Variety (Aug 1936)

$6 VARIETY R A Hi O Wednesilay/August 1^ Ifif^ ununer Bi^ey-JHait oil theLam Washington, Aug. 11. Perennial broadeas£ - industry bogey mail,'suhimer slump, is 0|n the run, National Association of ^oad- casters reported last week. : With June revenues figured on Vasis of gross billings'Amounting to $7,917,733 against $8,545,594 for May. Association ' ■ figure Interpreters pointers out that the' decline from the prior' month levePwasi the small- . est in recent year?.'. Drop this yeaif was 7;9%,' cbmi^ared' with 12,7% in 1935 and 21.6% in 1934. Any doubt that 193(J will set a new record'' fdr ■, industry income .was erased by the June report Although NiA£/istatisticldns have not com- . pleted itnalysis of first six nipnths, the figures for th«t' first half-year show a i^aiii of 12.7% above last year aiid a January-June total of $50,802,179. 'This is up nearly $5~8d0,000 6ver last year, and almost $12,600,000 in the past, two years. Xktinparable totals were $38,221,4^0. ioT 1034 and $45,075,972 foi: 1935. . Emiphasizing that trends thi£ year tre more encouiaging than in the - past, l^,AjB.' pointed out that gross June volume was' up 20J2% in the last 12 months, local' broadcast ad- vertising reversed the usual sea-' sonal tren4 and jtunped C.4% above May, national non-network volume was 24.7% ttetter than June, 1935^ all forms ' of automotive advertisiiig ' showed Diaterial gain over last sum- mer, rc^onal and Aon-w.'j drus ac- counts rose 'marb;6dly' and food advertising increased in all cate- gories. ' June total was broken, down as Allows; , National' tietyro^rks. |Ei|^445,346; regioiiills, ■ $105;860; • nar tbni^ non-web, $1,883,830; local, $1,948,280. Only increase was' in local revenue, which climbed about $i7,ooa. ■ - ■ 'For- the; dx-tfidnth- period, .all iprms were, up. substanilally above first half, of .1935, comparison of N4^e3 shoved; Web biz j u m p.i d from $26,120,410 to $28,ia,976; regional^ icom $465,899 to $844i473; non-network from $8,591;053 to $11,527,860; and local ' ixdta $9,898:610 to $10,447,870. ■ X|l(hnt ■•'; Analyzinjg the - non-web , business, Association- experts -irepprted v.-that annotmcement; -talent record - volume' all showed inicrea^s in some categories. Bevenufe lor flesh pro- grazes'was up $35,000 in the Iscal field; annptinceinent - rcraipts rose $15,000. in the non-web category; and record income dirabed $1,800 in non-web and !$2,700 in local branches. ■ ■ ': ■ ■ Substantial Increases in sale of talent and transcription 'prograiiis in the national hbn-web field during the vast two years werfe reflected in the preliminary, six-mooiths figures. 'While receipts from record and spot advtertlsiiig Were down below 1935 fitst-hSlf total, - disc figure was $1,918,212 ahead and flesh figure Was $1,826,525 bigger. T-lent trend was especially no- ticeable over, the two-year. period Non-network;, advertisers - 1 a.i d $3,200,000 more on the line for flpsh during the first. haU ot thLs year than they did in the same part of 1934. The* 1936 total is $ip,643,770, against $9,'8j7,245 last, year and $7,240,203 th6 ypsi before. Discs showed , a slightly smaller improve- ment, rising not quite $2,OOP,000 over the? 24.: months, - anji reached $5,723,950 this year against $3,805,738 In 1935 and $3,768,119 in 1934. SHOW BOAT REVAMPS; ROSS, comics REMAIN Benton &.Bowles is lining up a new. talent array for the Maxwell Show ■ Boat program' over . NBC. Changes ocqiur Aug. 20. Captain Henry is being written out of " the story , by the device of having him make a trip around the world. Hence Frank Mclntyre is at liberty, Al Goodman takes.over from Gus Haenschen .on .the musical end.. Mo- lasses and January and .Lanny Ross, the latter still headliner, remain. A .soprano to be selected and a. blues singer also in the cards,' Tom Revere of B & B yesterday was trying \o get together with Fred Norman on Sam Hearn who wiU do. a .'Horace Nimble' for Show Boat. $2j00P£RWEEK ASKED ON NEA STRIPS NEA Seiririce, neMvspaper syndicate owned by Scripps-Howard, has put three of its comic strips into ether form and is peddling them through the Stephen Slesinger firm, which also