Variety (Sep 1938)

Wednesday September 7, 1938 RADIO VARIETY Chain Income from Time Sales NBC Mutual February .... March ; April May «.*...... June ........ July ......... August ...... MUTUAL 1938 ,. $269,894 ,. 253,250 . 240,637 ... 189,545 .. 194,201 . 202,412 ,. 167,108 . 164,626 .$1,681,673 1937 $213,748 233,286 247,431 200,134 154,633 117,388 101,457 96,629 $1,364,706 VIA U S. STUDIO Shannon , irector, Promulgates Set of Rules to Keep Programs Im- partial— Must Be Educa- tional, Factual and En- tei-tai WANT SHOWMANSHIP NBC's Aug. Time Sales $2,941,099, Up 5.6%; CBS Off 272% to $1,423,865 While Columbia's gross for last, month took another dip, as com- pared with August, 1937, NBC's time billings continued to stay above the plus line. . NBC time billings for the past month came to $2,941,099, or 5.6% over what it was for the like period in "37. CBS this time got $1,423,865, which is 27.2% less than last August's tally. On the first eight months of the year NBC is still up by 5.6%, while CBS slid off 2% Mutual drew $164,626 from the sale of iacilitl last month, a tilt of 70.4% over last August's gross. On the eight months this network is 22.7% ahead. NBC's total for August, 1937, was $2,784,977 and for the previous Au gust, $2,422,431. Columbia garnered $1,955,280 in August of last year and $1,232,588 for the parallel month, of *36. Detroit Dailies Stick To Radio News Ban, Bat Stations Hopeful Detroit, Sept. 6. Flood of protests over deletion of radio pages has subsided and the three Detroit dailies apparently, are determin to stick by their guns. Network stations are still hoping sheets will reinstate gossip and pro- gram previews, but there's nothing to indicate papers will dp this even when, as and if advertising revenue perks up here. Better line on possi ilities will be forthcoming later this month when new shows hit network. Should a sizable expenditure be. made for newspaper bally, it's considered like- ly sheets would, reconsider publish- ing of more radio news. Otherwise it's very likely that sheets will seek line, rates for program listings, which now appear in agate in all three dailies here. Herschell Hart, radio ed of the De- troit News, has resumed his gossip column over WWJ, broadcasting be- tween chores oh editorial side of News. Also pens 'Revelry by Night' column, devoted to niteries, etc., which appears Sundays and Mon- days. Novelist Wins 1st Round In Tor Men Only" Suit Initial preli inary skirmish In the restraining action brought by B"eth Brown, novelist, against Bris- tol- yers, Pedlar .& Ryan, NBC and WLW, Cincinnati, in connection with the program, 'For Men Only,' was won last week by the writer, when Justice Frank Noonan denied WLW's plea that the litigation be transferred from the N. Y. supreme court to Federal court. Justice Noonan ruled that even though WLW, creator of the program, is an Ohio corporation, one of the other defendants, P&R, provides the nec- essary corporate residence in New York for trial of the issue in the state court. Miss Brown contends that the pro- gram title seeks to capitalize on a novel she had published in 1931. Her 'For Men Only' used a Ncv Orleans sporting house of the '8u's for its background. NAB'S 3D DISTRICT HUDDLES IN PHQ1Y Philadelphia, Sept. 6. Member stations of the third dis- trict of the National Association of Broadcasters will meet at the Ben- jamin Franklin hotel Friday after- noon (9), District takes in- Penn- sylvania, New Jersey and Delaware and is represented on the NAB board by Clair A. McCullouyh. Neville Miller, new.NAB prez, will be among those present. After a general meeting Friday, there will be a dinner and the following day the broadcasters will huddle by states. ingtbn, Sept. 6. Politicians appearing before the microphone in the Government's new $100,000 transmitterless broadcasting studio cannot engage in political bal- lyhoo, or partisan propaganda. Rules of conduct are the height of piety along censorship lines. Determined effort to keep the broadcasts on a high plane of im- partiality is reflected in the regula- tions promulgated by Shannon Allen, acting director and former NBC an- nouncer! Code bans loud-speaker stuffing a la Hitler and Mussolini, with specific caution that: programs 'must not be political' and