Variety (Sep 1938)

Wednesday, September 14, 1938 RADIO VARIETY 33 Cbmmish Usually in Accord With Exammers, 4-Year Record Shows Commersh Vs. Educ Station Battle Looms as WHA Asks WMAQ Facilities Washington, Sept. 13; Decisions of the Federal Communi- cations Commi ion are substantially in cpnfor Ity with recommendations of trial examiners in four out of every five cases, survey of four-year record shows. There's a wide varia- tion, however, in the record of the individual examiners. From the creation of the Commish in the summer of 1934 to Sept 1 this year, the recommendations have been followed''In slightly more than 80% of the broadcast matters ventilated at public hearings. On; proposed transfers of control; the Commish is tougher than the referees who hear, the evidence. On the whole, an applicant who obtains the nod from ah examiner has a five to one chance of achieving his ambitions. But on the basis of experience, parties to a sale of an existing transmitter have only a four to one prospect of receiving final O.K. even when the examiner ap- proves. The compilation, covering ultimate disposition of 772 propositions over the four-year span, shows that ex- aminers were fully sustained in 628 cases, reversed 125 times, upheld in part 5 times and neither sustained nor reversed 14 times. There were 167 reports pending when the analysis was made. On the matter of transfer applica-; tlons, examiners recommended denial of consent for one-third of the "pro- posed sales. Included in the 53 re- ports were 35 favorable and 18 ad- verse recommendations. The Com- mish, with 18 matters still on the spindle, finally granted only 27 out of 35 requests, denying the other 8. Examiner Seward Tough . Toughest to get a favorable recom- mendation in a transfer case is from Examiner P. J. Seward. Out of 10 consent requests heard by him, rati- fication of sale has been urged only 3 times. Next sternest are George Hill and Robert L. Irwiri, who liked the looks of the '.eal in % of their cases, Hill recommending approval in 9 of 14 instances, and Irwin favoring 3 of 5 transactions. Easiest, to get the hod from is el- vln H. Dalberg, who favored all four transfer pleas put up to him. Tyler Berry approved 8 of 9 cases he heard. Chief Examiner Davis G. Arnold was favorable in 3 of: 4; John Bramhall in 3 of 4; and R. H. Hyde in 2 out of 3. Batting averages on cases of all types, excluding the reports pending at the start of the month and the in- stances where the final opinion was a partial agreement with the ex- aminer's findings, show the bulk of the evidence weighers and the Com- mish reach, the same conclusion about f our-flf ths. of the time. Best record is Berry's, with his recommendations being adopted in. 95% of his'cases; while lowest standi is Bramhall's, only 68% of his reports' being adopted. ■ Others rank as follows, on the basis of the number of times they were sustained: Arnold, 82% Dalberg, 79%; Hill, 90%; Hyde, 84%: Irwin, 84%; Seward, 83%, and Ralph Walker, 81%. Most reports were turned in by Dalberg, 164; Hill, 163, and Seward, 156. Commissioners' opinion was in harmony with their recommendations in 337 cases. ' CORRIGAN GETS $3,500 FOR J0LS0N OPENER Hollywood, Sept. 13. iny Ruffner landed Douglas Cor- rigan for guest shot on Al Jolson's opener for Rinjo-Lifebuoy from Coast Sept. 20. Wrong-wayer understood pocket- ing $3,500 for flip gab with mammy yet. Campus Capers, early Saturday afternoon football show fed to the NBC red net last season by KYW, Philly, resuming: On it are Jan Savitt's 16-piece crew, singers and Arthur Hynett, organist. WIL, ST. L, MULLS 24-HR. BROADCASTING St. Louis, Sept. 13. WIL, operated by the Missouri Broadcasting'Corp. and the pioneer .commercial station in the Mississippi Valley is mulling the idea of utiliz- ing its local channel to be on the air 24 hours daily. Since the sta- tion, founded by L. A. Benson in 1922, has been " operation, it limited its air activities to 14. hours daily until 18 months ago, when it inaugurated a policy of broadcast- ing dance music from midnight until 3:30 a. m., thus being on the air 17'^ hours daily. Under the contemplated arrange- ment, which will be definitely de- cided this week, WIL will operate completely around the clock with the dance music continuing until 6 a. m., when the first early a. m. program, The Breakfast Club.' hits the air. While KMOX, KWK, WTMV and KXOK, the latter starting broad- casting (19), also have unlimited broadcasting rights, WIL will be the first locally t .ake advantage of this opportunit Mary Small, jb Gibson Set as Bernie Vocalists Bob