Variety (Sep 1935)

^^ediiesdayf September 25, 1935 B A D I O VARIETY 4» Rosenbaum of WFIL at Luncheon Denopces 'Malicious Whispenng' Philadelphia, Set>t. 24. With appointment of Murray Arnold as studio director, effective yesterday (23), WFlt, local NBC Blue network outlet, inaugurates new policy of programs of 'broader popular appeal.' Replacing Keith McLi66d, • Arnold comes to "WFIL from WIP, where he was production manager.' Announcement of new policy and Arnold appointment were made Saturday (21) by station prexy Sam Bosenbaum at press luncheon. De- claring WFIL. has been subject of deliberate and malicious whisper- ing campaign of . damaging false rumors by certain rival stations, Bosenbaum assertied that, although station Is less than^ year old It al-. ready has ceased operating at a def- icit and that present moderate profit Is far. better than owners had hoped. He further said owners of station are fully satisfied with work of general manager Don Withy- comb and staff a'nd that there are .'positively' no plans for further major changes In personnel No- ticeable feature of Rosenbaum's remarks Was fact he obviously avoided mention of any other eta- tlori by name or Inference. Listen- ers had expected fireworks of out- spoken accusations. Drop Highbrow Idea According to Rosenbaum,. WFIL will abandon major portion of 'highbrow* bfoadcast material, In future making every effort to offer listeners whatever they want. Pou- ular programs will be shifted around the board, to find out lis- tener desires and In all cases mall will be solicited and closely fol- lowed.. He Intimated one df prime objects in obtaining Arnold is for popularization of broadcast mate- rial, For present, Arnold will have active charge of all program, con- tinuity and production work of stu- dio, with McLeod staying on in In- active capacity and resignation not being effective until he obtains new connection.' Arnold's duties at WIP are being divided between Ted Hale, an- nouncer and pianlsti and Howard Joiies, announcer and news editor. M Liberties Union Seeb Law To Force FM to Heyisid^ WHAM FEiUlS VAUDE FREEDOM OF SPEECH Rochester, Sept. 24. Carl Freed taxied his harmonica band t> WHAM studio to broadcast and incidentally get in a plug for his show at the RKO Palace the- atre. WHAM officials, recalling previous experience with blue material over the-air by vaude performers, order- ed Announcer Al Slsson to do all the announcing. Freed said Slsson could Introduce the show, but he himself would carry on thereafter,— or else. It's 'or else' then, sez Slsson, and tosses on a; disc. Dunninger on NBC Joseph Dunninger, the former vaudeville mentalist, will begin a new series of half hour programs over NBC on Oct. 16. Exact time of broadcast not set. Dunninger who did a radio scries two years ago will *e directed by Michael Young In a script written by the director. A combination spooky ghost theme plus a detec- tive slant will be Incorporated. Joseph Littau'.s orchestra, and a cast of ten characters .will support Dunninger. Fizdale in New York Thomas Fizdale.. of Fiwlale and Andrews,.^ program publishers,, of Chicagd, has .split with his .partner and la now in iWew Tork. Fizdale goes to work for . 'Made- moiselle,'jnag, in promotion depart- ment. Washington, Sept. 24. Gordon Parsons, WSFA, Mont- gomery, Ala. I. R. Lounsberry, WGR-WKBW, Buffalo. J. O. Maland, WHO, Des Moines. Edwin Spence, WBAL, Baltimore. Robert L. Coe, KSD, St. Louis. Paul Segal, radio attorney, back from vacation. WHITEMAN AT $10,000 FOR SOAP Internal Fight Within Com- inission Precipitates Charges of Favoritism and Disregard of F.C.C.'s Ovm Rules POUtlCS Paul Whlteman goes on the pay- roll of Woodbury Soap Jan. 6, with the contract giving him 52 non- cancellable weeks at $10,000 a week and taking an option on his services for two additional years. NBC blue (WJZ) link will carry the program, which will be either 45 minutes or an hQ,ur; depending on the .success the network will have in switching other shows. Tentative starting time for the Whlteman show Is 9; 45 p.m. Sundays. Woodbury-Whiteman deal stipu- lates that the maestro Increase the personnel .of his organization for the broadcasts. For Whlteman and Blng Crosby it will be a case of ex- changing programs. Warbler held the soap account for three consecu- tive years and takes over, the Kraft Phenlx stanza, which Whlteman lias filled 'almost .the same length of time, Dec. 5. Italian War Jitters Echo in N. Y. Radio; 16 Italian Sponsors Foreign radio stations which use a,large percentage of Italian com- mercials, are all mum on the sub- ject of any Italo-Ethloplan conflict, but underneath the surface there's quite a stir as to what might hap- pen If open warfare is declared. Sta- tions WBNX, WOy, WFAB are all heavy lad«ned with sponsored Italian hours, many of which have interests on the other side. Cheese, macaroni, olive oil are the main Imports which are air-advertised. ^ Situation which has been smoul- dering for some time, came out in the open when Locatelll, Inc., signa- tured