Variety (Mar 1936)

Wednesday, March 18, 1936 R ID I O VARIETY 39 NBC RAIDS COLUMBIA BIZ Industrial film as Radio Epilog Chrysler program broadcasting from a Columbia network theatre in Times Square, :fcf«w York, is slated to hereafter 'entertain' the audience following, the broadcast with moving pictures of an in- dustrial nature. .It is believed to be the first instance where; busi- ness motion pictures have been, linked to a radio program. 11m- footage will show the Chrysler factory doing its stuff. Reaction of the audience to the commercial picture, If and when becoming part of the. set-up, will be watched closely by the radio trade it is expected. Should there develop among sponsors a .dis- position to combine audiehce programs and business films the effect, on the status quo might be drastic. Business films are 100% •advertising with little'entertainment preteiise. This is accepted as contrasting sharply With the . radio program's primary devotion to entertainment. CM Sleininger Out Jim Free Now Preas-Trieas. of Station Repre- sentative Firm—Peters Is Secretary Chicago, March IT. Cliff Sleininger . has'bowed out of the Free & Sleininger' Btatlon rep outfit, although/ it IS stated that he is retaining his financial interest in both F.<fcS, and Free, Johns & Field. Jim Free takes up the titles of president and treasurer under the new arrangement; H, Preston Peters takes the secretary label while . Leo Bowman gets rating as assistant secretary and treasurer. Sleininger partnered With Free some four years ago to start the now an Indication that Sleininger will step out. and go into the rep biz on his oWn, RADIO PRESS AGENTS' ODOROUS SPACE STUNTS Radio press agents around New York are resorting to devious and ;round-about methods of grabbing publicity for their clients. A re- cently observed trend is for the press agent to writer letters to the yeditors of metropolitan dailies and sign the name of some client. This stunt works because many of those who pay for press agentry are. third arid fourth string celebrities and the daily editors do not recognize their names. Thinking the letter a genu- ine sample of vox pop, they print it- It is expected that this form of filling a scrapbook won't last long as the editors are already getting wise. Press agents have their radio singers write learned epistles on such controversial matters as build- ing strikes, Nazi Germany, League, of Nations, Liberty League, etc. Another press agent stunt that represents a twist on this same round-about technique occurred Tuesday (17) when the following ad- vertisement appeared under 'public notices' in the New York Times:' 'Tickets—Eddie Cantor Broadcast, 2 for Sunday 7 o'clock, March 22, lost in taxicab Friday; reward R178 Times.' Tickets for the March 22 Cantor broadcast were delivered from the printer .the same day the advertise- ment appeared.. NatT Guard 'Sponsored' Little Rock. Ark. r March 17. Arkansas National Guard band has a sponsor. Lion Oil Company, controlled by Arkansas business men, is bankrolling hour-long pro- gram. Heard over KARK. Musicians are not paid. Money goes into a fund. Billy Beard on WBT Charlotte, X. C. March 17. Illy Beard, minstrel and vaude- ville comedian, and more recently the Ray-Bestos radio program. >s back In his native Charlotte. Has been engaged by WBT for a new series to be known as 'The Parlv from the South/ the name he used m minstrel days. Beard will appear as fl 00mif: statesman, philosopher and nosev commentator. 16 AIR SHOWS COSTLY TO CBS Five Accounts Taken Away by NBC Already and Six More Expected to Follow —NBC Puts on Sprint After Losing Colgate- Palmolive-Peet SALES DRIVE Some 16 web shows are In the process of exiting how .that second 13 Week fall-winter period is over. Five are'CBS accounts: Packard's Tlbbet stanza, March 17; DX.&W's 'Vanished Voices,' March 25; Heinz's Oil of Indiana's Hylton show, April 4; Larned's 'Imperial Hawaiian Band,' April. 9. NBC's foldings are ho longer being officially released, but a representa- tive list would include the following 11; Vlck's 'Open House," March 9; Life Saver's 'Rendezvous,* March 11; L. C. Smith-Corona's 'Nine to Five,' March 12; Scott & Bowne's 'Weekend News Review,' March 15; Sanka's 'New Penny,' March 24; Nucoa's 'Ida Bailey Allen,' March 26; D. L.. & W's 'Studio 7,' March 26; Union Central Life's !Roses and Drums,' March 29; Sherwln-Wil- liams' 'Metropolitan Opera Audi- tions,' March 29; Pepsodent's 'Al Pearce Gang;' March - 30 (Monday edition -only); Spratt's 'Dog Dramas,' April 7. NBC last week took five commerr cial programs away from Columbia and is slated to make it six more during the next two weeks. Closing of the latter accounts is dependent on the clearing of the required sta- tions. Wholesale shifting of business from one network to. the other comes as the initial fruits of. an intense drive which the NBC. sales staff have been putting on in recent weeks. Pressure was exerted oh the NBC salesmen' to get out and cor- ral the business' after NBC higher- ups observed that NBC's revenue was undergoing a decline, as com- pared to last year, while Columbia's grosses continued on the upbeat. Loss of Colgate-Palmolive-Peet par- ticularly stirred NBC. Programs that are tabbed to join the NBC list are Bayer Asperin's In New York Elliott Roosevelt, Dallas. John W. Runyon, KRLD, Dallas. Lowell Jackson, E. Katz, Chicago. Gabriel Payne, E. Katz, Chicago. J. I. Meyerson, KLZ, Denver. 