Variety (Mar 1936)

Wednesday, March llB, AD) VARIETY 41 WCCO TAKE S WHO PROGRAM : ■ —-— , —r^ — -V— — : : , Program of Local Made-G CPS Artists Bureau will pipe a weekly program from New York to WJSVi Washington, for local release in behalf of Turner Motors CcC holders of the Ford sales franchise In the latter city. Talent .will consist of former Washington residents who 'have made good in the Wg city/ Show will go a half hour and have Bob Trout former presidential annpuhcer, asi ih.c. It's the first remote tie-in of this sort staged by either network's booking office. Program's plug will get its cue from the slogan that will be used In introducing the. talent: 'You've got to be good to stay at the top.' [em Treasurer'sReport (AS OF DEC. 2Bi 1935) General Statement profit from operations for the fiscal year ending December 28* IMS, after provision for depreciation of $466,582.13. . . $3,124,951.79 Add—Miscellaneous Income (net).........,.,...,,....,... 103,242.66 Together ......4...«..«••,••.$3,228,194.45 Deduct—Provision for Federal income tax...... .... ...., 418,115.75 Net profit for the period (equivalent to $3.30 per share on 852,335 shares).'. i. • ■ .... t ................... $2,810,078.70 Earned surplus at December 29, 1934........... ............... 2,148,928.66 Together ..,......••».....• $4,959,007.36 Deduct—Dividends (cash quarterly dividends of 40c. plus extra of $1. per share) .' 2,216,071.00 Earned surplus at December 28, 1935, per balance sheet.. ?2,742,936.36 Assets Current'and working assets- Cash in banks and on hand $793,637.95 U. S. Treasury notes (par value). , 2,900,000.00 Notes and accounts receivable, less reserves of $3,376.20 representing, largely premlu^ns" , regularly advanced by company under co-operative insurance plan)............ 1,628,630.17 repaid wire charges, taxes, insurance, etc. .....,k........ 211,182.07 Total current and working assets. $5,533,450.19 eposits to secure contracts (including $6,000 of bonds)—par value) , 7,000.00 Investment in affiliated company .. 1,754.00 Deferred charges i'..,. •'. 64,403.27 Fixed assets— Land, buildings, equipment and improvements to leased premises, at cost ,.. $2,736,801.78 Less—Reserve for depreciation and amor- tization .............v....:... 1,681,626.01 r- 1,055,175.77 Goodwill, representing premiums paid fbr capital stocks of consolidated subsidiaries. 1,150,170.34 Together ■•••« • •»., A »• » B « c ( ,«, i , *'< • •. •.«$7,811,953,9 7 Liabilities and Capital Current liabilities- Accounts payable and sundry accruals. $890,760.69 Reserve for 1935 Federal income tax (estimated).... 418,115.75 ^ Total current liabilities $1,308,876.44 Deferred income...... ■. 5,796.66 Reserve for tax claims and contin 66,840.15 Capital and surplus— Capital stock—$5 par value— Authorized—750,000 shares each Class A and B Issued—47-4,298 shares Class A and 474,337 shares Class B $4,743,175.00 Earned surplus, per statement attached 2,742,936.36 $7,486,111.36 Less—1,425 shares Class A and 94,875 shares Class B in treasury reacquired at cost of. 1,055,670.64 r. « ' 6,430,440.72 contingent liability—in respect of pending lawsuits. In the opinion of the company adequate reserves have been pro- vided. , $7,811,953.97 Network Wont Allow lis Affiliate to Carry Pro- gram aa Violation of Con- tract—Same Show Goes Off KFAB, LincoIn t as CBS-Owned Station Clears Time French Propose Radio Tax To Avert Theatre Strike Paris, March 17. ill to clap a tax on radio adver- tising in France has been intro- duced in the Chamber of Deputies as an eleventh hour measure to forestall a general amusement strike set for March 20. If the measure goes through! it. would wring plenty out of Poste Parislen, most prominent French commercial station, which also sends English language commercials for the in- ternational Broadcasting Co. Threatened strike of the amuse- ment people is occasiohed^by the Poor tax which they claim is too mgh. In order to avert the walk- out, the government now has to find lunds to support hospitals and poor- houses from elsevhere. WEB SHOW GOES LOCAL Gabriel Heatter on WJZ for Another Sponsor arch .22 Scott & Bowrie's sponsorship on the NBC blue web of the 'Weekend News Review? with Gabriel Heatter ends March 15, but the Marschalk Sf. Pratt agency has another buyer who will continue the stanza locally in New York over WJZ. It's the Modern Industrial ank. Starts March 21 with the Satur- day and Sunday 5:45 to 6 p.m. spot. Niles Trammell, dropped In un- expectedly at WSB, Atlanta, last •h \ Tramme11 18 native of Mari- na, Ga... 20 miles from Atlanta. WHN Appoints E. Katz