Variety (Mar 1936)

Wtdws&&Y> Mwcli 25, 1936* 4 1)1 VARIETY 39 RADIO'S IMPORTANT ROLE IN CRISIS WABC, N. Y., Falters ■^Tinrj,- water at Way , . J., w We CBS has the. transmitter for \VABC its main outlet, caused the ?ay station to go off the air period- ically ' last Thursday and Friday.' Flood interfered with the workings of the cooler system and produced blank' spaces of about a minute apiece on half a. dozen' occasions. WIVA's 87 Hours Wheeling, W. Va., March' 2.4. For 87 consecutive hours WWVA laid down a barrage of messages, info, appeals for help, etc., as the fiopd here reached a crest-of 55 feet. Station had predicted the disaster from tJ, S. "Weather Bureau statis- tics, and was prepared in advance for emergencies. Throughout the actual, flood res- cue work was directed largely via the 5,000-watter. Later, as the water subsided, appeals for food, shelter and "cldthihg r : as we.ll as man- power to' clear the debris, were broa-dcast. Red Cross donations, called for by the station, reached $50 ; 006 -in three days and aue ex- pected tb attain $100,000.. Rochester Off Air Rochester, March 24. Heavy sleet storm" last week took Wth' Rochester radio stations off the air for more than two hours. WHEC's antenna broke down at 9:55 Tuesday night and broadcast- ing was not resumed until next morning. Just after WHAM opened Wednesday morning all four tele- phone linea broke down between the broadcasting studio in tlie Saga- more Hotel and the transmitter sta- tiohi'in Victory, 20 miles away. Talent and equipment were load-' ed "on- trucks arid automobiles, and rushed to. the WHAM transmitter station: where an emergency studio was set up to save- the commercial programs. Seven live-talent programs, re- quiring 30 people; were put oil from there under d.idlcultic. When piano had. not arrived for the opening pro- gram, station engineers helped whistle the theme- song, tyailjiv equipment to a table was done in rhythm willv the. bass drum of the ll-pietfe Smith-siverson orchestra during the Fete-Naphtha- period. Chief; Engineer John J. Long, Jr., ill at his home, kept- the studio in touch with..the trans itter station with his short-wave set. Two hours later three of the telephone, lines had been repaired, but with part of the talent still at fhe station, it was necessary to switch back and forth until the schedule, could be defi- nitely reestablished at the studio. With possibility ., of other breaks, an announcer with wax equipment remained at the transmitter station throughout the day .and evening. Most of the wire connection be- tween the studio arid station is underground cable,, the break com- ing in a short stretch of overhead, wires at about the half way mark. 2,000 Messages Lowell, Mass., March 24. After broadcasting 2,000 messages for anxious friends and relatives; giving flood-and safety info;, aiding the mayor's, office, police and fire departments, and mobilizing relief for flood victims, WLLH'S man- ager, Robert Donahue, took a turn at the mike to administer his own station a suave pat on the back. Reminded listeners of th.e' serv- ices WLLH had rendered, and then indicated that the station is sup- ported by advertising—ergo, patron- ize the advertisers. Also rang in some sweet plugs for the Lowell Electric Light Corp. and the tele- phone company. Concluded with a rousing motto: 'The friendly voice of the Merrimac Valley pledges con- tinued service in every worthy cause.* Deliver Taper' by Air KnoxvillOj March 24. WXOX came to the aid of the Scripps-Howard .paper here, the' afternoon NcwsrSent'inel, by broad- casting-the entire news contents' of a complete paper when circulation trucks Were unable to make deliv- eries in the flooded areas of Ken- tucky, Virginia and North Carolina. Page-by-page account was given for subscribers and listeners-in in marooned' communities. WBEN Sends Crew Buffalo. March 24. Radio very much'oil the job with flood news service here., WBEN sent Spieler Lou Kaiser, Technical 'Supervisor Ralph G.. Kingsley and Short-wave Techni- cian Ernest H. Roy to Binghamton for first-hand description. Crew- had to leave car on outskirts of town, Jug 150 pounds of equipment in, row down, the street, climb over a billboard " into a garage before setting up equipment. First broad- cast, Thursday (19), was success- ful. •"• Another try Friday "went by the board—too much static. WKBW staying open after hours during flood to present late bulle- tins. Tjsuai sign-off is 1 a. m.. Now staying on until 3, 3:30 with U. P. dispatches from stricken areas. Also