Variety (Mar 1936)

Wednesday, March 25,:jg36 RADIO VARIETY 35 OFFERS 5-YR. Chain Income from Time Sales NBC 1936 January .$2,681,816 ■February ?i707,143 1935 $2,895,037 2,758,319 1934 $2,391,667 2,211,637 1933 $1,869,885 1,742,784 $5,388,963 $5,653,356 $4,603,304 $3,612,669 January . February 1936 .$1,901,023 1,909,146 CBS 1935 $1^768,949 1,654,461 1934 $1,405,948 1,387,823 1933 $941,465 884,977 .$3,810,169 .$3,423,410 $2,793,771 $1,826,442;: MUTUAL 1935 .$157,720 . 154,064 Total ... V .$311,784 (Note: Mutual figures are net and do not include business placed Oil supplementary stations as part of MBS Hookup.) Columbia's Feb. Biz 154% Over 1935, NBC Blue Tops $1900,000 for Month , Columbia last month grossed 15.4% more in time, sales than it did In February, .1935, while NBC showed that, its revenue' was defi- nitely again on the upturn by doing $74,000; more than obtained during the previous month of January. NBC's tally for last month was $2,707,148, which represented a dip of 1.8%: under,the figures for Febru- ary '35, but for the first time in the history of the blue (WJZ) link the "Matter's share of the gross was over $1)000,000. CBS's gross for the past month was $1,909,146. In. all previous years February grosses have been less than those in January. The reverse of the rule finds CBS ahead of this year's January by $8,000. The major part of NBC's boost in this respect de- rives, from sales on, the blue net- work. The NBC breakdown gives the red (WEAF) link $1,691,624 artd -the blue, $1,015,624. Compared with the same month : of th previous year NBC's January '36 was minus 7.4% but last month the web 'checked the slide to the point where the drop read but 1.8%. For the blue link the February, 1936, bill- ings constituted a jump of 9.6% over the January '36 level. - Aside from the loss of the Palm- olive Colgate business, NBC's down- ward graph the past several months may be accounted for by the huge difference'which was created when National Biscuit quit its 'Let's Dance' program. This stanza, due to the fact it ran three hours and had some 70 stations, was last sea- son one of NBC's major revenue sources. KENDALL NOT AFTER JOB Oregon Attorney Withdraws—Payne Now Unopposed Washington, March 24. Drtvo to replace Commissioner George Henry Payne of the Federal Communications Commission with John C. Kendall of Portland, Ore., reported last week to have col- lapsed, with Payne now unopposed for reappointment when his current term expires in June. Kendall drive came to a stop after fri nds of the Oregon radio attor- ney indicated ho would not care to relinquish his lucrative private prac- tice for a berth on the strife-ridden commission. Devins to Detroit «/"-S3^. Devins ' ass istant manager tw« « * Pl ' ess ' department, leaves IS m Vl1ay (28) ' t0 J 01 " the. De- tun* office of the J. Stirling Getchell on t? ft ^J Cre *? e wU1 do publicity Devin* ^y^uth-DeSoto account. £r e.ll iaS been wllh »e network «p eight years. Skinner" St wc< * ™ Jiu ' k CANADIAN PROGRAM FADE General ing of Shows Due for April 18 CALLS WB-ASCAP Herman Starr and James Baldwin Work Out Basis for New Contract—Re- vises Rates Downward for Smaller Stations 251 WB STATIONS Toronto, March 24. With-dozens of regional programs being dropped for the summer, only two Ontario programs, George Young's 'Let's Go to the Music .Hall' and Bernard K. Sandwell's 'Broken Arc' series, are, to be retained by the Canadian Radio Commission, according to Ernest Bushnell, the CRC program chief. General scrap* ping of programs is effective April IS. CRCT, Toronto, will drop Don Henshaw's .'Forgotten Footsteps' drama series; Helen and Bill Mor- ton's 'West to East' programs; Ed- gar Stone's kid serial, 'Young Tim'; A1 exandev Chuhaldin's 'Melodic Strings' orchestra; Adolph Want- roff's 'Cossack' series; the Guards- men's 'Men of Melody' shows. CRCH, Hamilton, will drop the. 'Across the Bay' programs. Fading from CRCW, Windsor, are 'Sunset Silhouettes,' 'Twilight Moods,' 'By Candlelight' and 'The Surprise Box.' K00L CIGARETTES TO SPONSOR KY. DERBY Columbia figures on closing with Kool cigarettes this afternoon (Wednesday) for the sponsorship of the forthcoming Kentucky Derby. Mutual has also been trying to sell the race, with Wrigley and. Schiltz being among those contacted. Mutual's solicitation includes the Kentucky event as one- of 20 major races taking- place at various tracks throughout the summer a;nd fall. The 20-race idea is that of Bryan Fields, turf expert for the New York Times. Lucky Strike had for a while entertained getting behind it, but