Variety (Aug 1936)

Wednesday, August 12,1936 RADIO VARIETY E. Katz Asks a Re-Count E. Katz Special Agency, newspaper rep which took on radio first of . the year and liow-has 15 client stations, is strenuously objecting to the short-listers' statements that Katz has three New'YorJc salesmen. Katz Viewpoint is "that there are eight Manhattan peddlers all told. Three of these work exclusively' on. radio, while the rest sell both radio and neyr^aper space. Katz claims that it went into radio be- cause its staff was one good talking point, and that this point has substantially increased in value since revelations that most reps •work on a very skimpy sales overhead. : If the Katz method of reckoning is accepted ais correct^ it likewise- means that Branham, another entrant into radio from newspapers, diould be credited with more than one New York salesman. Bran- ham has. this singleton exclusively on radio selling, but there are others who sell both radio and newspapers. Dick Voynow on John Shepard Payroll; Revamped Yankee Starts Sept. 2? Boston^ Angr. 11. Qaeried by VAiqETY concern- ing a report going the ronnds over the week-end In advertising circles that he was part owner of the.Edward Petry sales rep or- ganleatlon, .Jo|in Shcpard, 3rd, nsed the strongest possible em- phasis in denying the r.eport. 'Absolutely unfounded, ridicu- lous, nothing to it,' is Shepard's description of the report which evidently, followed the recent long-^rm deal between the Yan- kee network and Petry. Riehard Voynow, brother of Ed Voynow, v.p. in the Edward Petry rep firm, has been named sales and production manager of WEAN, Prov- idence, and WICC," Bridgeport, both owned by John Shepard, 3rd. This niiove was officially announced by Shepatd the day after he and Ed- waird Petry collaborated on drawing up a spectacular rep contract where- by they are boimd together for five years. Dick Voynow, before his calling to the Shepard aegis, was in the production department of WLW, Cincinnati. Meantime, plans have been com- pleted to get the revamped Shepard Yankee web onto the ether Sept. 27, same day that WNAC, Boston, joins the NBC red. " AH the stations will be ready for piping in except WEAN and WICC, both of which are cur- rently CBS affiliates and won't be available to Yankee or . the NBC blue until Jan: 1 of next year. On that same date the status of three, other Yankee affiliates who are coniihg into the hew setup -will turn nebulous. These stations are WMAS^ SR:riogfield; WLBZ, Bangor, and WFEA,'. Manchester. Sinde the trio is affiliated with CBS, their availability to Yankee, which is nearly all NBC, comes into question. That is, vmless Yankee wants to put special wires into these stations, or a maneuver is worked whereby they change their network status tp NBC. Shepard's statement on the matter mentions 'a possibility that they will continue to ' carry programs' after the first of the year. ■ . • Shepard's second New England ■ "wreb—the Colonial, fed by WAAB— is also, getting started'oh Sept. 27. • Latest Addition to this web is WTHT, Hartford. OVERLAPPING SURVEYS Time Clearance Delays *ParsonV Fixed Schedule Colgate Super-suds show, 'Goose Creek Parson' which starts Aug. 30 over CBS, will have a Suh.-Wed.- Fri. schedule first four weeks. Then reverts to Mon.-Wed.-Fri. at 7:30. Show originates from West Coast. Benton & Bowles is the agency. Goodwidi, Ellers Move ' San Francisco, Aug. 11. Sid Goodwin succeeds Cecil Un- derwood as program manager of NBC's Hollywood studios. Under- wood leaves Aug. 15 to join Ruths, lauff & Ryjm agency as producer. . Since January Goodwin has been *ught program supervisor at the NBC studios in San- Francisco. Rich- ard Ellers ^)riir leave the announcers staff.to^take over these duties when Goodwin goes south. NBC, CBS Both Go On Despite Joint Committee Idea Even though both networks are contributing to the support of the Joint Committee on Radio Resejirch, NBC and Columbia are rushing tp complete their own surveys on farm-owned receiving sets. Sentiment in agency circles is that the webs ought to get together on the proposition of letting the Joint Committee handle the job and any other of like calibre which NBC and Columbia have in the worlcs. 2 Commercials Set Lecture Platformers; One Spot, One Network H. J. Heinz and' General Electric both are contemplating the use • of lecture platform personalities on radio programs this fall. Heinz starts Sept. 2 over CBS while GE is still tentative but intended for elec- trical transcriptions; Heinz show set through the Maxon. agency will be broadcast at II a.m., Mon.-Wed.