Variety (Sep 1938)

24 VARIETY RADIO Wednesday, September 14, 1938 Radio Still Hazy on Wage-Hour Law; Uncertain as to Scope of Regulations Washington, Sept 13; Oiling of wage-hour machinery to enforce new labor control act writ- ten at last session of Congress dis- turbs broadcast industry, observers because of continued uncertainty re- garding scope of regulation. Although Elmer Andrews, recently named to head the enforcement crew, has be- gun laying groundwork, effect of the statute on broadcasting remains con- jectural. Nothing official in the way of rulings, with only a few weeks left before radio is expected to con- form. With legislation becoming effective late next month, industry heads rec- ognize Wagner-Conriery act will af- feet them, inasmuch as broadcasting Indisputably is form of interstate commerce. If not, then the theory underlying the Communication Act is wholly wrong. Time restrictions look to be the worst radio headache. Pay standards, except in minute proportions, will not. bother station or network' man- agers. Existing scales in most cases are far above even the top" figures— 40c an hour—which Andrews can de- cree. In the money phases, only some of the smallies will be very much affected. Few classes of workersr— notably page boys, elevator' oper- ators, cleaners and less important of- fice help—will benefit financial in radio. But the hour, standards are a dif- ferent matter. Especially in an indus- try that' functions 18 or more hours daily, where split shifts are often, necessary, and where—as in many 100 watters—hired hands fill more than one role. Plants which have the minimum staff and expect members to act as chief cook and bottle wash- er on round-the-clock assignments will have something; to fret about : Extent of exceptions is one of the chief worries. Who in radio will be regarded as executive or profession- al, and thus outside the regulatory pale, must be cleared up before man- agers can know what to do. Union angle must be considered. Lawmakers disclaimed any intention of undermining existing contract pay scales or working conditions. ' Union chiefs are pressuring Andrews to adopt their standards as official in numerous lines, but organi tions in radio so far have not revealed their position. Point generally. overlooked Is the speed with which maximum require ments may become effective. While law theoretically starts out with 25c pay base and- 48-hour stop and reaches the' $16 per week (40 hours at 40c) in seven years, Administrator Andrews can, whenever he considers conditions propitious and finds ho Injury will result, decree maximum figures for pay and minimum hour limit Likely the regulations for radio will approach the ultimate ob- jective at the outset, in view of the generally prosperous condition and the high scales now in effect Venuta Off Air Pro Tern for Legit Opening Benay Venuta cancels two of her WOR-Mutual Sunday afternoon sus- tained while out of town ,for the opening of her legit try 'Kiss the Boys Goodbye.' Singer plays a straight dramatic role in the show, which opens in Washington, Sept. 19, and comes into New York Sept. 29. Airings erased are t s Sunday (18) and the following week (25). Program goes back oh regular sked Oct 2. Weld's Illness May Further Delay Nets' Rural Study Release Illness of L. D. H. Weld, research director of McCanri-Erickson, may further hold up the release of the rural study which NBC and Colum- bia have jointly prepared. Weld, who is chairman of the technical committee of the Joint Committee on Radio Research, has been ordered by his doctor to take a rest A badly rundown condition was the. diag- nosis. The technical committee super- vised the gathering of the rural listener data and turned it over to the networks for presentation to the trade. Latter job has been com- pleted and the question, how is whether the technical committee will be agreeable to okaying the thing without Weld giving it the once- over. Continued existence of the JCRR is also in abeyance. The project has been marking, time-all summer wait- ing for a meeting of the main com- mittee. Among the; questions'to be considered is future financing of the bureau by the networks, and how far the National Association of Broad- casters will go toward sweetening the same kitty. PBA ELECTS 1ST OFFICERS Philadelphia, Sept. 13, C. G. Moss, manager of WKBO, Harrisburg, was elected prez of the Pennsy Broadcasters Association at Its first annual meeting here Friday (9). Meeting followed confab of Third District, NAB, earlier in the day. Others elected by the Pennsy group were Clifford Chaffey, WRAW, MARJ0RIE GAINSW0RTH Lovely soprano 'who . does with her voice what krelaler does with his violin.' Return engagements within one year at Fox Theatre, Detroit, 6 weeks; Loew's State, New York, 4 weeks; Versailles Club, New. Yor<c, 8 weeks; Walton Roof, Philadelphia, 9 weeks; Eaile Theatre; Philadel- phia,. 