with WOR, Ne\y York, for a cheese series, stipulating cancella- tion outright, if war ensues. Pre- cautionary move gave the smaller outlets a Jolt with strict orders go- Inp out to keep tight on any lobby talk. Major Italian accounts airing at tho present time follow: Roman Macaroni. Baby Joe Malted Milk. DeMartlnl Macaroni. Fillppo Berlo Olive Oil. Sach's Furnltiare. Balbo Oil. Medaglio D'Oro.. La Rosa Macaroni. CeribelU & Co. Bon!!oni Macaroni. Pl.nnter's Edible Oil. Independent. Macaroni. Columbb Cigars. Ro.sa Coffee. Hprba Medicinal Laboratories. Italy Laboratories. WWI After Talent New Orleans, Sept. 24. Jimmy Willson, WWL program director, left by plane Saturday (21). for Chicago and other points tpasign new acts for station. He'will be gone for about a week. Washington, Sept. 24. Commlssionet Irving Stewart, chairman of the. Telegraph Division of the Federal Communications Com- mission, has administered a stinging rebuke aimed priniarily at .his fel- 16w commissioners, Anning S. Prall and. Eugene O. Sykes. of the Broad- cast Division. Stewart chieirgeB fa- voritism, toadying to influential pe- titioners, and violations of the Di7 vision's own rules of-procedure. Charges are part of the official rec- ord of F.C.C., but Secretary Herbert L. Pettey has arbitrarily barred .VARiBmr's reporter from access to the record. Pettey admits that the law requires that the record shall be open to Inspection, but bluntly stated he does not Intend to allow news- papernien to review the P. C. C. minutes. Stewart blast came out of an en- tirely clear B"ky arid threw the-regu- latory agency Into' complete confu- sion and bewildermerit. Looks like a serious incident, which'may lead to an explosion with far-reaching political consequences. Denouncing star-chamber charac- ter of Broadcast Division proceed- ings, Stewart sounded: off when the full Commlsh rejected on technical grounds a petition of WSMB, New Orleans, for reconsideration of BrOadcsiat Division turndown of a power-boost, application. Efforts were made to shroud the Incident in a veil of secrecy. Law says that F. C. C. minutes shall be subject, to inspection at thei office of the secre- tary during business hours. Stewart's uliprecederited criticism came after Jiidge Sykes recommend r ' d that Commish decline to reopen the. WSMB case on the ground that: the appeal to the full Commlsh froni the.Broadcast Division's action was flled after the deadline. According to the 1934 Communications Law application for rehearing on decision of the Broadcast Division must be filed within 20 days after the di- vision's action, but the WSBM peti- tion, which was dated Api'il 12, 1935, came too late. Imn^edlately after Sykes had sug- gested-^nd the Cotnmlsh had fol'- lowed his suggestion—that the re- consideration petition be shelved be- cause WSMB did not comply with the time limit regulations, Stewart called on the Commlsh to make a conscientious effort to observe'all its rules and. regrulatlons if it is to obey part of the code. Stewart's Protest Concurring in the decision to dis- miss the petition for reopening, Stewart reputedly astounded fellow members by declaring he wished to protest against disregard of regula- tions and the prictice of granting applications without hearings or thorough consideration of the merits of various propositions. To back up his complaint, he cited the Broadcast Division's handling of pow^r-booat requests of WSMB and KRNT, one of the Des Moirtes Register string of stations. With a blunt assertion that the three-man Broadcast Division Jumped ICRNT from a smallle to a regional status without any bearing on the merits of the power-boost, re- quests and that WSMB had been upped from 500 to 1 kw In like fash- Ion. Stewart charged that the com- mlsh had flagrantly disregarded itifi mlleage-separtion standards, its quota regulations, and the require- ment that applicants must demon- strate that their. operations are in tho public interest. Commish blithely went ahead winking at Its own rules, Stewart charged, tintil WADC, TtJlmadge, O., ■ Interposed objections In such Hector S. Quesada, LR6, Buenos Aires. Stanley . Broza, WCAU, Philadel- phi Arnold Hartley, KTW, Philadel- phla.- ■ Bill Mlshler, WWJ, Detroit I Elliott Roosevelt, Southwest net- work. .Ralph Nlcolson, WDAE, Tampi^ Fla John T. Schilling, WHB, Kansas City. Ted .Hili; WORC, .Worcester, i Arthur. Church, KMBC, Kansas City. 3. .0. Maland, Daveni>ort. . Charles Phillips, WFBL, Syra- cuse. ' ■ William Fay; WHAM, Rochester. Plug Kendrick, WIRE, . Indian- apolis. Clarence Cosby, KWK, St. Louis. Vernon H. Pribble, WTAM, Cleveland. Dayl^ht Time (knge Viewed as Chance to Revamp Program Sked Charlotte, N. C, Sept. 24. There was a time when the change to. and from daylight saving each spring and fall was a seasonal headache for the progtam depart- ments of southern stations. Today they welcome those two dates. • Rewioh Is that It glvea.tbe sta- jbloDs an opportunity to go in for a bit of house cleaning and rearrange- ment. Programs are shifted and moved at; will, with the time change as the only needed excuse. At WBT and WSOC, the. Char- lotte stations, the program man- agers are ready for September. 