Concurrently with the upplng of its daytime power to 5,000 watts, WHN, New York, owned and op- erated by the Marcus Loew Booking Agency, has appointed the E. Katz Special Agency as its national rep. Is the indie, station's first rep. For Katz, WHN is the ninth client Bince adding radio repre- sentation to its newspaper biz. RECEPTION OKAY Columbia's blowup, against cer- tain of its affiliated stations allying themselves with the" Cornbelt Wire- less Network has resulted in the Withdrawal of KFAB, Lincoln, from the group. Enforcement by CBS of a clause in its contract with KFAB which bars that outlet from-carry- ing the programs of any other hookup means that the Lincoln sta- tion will. cease to clear the Corn- belt's Gene and Glenn series for Kellbgg's cereals with this Satur- day's (21) broadcast. N. W. Ayer, agency on the Kel- logg account, was also advised last week, that Columbia had taken to task other CBS affiliates which had become releasing points for the Gene arid Glenn show but that these outlets had advised CBS that they ,w<j^i^^^bu^th€^JMM»i!n(a!«^wa; tion of giving up the Kellogg bus! ness. Ayer ran into another jam with CBS when that web refused to permit its owned and managed station. In Minneapolis, WCCO, to pick up the Gene and Glenn series as broadcast over WHO, Des Moines, and to have the latter's sig- nal re-broadcast by the WCCO transmitter. CBS compromised the situation last Friday (13) by agree- Ohio Regional Angle WKRC, Cincinnati, owned outright by CBS, may not join ..the newly formed Ohio region- al web as expected last week when the regional came into existence. Station says it's interested in the web, but there appears to be hesitancy in joining, which is interpret- ed as partially deriving from parent CBS. If WKRC doesn't sign up, the Ohio crowd will look for a new outlet in or around Ciney at a meeting to be held with- in the next few days. ing to take the program piped by telephone wire to WCCO from Des Moines as soon as time can be cleared. The cost of this wire will be $360 a week. Columbia's deal with Kellogg on WCCO includes the proviso that the piping to Minneapolis, shall consti- tute a separate originate, with Gene and Glenn doing their act for the Minnesota release before or after the Cornbelt release. For the start the daily broadcast on WCCO will run 15 minutes. It will be stepped up to a daily half-hour later on. Goose vs. Gander What has caused considerable scratching of pates among midwest broadcasters is Columbia's incon- sistent position in the matter. After refusing to let KFAB associate it- self with another network, CBS yields when it comes to one o£ its own properties. Fact that the hook- up is by telephone wire, remark these midwest broadcasters, is of minor consequence. If the principle doesn't, they argue, hold in one case, it .shouldn't in the other. It is reported that during the height of the dither between CBS and KFAB, B. J. Palmer, prez of WHO, offered to buy into KFAB so that he would be in a position to make a test case of CBS' stand. Special pickup equipment that the stations on the Cornbelt proposition have had installed figures to coat them around $40 a. week, while others Lave obligated.themselvesfor another |25 weekly by placing this KNX May Pass to Richards' CBS Group; Deal On; $2,000,000 Is Reported Price Impossible Interviews Sheila Barrett and Eddie Garr, mimics, go into "the So- cohy show on CBS this Friday (20) for four weeks with an op- tion for six more. Tag for the duo's routine is 'impossible Interviews,' with the first two personalities being George Bernard Shaw and Mae West. Charlie Morrison set the deal. MAJ. B0WES-NBC DEAL NOT SET Major Bowes was still huddling yesterday (Tuesday) with Lenox R. Lohr, president of National Broad- casting Company, and George En- gles, head of the NBC Artists Bu- reau, on a new arrangement for the agenting of Bowes' amateur stage units. From present indications, while the Artists Bureau will not be en- tirely cut out of the. agenting, as Bowes originally wished, its com- missions will be shaved consider- ably from the 10% it is currently net profits of the tyro shows. Ac- cording to reports, the one-third cut of. the profits will be cut out entirely from the new deal. Bowes' present deal with the NBC Artists Bureau terminates the end of. this month, with a new deal to take effect April 1. Bowes, who also doesn't want to pay the theatre booking offices their 5% booking fees on each unit, is also trying to eliminate the Artists Bureau from collecting commissions on such units as are agented by his own staff. Present