acts ;a[s NSA sales rep in the newspaper biz. This is the - sec- ond Scripps-Howard syndicate to jump into radio. United Features some months ago tr- ie the same move when sevetal of its comic fea- tures were put onto wax and peddled by 'Jean . y. Grombach. NI2A stril>s now Up for sale are Captain Easy and Wash Tubbs; WiL- Ifets Family ('Out Our "l^ay'); and Major Itoople. Latter is being scripted by E. R, McGiU, author of '45 Minutes in Hollywood' and 'Cavalcade of America,' in sections running tbrice to five times weekly, 15 minutes .apiece. - Asking price is $2,500 per week, and network airing only is demanded by contoct Trend,: toward etherization of syn- dicate stuff has been marked within thi past year, with thrfee firms try- ing to collect extr:: Coin irom sales to ra^o. In t'.ditior;; to the two Scripps-Howard pools, Hearst's King Features Syndicate is 'also radio- minded. Several pfthe latter's pro- grams are handled'by the Clevelafid 3. Chase organization, and one— TPopeye the Sailorman—has received commercial web aitinig. Lindsay; McPhaiTs Inside ; Track on Oil Program Atlantic Refining. Is. scheduled to Inaugurate a new program over the .Colimibia network in the fall. Clear- . .ance of time and other details being ■Jfiiprked out by N.,Wi Ayer. : Xiittdsay McPhail, who has been auditioning an oddlyrinstrumented swing orchestra around town with French Horns predominant, is re- ' ported set for the program. Eddie and liaiph and a soprano also In prospect. Mrs. Melrose Ah Actress ..^..i: .V - cievelandj-Aojg. il; .Edythe Fem Melrose, manager of WOAX became a film player last Week. SFer •Charm* aeries for WhJIa Cro«a SdttMl eaC Beauiy duUure has oonvfitted Intol»u$ines9 film. Will ba u^ed fo ball3^<M>«^e ojt tuitions in beauty schopL ARMY MAN JOINS NBC. Lt. Col. Fitch Brought in by -Lenox Lobr Lt. Coi. C. W. "Walter Fitch joins NBC as personnel head Sept. 1< Duri> ing the Century of Progress in Chi- cago, he handled general exhibits under Lenox Lohr. Most recently lie has been engaged in 'WPA- hous- ing .>ark in Wellington. Newcomer will be under Wt'.'sr J. Pc::tcn direct. Pants and Cricket .' Columbia's Berlin broadcast 'of the'3,000-metre Olympic race Saturday <8) had a London com-' mentator describing the contest The very British, accurate de- scription reached a peak' of personal annoyance when the annoimcer said:. - 'Th.at fellow has ' different trousers than he used the other day; that's very unfair; can't recognize him.' - CBS WANTS TO SEUKNX STUDIO Hollywood, Aug. 11. A Hollywood broadcasting studio budgeted around $1,000,000. is to be erected by COS this fall. Chain is trying to unload its KN3C studio, asking , around $165,000. Ford BiU- ings, Hearst rep., is huddling with Don Thombnrgh, .network exec, on possible takeover. Billings recently, bad plails driawn for a . new KEHE studio. Several stations have been offered the KNX studio, but ' no dice due to the stiff figure. Understood, however, that CBS will build a new studio regardless of what happens to KNX. TELEVISION DELAY; MUFES TRADE SHOW London, Aug. 2, Despite earlier annoimcement, the B. B. C. was to speed up techioical end of the bxiilding of its new tele- vision studios at the Alexandra Pal- ace, North London, the largest see- ing-in studios in the world, there will be no transmissions for the Ra- dio Manufacturers' annual exposi- tion at Olympia at the end of August. Corporation bad hoped to get the work so far advanced that it could send seeihg-iti stuff to the Radip- Olympia exposition, if only as a stunt. With the opening date less than a month away, the realization of -the idea has b.een found impossible. Boyer, Arnold on Camel Hollywood, Aug. 11. Charles Boyer takes to the air for the first time 0,ct. 4, drawing the guest spot: oh Camel Caravaru . Airview of Columbia's 'Meet Nero Wolfe' scheduled for Aug. 18 on the ciggie show vWth Edward Arnold es- saying his starring role in a brief sequence. Gertrude Niesen set for the singing, sppt. Mrs. Gargill Okay Macon, Ga., Aug. 11. Mr. and Mrs. E. K, Cargill are the parents of a son born , in Macon last week. Cargill is president of WMAZ. A.Caesarean operation was neces- sary for delivery of the child. Mrs. Cargill is npw repPrted to be out of danger. Lawyer Spearman, Engineer Pickard Master-fliid Regionals' Oct. Tactics New York meeting In the Hotel Barclay last Thursday (6) brought the brand-new National Association of Regional Broadcast istation^ one step nearer its objectives with the .designatioh bt Paul Spearman of Washington as the legal battery and Greenleaf 'Whittier Pickard of Bos- ton as the engineering master-mind. Group is now gathering fuhds With a view to moving into battle Oet.