29 and the time change, with a brand new program .alignment. Ignoring of public standards, Com'^ •mish ordered a hearirig. limited to the WADC protest. • • 'At no time- in the course of these four-appllcatioris (three power-Jump pleas of KRNT and one Of WSMB) ha.", either statlbn been forced to prov« that the public interest would be served by the extension of its facilities in violation of the com- mission's rules and published stand- ards' Stewai- is quoted as having told the F.C.C.. Besides definitely precipitating the issue of whether the contimlsh is to fellow its regulations on some occa- sions and detour from the rules on others, Stewart's outburst had a col- lateral effect of establishing the fact that any member of the Commifth, regardless of his appointment to one particular division, has a right to take part in the adminlstratlbn of affairs by another, dlyislon; Brown- Sykes-Prall .faction has taken the position that" members of the radio, telephone, and telegraph divisions arc restricted to matters coming be- fore the branch to which they are attached, while the remainder of the body. Commissioners CasCj Walker, iStewart, and Payne, have insisted that the three divisions were set up purely to ficilitate administrative work. Payne's Speech This second controversy nearly broke into the bpoh a month ago when Commissioner Payne, one of the board handling telegraph buHl- nees, chided the broadcasting indus- try in a speech at Cornell Univer- sity, an action which has been re- garded by some within the Cpm- mlsh as deliberate trespassing on the Broadcast Division's preserves. Now with Stewart, who chairmans tho telegraph division, taking a creek at the way broadcast affairs arc bandied, the point seems to have been established that any one of the seven members ma/ take part in tlii) administration of any of the three branches. Legislation to force the Feder^ Communications Commission to make any complaints it gets against alleged radio censorship will be In- troduced in the next session of Congress. Backing the move is the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims the,FCC buries com- , plaints In .its files without allowing anyone to get a glimpse of them. In connection with that and other projpbsed legislation, the..A. C. ii. tJ.. is having orie of its research attor* , neys^ Miss Minnah F. Kassneiv make a field study of radio censor- , ship cases. Will be ready by the end of the year for pamphlet form.. Exactly what the study will con- tain, and whether radio will be damned or whiteiwashed, is not cer-- t. In because the study is still In-. comple-te, Seems probable, how- ever ,that a number of brdadcastera will get a Verbal Indictment. One of them is-sure-to be WLW, • Cincinnati, which is charged witb; suppressing strike news. In tbat- connectlon the last issue (26) of 'The Nation' contains an article by - Cllfton Reed, publicist for the'. A.C.L.U., wherein he reitera.tes the charges against WLW and pro- duces purported facsimiles of or- .ders by a WLW official against' broadcasting of strike reports.- WLW has repeatedly denied the charges. Suppreasioh Other cases in the* Kassner report will range all the way from the ex- clusion of birth control news to bluepencilllng of comedians' scrips. Include alleged tampering by both broadcasters and spopsors. Most likely stations will be. con- tacted for their .version of each case, and eventually both sldefi of an epi- sode will be printed alongside each other. But no matter how the'. report turns out, the A. C. L. U. will bring pressure to bear for legisiatlon to have the FCC open its complaint files. Aim of such a step .Is to' make broadcasters Jittery, against a thumbQ-down attitude toward minorities. N6C Still Out; Agency Boreao Looks Ice Cold Washington, Sept. 24, Looks like curtains for tiroposed radio agency recognition bureau^ With deadline only a week away, National Association of Broadcast- ers last week had only 36 potential $125-a-year subscribers on the line. Minimum of 126 needed to start the bail rolling, sb abandonm($nt of the idea of policing; agencies, enthusias- tically applauded, at N.A.B. conven- ton two months Ago, seems inevi- table. Amonjg recent signers are C!olum-. bla stations, but nothing has come , through yet from N.B.C, transmit-. | ters. Latest additions to the list are ' WABC, New York; .WJSV, Wash- ington; WCCO, Minneapolis; WKRC, Cincinnati; KMOX, St. Louis; WBBM, Chicago; WBT, Charlotte, and KFI, TJob Angeleis. Rich-Harkiss' New Show New CBS Socony show, which' :!tarts Oct. 4, will have Jim Harklns as m.c, Willie Morris, warbling, and Freddie Rich batoning a studio combo. Harklns, who winds up on the Ipana-Sal Ilepatica hour on. NBC tonight (Wednesday); will do the cliaractor of a hotel (Plying.Red Horse Tavern) proprietor. As thp Initial gueslee the pro-, gram will have Roy Chapman An- ^ di'cwfl, the explorer.