Variety (Nov 1938)

irednesdayt November 30, 1930 RADIO COLLEaORS' I OF TflPiGiL mm JtV »n Expensive Hobby and Some Discs Ai-e Very Hard to Buy Because They Violate Copyright TOSCANINI TOPS With radio rapidly becoming a vital factor in everyday life as well as a medium of entertainment, a new and growing hobby )s the collection of recordings of noteworthy broad- casts. Main drawbacks to the spread of the fad is the expense involved and the difficulty of obtaining the recordings. Such collecting is at .present limited principally to in- siders. Among the notable broadcasts that provide collectors' items are the re- cept Mars invasion dramatization by Orson Welles, King Edward VIII's abdication, the Hindenberg Zeppelin explosion, Anthony Eden's address at the English Speaking Union meeting, last year's Ohio River flood and the JNew England'hurricane. Others in- clude descriptions of various sport- ing events, such as prizefights, foot- Iball games, tennis matches, world series contests, etc. Also there are many specialized musical programs, including NBC's Toscanini series, the CBS airing^ of the Sunday after- noon Philharmonic orchestra con- certs, Paderewski's recent piano re- cital from Lausanne.and the Satur- day afternoon Metropolitan Opera performances, as well as various hot swing selections and noteworthy ar- rangements of popular tunes by name bands. In the Trade Extent of such collecting is still limited to a small circle, but has been growing lately. As a rule most of those doing the collecting are broadcast officials and performers. That does not take into consideration the performers who obtain record- ings of their own program's to cor- rect possible 'errors or to use as demonstrations of their work, but refers merely to those who collect transcriptions to play in their homes for guests or other purely social reasons. In general, recordings of broad- casts' are expensive, running any- where from $10 for a ,15-minute broadcast upwards. In cases of bootlegged or pirated recordings of big-name concert organizations, such as the NBC symphony, the Philhar- monic and the Metropolitan Opera, the platters are exceptionally high priced and difficult for the uniniti- ated to obtain. Reason is that the selling of such recordings is con- trary to copyright law and might be liable tq heavy, penalty. In general,, therefore, only small fly-by-night outflta are engaged in the business and ihty operate very much on the sneak. Only a limited number of per^ns well known to such opera tors can obtain the transcriptions, even at the steep prices. In the case' of .swing and similar Don't Do It Again Buffalo, Nov. 29. A local announcer (who shall be nameless here) was given his two-weeks notice for miss- ing a standby during a football game. After a week had gone by, execs decided to reconsider the case and went into a huddle to weigh the spieler's faults and virtues. Payoff was that the announcer was so worried over the outcome of the conference that he paced up and down the hall—and missed another stand- by. He was reinstated anyhow. dance transcriptions, it Is a question where the law might apply. Prob- ably almost every bandleader has recordings of many of his own most distinctive and most popular ar- rangements anid certainly few of the leaders would object to their rivals obtaining their recordings as collec- tors' items. ■ One of the most complete libra- ries of sports broadcasts is believ«d to be that owned by Ted Husing. It includes every one of his sports broadcasts of recent seasons, includ- ing grid games, horse races, tracS: meets, tennis matches, ball* games. Spieler first studies «ach recording to note and correct his mistakes, then puts it in his home library for pos- sible later social use. Add: Radio Renewals Kate Smith program has renewed Abbott and Costella and Ezra Stone's 'Henry Aldrich' comedy series for another 13 weeks. Another 13-week renewal is-Agnes Ridgeway's 'Those We Love' series for Pond's, with Nan Grey. Morris office agented all three. Robinson Returns to WLW Cincinnati, Nov. 29. Bill Robinson rejoined the Crosley fold last week as a salesman for WSAI, replacing Major Harrison. Since leaving here six years ago, as a member of the WLW program departnlent, Robinson was on the biz staffs of stations in Wichita, Denver and Fort Worth. City-Owned Station Repeats Own Version of a Rocket Invasion Jam that CBS< got itself into over its use of the news bulletin tech- nique in the broadcast of H. G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds' ap- parently meant nothing to the pro- ducers of a sketch on WNYC, New York's municipally-owned station, last Saturday afternoon (26). The latter adopted the same device of studding the dramatic narrative with news flashes, with one of them going so far as., to state that the 'president and his cabinet are in special ses- sion; we urge you to stay calm,' The announcer also told about suicides taking place all over the country. Theme of WNYC's program was similar. It dealt with the havoc caused by an attack by rocketmen from the planet Mars. Production of the stanza, tagged 'The Story of the Rocket/ was credited to the sta- tion's Experimental Playhouse.' Cuban Encore oa Mars Havana, Nov. 29, H. G. Wells' 'The War of the Worlds' may start another war in Cuba's broadcasting world unless CMBC and CMK can get together on which one should broadcast its version of the script. Each outlet has been advertising for over a week that it will air the big boo ptogram as soon as the proper sound effects have arrived frpm the United States. Cuban stations iieretofore have not gone in heavily on sound effects. Myron McC«rnilok, legit player, is now a regular on Procter Sc Gamble's new daily serial,' 'Central City,* over NBC blue. RequeBis for"It'a About Time" will be ailed *a soon as possible. In the meantime write for "The St. Louis Zone of Radio Influence." Many of you Kayo received KWK's booklet, "It's About Time". Extra requests for it have required a second pfrinting. Now, KWK is mail- ing—"The St. Louis Zone of Radio Influence". As "It's About Time" presented an original analysis of Metropolitan Audiences so "The St. Louis Zone of Radio Influence" is original and constructive with Coverage Evaluation. Some may think it presumptuous that a single stdtibn originate stand- ards. Truth in a business world is never discovered as 'a hole in one. Many must shoot at it and lliey must stand on different tees. Radio is between two ports. It will remain there until an acceptable system of reckoning emerges. It would be good to be told that KWK has brightened the middle passage. KUIK THOMAS PATRICK INCORPORATED HOTEL CHASE v SAINT LOUIS ftepres«nfati've PAUL H. RAYMER CO. M«w York Chicago Son Francisco