Announcer Stuart Metz, a for- mer ham, has been picking up short-wave amateur reports at home and phoning them to studio. Estimated cost of $50 an hour for overtime service. Philadelphia's Part Philadelphia, March 24. Last week's floods gave, local sta- tions plenty to' do and offered them record field day with listeners. They crashed through, generally,' in neat fashion. All studios issued fre? quent news bulletins, vary-in inter- vals from every half-hour to every 1 two hours, with hot items always good for interruption regular programs, WCAU, with short wave a "liate, W3XAU. not only had an in with news from flood territory, but was instrumental in handling communi-' cation duties for various relief agencies. Station was in constant touch with KDKA and its short wave station, WSXK,- and directed movements of relief -workers, troops, instructions from Red Cross and news bulletins to • stricken, territory. Station was' clearing point for ma- jority, of orders, situation finally getting so Harrisburg arid other points issued instructions for .all in flood area to stay tuned to WCAU or W3XAU. W1P, with two reporters in flood territory, reporting conditions by phone, (whenever they could get' through), also used Trans-Radio service and bulletins from Mayor Wilson, who was in close touch with I situation. Station also broadcast j mayor's appeal to Pliilly citizens' for! contributions. KY.W, picking Joseph 1 Vancheri's short wave descriptions from W8BWH, Punxsutawne-y, Pa., put them on NBC hookup. ickup was completed through intermedi- ate shore-wavers. | WOL Gathers Copper | AVashington. Maivh 2-J. WOL, local 100-jvatter; getting in a deal of showmanship and Hearst publicity as the result of an id*a that started out to be pure aluu- ism. Tying in with the flood sit- uation, Art Brown, m,c. of the 'Mu- sical Clock,' asked his Friday audi- ence for pennies for- the Red Cross fund of the* Washington Herald "(Hearst).. By afternoon $255 copper was -on. hand. Noting the. temper of "the audi- ence; WOL then decided to. break up its eve schedule arid put on a dance stanza, to thank listeners for contributions. Although the outlet- signs off at midnight, the Test went on until :30 a. rii. Next eve the same thing happened,, this lime lasting" until 3 a. nr. WHP-WKB0 Broadcasts WDEV's Nice View Waterbury, Vt, March 24. WDEV, located on a slight rise of land in the center of Water- bury, aired some of the best de- scriptions of the recent flood in this district and announcer Silvio Car- antini could gather his material by glancing out the studio windows, as both ends of the village were cov- ered -with from three to six feet of water form the Wlnooski River. There was no damage to the sta- tion, but several local buildings, in- cluding the State Insane Hospital, were flooded over the first floor level. State Institution's difficul- ties added plenty of color to the broadcasts. Harrisburg, Pa., March 24. Two local stations here, W'HP and WKBO, have been keeping an eye on the flood situation since 10 day.' ago. Knowing that the vast Ice sheath over Pennsylvania, rivers was sure to result in ice jams and floods, stations tied together all in- formation sources they could so as to be able to report When the actual break would corrie. Info tie-ins included telephone companies, Are departments, Harris- burg Telegraph newspapers (which own an observation plane), weather and hydraulic authorities, etc. Even got oldtimers to broadcast thojr knowledge of river conditions. When the actual floods started, both sta- tions were in an A-l position to broadcast alarms. Bad Luck Dogs WFBL Syracuse, March 24. WFBL, Syracuse, almost had a flood broadcast. Samuel Wood- worth, station manager, and Bruff (Continued on page 46) 'THE The WLW audience is representative of the entire United States* No single group, no particular class of Americans make up the habitual listeners to "THE NATION'S STATION"Northerners, Southerners, Easterners, Westerners— from farms, small towns, and great metropolitan centers — combine into the largest group in the world who STATION" * Not simply the best known slogan in radio broadcasting, but a recognized fact / ' y listen regularly to a single broadcast- ing station. WLW's audience is the perfect cross- section of the whole nation. Over the widest area covered by any individual broadcasting station, WLW Carries radio's finest programs into every type of home that can be accurately labelled "American." Yes, WLW ^ " THE MTION'S STATION" THE CROSLEY RADIO CORPORATION/ CINCINNATI