3 weeks. DIreotlon' WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY Inside Stuff-Radio Trick new coverage map showing territories blanketed by WFIL, KYW and WCAU was issued by WFIL, Philadelphia, this week. Maps are based on a survey made by Paul t\ Godley, consulting engineer, in July. They are contained in ah eight-page brochure so arranged that they are imme- diately comparable. Printed on one of the pages itself, in black, ink, is the WFIL map. Then printed 6n transparent glassine are the KYW and WCAU maps. These latter fold over the WFIL map so that WFIL can be compared with KYW or WCAU or all three can be compared at once through the glassine. . . WFIL claims by the. survey that despite the fact it has only 1,000 watts, its new transmitter and low frequency give it a coverage area as large as WCAU's 50,000 watts and considerably larger than KYW's 10,000. There is also a population study, based on the 1930 census, of the number.of people within the one-half millivolt contour of each station, it clai WFIL has 5,577,501; WCAU, 4,940,150, and KYW, 3,658,638. . A spider which helped WGR's Roger Baker while away some time dur- ing a lull in one of the Buffalo baseball games this summer has turned into a .major problem. Baker, in the press- box, described the spider's progress in weaving a web. Next night he carried on the narrative and he con- tinued to mention the spider from time to time in subsequent broadcasts; Inevitably, fans began sending him spiders. He made a personal ap- pearance in. one of the Buffalo suburbs and a committee of juves pre- sented him with a box-containing'nine spiders. Seven more, came in dur- ing the past week, one so big it was a little frightening. Just to add to Baker's troubles, his pals are now addressing trim as 'Little Miss Muffett' BENNY RETAINS HOOKUPRECORD Compton Agency planned going in extra heavy for British accent on Pall Mall ciggie program before, account was lost to Young & Rubicam. Alistair Cooke, Britisher, was being dickered for to announce the' pro- gram; with emphasis on the broad A, but deal hit ice with loss ,of the account. Pall-Mali has changed the pronunciation of the ciggies' tag since chang- ing its air show this season. Last year, with Dorothy Thompson spieling comments on international-affairs, tag was pronounced with a broad 'a'. Current show; with Eddy Duchin, now calls it 'Pell MelL' P&G'S NEW DENTIFRICE GETS TEST PLUGGING Chicago, Sept; 13. New liquid dentifrice by Procter & Gamble, known as Teel, will be plugged through the Kastor agency here on several ether shows in the Chicago territory for a test. Teel commercials will . replace Drene plugs on the Jimmy Fidler show each Friday in Milwaukee, and Chicago. To bring Drene to a three- a-week schedule in Chicago, the agency is placing Jerry Cooper vocal discs on WENR on Sundays, making up for the loss of plug on Fidler show. Additional Jerry Cooper platters will be placed on WBBM and WMAQ here, to give Teel a three-a-week scheduling locally. Cooper discs also will be spotted on WMBD, Peoria, each Tuesday. Teel ether spotting being arranged by M. H. (Pete) Pet- ersen, recently appointed radio chief for Kastor agency. Orders currently on hand with the networks indicate that Jack Benny's program for Jell-6 will this season again have. the largest commercial hookup of stations, in the U. S. and Canada. Following are the programs that are slated to have from 60 sta- tions up: Number Program Stations Jack Benny 113 Al.JoIson..; 112 Edw. G.Robinson .112 Lux Theatre..., 108 'Big Sister' ; 107 Silver Theatre . -. 105 Burns and Allen 97 Paul Whlteman 95 Lucky Strike (CBS) 95 Major Bowes. 92 Benny Goodman. 87 Hollywood Hotel 86 Eddie Cantor 85 Ford Symphony 83 Kate Smith. 79 Lucky Strike ( 76 Joe Penner. 72 Good News of 1939. 72 Robert L. Ripley. 64 Chase It Sanborn..... 62 Gang Busters 62 Jim McWilliams We, the People............ Bob Benchley. Beth Brown,.novelist, who is suing Bristol- yers, Pedlar & Ryan, agents, NBC and WLW. Cincinnati, over the use of the program title, 'For en Only,', claiming an infringement on her novel, gained a second point in the.action Friday. (9) when N./Y. Supreme/ Court Justice Julius Miller denied the request for a severance of the action as far as Pedlar & Ryan are concerned. Request, for an extension of time to answer the suit was also denied. Two weeks ago the plea of WLW to have.the case transferred to the Federal court on non-resident grounds was also denied. 62 60 60 Buick Back on Air, But Only with 12-Word Blurbs First of the General otors group coming back, to radio is Buick. It will, use a series of "26 12-word an- nouncements inscribed oh wax. Arthur Kudner is the agency. Guzman Back in N. Y. Melchor Guzman, • New York .rep- Reading, v.p.; Clair McCullough; I L eseM > tiv . e of Radio El Mundo m w * J' Buenos Aires, returned from B » WGAL, Lancaster,, secretary, and Dr. Leon Levy, WCAU, Philly, treas- urer. Sam Rosenbaum, WFIL, was named chairman of a. committee to draw up by-laws. Arthur Simon, WPEN, and McCulldugh are to , as- sist him. Association, in addition to adopt-. Ing a resolution condemning the.film Industry, approved a request to the American Federation of Musicians that the quota set for WPEN, Philly. be reduced. Simon, g.m. of the sta- tion, who requested the step be taken, declared that the $31,000 de- manded by the AFM is oiit of pro- portion to anticipated revenue for 1938-39. David Freedman's Son, 18, Wins Script Job On Jolson-Lifebuoy Show The late David Freedman's 18 year-old son, Ben Freedman, left for Hollywood oyer the weekend to script for Al Jolson on the Rinso- Lifebuoy show. This makes- him probably the youngest radio scripter .in the business. Young