Variety (Mar 1935)

40 VARIETY HA Wednesday, March 6, 1935 COMMISH HEARINGS ON PJUIUST BID START IN APRIL OR MAY IN WASE Anticipate Sweeping Radio Shakeup—Everybody vamp Wavelength; Status^ of Nine Stations v v .. .. .:. Washington, March. 6. Agitation oyer what ma mosli sweeping rkdlQ shalceup.jstnce the general realibcation In 1928i Is mpuritlng to vii head in anticipation of Fediei'al. Cpmmunicatlpna Conir mission hearlrigg 'on the miultl-sta- tlon -shlft plan cooked up by the /Paullst Fathers In. a lastrTesort at- tempt to; obtain added time lor ' With i)olitlcar and religious con- Bldjratlons coiripiicating the Issue, the attempt to; shiiffle assignments oif nine sta-tions -wiU be aired at des- sions no\Vr carded for late April or ekrly May and slated ttf coritinue for week^. Looks like the tougfhest ■ chore yet to occupy .the new govr > ernm^ht regulatory a,gericy . iand ■ year's hottest radio tiff. St^rt . of hearings has l)een set tentatively for April .10, but since no' notices; liavp gone .out it is ylr- " tuaiiy, sure that the date will be set :baok a! fprthlght or more. i)eflhlte decision ori time of the .. rumpus, .stjould 'bo reatched by the middle of this month. Proposlsh, which Involves break- ing down of the 850 and 1180 kc [ clear channels, has drawn Are In r preliihlnary rounds from stations I whose assignments ^ are meniaced under the reallocation planned , by Father John B. Harney, of New Tbrk. Scrap grows out of the re- , fiisal of Congress last year to. set aside 2B% of the nation's ether facilities for; non-proflt. users and Goihrnish failure to recommend such a change In allocatloni. pi»c- tlces/ Big shot politicians, from Post- . master General James A. Farley down to Tammany members of Congress, are being draWn: Int o the controversy as advocates, and op- ponents of the staaHeup plistn mobil- ize undercover-support, in attempts to sit the stage. Huey . liong, Vice-President Garner, Senators i fttid'Hepresentatlves aris belng ap-: r pealed * to for backing from oiie ■ faction or another.v Whatever the Cbinmlsh decides - will have court repercussions and possibly serious politlcail consequences. -Ptlnclpa; .objective. :il^h6_Jjsal location plot Is to give full time to .WLtWIi, which now operates on a limited-time schedule which In - effect ampun'ts to only two days a week. kicks , have come from WWL, New Orleans: WFAA,' Dal ; las, and WJJD, Chicago, while WNTC, New York, municipally ■ owned station Is reported aligned with the opposition. Protests make heairlngs automatic. Affecting statlops In every zone ftiid Involving live, channels, plan proposes: .1. WliWIi. now operating limited time on 1100 shift to 810 and share channel yrlth 2. WWL, New Orleans, which noMT operates full time oh 850. Both stations would Install directional antennas to minimize interference, . , use present power and operate un limited hours. 8. WO.V/ New York, continue on .1130 but share time with 4; WNTC, no w u sing 810, which : lie vacated for ,WWL. and W'LWL •operations. B. WCCO, Minneapolis, move from 810 to 800, continuing present ■time and power. : - B. WCCO, Minneapolis, move 810 to 800, continuing pr,esent time and ; -.power.' . ' 6; WFAA and WBAP,; Dallas aind ; Ft. Worth, Tex,, .shift from 800 to - 8B0, which would - be vacated by WWLV cpntinuing. with present il^pwer and time assignments. 7. WPG, Atlantic, C pn lilOO but operate full time In-, stead of limited hours. 8. KSL, Salt KPke City, . wiiich , jiow is the dominant station on the 1,130 clear channel, permit slmulta^ neous operation: by WNTC. etttral Zone (lets In the Neck Stations HoDer on New Pact NBC stations in the centrial zone feel that they are gettlnj^ a bad break because of time dif- ferential; They complain stations Iri the east get all the best of the bar- gain, dehtiral stations. have ;been burning up the long distance wires' compialnlng about the situation to eacli:,other. _. There: vhas^ even been talic of a.revplt of ihlddle West key spots but ui) tp now just talk, ,. Yelp of the midwest outlets; Is based on the NBC time setup. It works out In this way. Accordlnig to the NBC time allotment the sta-! tlpns in: the eastern time zone have the following hours to them^elveis to sell, on local accounts: 6-10 a.m.,. noon to 3 p.ih.,'e-7 