'Plug' Kendrick, WIRE, Indiana- polis. Paul Oury, WPRO, Providence. Lloyd C. Thomas, WROK, Rock- ford. Girard Ellis, Chicago. Ireene Wicker, Chicago. Arnold B. Hartley, KYW, Phila- delphia. John J. GUiin, Jr., WOW, Omaha. Guy C. Earl, Jr., KNX, Hollywood. Timothy S. Goodman, WKRC, Cincinnati. Herbert Hyland, te. Marie, Oht. E. S. Rogers* CFRB, Toronto. Harry Sedgwick, CFRB, Toronto. George Besse, McGiUvra agency, Chicago. Fred Palmer, WMMN, Fairmont, W. Va. P>. M. Thompson, WJR, Detroit. Walter Damm, WTMJ, Milwaukee. Lee Armer, Ft. Worth. H. K. Carpem WHK, Cleve- land. Gardner KRNT, De3 Moinesi Earl Gammons, WCCO, Minne- apolis. In Chicago Cecil Price, KF1-T, Wichita. J. B. Lottridge, KFAB, Lincoln. J. O. Malan'd, WHO, Des Moines. Guy Stuart, WROG, Rockford. Sumner Quarton, WMT, Cedar Rapids. Don Iftman, WMT, Cedar Rapids. .1 rimes Coylc, W-CAU. Phila. Les Fox, KMBC,. Kansas City. which will be rettitled 'Backstage,' Studebaker's Dick Himber series and two daytime script shows, one plugging Phillips Facial Cream and the other, Dr. Lyons Toothpowder.- Latter two are scheduled to start March 30, with the first using three quarter hours a week and the other going on a flve-tlmes-a-week ar- rangement. Chesterfield, Too Indications were also given last week that Chesterfield might quit CBS, April 29, and ally itself with NBC when it returns; to the air in the fall as a result of the cig ac- count's peeve at Columbia for selling a Saturday night hour to Lucky Strike. Chesterfield is on CBS both Wednesday and Saturday nights. George Washington Hill,. American Tobacco prez, wanted a late-Satur- day evening spot oh the red for his show during the summer, but NBC couldn't furnish it. Chunk of the Lucky Strike biz which Lord & Thomas has contem- plated for CBS is now set for May 2, 10 to 11 p.m. over 93 stations. This stanza takes the place of the current Saturday eve NBC edition which folds. Wednesday NBC pro- gram, however, remains intact. New program • as yet has no talent, but the "title will again be 'Your Hit Parade.' Meantime Chesterfield will make a shift in its CBS time spread to avoid getting too close to Its competitor. As of May 1, Chesterfield will scrammo ,the Saturday 9 to 9:30 niche and betake itself to the Fri- day 10 to 10.30 spot made available by the exiting of Studebaker on April 24. rom Basis for 'Jumbo' Radio Royalty Suit Revolution in Paris! Paris, March 8. In Paris, stage actors play the same role for years. In fact a juicy part is a property right which the actor gives up only when too old to hobble around on a crutch. Now comes radio, the arch- enemy of precedent, and merely because the Comedle Francaise is now broadcasting its plays the stage star Alexandre who always played- the fat role of the soldier in the tragedy, 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' has - voluntarily relinquished the part to a younger actor. Younger actor's ' voice sounded better oh the radio! JOHNSHEPARD DRAWS LEMON Washington, March 17. Hopes of John Shepard III to im- prove Yankee Network coverage in Rhode Island were dimmed last week when Examiner John P. turned thumbs down on proposal to boost WEAN, Providence, from, 600 to 1,000 watts. Examiner admitted that while the contemplated juice-jump might ma- terially increase the service area of the Providence transmitter, addi- tional coverage is not required in View of service already being ren- dered by competing Massachusetts and Rhode Island stations. Evi- dence showed Jump to 1 kw would add 200,000 listeners, In addition to the no-nee'd finding, Examiner Bramhall cited as objec- tion to the proposed power raise the possibility of interference with Ca- nadian transmitters, although the Dominion recently authorized con- struction of a new station on this channel in violation of international agreement regulations. The Provi- dence transmitter, if boosted, might cause further interference with WGY, .Schenectady, the report said, although no major trouble Would be caused other stations on its fre- quency. The report was a sharp blow for Shepard in view of the fact that the commish recently authorized the Yankee Network's Rhode Island rival, WJAR, to double Its power by going to 1 kw. Marty Gosch Resigns Philadelphia, March 