Variety (Sep 1938)

52 •VARIKTX'S' LONDON OFFICE, 8 St. Mnrtin'« flam, Trafalgar Sqaara INTERNATIONAL RADIO Cable AMrefii VARIETY, LONDON Telephone Temple Hat MMl-ttfX Argentine Radio Fears Re-Licensing Will Lead to Nationalization; Gov't Dissatisfied with Current Programs Buenos Aires, Sept. 6. Latest outcome of the govern- ment's dissatisfaction with quality of programs, of commercial stations is possible nationalization, of radio, a la British Broadcasting. Threatened late in July ith re-licensing: sub- ject to program approval of the Postmaster General, stations, are now in fear of being totally disen- franchised. Although couple of more impor- tant stations have imported expen- sive artists and spend important coin in attempts to improve their output, majority are generally regarded as pretty low, using cheap talent and recordings and stealing from each other via off-the-air pickups for re- broadcast. Latter condition . em- phasizes sameness of many pro- grams. Postmaster General has projected the idea of nationalizing all stations. None would be? excluded in' the shake-up, which would hit El Mundo (LR1) and Belgrano (LR3), nation's two biggest and most advanced out- lets. However, it's. still only a propo- sition and has not reached stage where boys are packing up. Re- licensing is law now, however, and Immediate threat of not being per- mitted to continue , when ticket comes up for renewal still hangs over heads of all. 80 Yrs.'History Of Music Halls In Mm. 'Cast London, Sept. 6. Scheduled, for airing during the fall is series comprising a pageant of famous U.K. music halls. Devised by Leslie Ba'ily, script writer, and Roy Speer, producer, of , BBC Variety Dept., programs have taken 12 months to compile, with prepa- ration of scripts needing keen re- search and ingenuity to telescope 70 or 80 years of history into a 60-min. broadcast. Programs will be offered fortnight- ly and will give a. panorama of the history of eight celebrated theatres, two in London and si in the sticks. Each will end with an. actual excerpt from the show being staged at the theatre that night. Production of London programs will be in hands of Speer; producers attached to regional stations will di- rect those from the provinces. CAN. SET SALES UP 1917,488 Worth Sold In Jbly ;alnst $763,812 in June. Washington, Sept. 13. Encouraging pick up in: Canadian Bales of radio receiving sets was re- ported yesterday ( onday) to the Department of Commerce by the of- fice of the American Commercial Attache at Ottawa. July sales numbered 13,588 units with a list value of $917,488, as against 19,385 sets with a list value Of $763,812' in June, report noted. Not up to the July, 1937, turnover, how- ever, which amounted to 20,222 units valued at $1,569,288. July increases applied to sales of both alternating current and battery sets, report added, but automobile receivers decreased, below June fig- ures. Dbreen S(icnce, one-time member of ex CBC and CBS femme trio, back visiting friends in CKCK and CJRM, Regina. Was seriously in- jured in auto accident' in Van- cover a month ago, but has now re- covered. CJRM, Retina, and CJRC. Winni PK1- jointly sponsoring appearance of Harold Green and his Royal Alexandrians orch at Trianon ball- room, egjna, currcnlly. CAB. Not to Confab Montreal, Sept. 13. Meeting of directors of the Ca- nadian Association of Broadcasters, to deal with, the problems of private- ly owned radio stations', which has been mooted here for some consid- erable time, has been shelved for an indefinite period, according to re- ports. Regular annual meeting of the members of the C.A.B, was held in February, There has been, talk here of calling a special meeting of di- rectors either in: September, or Oc- tober. This meeting, from accounts, will not be held. AUSSIE MULLING NOSTRUMS BAN Sydney, Aug. 27. .Government of "New South Wales is preparing legislation to wipe out quacks and their medicines from the commercial air lanes, eans that- other sponsors will have to be found by' the stations to make up time from the cure-alls. Move has : been pressed upon the government by members of the med- ical profession who, n the main, are not permitted by the British Medi- ci. Assn. to do any advertising here whatsoever; For months past the local air lanes have been, absolutely cluttered by sessions .boosting all kinds of curies for various diseases. Such sessions are far removed, from the sphere of entertainment,- and, as the government believes the air should mainly be used for the enter- tainment of . the public, a stop order will shortly be issued to station man- agements, Another nix will concern race- track tipsters who have been plying the air lanes for so long. It's the i - tention of. the' government to 'put a quick stop to a'.l race chatter,- - cepting description of races; No air info, especially as regards bettings quotations,. will be permitted. BUSHNELL NOW CBC PROGRAM CONTROLLER The King's English oose Jaw, SaskJ Sept. 13. ritish Columbia 'School Trustees Association- conven- tion at Kamloops Sept. 26 will haye before it a resolution aimed at the Canadian Broad- casting Corp, Will demand a better stand- ard of grammer and pro- nunciation due to 'the careless and ignorant use of the English language shown by radio an- nouncers and news commenta- tors