-Fri. with a repeat broad- cast at 3 p.m. for the west. There will be two speakers per program, all different, although Grand Duchess Marie will be repeated once a week. Lined up for the Heinz program are: William Moulton Marston, Dorothea Brande, Sophie Kerr, Countess Salvohi, ChoUy Knicker- bocker (Maury Paul), Mrs. Gifford Pinchot, Angelo Patri,' Dorothy Can- field Fisher,. Ralph Isham, Walter Pitkin, Ethel Cotton, S. S. Van Dine, Frank Crowinshield, Theodore Drei- ser, Beatrice Fairfax, Herbert Bay- ard Swope, Leonard Barron, Sheila Hibben, Fannie Hurst, Albert Payson Terhune, Amelia Earhart and Wendy Marshall. . Batten, Barton- Durstine & Osborn In auditioning for G.E. followed the example of • Heinz in keeping the lecturers' time allotment down to two or. three minutes. G.E. show had Walter Pitkin and Princess Kropot- kin, but added to this mixture an assortment of elements, viz.: Ray- mond Knight, Ida Bailey Allen. Sylvia the .masseuse, Phil Duey and 'Albert Payson Terhune. [' TILK CETTINC STALE Broadcasters Bring Up Addi- . tional Points of Criticism as Anvil Chorus Remains in Session CHEAP BLURBS Now It's Ed Paulin Rockford, 111., Aug. 11. Ed Palen. is .low Ed Paulin. People will henceforth pronounce it right, he hopes. Paulin moves into WROK here from WOC. Davenport, to re- place Brar./ i Bloomquist, gone to NBC, Chicago. WROK has .lamed George Menard head of its farm program service. Naylor Eogers Status Hollywood, Aug. 11. Naylor Rogers leaves KNX after the takeover by CBS, officially set for Aug, 16. General manager of the station for the past 12 years, Rogers takes a va- cation before making new connec- tion. ■' s. Follows-ups on the recent anvil chorus against station sales reps are giving prominence to other,' less pub- licized, 'flaws' in the reps service. Some of the additional blasts against station reps as voiced by dissatisfied broadcasters include these charges: (1) That too large a percentage of such business as the business reps do turn in is of the cheap rate spot announcement sort. This is the least desirable type of spot account, is a parasite. on entertainment program, is troublesome to handle and occa- sions frequent squawks from sponsors of regular programs that resent other advertisers getting a free ride during station breaks, etc. (2) Almost any first -class station in a good market automatically is ap- portioned a.considerable volume of spot bliurbs anyhow; there is little or no salesmanship required: instead it's mostly a matter of how many an- noimcements a station can or is will- ing to accept. <3) When national accounts go seeking local programs they contact the stations direct and purposely avoid dealing with station reps; the Meeting Admen s Spedlications Following a series of complaints by agency spot buyers that the majority of station reps supply inadequate, station and market data, Hearst Radio is trying to cash' in on this dissatisfabtion to the advan- tage of the Hearst group. Outfit now has a project under way call- ing for standardization of all data on its stations. Format was copied off a list of suggestions for station info sent out by Campbell-Ewald about a year ago," together with suggestions and amendations from BBD&O, Ayer, and others. Project calls for a series of loose-leaf booklets, each to be identical with every other even to page numbers, in which will be listed terse coverage, marketing and personnel facts. So far "the volumes for WBAL, Baltimore, and WCAE, Pittsburgh, haye been completed. These are being personally delivered to 250 advertisers and agencies. Info takes the following lines: station policy; local features; network affiliatidn; showmanship; reception quality; listening audience; hours of broadcast; dial position; power; equipment; coverajge map in' milli- volts; market data; surveys; newspaper affiliation and merchandising service; rates; station management; competition; and accounts using the station. Point-Raiser Binghamton, N. Y., Aug. 11. Apropos the current agitation concerning radio station sales representatives, Harry Trenner of Station WNBF here has his own ideas of what constitutes the core of the dispute. He is suggesting trade action to as- .certain facts and adopt a policy. Has sent the following letter to Buryl Lottridge of KFAB, Lin- coln, v^o is chairman of the sales managers division of the National Association of Broad-. casters. Letter follows: We have been residing and hearing a lot about the station 'rep' situation. It seems to me. that the bone of contention is the 15% in- volved. Nobody, has taken the trouble to query agency time buyers as to whether this se'irv- ice is valuable to them. My suggestion is that our organiza- tion send a questionnaire to the men who buy radio for, a • con- fidential opinion. I had a chat in New York ■ with a very important time buyer and his views revealed some startling difijerence, of opinion to the general -opinion voiced by station owners. I believe this service wduld be a function that our organiza- tion should adopt and the infor- mation used to advise station operators. ' (Signed) Harry Trenner. Spot Biz Starts to Roll In: Atlantic defining Gridironers Lead Oif FaD Sipatures Following a couple of dull weeks, the spot biz within the past seven days has taken one of the biggest spurts of the season in New York. Stations and their reps are now being asked for available time spots at a hefty pace presaging a new stream of coin into the ledgers. At least a dozen accounts last week were mull- ing spot in sonie form, a couple of them- putting through sizable ink- ings. This is the biggest prospect list developed so far this fall. Included in. the