Variety (Dec 1936)

14 A to 1« Stations Get the DoiiUecross Inp CostJNnr^^ Boys Chica^D, Dec. 29. Stations which have been aceept- ;lng . contingent basis -; :^the sly. (and •^theFfi are .evidiferires that irhiany:. sta^- tions have been taking, sixch busi- •niBSs) are; now ■ yelping, about the ~ tewific kickback which his occurred ■over these accpiihts'during;, the past ' ti6st;iiFmbhths; bu^^ stations' hands are;tied in the;rhatter and ho matter hoW.rnuch fuming, they do privately they cah't do anything about it; Many ,oif these, contihgerit accounts haye walked out on their deals and are refusi .to> pay hfl on thieir agrtie- nierits; Ahd the. stations can't tiake any action to collect , their' coin without expoising' their own hand, and reyealing that they have btieii indulging. in sonie off-the-rwprd iif« ■iairs.. '■ So > rather -the.. chance ' of bringing thieir illegitihiate rchil- ; dr0n to light and getting the tap .irqm the bther advertisers wHoi are -ing card rates, the stations are .checfcln;^ it off to experience*. ■'Biromerinpi',^-^''' Which got a deal 6t :;.3Sc;/a -repiy oii /i contingent basis .•grat)1l6(l the ottex, figuring it a :Cinch to get'm than card Wes: since : the transmitter was. a ciijich letter^piiller. Station did pull 1;^ xii&il^ So Miiqh in *act, that the ^dy ' yjertiser. went'pverlM and walked sinice,' a^rding. ^ the iiiumber :, :bf let^^^ cost :bf; the programs ■would be near, the five figure mark, .and far above rate^ ra^ iNow the ' :stSiM(>ii . getting yelps from the \;; jisteners, asking !what happened to ' the samples they .1 f :--i^l^^!i^, contingent .advertisers make: ' a'deal , at maybe .1,06. a reply, and .^ theh after.. the. ^station has plugged .the' 9ampling to death and brought .thousand?; of..replies, the/adver- .. iiser 9ays that heil,pay only Sc. or K even; 3c.. a reply, instead of the dime orighiaUy: agreed upon,. And the .:$talipn . usually is forced to^ accept ; this deal in, order to keep'goodwill ' with its listener^. . jBbVs have had their han«3s burned so. often now» however, that it Iqioks as it the per-inquiry. business is finally killing itself off due tQ this klckbaick froni the boys who; think a- double-cross is. just good business , Hpperatiph. Most of the stations haVe Iowa 3 Kills Siids Des Mollies; Dec. 29. . Starti with the first of the year the Iowa Networ ill bah all beer advertisi Policy change made to cohfcirm with that of ipes Moineis Register arid Tribuhe, which hasn't cairried beer, ads for several years., > ' Iowa net did considerable busiheiss on beer accounts this past. fi^V- vying seven foiam programs. THEQ. MaqMANUS RETIRES Jokn l^kes .pVer Tojp Sp«t In .Detrelt Agency I>etroit, bee. 29. irheodore F. MacManus, headl of the MacManus, Jc' r . & Adams ad agency: here,, iias retired ahd is. 'suc- ceeded b^vW. A! P. John. James R. Adams, the third of the agency in 1934, beooihes executive vice-president and general manaiger. MacManus' son,, John-R.j is now vice-president,, secretary -and direc- tor. Principal, among agency's <:lients are Pontiac andX^adillac motor cars. International kadio Corp. and Sta-' tion WJR,: inc. Actor ft Into $pieler8 Pittsburgh, Dec. 29. : Couple of hew additions made to announcer's istaiT at Hearst-owned station, WCAE. Latest -spielers- are Robert McKee,.-former member of the .dramatic staff, and .Leslie Wil- lianis. Incidentally, Mckee is the fourth recriiit from' station's stock comipgny' to draw an announcer's berth, withip last year. • Others are Carl bbjser, Mark' Hartman and Nnrman Twigger. . ; bu!t at WdAE aftei* a couple of mohths as an anhouhcer is „ Bob Short; bf Baltimore. Radio FiMcioty XCbhtinued from page, 33) WBNX Up 44 «/2% WBNX, New York, renorts a g.rpSs increase of'^4^^.% for 1936. Preced-, ing year's billin.? was $113,605^ as compared to $164,162 • for current closing stretch. ■ Bronx outlet is on the foreign program outlays. been boosted into the. contingent deals, even though ., normally op- posed to such practices, have! been jockeyed into them, by their bwii pride and'confidence in their trans- mitters. They are sure that , their listeneVs ill rush to the .writlhg desk tb send "in for' samples; .arid besides; such deals give the statibns ah opportunity to find-out just how strong they are*with their listeners. But the nianagers are now ;findihg their pride is, leading them to .their Own dowhfaU by making them step oft the , deep end intb agreements which get their hands dirtied up with j products and stutits which always , seem to have unforeseen, strinjgs at- i:tached to x» ^^'■''*■.i•<<w■■■■^^*:v«^»^^rt^^p*l;*1';^L'X'•:>.