^ at the Federal Communlcatiom» Com- mission's field day on reallocation. Recognizing the well-organized and well-financed dear cbann^ group with fiOKHOM^watt ambitiPB» as a substantial majority of the 260 sta- tions of that classification imited for the Washington onslaught It is the decision of thfe organization committee to concentrate on October and rest the qiiestion of permanent orjganizatlpn, dues, policy, etc., until that is over and the sense of the sta- tions has been ascertained. Regionals want to get 5,000-waltage night and day as the ideal signal for stations of their class. Waste circula- tion and service of the MO,ooo-wat- ters will be attacked. John Shepardt 3rd, Edgar bill, Walter Damm, Jbhn If, GlUin, Jr.; Herbert L. Fett^; Boyt Wooten and a majot bazatd-fo the regional sta^l"VF. J» Scrlpp» are 3be exec commit- tions' future, the latter hope to have' tee pf the new org. Inside Stuff-Radio .Circular letter was sent to transcription manufacturer^^ and ad agencies last week' by ihe Mtisic Publishers Protective AssociaUon advising them that Warner Bros, music could be had for recording purposes at the same rates that applied for the copyrights of other publishing sources, Also that the MPPA was now in a position to re-license WB «omppsitions con-, tained in the older program libraries. Schism between: Warnef arid the Am^can' Society of Composers, Au- thors and Publishers had forced the library manufacturers to shelve a mass of finishing recordings. Release of these , will involve the licensing ' of approximately 1,500 'WB tunes, which at the rate of $15 per niunber will bring the Warner grpup $22,'50O. - - T"" Warner in 1935 got ,40% of the transcription business cleared .through' the MPPA's mechanical rights bureau. What looked like a bad guess. costing. Chesterfield ciggies a-nice Wad of coin was cleared up last week when Warners music houses and Amer- ican Society of Composers, Artists and Publishers- made their .peace. Several weel^ ago the Reynolds outfit hit upon an idea to tie in their billboard campaign with a radio theme song. Beaucoup .sheets were ordered and space placed with mags and dailieis. 'When word reached Andre KostelanetZi musical conductor of the radio program, that the tune would be ''When Irish EyCs Are Smiling' he looked into the catalogs and found it on the Warner restricted list. Too late for cancellations, paper went up in many spots. Hatchet-burying ceremonies came in the nick of time and the campaign has. been rejuvenated with more eyes smiling than the Irish.. . Opinion of Robert F". Elder, developer of the audimeter, is that' the gadget is due for 'large scale' Commercial use in .the near future. The meter is now'in the hands .of a midwest research outfit, said to be the Nielson firm of Chicago, which will continue, testing and improving it. Heretofore Andersoni Nicl^ols Associates of New Ybrk^ were custodians. Short time ago Elder and this firm parted ways. Latter said they had 'dropped' the device because it was too expensive, while Elder strenuously objected to this statement. Said he was not willing to enter into 'protracted controversy* with A-N, but that the reason , for this was because he had taken the gadget away from them after friction on how to handle it property. , ' Frank Newton who recently left the Blackman agency, Ifew York, where for a time he officiated in radio spot time buying is'leaving for a round the world -trip to study foreign advertising. This is the newest step in a systematic self-education Newton decided upon after leaving college. He worked in an A. & P. grocery store and waS a traveling