p.m., 7:30-^8 p.m^ and 11-mldhight. This makes a line siilectloh of ; ttine for local selling in' the eastern zone. ' : 1: -Left; Overs' ' But when moved Into the big cen- tral zone the. time break. Is not so fortunate.; keeps th^ central star iions to 9 a.m:; gives them 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from. 6-6 In the after- noon instead of. the eastern stations 7; then there's 6:30 to 7 central time while they do a sort of half-^ break In getting 10-11 l>.m. for thieinselves. .But this half-break Is not figured «o hot by the midwest stations because they feel that the mldwesterners generally turn off their sets at 10:16 while the eastern listeners are educated to much later hours/: .; 'Comrade' Thibault -Woman listener advised Leba ; & Fink last \re6fc that she had decided not to buy Hinds Honey and Almond Cream .any more because she didii't like the 'bommunlst- atDiosphere* of ; the product's Sunday nlg^E_ prbgra,m on CBS. , . : \ 'One of the singers; on your prbgjrim,' she yrrote. Is always addressed or referred. to as comrade. ; I learn by the local pa,per that communlats iind other kinds of radicals use thsi . Word comrade In addressing one anpther. I don't isee why you have to sympathlz j: with such people by doing the same. thing en your pirogram.' ;; .Woman, it developed, was suffering from a! case of .con- - fusion. J Warbler she referred . to Conrad ThibiEiult ■ CHI BUREAU New Yfflrk^^R^ By Nellie Revell Richard Hlntber oik with Joey Nash as vocalist have been airing for Stijdebaker for the past 10 months on both networks. According to Nash some four months back Hlinber requested him to change his name since it was that oil a car produced by a: competitor of the sponsor. Nash refused claiming name was his tradeimark. Also asked why the mbguls waited till he had been broadcasting.for six months. , !_ Slxrweeks after the request to change his name, Pierre Rbchb of Roche, wmiams & Cunnyngham Agency -»yhlch handles the account arid • a brother-in-law of Paul Hoffman, emir of Studebaker. asked Nash td enter a competitive audltlpn. Nash and three other singers were to be given a number Instead of names, and sing one sonp each at a itjroadcast with the public making the 'choice. Nash refus^^ and asiced for his release which was not forthcoming. Following this the mention of Nash's name on the program was cut frpni Ave times to one. Agency; said they had no contract relations with Nash and referred all questions to Himber as Nash's manager. Himber originally answered to the-,effect tha^t Stlidebaker deialers through country hiave been beefing to home office about havin^r a, Nash on Stude show, which caused sponsor to Ipok for another vplce. Also that lie doesn't want to release Joey who makes money for Himber and under present contract Himber caji- spot him elsewhere. -V ' Cleveland,Chase Expands'■ i^-': •■■■■;^' Cleveland B. Chase Co., consolidating its varipus subsidiaries opening he\v offices. Going; In for off-the-air and studio recordings on Fidelltone with this outlet opening a new studio ih Astoriis^ for the off-thb-alr pick^ ups. ' Also In this suite will be the Slide Sound affiliate which Is sound fllm-:Bimed'at-merchandIsing: depts. Staff has beeh Incireased. ■' CALDWELL WITH SPOT AGENCY IN CHICAGO Chicago, March 6. New agency has been organized in Chi to handle' local spot business both in radio and newspapers. Known as the Tower Advertising Service,,.Ind.. .;. .. . Nate Caldwell in as radio chiefs Caldwell was formerly with Ruth rauff & Ryan here. Columbia Is giving thought to shutting down Its Chicago artists bureau and band - booking depart- ment and operating In th'e midwest sector along different lines. Web figures that Its booking Interests could function aa effectively by put- ting a man on the road and as- signing him to a call oh the Chi- cago' territory about every two weeks. Move would eliminate the ientlre overhead of the Chicago booking office. No change will be made until Ralph Wonders, manager of the CBS Artists Bureau, has made a visit to Chicago. He Is expected to leave for that point within the next w eek:. Band booking department In Chi- cago is in charge of Nell Conklln and Paul Low. r Fhilip Moiiris Looking^ Philip Morris Is auditioning new shows with