over the CBC Cleve. Experiment Halves Time On 'Casts to Europe Cleveland, Sept. -13. Experiment by WHK, working with WHJ in Little Neck, N, Y., and WOR in Newark", N. J,,' was tried Sunday (11) that may change entire system of transmitting press news to European stations;' Secretary Ickes' speech at Put-in-Bay's Com- modore Perry Memorial, marking vine 125th anniversary of Battle of Lake Erie, was used In a co-operative broadcast to Paris, where it was re- broadcast in French in half the usual ti . * WHK employed its mobile outfit stationed .on- Put-in-Bay Island to shoot Ickes' talk to W8XMB, its own short-wave- station in Cleveland. From there it was ■ routed through WOR and picked up by WHJ. Lat- ter, usually limited to 400 to 3,000 cycles, got the boosted benefit of 17,440 kilocycles in re-broadcasting speech to a Paris short-waver.- - Stunt'was one .of the first success- ful attempts by. WHJ in reproducing an American news event vocally to Europe. Ordinarily it sends news reports by code, which must, be taken down by a Parisian stenogra- pher on the other ide, transposed into French and then aired. Simpli- fied system tried by three stations enables' Paris studio to wax. talks on platters, which can be translated and re-broadcast more quickly. FIELDS WILL DO INSERT ON LUCKIES HIT PARADE Montreal, Sept. 13. New title awaits C. E. Bushnell, program supervisor of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.. upon his return from Europe within the next six weeks, due to a realignment of pro- duction methods decided upon by the CBC. Bushnell will become Pro- gram Controller, in order to be re- lieved of routine work, and will de- vote more time to general program plans. Production schedule for the com- ing year has not yet been definitely lined up by CBC, owing to Govern- mental red tape involved in getting budget appropriations approved. Some of the major programs have been decided upon but schedule of the bulk 'of small productions, in- volving the use of the majority of Canadian entertainers and musicians, is still uncertain. Among the major CBC programs originating; in Montreal will be-two symphony orchestras,' the Montreal Orchestra under, the direction of Douglas Clarke, dean of the Faculty of Music at McGill U., and La S6- ciete des Concerts Symphoiiiques. under the direction ot Rosario Bourdon. Baton, wielcler Bourdon, now in Now York, was' the Cities Service maestro for many years and will come to Montreal regularly in connection with the CBC. program, although retaining his permanent residence in New York. Hollywood, Sept. 13. Deal was closed this week, for W. C. Fields to do a comedy insert from Coast for Lucky Strike Hit Parade. Plan, is to make comedy cut-in a permanent feature, with Fanny Brice next in line for CBS Saturday night show. George McGarrett. who has been here for several weeks, will produce the Coast cut-in. Reported here that iss . Brice is being dropped by Metro when cur- rent 'Good News' series terminates in December. Leona Det.ne on Sydney, Aug. 27. Lenna Dcane, radio script writer, has loft her home n Rose Bay for a bicycle tour Of Europe, and pos- sibly locating in.j.ondon in. the radio field. . She is sister jt Albei t Dcane. head of foreign advert is.in£-publicity tor 1 Paramount in Ne v York. Fordham Games On Market for $15,000 Broadcast rights to Fordham U.'s gridiron efforts are being offered around this season by Donald Peter- son agency for $15,000. New York school never had its grid games sponsored, until last year, when Kellogg took last three games ot season. .This year they are o'fTering all but one outside game for commercial sponsorships. Switching Kid Shows Chicago, Sept. 13. ith the acquisition of the Camp- bell's Malto-Meal account, the Kastor agency here is switching show for the product, replacing: the former 'Jack Westaway Under the Sea'-pro- gram with another kid show tagged 'Tina and Tim.' Will be a threc-a-week show siart- infj Oct. 3. Exception to this is Min- neapolis. Campbell's home town, where program will be.on a flve-a- week basis. Every Monday, from Oct. 3 to Dec. 26. BBC, in. collaboration with . CBS, Will air series of talks/from New York. 'The Week- in Wall Street,' speaker being finance expert H. P. Elliston, WLW-WSAI HiflbiDy Shows in Emery Aud., Cincy; 42c Top and Sponsor On Location Detroit, Sept. 13. Obtaining background for series of radio talks on America over Paris station this . fall, Paul Edmond Decharme, chief of radio service of La Petite Parisienne, Paris news-, paper, was in Detroit late last week to record noises of the Ford, otor Co, assembly lines in Dearborn. Decharme, who is personally wax? ing typical noises in various U. S. and Canadian factories, will end his tour this week. Although he could have achieved similar noises in French plants,: Decharme wanted the real thing' for a true-to-iife back- ground, for ether series on various parts of U. S. BBC AIRING RIB ON SELF London, Sept. 6. Newspaperman Campbell Dixon and Pat Dixon, Mather St Crowther radio manager, have authored a new type musical that BBC has scheduled for three-way "broadcast on Regional, National and Empire wavelengths Sept. 15 and 16. Titled 'Give the Air,' piece runs for an hour and will satirize BBC itself and various BBC programs. Unusually big cast will take