further- more 'must not deal with propa- ganda.' Taking the slant that the studios are to facilitate legitimate" educa- tional broadcasting, Allen's rules state that 'no exposition of an ad- ministrative ' view should be given unless clear authority from Congress has defined that view as a Federal fUncti or. rvice.' Network Qaallly Emphasis is placed on a quality often lacking in- Government pro- grams' .showmanship. Drawing on his commercial experience, the In- terior Department radio boss -has advised that Federal programs must have 'the same basic quality as the best network radio programs,' a. di- rect dig at boring reams of statistics. Entertaining slants should be placed on factual information, with dra- matic exploita.ion a must. New studios are to be linked with key web stations in the future, al- though; the chains have been lacka- daisical so far. Principal use for the present will be making transcrip- tions. Suite embraces two large stu- dios, surrounded by offices, recep- tion room, loung~, observation gal- lery and fully-equipped control room. Old Show Biz Headache, Billing, Kills Pepsodent Deal for Connie BosweO School Pays Philadelphia, Sept. 6. N. W. Ayer will have 40 sports announcers gathered in Phila- delphia Thursday (8) for a two- day session oh. the style they are to follow in handling this season's gridiron broadcasts for Atlantic Refining. They will be schooled in clarity; accuracy and interpretive uniformity. Meet will be topped off with a dinner Friday night. Roosevt Wants CBS to Release 2 Hearst links ride in Ban*. Buffalo, Sept. 6. Owen McBride. Chicago baritone, has joined the WBEN staff; He's vocalist in two NBC-Red net- work airings a week, as well as three local sustainers.- Brewer Buys Up New St L Station's Sports Programs; 400 Hours St. Louis. Sept. 6. Gricsedieck Bros. Brewing Co. has purchased 400 hours of time on KXOK. hew Star-Times Publishing Co. station skedded to start opera- tion Sept. 20. Time is station's en- tire sports program. It is divided into 30 min. resume of 10 big foot- ball games the station will cover this fall; all baseball game programs in. 1939 major league season and minor sporting events at Coliseum, Arena and Auditorium that the station will broadcast. Contract runs for a year from Sept. 20. Before KXOK had built its trans- mitter at Venice,. III., or had contract blanks printed, the Gricsedieck Co. was one of several local companies that began angling for the entire sports program of the station. Elliott Roosevelt, president of Hearst Radio, Inc., and head of the Texas State Network, is due in New York tomorrow (Thursday) to dis- cuss the possibility of obtaining a release of CBS' contract with WACO, Waco, and KNOW, Austin. Roose- velt is negotiating for the purchase of these two outlets from Hearst and adding them to the TSN. E. M. Stoerr. comptroller of Hearst Radio, is making the trip north with Roose- velt. The TSN's affiliation with Mutual becomes effective Sept. 15. Ques- tion involved, it is understood, is what is to become of the business that CBS has sold on WACO and KNOW for the coming season. KNOW rates as a bonus station to KTSA, San Antonio, as far as CBS customers, are concerned, and a commitment on KTSA' is a commit- ment on KNOW, when and if the latter outlet is available. Also inter ted in the outcome of the CBS attitude toward KNOW is. the group of Texas oil men that are dickering for the purchase of KTSA from Hearst RUBINOFF LEAVING HOSP AFTER 4-MONTH SIEGE Detroit, Sept. 8. Recuping from four-month illness siege, Dave Rubihoff took part in a special broadcast from his room in Harper hospital Saturday (3) over WWJ. George Arno. of WWJ's staff, accompanied Rubinoff at piano; and Bob Stanton did the interviewing. Violinist, who has undergone four operations • since an appendectomy last May 4, left the hospital early ' last week for the first time to at- tend a testimonial dinner at the De- troit Golf club with Rudy Vallee, here for Michigan State Fair. Plans to leave hospital this weekend. Will go to Atlantic City and then to Val- lee's home in Maine for coupla weeks' of rest. Negotiations' for the inclusion of Connie- Boswcll in the Pepsodent show, which starts on th'e'NBC-red (WEAF) link Sept. 27, blew up last week when. Lord 8c Thomas