went out in January, Colum- bia discovered last week an error in the former (rate card No. 20) ,and -ordered the series destroyed. A third rate card (No. 21) Is now on the press and will be distributed among, the advertising trade later In the week. Mistake that set the printer to work again had to do witli the. tabulation of the network's stations and towns. Instead of 97 stations in 97 citlefl, the card should have 95 station in 95 cities. ConstnicHon Permit Time Extended to Six Months ; ■ Washington, March 5. Effective pedod .ot construdtlon permits was raised to six months by Federal Communication Commission last 'weeki folloAyiiig xompjaints of red-tape delay in dbtainlrig exten- sion of three-month certificates. Outstanding permits will be civien automatic : extension until six months from issuing date. Longer term inay be obtained when special circumstances require, but, on the other hand, applications for license may be submitted in shorter - time If work is finished before six months ■ are up.. ■ ■ KGCA, Pecoraih, Spreads Decorah, la., March 6. Station KGCA, Decorah, Is upping its daytime signal strength to 250 watts and will open remote control •tudios in Waukon and Crescov. Outlet also will seek to build better programs'. Charles W. Greenly ylll remain as manager of the local "utlpt. Staffs for th^ other .stiulloK not n-i yet named. • ^ v- Blackett • Sample •' Hummert Tops in Both Network and Spot Broadcasting on Amount biF Coin Spent NOSES OUT J. W. T. Latest rating of the advertising agencies on the basis of network time expenditure presents a decided upset oyer the situation that pre- vailed at the end of 1933. J. Walter Thompson, which for two seasons leA the list, has been no^ed out by Blackett-Sample-Hummert, Inc. Latter agency now holds the dual position of being the top supporter of broadcasting in both the spot and national web fields. - Outstanding, comer-upper on- the list is Benton & Bowles, which within a year has jumped from eighth to fourth place. Other agencies that have made marked progress In radio's favor as far as ing Agencies for '34 CBS NETWORK Blackett-Sample-Hummert Erwln, Wasey Toiing & Rubicam' Newell Eminett . Co. Batten, Barton, Durstine &. Oshorn N. W. Ayer & Son William Esty Co. J. Walter Thompson. : Frances Hooper Stack Gobie Adv. Ageincy • Lennen & Mitchell ' Ruthrauff & Ryan ■ ^ : Hutchlns Adv. Co. E. W. Hellwlg Co. Campbell-Ewald Co. NBC NETWORK ,; j. Walter Thompson • , Lord '& Thomais ■ ; ' ■*■, ■ '... Benton & Bowles ; • Blackett-Sample-Hummert McCanh-Erlckson Ruthrauff & Ryan N. W. Ayer & Son. . Erwin, Wasey & Cq. , Stack Goble Adv. Agency Roche, Williams & Cunnygham Campbell-Ewald Co. Young & Rubicam ■ Cecil, Warwick & Cecil The Blackman Co. Lennon & Mitchell . ABC Shrinks Into Regional; Storer Returns to 10 Stations Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., last week declared a dividend of 40 cents on Its Class A and Class B stocks. It Is payable March 29 to all stock on record on March 13. Before the declaration of a 60 percent stock dividend about three mon ths ago, Columbia, paid 60 cents per . share: ; quarterly. on . both classes of: stocks. However, to stockholders who received the 60 percent . stockdistribution, the March— dividend . amounts . to a virtual declara:tion of 80 cents a share, since each shareholder ehar- ihg in the stock dividend now has twice as much stock. MRS. CURTIS BOK ON WFIL, PHILADELPHU - •. Philadelphia. March p. WFIL last woel: signed Mrs. Cur- tis Bok, wife of the former philan- thropist and donor of the Philadel- phia Bok Award, to a weekly series of talks. D«!but next Sunday (10). Show besides. Mrs. Bok's phllosof phlzihg, will Include orchestra and organ with eight voices, and runs sustaining. - ' Show is deflnite catch here, and marks the entrance of WFIL into local ether showmanship. Program will be handled in the ultra manner, 1,000 engraved InVites being mailed to an exclusive audience list of opera and music patrons, etc. Idea is a hulld for a future visual show after Mrs. Bok gets the feel of the mike. ^ ' KLEENEX GOES CBS DESPITE NBC TEST Chicago, March 5. ■ ■ Kleenex show, 'Story of Mary Miirlin', whlOi has been testing on WilAQ, the local NBC station, A\rlll get network on the Columbia web on April 1 on. a five times weekly basis. NBC failed to satisfy certain. re- quirements of the advertiser In spe- finl c.nvn'n!?!'. Airpnr>y is I.'orrl & Leading Budgets Biackett-Sample /.. J; W. Thompson;... Lord & Thomas...; Benton & Bowles.. Erwin-Wasey '..... N. W, Ayer,....... Young & Rubicam. B.B.D.&O. ......... Ruthrauff-Ryan ... Stack Goble Newell Emihett.;.. McCann-Erlckson- . Campbell-Ewald .;. Lennen & Mitchell. William Esty ..$4,104,412 .,.4;i01,586 .. 2,930,861 .. 2,392,374 .. 2,146,732 .. 2,042,173 ... 1,796,832 .. 1,439,748 .. 