grew chilled by the possible gam- bling angle. Wayne King on Mutual Wayne King moves into the G: 30 to 7:00 EST spot on Mutual Sun- day nights starting April 22 lor Lady Esther Cream. Besides the network's basic four stations his program will go over WCAE, Pitts- burgh; W AL, Balitmorc; WFIL, Philadelphia; WGAR, Cleveland,, and WNAC, Boston. All but the last, a CBS outlet, are regularly affiliated with NBC. ' Mutual release will give him- four programs a week..with NBC having two, niid Columbia, one. Warner Bros, will be prepared by the end of this week to offer to broadcasters a five-year licensing agreement, effective April 1. Basic terms of new contract were worked out at meeting Monday (23) between Herman. Starr, WB v.p., and James W. Baldwin, manag- ; ing director of the National' Asso- ciation of Broadcasters. By maki ing available this, long term pact Warner, hopes to convey to the. broadcasting industry Its determr ination not to return to the Amer- ican Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, but to stay on. its own as a performing-rights licensor. Along with deciding to put its business relations •with stations on a five-year basis Warner has recon- ciled itself to a long knock-em- down-and-drag-em-out fight by the legal and other ro.utes. It was de- nied by WB that the withdrawal of the radio columns In the Hear.it newspaper last week had any con- nection with the non-use of War- ner music on the webs. One report last week had it that William Ran- dolph Hearst had issued the col- umns . out order as a gesture of support to Warner Bros., through which he releases his Cosrhopoli tan productions. Latter has on the way Marion Davies' 'Hearts Di vided,' the musical performing rights of which are controlled by Warner. With NBC and CBS con- tinuing to hold out against WB, this picture would be barred from get- ting any important plugging. As for the terms of the new five- year agreement.the fee is to be low- er than that which prevailed for the first three months of this yeai\ Instead of the monthly charge be- ing four times the national rate it will be four times the local rate, which invariably is less than the former. This change is expected to rectify the disparity which many small stations claimed they were put to under the original Warner agreement, holding that, even though their cards showed a national rate practically all their business came from local sources. Rates As of arch 1 Warner rate will be based on the time prices carried on a station rate card as of March 1. If the local rate goes up the WB rate will go up with it. WB contract will con- tain a clause giving the licensee the right to cancel in favor of a, per piece or use contract, in the event any other performing rights organ- ization agreed to a license which was hased on a per piece arrange- ment. Baldwin returned to Washington Monday night (23). It is under- stood that he will this week issue to NAB members a circular letter covering the terms of the new WB agreement. WB list of licensees totals to date 251 -stations. Among the stations sued for copyright infringements by Warner last week were WMCA, New York; KFT1, Twin Falls, Idaho; WDSU, New Orleans; WTOC, Savannah; WO WO, Fort Wayne; WTAL, Talla- hassee, F.la,; WSPD, Toledo, and WHIO, Dayton, O. in the ense of WTOC three separate complaints were filed. WSJS, Winston-Salem, has been broadcasting two games each day, afternoon and evening, of the an- nual high school basket ball tourriar ment, Norris O'Neill doing descrip* lion. Reported $500,000 a Year NBC Income On Bowes Unit Bookings an Issue; NBC Talks More One-Nighters Too Law-Abiding? Norfolk, Va., March 24. Traffic court . broadcast, scheduled for 3:35 to 4:15 shot over WTAR every Wednesday afternoon had to be cancelled last - week because only hand- ful of violators were sum- moned into court. Broadcast wouldn't have been long enough to have been worth- while and two commercial pro- grams contingent upon the broadcast, had to be cancelled for the day; Looks like the station ■•■ will ; have to give bonus to cop handing out the most tickets •next week to insure its com- mercials. Promise with Loophole Is Run-Around—Monaghan; Seeks Test on KGIR, Butte Washington, March 24. Seeking test of statute requiring broadcasters to treat ail candidates for office: alike, Congressman Joseph P. Monaghan, Democrat, of Montana last week requested "IL. S. District Attorney at Butte to file petition for. writ of mandamus compelling KGIR, Butte, to allot him time on the night before the Montana primary election. With