rejected a clause in .the contract which gave the vocalist equal billing with Bob Hope in all newspaper spotlight ad-, vertising. It was the first time in years that a condition of this sort had prevented a deal in radi . Harry Leedy, Miss Bos well's man- ager-husband, had insisted on the in- sertion of the clause through 'her agents, RockweU-O'Keefe. Leedy claimed that' she should be accorded the newsprint attention in return for her willingness to sigh up with the account for six years. What particularly prompted Lecdy's course was the possibility that a huge percentage of the news- papers throughout the country would in due time eliminate their program lists, with the result that radio ad- vertisers would be compelled to go in heavily for spotlight ads. Under the circumstances, the only print mention, that the singer could look tb would be that contai in the program advertisements. ' While the. negotiations were on. Miss Boswell cancelled four weeks of Paramount circuit appearances, totalling $8,000, as the program would have taken her to the. Coast The stage dates have since been picked up. Edward Lasker, who is currently in Hollywood, handled the negotiations for L 4c T. ishface Treks West Senator Fishface (Elmore Vincent) is moving from New York to Chi- cago toward.the end of this month, preliminary to going on a tour of persona] appearances in the mid- west. Meanwhile, he has created a new character, 'Uncle Elmore, Your Kracker-Barrel Kommentator,' which is being dickci'ed for as a flvc-min- ule transcription. Monroe May Coordinate General Mills for B-S-H 100G Cost Pfns Yankee Power Icing Possible Sponsorship of Series Sales departments of the three net- works are inclined to the belief that the World Series has little chance of being sponsored. The two things which are likely to militate against a sale is the expected $100,000 price for the broadcast rights, and the general feeling that it won't be much of a contest regardless of what national league team is pitted against the Yankees. Understood that Mutual tri to get an exel iye option on the sale of the series but Judge K. M. Landis, base- ball czar, said that he wasn't ready to talk about broadcast rights. Mutual nonetheless had Its salesmen scout the ad agency field. The recc ion was uniformly cold. Webs feel con- fident that even if the series isn't sold it will be made available to them on a sustaining basis. Series last season collected $100,0 from Henry Ford, though he let his rights, to the series lapse. When the motor magnate sponsored the games in 1936. overall cost came to around $250,000. Chicago, Sept. C. BJackett-Sample-Hummcrt 1 agency is negotiating with producer Paul ^ t „ ,,„ yc iiiiMitu Monroe to come in as general co- I when' told'VtVuT wcb'"fo1lowsTther ordmator for all General Mills pro- | nctwoik practices and couldn't per- Detroit's Headaches Detroit, Sept. 6. ichigan stations arc reaping an- nual mixture of dough and head- aches as state primary election .bat- tles enter their final week. PolitU cians' shekels unusually plentiful for ether talks this fall, since hot race impends for Gov. Frank Murphy's chair. But. the headaches are even more plentiful. Most spectacular of these was the denouncing of Michigan network by- Grand'Rapids mayor. Latter, desir- ing time over WXYZ's chain in be- half-of a friend running for state otfice, is reported to havfc burned up grams. Coor Inator would supervise and edit scripts, casting,, direction and all other items of the Mills radio opera- tions out of the B-S-H office. This follows the setrup of General Mills itself, which has Ed Smith in Min- n.apoJis. to supervise the radio ac- tivities for the flour fir itself. With increased activity in the i radio time buying department of B- i S-H-, purchasing chief Jack Lacmarr hrts added an assistant. Aiding in setting schedules and rates is Earl | mit political speech. After reportedly threatening Grand Rapids outlet with almost everythini;. mayor was finally cooled down by web officials. But still no political speech. Palmy, Schroeder Vice McNeil Lester Schroeder last week suc- ceeded Bob McNeil as time buyer - for the Blackett - Sample - Hummert agency in.New York. I McNeil was promoted to assistant I to George Tormoy, account execu- tive.