Intentions of changing the style of its Tuesday night NBC shows starting next month. Pro- gram retains Leo Relsman's orches- tra and Phil Duey as a founda tion, "but will be embelllshea with addt- tloiial talent. Audishes are going on at the Blow agency, New York. W Case Uncovers A.F1., Hearst jElnift Out, Cpnnbr In Beverly Hills, March 6. .Richard Connor Is the new man- ager of KMPC here. . He succeds Hugh Ernst, Jr., who resigned last veek. .. . More wavelength politics hive been exposed to trade observers by the 970 case. This is reported to have placed the American Federa- tion of Labor In a difficult position. President William Green of the A. P. of L. has the matter under ad- visement. Story reported behind the 970 matter concerns first an agreement in 1932 permitting WCFL, Chicago, the labor station, to use the 970 clear channel ccntrplled by NBC and. pre- vlpusly assigned solely to KJR, Seattle, and, second,. a resolution passed at the San Fracisco conven- tion of the A, F. of L. " urging that the 970 channel be given over to labor and WCFL raised to 60,000 watts unlimited time. Hearst, Inc., Sieps In Newest reported maneuver for the coveted channel mentions Hearst Radio, Inc., as seeking to share with a Texas publisher new station assignments on 970. Hearst has a yen for a transmitter in: Al- bany, N. Y. WCFL is to be permit- ted to remain on the channel under this arrangement, but the presence of new stations oh the band would almost automatically close the door to labor's ambition to have WCFL go to BO.OOO watts. .Still another reported figuring .in the politics is NBC's desire to, pro- vide Hearst with a Chicago outlet to replace KYW* An NBC propp- sltipn to lease WCFL from the Chi- cagp Federatlpn of Labor . and guarantee against loss plus a stip.u lated amount of time dally for labor propaganda, was discussed, but withdrawn almost immediately when a clause giving NBC the right to asign Its lease to a third party, Interpreted to mean Hearst, brought a quick protest. Hearst Interests want a. radio station in Chicago and want It bad ly. Practically every , station In town is understood to have received a: cash o ffer. Even NBC's main out- let, WENR, got a bid. But money has prevented any sale or takeover deal from reaching oonsummatlcn and Hearst Is still wlthput Chicago outlet. ..■.- ■"O. ; That's How Pullman Cars Are Named . Bill Hawkins set for Outdoor Girl show on CBS. Sponsor dinna like his name so changed to Dick Norton and sent to CBS to arrange for publicity.' CBS dinha like Nortpn and changed to Stanley Stanton. Haw- kins, alias Nprtpn alias Stanton, made three Irlpis'from CBS to manager to sponspr to CBS and finally set on Norton. Meanwhile CBS had re- leased yarn as Hawkins,, then changed to Stanton and finally corrected tp Nprtbn. 'We Boys' in Directory Field? A year and hair.oack Agnes Moprhead was working for Redfleld, Coupe Agency In this *Eve in Paris' showi A representative of a radio directory sold the agency a bill of goods and for a sum of dough promised plx and yarn In mag. She was sent to photographer and had plx taken, but nothing ever happened. Recently a reputed agent of another directory contacted Agnes about same sort of proposition and mentioned plk held by photographer. She asked agent what had happened to' coin collected for last mag and watched him take a powder. Kiddino on the Square Teddy Bergman, on with Jack Pearly last Wed. eve. Teddy was ad- libbing freely and finally brbko Jack up arid made him lose his place in script. This happened a couple pf times until Pearl decided to do a bit of his own ad-llbbing. Slapping Bergman on shoulder Pearl said, 'Hm, tomorrow you're fired.' And he was! ~ " Times Are Tough " : Close to 12,000 of the" dear honest pu blic wrote In on penny postc ards, to- say they-were among' tlre~B;800~peppie who w:rote to sponsors of 'The Gumps' ph CBS enclosing dime and asking for free gift as per bffer. As mentioned some weeks back, a sack of mall containing 6,800 letteril and dimes was put Into the sponsor's office safe at close of day before a tabulation of names and addresses had been made. ^ .. Night the aafe'was robbed,"^spoh^Or explained predicament on afr and" said, 'We trust those who sent In their dimes will let us know, we'll send the