Gibson- and Mary Small have been signed as vocalists oh the Ben Bernie program sponsored by Ameri- can Tobacco's Half-and-Half. Be'rnie's program with Lew Lehr and guesters starts Oct. 2 on CBS. Gibson was formerly a CBS page boy at Radio theatre No. 3 in New York. Marglis* Orch Off NBC has dropped the 'Accent on Brass' musical series which. Charles Marglis . conducted Tuesday nights on the Blue. Network explained: that the program had been put on with show-window intent and that when there was .no sign of its get- ting a commercial bite it was de- cided to put the stanza in mothballs for.the time being. .NBC rated the show as an un- usually expensive one for sustaining purposes. ington, Sept. 13. Head-on collision between com- mercial broadcasters and educators is in prospect,, with WHA, radio rostrum of U. of Wisconsin, seeking facilities of WMAQ, one of NBC's Chicago outlets, and the" LaFollettes threatening to carry the fight to U. S. Supreme Court on the issue of state rights.. With Governor LaFollette and. University President Dykstra taking pokes at money-making enterprises, the Federal Communications . Com- mission was placed directly i the middle last week by the filing of request for permit to let WHA, now a 5 kw daytime plant, shift to WMAQ's 670 kc roost and . operate with maximum power unlimited hours. It's part of a double-edged scheme to develop educational uses, of radio in Wisconsin, other feature of which .is transfer of control of *VT t! -r state's other 5 kw day- n, from the Department- ot ture to the University facuk. In a "igthy exposition of their past, services and future ambitions,- the educators noted that time limi- tations on licenses of the two ex- isting state-owned transmitters pre- vent reaching large number of adult listeners and restrict full exploita- tion of radio's cultural possibilities. Object'of the new moves is to have a night channel not loaded with commercial puffs and entertainment, Commish was informed. The dig at -commercial stations was contained in a supplementary letter noting that 'educational ac- tivities of Wisconsin cannot reach their fullest development unless the State is granted the right to build and maintain a radio station pow- erful enough to render service to all its citizens.' LaFollettes want to acquire 'a broadcasting, channel comparable i its coverage and available time ' to the many clear- channel facilities -now completely monopolized by commercial inter- ests.' . Reason for islodgc NBC, which has two other Chicago outlets in WCFL and WENR-WLS, is the urgent need for a frequency and power assignment which will cover the entire state, Wisconsin officials explained. No clear-chan- nel facilities currently are allotted their state. Transmitter site would be moved to Arlington, with studios still h»- University buildings at Madison, the capital. SPROUL, PETTIT MOVE UP ATKDKA, PITT Pittsburgh, Sept 13. ; ,. First move of Sherman D. .Gregory, KDKA's new manager, was to an- nounce two promotions, effective im- mediately. Derby Sproul, head of continuity department, becomes pro- gram manager, a post which has been vacant since resignation of John Gihon several months ago, and Clar- ence Pettit has been made director of public relations. This is a new job and will hot interfere'with duties of Kay Barr, station's'! p.a. Both Sproul and Pettit were brought here from Denver :by Gregory's prede- cessor, A. E. Nelson, now sales chief of NBC's Blue web. G. Dare Fleck, traffic manager at KDKA, has ■ also been' placed in charge of program listings, ' day books, announcer assignments and studio schedules. William E. Jackson, acting head of station between Nel- son's, departure and Gregory's ar- rival, returns to his regular job of sales head. Olitistead Back With Y&R on Talent Buying Clarence Olmstead has been re- assigned to do the talent buying for Young & Rublcam out of the. New York office. Therese Lewis will assist Joseph . R. Stauffer continues as agency's talent buyer in Hollywood. birds talk and snakes hiss Mr, Spindler lives in Cincinnati. He has a one-room apartment. His roommates include gila monsters, snakes, tarantulas, ground hogs, talking birds and trained spiders. WKRC ran a line into the one^rooni menagerie; invited Spindler and friends to broadcast their talents. So popular was this unique WKRC show that it was repeated coast to coast over the Columbia network with Ben Bernie "m.c.-ing" the show. Another example of why WKRC is Cincinnati's most popular local radi WKRC* COLUMBIA'S STATION FOR CINCINNATI operated by Columbia Buoadcasti New York • Los Angeles • rancisco