-5>^L,., — , An Ace amotig me4ia, WGY tiirni? the tiicfc for aclveftisers in Eastern and Gentral Ne>y Ybrk and Western Nevv England. This giant statibii has unequalled power and pbp- '^^^ ularity in the prosperous Northeast. Let us demonstrate how showmaniship plays a winning hand for advertisers. WGY 50,000 WATTS NBC Rod Natv/or StHENECTADY Completely programmed by NBC ufactured by the Hummerts ancl then passed for., dastih^:, . rehears! .. and ultimate brbadcasting by . Air JFea- tiires. Hummert. last week piirson- ally clariQed some of the poin ' - volved in the new.'clearing house' and. its relatipnsh ip to tlie a,*eri.cy. Humhiert stages that he. owns no Stock and will derive no- salary , or other; income troirt Air Features, Ihcl Humiherts are .paid by the agehciy. A New York corporation, the. hew piroduction firm's $tpck is. distrit)Utied ^ among James dSaUterj! Abe Lyman 'and others'—but not thet Hum- niorts. Sol; A[ Rosenblatt is counsel ohly-rrnbt-'a stockholder, it is Mated; Other persons, possibly CJus Haen-? schen, may hereafter: be in on Air Features, it's added. ThatV for the future. "■ .. - ' '■■ Air Features will handle only Blackett-Samjple-Hummert s H.f w s, but not all Of them..,It will book with ail recognized talent agebcies, including Bob Goldstein. There will be ho dsductibn of commission froni talent, but if talent is- booked through agents the piaymen't pf com- mission is .a matter between the per- former and. his br her or their,: per- sonal rep. Hummert states that the setup will fit in with the :agency poliby pf low cbst radip, production, while at the same, time consolidating and rSyste- matizing the- routine detail which Will .be under responsible' authority. Hummerts perspnally desire to be as free ' to Write, arid create serials.. program conceptionsi Frank Hummert is today pirobably the bnly top rank agency partner devbtirjg" praictically • his entiru time to radio Only. And only the •tive side of radio. Conjecture in the advertising trade attributed, the-Air Features setup to. a desire^.Of B-St-H to share more, di- rectly in talent cpmrnission gravy from which it'has previously stood apart. Hummert emphasizes that the Air. Features arrangement is for convenience and. facility and he does not think the production adjunct will 'make a fortune' 6t that there is or can be any sponsor, bbjection. While anxious to discharge talent angles into the. custody of Air Features, Hummert is aware that ah agency inust check and. control its entertain^nent jobber against kick- backsrand other talent offsides believes Air Features is fully; sured against anything of that'na- ture,. Production, office is and will; pay- 'the standard\ma^^^^^ pyice* for performers, and and , Will reduce :to a mi imu! .all auditing; delays in paying ^lerit. Ben^ts, as Hummert tures, inc.i spring from: /mass :productiph advantage^ trating so many shows much tajeht one .: makes possible: the cohti the. B-S-H policy of low run radio programs, which, , keep ever>ybbdy happy-^the first , of :all .tlirQusH a job-accompiish-. ing^ aii entertainrrieht' at niofierate exfiense,. Agency benefit's from evity of accbitnts. Filially the actors: get extended ■engagernents. because bost of sales .promotion.- by BtS-H^ factory-type showmanship^ i rela- tion to gales results makes fpr Ibng- conti iiig associations. New sourid-on-filrt^ innovation iri which Huimrnei't is inteiesteci \Vill also contribute to the low .eost radio production ideigi, he hopes, n paper and ■ th labrn-ajiory th.e ?.civan-. tages ai*e very great; the af^ency exec thin.lvs. If it wov's. put iti practice he sees souii rpr-film open- ing up new ppssil)ilities, " radio production. Accounts that;cannot o'v will not pay for aavy sujar'taleivt oind othei' pfoductioii expense may. find; radip advet'tisin< within theii' i , llet'ctol'df' ina^iequate, of cost. Bridgeport, Dec. 29, ' past year not only «dded two sta- tions to Connecticut list, making a total of nine, but brought Impbrtant network shifts to every full-time plant in the state. With all the latter changes John Shepard 3rd, bro«fd- casting boss of New England, ;had something integral to do. Nutmeg exhaling