part, including. Edwin Styles, A. Bowlly, Rhythm Brothers, arjorie Stede- ford, Carlyle Cousins, S. J. Warm- ington and Effie Atherton, the latter in her first- broadcast since return from America, and also special chorus and orchestra. Roy Speer is produci EDUCATORS WIND UP MEET IN L'VILLE, KY. Louisville, Sept. 13. National Association of Education- al Broadcasters- closed its two-day meeting at the University of Ken- tucky radio studios Thursday (8) after the educators had heard ad- dresses by Dr. L. L. Dahtzler, of the Department of English, U. of Ken- tacky; Maurice Jansky, Washington radio attorney; prrin Towner, radio technical director of Louisville; E. -D. Peterson, Chicago rep of a sound products concern; R. C. Higgy, rep- resenting Ohio Stale U's station, and Carl Menzer. director of radio at the University of Iowa, president of the association. ■Conference was arranged by El- mer G. Sulzer, head of the U. of K. radio bureau. Thirty college broad- casters attended the meeting. Wallace Swink, continuity writer at the U. of Kentucky, told meet- ing, that 'every college professor should be forced to spend one year in the advertising game before he is permitted to teach. Then he would soon find out that no matter ,how much a person needs an education, merely telling him a series of facts is not enough.' Waddington Lays Off Toronto. Sept. 13. Top conductor ot the CBC. Goef- t|cy addinglon, belatedly took Horace Greeley's advice and left •Sunday (11) for his home town, Winnipeg, at the close of his final program in the 'Music for You' series over CBC's network. Admittedly a little tired after his multifarious duties in the east, Wad- dington goes home to the prairies and will take a warranted rest. He has nothing lined up in the way of contracts but, later op he would like to reorganize the Winnipeg Sym- phony. CBC officials state that the voluntary, sabbatical still has Wad- dinglOn oh the payroll, Turkelt Freelancing. Hollywood, Sept. 13. Frank Purkett lias left Associated Cinema transcription studio, where he was general manager, to free lance in production. He also will han iz affairs of Cliff Edwards. Crosley's talent bureau, under th« new direction of George C. Biggar, starts this week with a series of Fri- day night hillbilly' shows, ori in the 2,-200-seat Emery, auditor) which will have a gate charge of 42c. for adults and 20c. for juves. Acts from WLW and WSAI will be bolstered by guest talent from the National Barn Dance troupe in Chi- cago, where Biggar formerly was program director of WLS. Hoosier Hot Shots and Helen Diller will the initial guesters. Rural ... opry is labeled- Boone County Jamboree; From . 9 to. 9:30 p. m. it will be aired on WLW with International Harvester as sponsor. For the sight audience there' will- a two-hbur entertainment. From the Crosley staff will be Pa and Ma McCormiek, Brown County Revels, Hugh Cross and His Radio Pals, Drifting Pioneers, and Judy Doll, Chuck Woods and . His Southern Stars, Crosley Glee Club of 40 voices, DeVore Sisters, the Plainsmen, Barton Rees Pogue, Boss Johnston and Gordon Shaw, an- nouncer. Charlie Dameron will be m. c. and Harold Carr.is to handle production, under Biggar's super- vision. Hillbilly shows for paid audiences were started in Ciricy a -year ago by the Renfro Valley Barn Dance combo, directed by John Lair. They have been staged on Saturday nights in Music Hall, except during the outdoor season, when . thr show trouped through Ohio and Indiana, playing theatres and fairs and draw- ing big audiences. At usic Hail, where the troupe has reappeared for the past two Saturdays; the gate is 25-42-75C Portions of the Satur- day night programs are carried on WLW, with commercial tags, and also have been picked up by Cros- ley's WSAI. '' Renfro is scheduled cai-rv through oh WLW during the fall and winter season.. Should Renfro pull out of Ci it is probable that it will skip.be- tween, such towns as Indianapolis,. Ind., Columbus, O., Lexington, Ky., and Huntington, W. Va„ for Satur- day night presentations,. with stayt running up to four weeks in somt instances. Oh nights other than Saturdays, when Renfro is off the air, the aggre- gation plays one and two-night stands! in small cities and towns. Tal- ent includes Red Foley, Ah't Idy an Little Clifford, and male and femm orchestras. OGILVIE NEW HEAD OF BBC London, Sept; 13. Frederick Woolf Ogilvie will re- place Sir John Reilh as director- general of the British Broadcasting Co. Oct. 1. Ogilvie, who has never had anything to do with radio before, comes from Queens University, Bel- fast, where for four years he, hel the post of president and vice-chan- cellor. . Sir John Reith quit as head of. the world's leading radio monopoly 1o become. chairman of Imperial Air- ways. Evelyn Laye making a charity ap- peal- for a Leeds hospital over the air Sept! 18. BBC's Scottis Ration will air dedication of a peal of bells in Dun- fer line Abbey to memory of An- drew Carnegie, in which Mrs. Car- negie takes part, Sept. 19. Pamela Stanley and Paul von Hen- riod to broadcast scenes from 'Vic- toria "Regina' from Midland Studio before West End production opens in Birmingham Sept. 19. AlisUIr Cooke signed tor six talks titled''Mainly About Manhattan.' be- ginning Oct. 13, and will, discus;: events of week in New York, outsi politics. '