17. Marty Gosch leaves station WFIL here this Saturday after a connec- tion of about nine months. He operated the station's news bureau. Gosch's future alliance not set. Hat Price Suggestion for Songs NBC transcription department wants to pay the musical copyright owners a flat fee for all composi- tions used by a station client in a 'musical clock' program Instead of having the station account for each number and turn over a 25c. royalty on the individual tunes. Network holds that to make a station pay 25c. for each copyright as used In these broadcasts makes them pro- hibitive for local sponsorship. Flat sum proposition as made by NBC is being taken up with indi- vidual publishers by John G. Paine, chairman of the Music Publishers Protective Association. Pending the publishers' reaction to the idea NBC is deferring making settlement with the MP PA for music the web has recorded the past two months. Under the arrangement it's trying to get stations taking NBC's The- saurus would be exempt from re- porting or paying for musical seg- ments culled from this library serv- ice in making up a commercial pro- gram. NBC feels that it should absorb the copyright costs in every In- stance and rather than establish an elaborate checking system it would like to make a flat sum payment on each number recorded. Licensing arrangement which now prevails has NBC paying |5 on each non- restricted number recorded as a master fee and obligates it to main- tain a check on the broadcasting of surh number for commercial pur- poses. Suit has been filed' in New York Supreme Court by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, via Attorney Howard Reinheimer, against ■ Billy Rose, producer of 'Jumbo,' for roy- alty payments on the Texaco radio 'version' of the show. Duo wrote the original play current at the Hippo- drome, N. Y., but are not writing any of the broadcast material. They claim, however, that they are en^ titled to royalties since it is 'a con- tinuation stemming from the origi- nal' which they authored. It is a peculiar suit since it brings up the point of- what is a continuous, program and where does it cease? Original deal was for Hecht and MacArthur to be paid royalties with, the air program pro- ducers permitted to change the show context or do anything they wish with it and With other writers to do any actual air writing. Pro- gram originally was direct from the theatre, employing Jimmy Du-* rante and other cast members, using show numbers and otherwise posing as trie actual show. After 13 weeks this was switched, with Durante and others out, new music intro- duced and no attempt to pose as» the show but rather as a program sent out from the Hipp 'after the regular performance.' It was at that point, Hecht and MacArthur claim, that Rose ceased paying them, But, they say, the title is still used, as also is the theme music w hich was used for the origi- fl i^WMmr MiLullfiiuj ' li ■ ■» » the same show, no matter what changes have been made. Similar situation came up once before on 'Show Boat,' but never went into court. Authors of that filed suit against the air show but reached a friendly agreement with the air producers whereby they were paid royalties for three years, without doing any Writing for the program and without the program's use of any actual material from the show. RADIO RACE RESULTS STIRS NATIONWIDE Little Rock,. Ark., March 17. Nationwide Race Track News Service received strong protests hereabouts when two local radio stations, KLRA and" KARK, got race results at Oaklawn track, Hot Springs, on the air before Nation- wide had signalled the winners and prices to bookies. As a result of this situation Nationwide brought pressure- on Western Union and Postal Telegraph to withhold race results from the two stations until after the final race. In many cities In this sector, in- cluding . Little Rock, bpokles assert- edly took heavy losses when bets were placed taking advantage of time, differential between the radio and the Nationwide service. Wayne King at Expo St. Louis, March 17. Wayne King brings' his radio or- chestra to St. Louis Friday (20), for a nine-day stay at St. Louis on Pa- rade Exposition at Municipal Audi- torium< King will play a dally con- cert at exposition at 4:30 p.m. during his stay and will also provide dance music from 9 to 1 o'clock every night. In addition, his sponsored CBS program will be broadcast from KMOX. Of the 14 musicians Wayne will bring here, all but two have been With him since he started playing in Chicago nine years ago. Union's Remote Rule Cincinnati, March 17. New ruling by Cincinnati musi- cians' union, announced by .Oscar III Id, prez of the local, allows one half-hour or two 15-minute remotes of orchestra programs for each session of two hours or longer. Under that it's no dice for pick- ups by stations.