declaration that KGIR is controlled by the 'power trust' which he has been fighting, Monaghan told the House of Representatives last week he. has been given a ruh- arbund in trying to x'eserve time for a radio-speech to wind up his com- paign • for the Democratic nomina- tion to the Senate from Montana. Station has tentatively given him seven o'clock but reserved the right to switch him to another spot in case 'some outstanding national program' is booked for the hour reserved. Renewal of Major booking deal with the NBC artist bureau, which expires April 1, still undetermined up to yesterday (Tuesday). Both Bowes and the network declared, however, that " an -amicable settlement' is in the offing. Loath to step out of the stage show booking, field which has been so highly profitable to it this sea-- son, NBC was reported last be considering v mean3 of 'protecting* itself against \he possibility of Bowes walking out entirely and, taking his unit representation, elsewhere. Among plans contem- plated by the artist bureau,, from, accounts, is the formation of units bearing the names of other com- mercial programs now on- the net- work; One proposed series of NBC-pro- duced units would contain talent that has appeared on the Vallee- Flelschmann variety"■ programs, with these shows carrying the.Rudy- Vallee name. Another unit -discusse l would comprise chorus girls pre-, sented in the past by N.T.G.* (Nils 'Granlund) on the Bromo-Seltzer broadcasts. NBC's artist bureau personnel Is reported to feel confident that it is sufficiently familiar ■ with roadshow booking, through having booked the Bowes -units since last summer,'to be able to handle unit placements and make correct percentage deals itself. Booking, territorial and box office information' gained through placing the Bowes- units in hun- dreds of towns through the U,' S. Oh every type of engagement from one-niters to week .stands, may prove invaluable' for its' future unit hooking activities, NBC believes. ,Its income.fr.pm the Bowes units, at the rate' of 10% commission against one-third of the profits, has run well over $10,000 a week for NBC. That's in excess of $500,000 a year, and NBC won't give it up without a tussled 101,000 FREE BROADCASTS! Federal Housing Programs Help Renovating Spree Washington, March 24. Huge dimensions of on-the-cuff radio broadcasts by the Federal Housing Administration last week was revealed to the House banking and currency committee by FHA. Administrator. Stewart McDonald. High-powered Government adver- tising to the* tune of 101,000 radio broadcasts and 7,000,000 lines of free newspaper ballyhoo resulted in 16,000,000 property owners sprucing up their homes, McDonald declared; Before the FHA was organized, McDonald told the committee, "There were less than 150 institu- tions making installment loans for modernization. Now there are 6,083. McCLATCHY GROUP UP FOR NBC ALLIANCE Guy C. Hamilton, gen. mgr. of the McClatchy string of newspaper and stations on the west coast, ar- rived in New York Monday (2&). While in New York he is expected ' to discuss with NBC & proposition that may lead to an alliance, with that network. Hamilton's primary purpose in the east.is vocational. McClatchy group is now affiliated with CBS through the former's di- rect connection with the Don Lee Network. Sam Moore Gets the Job Sam Moore has been made di- rector of the radio department of the William Esty agency. He re- places Edward Byron, who resl ned a> couple weeks »go. Moore was brought on from Hollywood where lie was on the writing staff of J. Walter Thompson. Eric Tomsett To Chi Chicago, March 24. Eric Tomsett has shifted into Chicago from New York to become western manager here for the Clark- Hooper advertising research outfit. .Stephen Hartshorn returns to New York. jl_ Flood Damages Paradise Showboat at Troy, N. Y. Troy, N. Y„ March 24. Paradise Show Boat, 400-ton schooner converted into a nlte club, was damaged by flood waters of the Hudson river, which overflowed into the downtown section here-. . The. ship for two days was perched at a dangerous angle on the; concrete municipal dock: state, troopers succeeded in securing a loose hawser to the dock. Fearing it would be loosed from moorings and thrown against the nearby Congress street bridge, police were stationed all night on the bridge, prepared to warn persons from tho spnn. Flremen> rescue*! from, the boat musical instruments valued at $1,000. Dishes and other equip- ment worth $2,000 were lost. Tw6 contracting firms were engaged to haul the vessel back into the river.