1,409,984 1,367,21S4~ 1,140,460 1,062,392 970,952 963,800. ; 885,705 the nets are concerned are Ruth- rauff & Ryaii and StackrQoble. Anr. other strongly on the upgrade Is Young & Rubicam. ■■ Among- those-that-rwere-formerly^ numbered among the first 10 are Lennen & . Mitchell, Campbell- Ewald and McCann Ericksoii. Lord & Thomas, a lea.der for years when it came to either time or talent ex- penditures, now fills the .trey_ tipot, with the cut in Pepsodent and Lucky Strike expenditures for ra- dio providing the main reason for the drop. ' Blackett - Sample - Hufnmert not only dominates the web domain In gross billings but supervises almost twice as many programs as does J. Walter Thompson. BtS-H Is represented on Columbia by 14 shows and on NBC by eight, while the Thompson count la eight on NBC and four on ■ CBS. Thomipson, however, rates as the ace spender for talent In the business, and also as having the largest number of 60 and eo-statlon hookups. Other pilots of big entertainment payrolls are Yoiing & Rubicam and Benton & Bowles. Lures 9,000 Mob; Only Got 3,000; n Papers Crow ! ' Lincoln, March 5. . Newspapei's have a proud boast In the competition here with radio as an advertising; rnedlum. Last year,, the theatres turned to radio to put on the annual birthday party which is Joe- cooper's: (he's the, Lincoln Theatre Corp. head) stunt to honor the birthday Of his son, Joe. Jr. Turnouts billed two theatres, and pulled about 3,O0b; youngsters. V This year stunt was handled by newspapers with small stories dally for a week, the turnout was near 9,000 and seven tlieatres were called into, ii.ep, . ,S1if'>*R ■irf 'isin^fjt for ad Dan Tutlull's title , Dan TuthiU has been appointed assistant managing director of NBC's Artists' Service, : under George Engels. Tuthill formerly was sales manager of the bureau. . Tuthill is a former trade paper re- porter, and came to WBAB> from the Americah Telephone and Tele graph Co. ■ ■■ ■. . COAST BASE FOR NBGSTILL IN AIR Hollywood, March 6. ^' M. ii. Ayieswwlfi " left ■ here for New York, leaving the location for the proposed new NBC headquar- ters here still in the air. ' Network chief, however, took bacic with him details of several deals whereby the chain can acquire property within the Hollywood dis- trict, any of which might be put over, following . further confabbing with chain execs In the east. Aylesworth Is hoping that ar rangements can be made whereby NBC doesn't have to build outright, but can get owner of the site se- lected to do the financing with the network committed to a long leasing arrangement. site of the original Lasky studio at Sunset and Vine was In the cards for awhile, but was discarded on -the belief the asking price would be too high. Another possibility is for NBC to take over a part of the Warner Sunset Boulevard studio, which is now dark, but for utiliza- tion of one stage by KP'WB, the Warner air station. Proxying the Great ; . Los Angeles, March 6. ■ Impersonatioiis of famous people, with David Broeknian'.s band sup- plying the musical background, will be aired Weekly by/Strasska tooth- paste. over~ the...Columbia-Don , L«>e Coast network: Flr,st. 15-minjite period, set for March 22. ICxten.sion • of not work .will .depend upon re.sui.Ls. . Qn the Bounce riollyvvood, Mai:i:li 5. " KNX has made a d^al with KGMB of. •Honolulu whereby the latter will rebroadcajit -.sbme of llic KNX programs, T.sland'-statron tvlll I'.-i;--? Mrf- 'pii'I: George B, Storer's network ven- ture Is back where it started, a regional link confined to the Atlan- tic seaboard. With the breaikup of the American Broadcasting Co. as a cross-country proposition Tuesday midnight (6) came the retirement of Storer in the capacity of ABS general manager. Though retaining the title of prez of ABC, Storer is returning to Detroit to take over the active management of his tube- making factory. ABC als a regional will consist of WNEW, New Tflork; WTNJ, Tren- ton ; WDEL, Wilmington; WCBM, JSaltimiQre; ' WOL,^—Washington;. WIP, Philadelphia; WIXBS. Wat- erl>Ury; WPRO, Provlderiqe, and WMEX and WHDH, Boston.. Most of these stations .were aligned With Ed -Wyntils whilom Amalgamated Broadcasting System and • consti- tuted the group that Storer's Amer- ican Broadcasting System fed with sustaining programs before the lat- ter project was extended westward to Iowa, rrograms for the ABC seaboard link Will originate from WNEW, with WIP and WOL serv- • ing as auxiliary sources. Within the next week the ABS board; of directors wUI appoint an operating head for ' the regional. He will act In the dual capacity of general manager and sales manager. In a statement he issued to the press yesterday (Tuesday) Storer declared that the Illness of the gen. mgr. of the Detroit tube . works made It necessary for. him (Storer) to return to that city and take charge of the business. . BROKERS TELL STATIONS NOT TO SIGN Chicago, March .0. , Brokerage -boys are playing poli- tics In the NBC station relations sit- uation but not in writing. Brokers who have been leading placers ;of •spot programs are contacting the stations with 'i5uggestIon,9' that the stations refuse to signature the new NBC deal.. ■ ■ -: Basl.s of the 'suggestion' on the part of-the brokers l.s the complaint tha,t the network • Is corralling- -th** ! i)est portions of the station time. a;nd leaving' inferior ..siiceH .of time for the .station.'; to' ;.se,Tr to sprit .-.adver- tiscrs. ■' Lmie Picked Up\ Hi'.'j trf(;p. .T..I! 1 io' Is sur;e Of .'inotlier J 3 wofks on the Borden show, a onowal havln)^.;come through Mon-. .S'\i-'jn'T u stKf'li.Oi' in i.w .