roster how geographically as follows: Hartrerd—MTTIC, the travelers* .Sb.obb-watter, cbntinues NBC .Red. basic In addition to Yankee netWbrk association. WPRC, 9,000, days and 1.000 nights, how ehtireiy CBS basic sinhe local Yankee diploma went to WTIC. Newest kilocycler in Con- necticut (Capital is 100-watt TyTHT^ the Hartford Times! dSiytimer, aiftili-; at^d.With Cbipnial and Mutual> Wftterbwry-^TiraRYt formerly ex- neriwetital. WlXBS, -■ is Waterbury JB.p7ublician - Atherican-s ilowiitter With substudio.s in New Haven,, Ha\j^ ini* tried old WNEW-ABS and inde- pehdeWt hook-lip With WHN and mpsX Voi^ontiv hooked up withIntercity, -W'^HY Jan. 1 goes day-andrhiclht. with Golbnial-Muiual, With which the station has been Workine. ever nin«s only. Other; and bldsr. YT^teif- biirv emartater; WATR. Ibses Colb- htal-j'utual tie, but has .received okay to exoand from limited to full-. time/ooeratiOr early in 1037; with b"»id switch from 1190 to 1290. Har- old rrhomas, (cbntrolUng operator;, now dickering for network franchise. P.^Msepbrt—John Shepard's own WT(TC; lont? Yankee and Columbia. N?<G blue basic as of Jan. Ih. ad- r^iti-^n WiCC, which also has studios in New Haven, will continue tb be int'^rnitteht Mutual and Colonial outlet Possibility that ridgenort xin».y have another bxhaler in '37 is •«en i . application to FCC from Charles Greenblqtt, Waterbi^ry mer- chant, to operate on 1190 length from wh<ch WATB's moving. New Hsven—WELI, daytime indie working, with WNBC, New Britain, as Connectibut Broadcasting system, how awaiting FCC reaction to full- time pilea. New Brium — WNBC also asked Washington for day- ight privilege. New Lbhdon—WNLC state's infant emanafer, rhaking. daytime dent in; first nionths pf operation, CBS Needs . in the several shuffles above, NBC and- Mutual seem • tr havp benefited while Columbia has Ibst. Wants of CBS are especially notable in Bridgeport, where WICC, used Iri isizable area for ColtUnbia reception^ haV joined NBC-WJZ. Most of Con- necticut now has to depehVl. On New York's WA6C» whose signal hasn't been ^regularly dependable eiast and nbicih "Of Bridgeport, and Hartford's WDRC, which pays attentioh tb up- state^and sbuthbrh Massachusetts; for G&S Output. nW Haven is . largest city in the country witho it its owh fuH-timQ 3i»tior>- and merits more than nartial attention given ;it by WICC and WBRY branches: Which means that W-BLIi well , backed With biyic ref- c ?hces, stands a good chance ta.giv9 the Yale town the IbCjal coverage it deserves., Wlthi . youthful enthusiasm such daytime plants as WTHT in. Hartfoirdi WNBC in New Britain and WNLC in ;New London have been stressing 'showmanship. First-mehtiohed .has, dpne'some: genuinely hpteworthy re- mote work:, in and aboiit its rich coi nriunlty, witli Of course the pirestijF^e oif the; parent Times, to back it. •WNBC - last week broke into print by exclusively taking the New Brit- aih-Miami .High football game Floridai WNLCk alone in the eastern , reaches of Connecticut, ha^ managed tb make ah impre^sien i spite of no mention, in the local press. WTIC. Hartford, has, during the year, , adopted, an aggressive prbfltr seeking policy. Is now in black for first time in its career. WDRC glutted wHh business and has turn'pnii away for lack of time. Trank Murplxy on Salute Detroit, Dec. 29i ' Frank Muii>hy, governor--elect of Michigan and former High Commis'^ sioner of the Philippines, will, head CKLW's portion . of Mutual's salute to ihe Don Lee Web this week; Alsij on the 15-niinute program will be LejviS A. Weiss,, former assistant nriahager of WJR who becomes gen- erett manager of the'Lee net Jan.: ^pUpwing the salute, which'als(» wilt' include a concert. arr^gement from the 'Vagabbnd King,'; Weiss Will leave for r^oast . In the musibal por-'j;: tion ' bf show will be Rick Roberts' ork, Wi ifredi Hei , mezzo- soprano, and the Radi ingers. Dave Chrisman, Mutual saleisman, off to Havana for a ho^day., Jack Overall, one of bis confreres, mean- while goes to Tennessee and Dixie on-a pleasurerbijJ jaunt. < I i Ail the sighs .point: to a clear rpad and increasing speed for busitless i Tf i-State area; First in the field, KDKA inaihtains first place ias a sale.s force in a tnarket clampting for goods. It Goyefs the ground and gets returris. Let KDKA put its steam behind yoiir campaign. KDKA 50,000 WATTS NBC BliiQ Network PITTSBURGH Completely programmed by NBC ^