Variety (Mar 1936)

^Mnesday, March 25* 1936 a n ■ o VARIETY 11 Beware Phoney Flood 'Benefits' Chiseling- brigades, always .quick to capitalize oh emergencies that arouse the sympathies of the public at large, are reported ac- tive in promoting 'benefits* for flood relief. Radio stations should be extremely careful how they land their facilities and prestige to proposals of this nature. WFAB, WHOM IN SHARNG DEAL Consummation of deal whereby WFAB, New York, will take oyer operation and active control of WHOM, Jersey City, now awaits onJy final .okay by Federal Com- munications Commission. Joe Lang, . director of WFAB, and Paul Har- xoh, until recently with that sta- tion and now sales director at . WHOM, figured in the deal with Harry F. O'Mealia, present owner o* tfee Jersey City station. O'Mea- lla will retain an Interest in WHOM If and when the deal gets the offi- cial sanction of FCC ^VHOM, which already Is a full- time station, maintains its princi- pal studios and operating office Staff at the West 57th street ad- dress, while WFAB, which has been sharing time with two other out- lets, has studios in Carnegie Hall, 'HI Whether or not WFAB Is. to lose Its official identity may depend on , deal whereby. W£VD, New York city, would buy into the station. In that event It would, give virtual • fuH-ttme operation for WEVD, something; It does not have at the present time. Clyde Hunt, CBS presidential en- gineer in Capital, rates trip to Flor- ida with President .Roosevelt, de- spite no scheduled network broad- casts on jaunt. Special mike stand used by F. D. for both radio and p. a. speeches was. built by CBS and Hunt is. only man who can set it . up In a hurry. CHARLES GREEN JOINS NBC Brings Several Bands With Him oh April 1 Charles Green is. replacing Harold j Kemp as head of the band depart- | ment in the NBC Artists Service. | Green has had his own booking of- fice, with Noble Sissle's being among the bands on his roster. His aide, Charles Ryan, also shifts over With him. Kemp resigned several weeks ago to head up Fanchon & Marco's booking office on.the Coast. Green officially joins NBC April 1, bringing with him Noble Slssle, Stuffy Smith, Harry Reser, Red Me- Kenzie and Irving Aaronson and the Frank, and Milt Brlttoh act. Before becoming a producer of vaude acts and head of the Con- solidated Radio Artists Booking Office, ., Greeh was a musician and a musical supervisor in Ohio public schools. Following the departure of Harold Kemp from the NBC Artists Bureau Ruby Cowan will take oyer picture contacts, on the New York, end, which function had. been part of Kemp's job. Cowan will continue to -handle theatre bookings. Band department is to be expanded so as to allow for extensive staff to travel on the road with bands on one- night tours, to contact the hotel and nitecltibs in New York for business and to make the rounds of the ad agencies. Balto Radio Station Nixes Burlesq Tag Baltimore, March 24. When is burlesque not burlesque? Answer: When it is advertised over WFBR. Station has account in Hon Nick- el's burley barn, the Gayety, for series of spots, but has" put official curb on copy used, and the word 'burlesque' is carefully eliminated. Names of shows, featured strippers and comics are used, but the house is referred to only as 'the Gayety, Baltimore's playground.' The Miseries-Other Peoples-Looks Like Big Results-Getter for Radio Graham McNamee, born a St. Paullte, is to be master of cere- monies at the second annual police show, to be held in the St. Paul munie aud, April 13. McNamee will fly here immediately following his April 12 Chase & Sanborn stint. CLERGYMEN ASK BOWES TIME Toronto, March 24. Because the Major Bowes pro- gram is allegedly interfering with evening service church attendance, ministers of the Presbyterian church in Ontario, convening here, will write a formal request to Chase & Sanborn asking the. coffee sellers' cooperation in 'changing an hour which has always been regarded as a church, hour.' If the program should be. put ahead or back an hour, this would 'interfere' as much with church at- tendance to the east or west, de- pending on that five-hour time spread between Halifax and Van- couver by time zones. Sheboygan Station's Tower Sheboygan, Wis., March 24. Following approval of the FCC, Station WHBL, owned by the She- boygan Press, will start construc- tion of a new 235-ft.' transmitter tower and transmitter building on a 28-acre tract couple miles south of town. When the new equipment is fin- ished, the station, which now oper- ates on a split daytime schedule, will go fulltime. Is a 500-watter. Another Radio 'First' Her job as personal assistant to Lenox R.. Lohr, new NBC prez, rates Miss Martha Mc- Grew as the first woman to hold a high command in net- work broadcasting. Femme bosses in the business have heretofore been confined to sta- tion managers and lesser ex- ecutive positions on either local outlet or network rosters. Miss McGrew held a similar post with Lohr when he was managing director of the Chi- cago World's Fair. Cut Basketball Phy-Offs Indianapolis, March 24. Iggest single radio attraction in Indiana is cut down this year with the Indiana High School Basketball Tournament cut Into sectionals, regionals, and semi-finals, and only: three games played here to decide the victor.. In former years 15 games were played Over a two-day period, which were broadcast from the playing floor, with practically every, set in the state tuned in for results. This year only eight teams will complete, and games will be played In afternoon and night. This cuts the radio revenue down- to about one-fourth, of previous time costs. Ford Motor Cars is sponsoring the broadcast over WIRE, and the Mid- western Oil Company is plugging Hy-Red Gasoline over WFBM. Arch MacDonald, WJSV, Wash- ington, sports commentator, to Orlando, Fla., for 15-minute chatter from training, camp of. Washington Senators ball' team four times weekly. Station and sponsor, Peoples Drug Stores, splitting line charges. ications are that by the end of the current year the air will be flooded with personal problems pro- grams of the type in which the seekers after advise participate. Latest stanza of this description to have garnered commercial is 'Hus- bands and Wives,' which has been on WOR, New York, since last August. Standard Brands will do the underwriting. Slated, to start next month for True Story Maga- zlne is WMCA's 'Good Will Court/ with the hookup combining the Mutual Network With the Iriter-CIty Group. A third program of this classification, which is being readied by an agency for submission to a client, would have top name, femme authors sitting in judgment on the love problems of the younger element, Ad agency impresarios see this Wearing-of'-the-heart-on-the- sleeve trend as an offshoot of or step better than the type of selfrexpose enter- tainment exemplified by the 'Voice of Experience,' the 'Family Counsel- lor,' or the 'Friendly Advisor.' Na- tional advertisers that have made use of the problem, answering ex- pert include Ward Bread, Hinds Honey and Almond Cream and Wasey products. Opinion in the trade is that listening audiences will react, to this form. of exhibitionism even more enthusiastically than they have to amateur programs. This viewpoint is founded on the same theory which had actuated the advice column in the dally newspaper, that the aver- age person derives a big kick from, a recital of the other person's woes. 'Husbands and Wives' will take over the spot now filled Sunday nights on NBC's blue (WJZ) link: by Robert L. Ripley and Ozzie Nel- son. Problem retailer will likely have Standard Brands' seasoning product Royal Aspic tagged onto it. Richard Ullman, WGR-WKBW. Buffalo, vacationing in Bermuda; carries more programs voted BEST in nation-wide popularity polls than any other Philadelphia station. Let this be your guide in choosing radio coverage of the Philadelphia marketing area. PHILADELPHIA, PA—10,000 WATTS RALPH A. SAYRES. Director of Sales