sales- man for Maltex, then spent-twd years with Blackman agency. All this was part of a curriculum in advertising and selling he laid out for him« self some years ago. United Broadcasting system, Hollywood, of which the film actor, Harry Green is a leading spirit, IS not a library service. In making electrical transcriptions of Hollywood personalities United only expects these to reach stations under national sponsorship. Program material for locdl or retail advertisers is not part of their plant Green states. Asking stations to contract to clear time mandatorily, upon demand United proposes to line up national accounts. and be in a position.to deliver time across, the board precisely as telephone-linked network although wax wni be the actual medium employed. Walter 'Widlar,.WJAY, Cleveland, merchandise chief, has applied a novel method of reducing noise and static in the: home radio set. He has' a dynamic expander and a high note amplifier attachepl to his set so that during quiet moments in the program the high frequency .response is automatically reduced. Only disadvantage is that it requires 26 tubes to make the darned thing work. Entire estate of Wilfred W. Fry, president of N. W. Ayer .& Son, who died July 27, was left to his widow. . Will, filed in Camden, N. J., didn't reveal amount of estate. Executors are Mrs. Frj' and. Adam Kessler, Jr., business associate. 'Mystery' air trip of Howard Hughes, film producer, stirped up press curiosity. Not generally known that heavily-laden aeroplane has an NBC engineer' aboard. EVANSVILLE DEMAND Both NBC and CBS Won Station WGBF, Pari-Timer Evansville, Ind., Aug. 11. WGBF, local 500-watter here, has been approached by bPth NBC and CBS for web affiliation. Station now muUing over which proposish to choose, or whether to take any at all. Anticipated, however, that .some kind of web agreement will result. WGBF operates on a cleared re- gional channel, but has .divided eve- ning time. Attempts now being made to get full nightime operation. Is owned by Evansville on the Air, Inc., which also operates a 100-watt sister station, WEOA. Latter is affiliated with the Insull chain. Visiting In New York Hoyt Whi ten, WREC, Memphis. John J. GiUin, Jr., WOW, Omaha. John Shepard, 3rd, WNAC, Bos- ton. W. J. Scripps, WWJ, Detroit. Walter Damm, WTMJ, Milwaukee. Harry Slavick, WMC, Memphis. Arthur Church, KHBC, Kansas City. Harry Trenner, WNBF, Bingham- ton. C, D. Mastin, WNBF, Binghamton. In Chicago Albert Foster, WWL, New Orleans, La. H. C. Peters, Free & isieininger, Now YorJcr William Gellatly,. WOR, Newark. John Glllln, WOW, Omaha. J. M. Draughon^ WSIXj Spring- field, Temu William Bebrman, WBOW, Tetre Haute, Ind. Robert A. Street, WCAU, Phllly. WHAS Seeks 100-Watter To Give Local Service When WHAS Goes Up Louisville, Aug. 11. . Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, owners of "WHAS, 50,000 watt outlet for CBS programs in this ter- ritory, filed application Friday (7) with the FCC for a new 100-watt sta- tion to be operated on 1,210 kilo- cycles, unlimited time. Application to boost the power of WHAS from 50,000 to 500,000 watts is now on file with .the commission. Setup would be comparable to that now in operation by Crosley Corpor- ation in Cmcinnati, which has "WLW as the super-watter and WSAI as its auxiliary little brother, with time rates in a lower price range to take care, of local business. Another 100 waiter will be ready to take the air about Sept. 15. across the river from Louisville in New Albany, Indiana. Arthur Har- ris, and his soh, Charles Harris, ex- pect their station to give coverage in the Louisville' area, as well. as New Albany and some distance in Southern Indiana. Judge Robert E. Bingham, pub- lisher of the Courier-Journal and Times and Ambassador to England, would have, control of the new sta- tion as well as 'WHAS. His nephew, George W. Norton, Jr., is owner of WA'VE, NBC's Louisville outlet. . . Mona Thomas, formerly of Thomas & Thomas Advertising Agency in Denver and ex-scripter for WBBM, was placed on payroll at WCFL. Chi- cago, last week. Miss Thomas 'will write script shows and handle pub- licity for the labor station. I