Variety (Dec 1937)

VARIETY Wciiiic$<jay, Dcceiiilier 2^, 1937 •la* .. Fu'tllre■;■ ..: ■.WashihgtQn, pec. 28, . trouble • foi- KFI, LiOS ^O O-w^Uci - , V i'asT^een-taat- weely , iiv the. reaction of .the .Fedei*al CoinniCiniCfnlions bQ.mmissioiV to' beefs that the Earl■ ;C.' Anthbiiy station \$ ■ talci.hg. si'dps liri Spulhem ealifornia's iBbpr?; .warfare/'';W)Tile^^ ^^incident; Wii.s' ternporar 1 ly -. clo§ed,' ,C6mniish' sources,, indicated ■ cleai'ly ;that .the^ denial - of ' prej udict; ;. .submitted, . by- KFji had', not - been ..Completely . coiV-- .. '■ . Hi.nied that Anthony .firm-s ^.iroiEjram.>nd.;.sa^^^^ policies: .hjay be. • .o4led at a f.oi'mar.hea^^^^ the next time . KFI'applies ,;.foi-^\^^.. U ; - iievval. • ^ ' : '■... ' ■■' ■ ■. ■' ■ This • outlook was;, . strengthened when iChairrnan. .Franlt R;-^M commenting that /the 'ebmmisslori; has ho immediate action in rnind,' .showed ■'clearly-H isfied . that the", complaint- v;as: un- fp.undedv' i Exchanges of telegranis. resulted: -finally ■ a' Temiiider to J. W.. Buzzen, secretary of the XjOS "Angeles labor cptineil;-and gei'ty,: president . ofv the , C^^ state federiaiion, that under th?; Cbni- municatio'ns ^Aict, the ' F.CC, has no. power to compel any station to carry . or reject any program: ■ Trouble grew out of a worrten's organization.program aired -by KFI' early, in the week aind subsequent, refusal to iallow ] unionists to buy time for bfoadcasts:^)^ intensive; orgahizatioh drive 'riow going . in the Los Angeles terri- tory. Buzzeil and: Haggerty com- plained that the station.: was ta^ the side of employers and pointed to the provisions of .law which require eciunl.. treatinciU for • candidates for oli'icij. ■ .:' .:' ■ ■■ . KFI's Defense .■' .Ciilled' upon -to rexplaih, the. matter-,'- statidn\ hiahagcment^ cojtflrm it had declined' to sell time to. the labQ.ritfesi'biit d isclaimed ^^t^ gram: in, question, was pro-employer;- Event \vhich was aired .was staged by. oiitnt.' - nlied- ;'.;'N(2utra;i:';Thous£^^ compfii^iiig wives 'pf- Workers "and- bosses alike, KFI replied. Manage- ment, added that if the union leaders could .provide :.c6rtyincing evidence that Neutral;;rhoj!4sands was a pre-ju-. diced ■ Qiitfit.-, the con tract would - be cancelled since KFI seeks to avoid cohtrpversial: propositions^ : Repeating . the text .of the KFI anr. swer, McNinch Thursday (23) in- formed. Buzzeil and Haggerty that there is nothing the' Comrnish can do ■ the premises but threw, out a hint that any further evidence of discrimination or failure operiate in the public interest will get serious consideration, :.:'. ; WHAS Names Towner ii' Louisville, Dec. 28. . Orrin W, Towner, for the past U years with Bell Labjoratories, has been appointed chief engineer of WHAS to succeed the late Howard E, Campbell, who was. found; dead on ^fovember 29 beside his autoniOr bile. According to. the cororier's te- .poi-t,. death was caused from carbon monoxide poisoning. ' He has served as chief engineer of WREN, Lawi-ence, Kans. •, In their own sales books, Denver merchantis find the land ol radio data they can quicldy understand. The data book -which day-by-day records clearly cmd decidvely the selling power and |jrofit-Value ol their advertis- ing medio. / . . ; , . On the basis ol data gathered and compiled by themselves, Denver's biggest and ihost successful retail firms spend more of their radio naoney with KLZ than with any other station. .NATIONAL BEPRESENTATIVi: — E. KATZ SPECiAL ADVERTISING AGENCY AFri:.IATED WITH WKY-OKLAHOMA CITY and Ihe OKLAHOMA PUBLISHING COMPAN Plates Match Waves Portland, Ore., Dec. 28. Have yoiar auto license .jiiatch your wave length. . That^ the latest novelty ;; ex ploitation thought up by e. O; Chatter.toh. and Carey Jennings of KGW- KEX. . • ■. :.. . KGW is 620 kilos, Chatter- car license for 1938 is Oregon 620, KEX is 1180 kilas, J(jnnirigs has license. No, 1180, Autp. plates on .their cars are. mounted; with a dummy mike and a metal plate; explains the connection; ■'' .. .. Xhatterton.and Jennin|;s tnade^ ; v 'special trip. , to Saleni,'- the .. 'state' capital,v:tp -;prck: b two 1 icensei riiimbers:in advahce pf the public rush. Shortwave Dispute Drags On; Cairo ' -■, ,'Washington- Dec, 28,. Growing concern about the pps sible lo.ss of ; five so-called Pan T^msi'ltirir short-Wavu —a.ssigriments-|-P ^ Washington. Dec. 2iB. , Lieut...