gift, making good on the loss without further cost to them'! ^ ; CBS Visitors CBS visitors: Sa.m Cook, owner of WFBL in Syracuse; Mortimer Wat- ters, commercial manager of WHEC In Rochester; Tom Gooch, owner of KRLD In"Diallaa; Scott Howe Boweii,' dwheV of" WIRX In Utlca; and Frank Jenkins, radio ed of Boston Herald-Traveler. ■ Short Shots Shell Oil has signed fpr pne.hpur ph NBC starting April 6. Spot how used by Gibson Family and once reserved for. Lucky Strike. Show not set as yet. Coast Shell Jamboree will fold to let this opus take place... Walter Craig Is new supervisor of Life-Saver show and takes over the Kate Smith show with a new.routine on way...Florence Marks of CBS press for past five years resigned Job last week to keep home fires burn- ing even brighter fpr Francis Bpsle'y Crowther who Is hubby, playwright, dramgt critic and columnist of NY Times.. .Freddy Martin to Florida by plane after yicks show Sunday. ..Yallee also flew to Florida after his show, and won't return till time for dress rehearsal on Thursday.. .Dick Ballou once all America half at Michigan and later arranger for the Roy Campbell Singers organizing his own ork again;. .Wlllard Roblson, whose ork 'Deep River* on NBC, will' be musical director of a hew Jean Gromback show.. .Georije Givot guests stars with Ben Bernie on the 19th...Al Shayne has settled his squabble with WMCA and remains... Enoch Light ork at Roney Plaza In Miami has been renewed until March 22...Mary Small will be 13 on the 10th of May...Kenny Sargeant of the Casa Loma Crew wis year older on Sunday...Only two original members pf the Lilac Time troupe In the Lux opus were Jane Cowl and Mlchelette Burani.. .Leon mVara wants female singer for St. Moritz ork ...Jack Berger marked 20 years as ork leader and 11 on air and seven at Hotel Astpr;.-. Marge Sullivan;:, secretary t6. Dick Anderson foto di- rector pf NBC and Frank Engster, General Electric engineer, axe engaged .. .Dorothy Crane of Detroit and Bernie Cummins ork la a bit of a society deb. ■ .V ■;■ ■ .- ■■' V , ' Chicago, March 6. . " Relations arb already cracking be- tween Hearst and NBC here, de- spite the tie-up of the morning Herald-Examlner with WENR since its own KYW moved to Philadel- phia. Latest break is, tbe scram of the Sunday comics ■ program bff WENR, leaving the Herald-Exam- lner without a radip plug fpr its funny pages pn Sunday. Herald-Ex- amlner made some demands for time favors and NBC retalia,ted by forcing the comic program off the air by putting some pecuniary ob- stacles In Its path. Likely that the Sunday. comics will shift to another station, either sponsored or as sustaining. Among stations available are WBBM, WCFL and WAAF. Stand By New CBS show Is '6th Ave. Window Shopper', Rose Laird is spoil.sor: Plugs beauty products pf Rose Laird: Opus will start March 19 on 10 station net at 10:05 to 15 in ayem following the news flash. NY shops will get plugs.. .Wayne King is supposed to be set to follow Henry King at the Waldorf in May.. .Press agent fpr Vincent Lopez advises that he is returning to NY on March 18 'For a series of NBC auditions'. This about one of the top name bands on air.. .Pidc and Pat renewed by Dills Tobacco for 13 weeks effective March 15.. . Frank Noyak out of action for past, 10 days with the grippe Is better again...Harry Stockwell, the .baritone on Whiteman show, Is readying for a bit of concert work through the east...Abe Lyman buying into th* Palais Royale. Will open In opposish to Paradise and Hollywood, etc... i John C. Schramm is new WOR announcer. Ex-NBC productipn and mu- sical research dopts and pnce chief annpuncer at WBNX...Roger Bowor pf WOR Ipst his dad...Hal Tlllptspn bpoked Street ginger Into 28. dates In 28 towns In Pa... .John Charles Thomas leaves the Vince show on the 6th and takes the frau and yacht 'Masquerader' tp Flprida Keys for a .hit of fishing. Returns in April to larger show.:. .Tony Walceman ABC sports announcer doubling on Sundays as reader pf ccmlcs fpr kiddies ... Bill Bacher left Saturday to stage the Hollywood Hotel oh Coast. .. Jacob Tarshlsh is ex-rabbi. . .Esso returns to air with Guy Lombardo on July 1...Helen Hover is back from her Havana Journey...Kentucky Winners to sportspr Boston Baseball broadcasts.. .Baby Rose Marie for Tastyeast.