Freedman just graduated from Columbia and landed the radio writing chore in an open competition against a flock of other professional writers. His mother, who had been doing publicity for the Shuberts until re cently, will join him west later. She has a publicity berth out there. David Freedman, who died, sudden- ly about a year ago, was perhaps the No. l radio author in earnings. this week after a two months stay down under. Guzman went down early in July for biz o. o. and homeoffice confer- ences. Healso is U. S. rep for Uni- versal Publishers, S. A.. mag and newspaper chain. New campaign on farm radios was launched by Philco in wide list of rural papers this- week. Copy is being placed through Hutchins Adver- tising Co., Rochester, N. Y. Theme of the campaign, which will run through.Christmas, is economy, based on contention that new inventions cut operating costs two-thirds on farm sets. Horse owned by Leith Stevens, CBS music director, abbed a ite ribbon in the lightweight hunter class in the Ninth Annual Soldiers' and Sailors' Club horse show at Old Westbury, L. I., Sunday (11). Nag was ridden by Selma Wickers, assistant to Bertha Brainerd, who is manager of the commercial program division at NBC. Station popularity survey as carried in WOW's, Omaha, latest promo- tional piece, 'Fqrmers Aren't Hicks,' rated this outlet as having 49.1% of Nebraska's farm audience at night and 36.8% during the day. These fig- ures were reversed' in a story on. the poll last week's issue. ' Radio's biggest case of 'nerves' was experienced Monday (12) around New York when decisions on two major events were eagerly awaited. Every station was keyed to heights in trying to get Hitler's speech and the Pecora ruling on Jimmy Hines' lottery trial. Annual NBC outing in New York afforded a day off yesterday ( uesday) to some employees who just bought ducats and lammed for the day. - Of- ficial instruction was that holders of tickets ($2.50) had the day off to at- tend shindig. Some just didn't go oh the picnic, nor to the office. No More Dlissing Hits, Smash Tunes Replacing Robert Emmet Dolan replaces his 'Port of Missing Hits' program on NBC Thursday 8.30 to 9 p.m. with one similar in idea tagged 'Curtain at 8.30,' set to start Thursday (15), on the Blue. Airing is sustaining and will include the Joe Lilly chorus, Genevieve Rowe, who was on the Coca Cola program on CBS last year, and guesters. While 'Missing Hits' included tunes rated as of hit calibre, but which never reached' that rating, 'Curtain' will feature tunes from hit musicals. Initialer will include score, of •Roberta.' Otto Harbach will guest. ' ing Hits,' which ran 'out. of tunes, ill, be done agai It will be short-waved- to BBC in England, repeating each of its NBC airings, on Saturday .afternoons at 4.15-4.30 p.m., starting Oct. 8. Short-wavers will go in quarter-hours, while U. S. show ran 30 minutes. FRISCO STRIKE HITS RADIO SHOWS PAGING DIALECTS Crown Advertising, Inc., New i York, hew Arm, will specialize in foreign markets' via papers and mail. Oscar Kronenberg, formerly with station WARD; Brooklyn, and son df station's owner, heads outfit. Will build programs for foreign language stations. Abrams' Tip-Offs Again Pittsburgh; Sept.. 13. Al Abrams, Post-Gazette sports writer, has been signed for the third successive year by the Duqucsne Brewihg Co. for half-hour Friday night show. Under the billing of 'La Marba,' he predicts scores of follow- ing day's college football games, radio,' news- j Program placed by Walker-Downing ' agency and runs through -Thank'sgiv:- ing Day! Abrams will have with hi on show Howard Baum's orch, present- ing college medleys, and Joe Tucker, WWSW sports announcer, as m.c. Howie WingY Hookup Chicago, Kellogg cornflakes division will put the 'Howie Wing' serial on a cross-country basis for the kid the middle of October. CBS is lining iip the stations. J. Walter Thompson has the ac- count WOXR's Sales Rep Station WQXR, New York, high fidelity outlet, has appointed Jo- seph H. McGillvra its national sales rep. First, time that station has had any such representation. ' San Franciso, Sept.13. Cancellation of a number of radio programs sponsored by' local retail- ers has resulted from the strike of some 4,000 clerks against 35 San Francisco stores which began last Wednesday (7).. Affected by the labor dispute'was the Joseph Magnln' Co;, account on KPO,- although the program, 'Who's Dancing Tonight,' is. being aired as a sustalner until the difficulties are ended;, the C. H. Baker Shoe Co.'a quarter-hour weekly show on KSFO, 'Hollywood Reporter' with Don Al- len, and two quarter-hour transcrip- tions, 'Magic Isle." on KFRC; Sher- man, Clay & Co.'s programs of re- corded music over KJBS; The Em- porium and the . Federal Outfitting Co.'s shows on KJBS; the Star Out- fitting Co.'s participation in the 'Rise and Shine' broadcasts on KFRC and another program on KYA, and the Frank More Shoe Co. airer on KYA. Newspaper ads are also being dropped by the stores pending settle- ment of the strike. All stores are remaini business as usual. Wash; Tobacco Testing George Washington tobacco being primed for a test campai the spot. announcement route. William Esty, afiency on the R. J. Reynolds account, has laid out a plan for three spot announcements a day over a period of 25 weeks;