- Ewell K. Jett, .; veteran Naivy ;officeri was named: chief engi- neer of the Federal Gotnrnunications Commission Thursday (23) succeed- ing Cpmrnissioner T. A. ;M, Craven. Jett's selection . to; fill the: . vacancy was no surprise, although friends of Andrew D. Ring, :aissiistarit .. chief en- gineer had: bebh campaignihg vigor- ously to have hini upped. Since Craven's 'Promotion last. Augusti Jett las been heading; the technical staff under a- temporary appointrnent: New : tbp . technician, who., is 44 yeiars ;oid, grew up with radio in the Navy; Served as telegraph operator and radioman before the war, was attached to the ; Arlington naval radio statibh: between' 1914 and 1916, served as radio officer on the Seattle and the Georgia, until the Armistice, bossed the Navy Department's trans atlantic traffic from 1919 until 1922, and .was Arith the; fleet from 1923 to 1926, - After three years* in important posts .at the dep^rtmeht, Lieut.; Jett was loaned to the new. Radio Com- missipja in 1929 .and in 1931 became assistant chief ehginieer. Since- the F.C.C. was ^et up, he has headed the wing of the engineering staff deal- ing with cable and telegraph mat- ters. During the past three years he has had ■ only limited connection with broadcast business, but was one of the y. S. delegates to the Mexico City,-, Havana, and Bucharest con- ferences. He has been named to the American detail for the forthcoming Cairo parley. ; ; reserved for the United States is- ex- pressed - as result" of prolonged delay oil the part of the Federal Com- munications Cpmmissib^i in settling tiff between potential users. General Electric, . NBC, ■ - and ' World .Wide Broadcasting,' > ,:.;' . ■•■;■ ■. -'i.; '■-■^', Imminence of the opening.of the Cairo 'cohference has caused ap- prehension about the ability of U„ S, •delegates to; resist' any demands for release ..of these channels;- otily one of - which ■ currently being ex- pioited.: • Previpusly,. it had been ex- pected the frequencies-;w'ould be par- celed out and put to use by the mid- dle of the current' month so our bar- gainers at theljiiterpational, parley, could fight off rival grabbers. Winners , in the tiiff will have to work post-haste to get into opei-ation in';advance ' of the overseas! cbniab. Testimony at the November hearings wa.s that three weeks to a .month would, be. needed, to obtain and. in- stall equipment, conduct tests, and commence broadcasting. • " No clue given as to the reasons for prolonged.stalling. Only, excuse for not acting spbner was the;■ necessary formality of asking the; three can- didates to'; waive right to hold oral a rgument- on i testimony presented be- fore the Broadcast Diyisiori and to get their consent for members who did not attend the hearing to; bone up on the. transcript; ;;Absence of ippmniissibner T. A. M. Craven, .whp only returned from' Havana a week or .so: ago,' was a -minor cause for side stepping,....; : Time-rmarking has -agitated .. the State ■ Department and the Pan American Urtion. Both are anxious to . il : down these frequencies against foreigners and.fear pur^irgu- ment will be weakened if full use is not being made before any. enviers start clamoring-for a. crack at them Delay; is more ; irksorne thah ordi- narily ' would be the case since, two of the three metnLbiei'.s Of the old Broadcast Division were all set to JKaveJengths Nov: Ifi when the aSmiriistrat-ive; rhaehiniSr.y. was stream-lined. . ..- ..; Intricacies That Will Be Threshed Out at Huddle ; Washington, E»ec; 28; : ' Sehiinar in diplomatic relations and radio technicalities was con-; ducted Monday (27) for the. benefit of the. U. S, ■ delegates to. the Cairo cornmunicatipns convention, . ■. Uiider ; Federal Communications Comrtiission; sponsorship, all the of- ficial American ;repi";eseritatives; ''. as-. well as the camp-fpiloweris and ob- servers, were tutored in ' the ques- tions which are likely to come up. Comrnish people explained the in- tricacies of the subject for the bene- fit of Senator Wallace H. Whitcv Jr., delegation ■ top, and the - outsiders, who will tag along. Among those. boning up were Dr. Charles B. . Jolliffe, of R.C.A,: Ed Cohan, chief ^ngihei: of G.B.S,; James W. Baldwin, managing direc- tbr of the Natipnal Association of Broadcasters, and Lloyd Espens, chief of the Bell labs. Addition of Commissioner T, A. .M. Craven to the delegation was re- ported .. unofficially last week. , Be- cause of the complex nature of the discussipiiks, and . their rfelatipri with the lately-adjoUrned Havana cbn- fei-ence, Comdr. Craven is slated to go late and come home early, being on deck in Cairo when the' more vital issiies are on th6 program. Ralph Atlass and Herb Sherman, WJJD-WIND operator and WJJD sales manager respelctively, away. froni Chicago for week iiv Texas. . Its snu*cmjt^MA^ ^47 wmi Dick CoH's WHIG Promotion Dayton, b„ Dec, 28. Dick. Cull, originator of WHIO Almanac, this reg;ion's. favorite news- cast, was named last week to post of managing editor of WHIO's news room. Will, have charge of all continuity for statipn's numerous . hews pro- grams. ; Jack Itfajor, sustaining comic on CBS. afterriooh half-hour, booked into the Metropolitah, Boston, for a week of vaude, comnriencing Jan. 20. FROM AND HIS 'mm ORCHESTRA Selected to Play the Southland's Dance j Glassic SUGAR BOWL BALL New Orlearis - New Year's Eve Exclusive Managiament CONSOLipATED RADIO ARTISTS, Inc.