arrangement calls fbr NBC to get 10%: commis- sions on the units, no matter who does the agenting. Bowes' personal staff was aug- mented last week by the addition of Ed Olmstead, former publicity head of Columbia Pictures on the Coast. He will assist Lou Goldberg, Bowes' exploiter and general aide. Negotiations are currently on for the purchase of station KNX, Los Angeles 60,000-Watter, by CBS. Guy Earl, Jr., prez and controlling owner of KNX, has been in New York since Sunday (15) conferring with Columbia officials and G. A. Richards, head of WJR, Detroit, and WGAR, Cleveland. Earl declared last night (Tuesday) that it was hot certain whether the deal could be consummated this week. Asking price reported for KNX is $2,000,000. This is not the first time that CBS has entered discussions with Earl for the purchase of his station. What has acted as chief obstacles to these various pourparlers has been the figure quoted by the Los Angeles broadcaster. With the ac- quisition of KNX Columbia would have a setup in Los Angeles that might be considered equal.to, if not better, than that controlled by NBC. KFI, NBC's main outlet In that city, also operates on 50,000 watts. ichards as Partner Richards has been reported as in- terested in taking over KMPC, a Beverly Hills outlet, with, a view to having it replace KHJ, the Don Lee key, as Columbia's local outlet. Richards, it is understood; holds a six ' months purchase option on KMPC* Report in the trade is that Bob Howard Resigns Detroit, March 17. Bob Howard has resigned from the radio department of Campbell- Ewald to take a similar post with another agency. He specialized in spot broadcasting. Resignation takes effect April 1. equipment outside the city and vutir ning a telephone wire from the lat- ter point to the regular transmitter. Kellogg will have a live show go- ing in Buffalo also in a few weeks. Cereal packer has bought the 'Buf- falo Presents' stanza on WGR, with the starting date depending on the clearing of. the requisitioned time. Lincoln, Neb:, March 17. Gene and Glenn broadcasts, for Kellogg as part of the Cornbelt Net- work setup are being picked up nicely by KFAB, with the re- broadcast of the signal from WHO, Des Moines, leaving nothing want- ing. Quality of the reception on the local loudspeaker end Is okay and no different from what could be ex- pected from a program originating in a Lincoln studio. WMAZ, Macon, will be connected to the Texas network by wire to carry Dr. Pepper half-hours' with which this soft drink concern will invade the Coca-Cola home terri- tory. WLW paid tribute to Edward Rosenthal, head of Cincinnati print- ing firm that publishes Radio Dial, fan «hcct r with a 15-minute mem- orial program Friday (13). ^ffW'aTsoS partner, and operator in KNXj with the network making both stations available to CBS clients. Report Smith Show Cut Bowes Phone Call Average 50% Heavy reduction in the number of telephone calls to Major Bowes, Sunday night (15) was reported at the .rate of around 50%. New York Telephone Co. declined, to confirm or deny, referring the question to J. Walter Thompson, which wouldn't talk, either. However, the telephone company queried CBS as to whether the . Kate Smith hour at 8' p.m., directly op- posite Bowes, was to be permanent. ■ This presumably implied the phone company contemplated a need for revising its set-up if such were the case. For the past six months or longer Bowes near-monopoly of network listening has made the previously choice 8-9 p.m. Sunday night slice hard to sell and the listener results of the Kate Smith one-time program were closely watched. LATEST BULLETIN Brooklyn Battle Still Ragea End in Sight -No Washington, March. 17. Complicated Brooklyn radio scramble became even more snarled last week when Brooklyn Broad- casting Co., owning WBBC, asked the Federal Communications Com- mission for lull time on the 1400 kc, frequency. AS Commish again postponed hearings in the many-sided con- troversy, WBBC filed an amended application for a licen.se change, re- questing facilities of WARD, WLTH and WVFW, which currently split time on the channel. Previously WBBC had asked only three-quar- ters of the time, proposing deletion of WARD and WVFW. The hearings before the full com- mission, originally skedded for April, were put off until May 7 by the Commish last week, with pros- pects that it may be fail before the next act in the four-year comedy melodrama gofes on. The dispute is more intensive than at any former stage, with practically every in- dividual in the long-standing grab now asking for what everybody else wants.