most active roster of actual and prospective spot buyers in Manhattan are the fol- lowing: Atlantic Refining, through N. W. Ayer. Has 'signatured for various football tilts in the East. All of. the University of Pennsylvania games, except Penn-Cornell, are purchased on WCAU, Philly, this deal reputedly involving $10,000. WCAE, Pittsburgh, gets Pitt's games, including the Pitt- Nebfaska fray to'^be played in Ne- braska. Whether the latter will be piped into the Iron City or re- enacted . isn't decided yet. "Virginia Broadcasting System garners the complete University of "Virginia ganies at a figure of about $8,500. WeEI, Boston, has a combination schedule of Boston College, Boston U, Brown, Dartmouth, and. Holy Cross games. WJAR, Providence, also contracted for Brown games. Oyster Shell Erpducts, through Husband & Thpmas, has again de- cided on an announcement campaign, which is to start next month. Will hit about 25 stations with powerful rural coverage (last year the account had 18 stations). List not completely set yet. Evans is time buyer. 'Utica Knitting. (underwear), through John Thomas Miller agency, is getting up a list of 12 to 15 sta- tions for one-minute, announcements. Will be selected all over the country except the South. George Hecker is, account-exec and buyer. Ironized Teast, though Ruthraufl Sc Ryan, is completing purchase of latter are thus not sufficiently close or intimate with leading agencies to justify a claim that 'friendship' brings in business that might not otherwise come to the station. (4) Apart from the preference of agencies to deal direct (angle-seek- ing) with stations where local pro- grams are included in time buys there remains the fact that most sta- tion reps are not equipped to audi- tion recordings, do not have enough salesmen or facilities to cover agen- cies in terms of program-demonstrat- ing and program-pushing and, very important, have neither the taste nor the background to talk in showman- ship terms instead of mere 'coverage', a subject rapidly getting to be pretty, stale stuff to agencies. • Giawlng Important Sale of local programs to national sponsors is a.sbiu'ce of nice .profits facilities for two fiverminute platters per'week to start Sept. 6. Station list, is described as 'big.' . Webster-Elsenlohr (cigars), through N. W. Ayer, is extending its spot^ in Kansas City, Charlotte, and New England. . Continental . Oil, .through Tracy- Locke-Dawsoi), will start with a half-hour weekly platter series, for 13 iveeks, on Sept. 27. Skedded to hit 31 stations'with Carveth WeUs in 'Exploring America.' Repiibllcan National Committee is querying' all.>atation reps about ac- ■ ceptance of either 5 or 15-minute discs for placement- side of foreign language broadcasts! of any kind- whatsoever. Wants., stations every- where except in the South. List to be set jfl about .another, week. Queries made by Miss A, Graham. Nncoa, through Benton & Bowles; has bought one-minute announce- ments to start this week. Contract calls for 26 spiels, to run six-a-week until used upi . Ivory- Soap, through Blackman, starting a test campaign in the Southeast within two weeks. Calls for annoimcements to run on vary- ing short schedules. Consolidated Cigar, through Erwin- Wasey, is calling for info on^sports, .and .nay start in a month, though not definitely. Altkin-Kynett agency, Philadel- phia, is rhakirig sports reservations of all kinds, but without naming its client. City Can't Act Against Free Entertainments and prestige to those stations which are equipped to produce first class radio entertainment. Among stations that have sold and specialized on programs of their own concoction are, to name a few:' WMCA, WOR, WHN, New York; KNX. Hollywood: WHO, KRNT, Des Moines; KMBC, WHB,'Kansas City; WNAC, Boston; WSM, Nashville; WCAU, Philadel phia; WLW, WCKY, Cincinnati; ■WFAA, Dallas; WLS and WGN, Chi- cago; WTIC, Hartford; WFBR, Bal timore; V/XYZ, WJR. Detroit; WGR- WKBW, Buffalo; WHK, WGAR, Cleveland; KSTP, St. Paul. General experience has been that the station's own staff sells its pro- grams. Never the sales rep in New York. An exception was when John Blair carried around, special discs to ballyhoo available shows on KNX, Hollywood. In general the sales reps havjSn't even bothered to think. in program terms or to familiarize themselves with what was-for. sale. Minneapolis, Aug. II. Minneapolis city council hac been advised by R. S. Wiggin, city at- torney, that It has no jurisdiction In the matter of free radio enter- tainment to promote advertising pro- grams arid is powerless to prohibit it, Wiggin gave his opinion after a half dozen theatrical booking agert^ appeared before the council ordi- nances and legislation committee to voice protests and objections against the free entertainment, 'The matter is one of interstate commerce and the council cannot interfere,' Wiggin told the nldermen. *Wond6r Show's' location Continental Baking's 'Wonder Show' will broadcast over Mutual from Carnegie Hall, New York,- for the next four Sunday nights. Was intended to move into New Amster- dam after inaugural program. -Afterpieces will be dropped.