Variety (Apr 1939)

2« VARIETY RADIO Wednesday, April 12« 1939 KeDo^'s Hasselhoni Ont, Freeman Bad; See Changes in Xirde Show Florida Flips By Rod BMd Political situation within the Kel- logg organization at Battle Creek, Uich., has taken another whirl and this time It's Walter C. Hasselhorn, the efficiency engineer from Chi- cago, thafs out and Earl 3. Free- man, who recently quit, has quietly returned as v.p. In charge of adver- tising. What effect this latest shUt In Intraorganlzational politics will have on the future of The "Ircle,* the account's Sunday night program «n MBC, is problematical. It is be- lieved in the radio trade that the fizzle of The Circle' Is tied up with the changes. ; Hasselhom's whirlwind career in Kellogg was climaxed by his ap- pointment as general manager and wholesale lopping off of heads at his dictation. Hasselhorn has been re- placed by Watson H. VanderPlough, who continues as v.p. of the Harris Trust <c Savings IBank. Chicago. VanderPlough is one of the three trustees that have been running Kel- logg. ' ■ : .KeUogg has allotted $2,000,000 of Its 1$6,000,000 advertising budget for tadio, abandoning at J. Walter Ithomjpson'is request the old stand- ard tactics of selling its product'and (lUbstituting the hot cornflakes slant SALESMAN WINS ^AUDITRICHT Ed McConnell to WJR ' Miami, April 11. • To all commentators: When a gold' ^ ' flsh swallows a college man—t?uif« news. NBCs Red No Loiter Invindble Thursdays; Maxwell Lags Chrysler Smilln' Detroit, AprU 11, Ed McCoiineU ,wiU Join ' Advertisers are like seamen—they WJR here May 1 to do thrlce-weekly | expect a lot of wtod to extend the IS-minute stint for Taystee Bread, gales. Contract runs 13 weeks and song- chatter program will hit. ozone on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. CampbellTMlthum, Inc., Minne- apolis, set deal. St Louis, April 11. • 7^ Missouri State Supreme Court last week nixed a plea of the Mli>- ■ourl Broadcasting Co. of St Louis, •wner and operator ot WIL, for a . writ of prohibition to prevent Clr' cult Judge Frank C. CMalley from Inspecting the company's books and records. Ihe ruling abrogates a tem' porary writ issued against Judge O'Malley in February, 1938. John C. Leonard, former employee of the sta' tlon, sought to have the books, rec' inrds, etc., brought in as evidence In his suit to :.coUect pay ments, alleged •re owed him by WIL. . . Leonard sued for $35,000 for com' pensatlon for his services from June 1, 1930, to October 31, 1936, plus tl,87S as commission for selling ra' dlo Ume to the Tiilrd Baptist Chxirch «f St Louis. The plaintiff alleges that he was employe d to obtain evi- dence in support Of WIL's applica tlon to FCC for an Increase in its time allotment and also served as the radio pastor for the station. WFIL-WITHYCOMB SETTLE Bosenbram Conflrms Oat-ef-Cenrt SM to ftlft Wlih Ex-Gen. Mgr. AUTHENTICATED CONTESTS ARE DEMANDED Washington, AprU 11. Specific accounting to participants in radio contests would-be impera- tive under provisions of a bill intro- duced in Congress, last week by Senator Gerald ll.'Nye, R^ubllcan, of North Dakota. Measure affects promotion stunts of all Unds carried on in Interstate commerce. ' Without specifically naming radio, the North Dakota law-giver would make it Illegal for any person con- ducting a contest via any facility or instrumentality of interstate or for- eign commerce' to neglect public an- nouncement of the winners and the entry - which took the prize. ' Each winning answer ' or essay must be read in full 'in such ;nanner as Is adequate for the information of the public' Penalty clause , left'up to the Comirilttee oh Post Offices and Post Roads, to which the measure Vas referred. Lam V Abner renewed for a year. Pine Ridge one rural sector where relief isn't needed. FCC is resisting attempts to rush television on the market They want to protect customers who are not from Missouri Statioq Quits Petry . WEBR, Buffalo, has quit Edward Petry & Co. for Weed tt Co. Shift in national sales representation takes effect immediately. Station is on the NBC blue link. Dally using Fu Manchu broadcasts as. a promotion stunt Yellow Jour- nalisita. Soon comes summer when all. the comedians take a hiatus except the Brooklyn Dodgers. Where would a young songwriter go to look up the spelling of a word like "brrrr-yacka-sacky,' mamma? . RALPH PAn NEW MANAGER OF WPAY Detroit AprU 11. . Ralph H. Patt Jr., for 10 years on staff of WJR here, has gone to Ports- mouth, Ohio, where this, week he begins duties as manager of WPAY there. WJR employes held farewell party last week, for Patt, who's one of the 'Four Radio Patts,* Including John Patt general manager of WGAR, Cleveland; Jim Patt in Cincinnati, and Bob Patt in New York. 'HOLD T IGHr INDIGO FnbUe Squawks So Vane Will Have Special Radio Lyrics After several months of airing the tune, NBC has bowed to complaints regarding the' lyrics of the novcllty Hold Tight' and late last week re quested Exclusive Music, its publish- ers, to submit a special broadcast lyric. Request carried the notation that vocals of the time would have to be banned front the net .until a new lyric was submitted. When the tune first started to come up NBC, CBS and Mutual all ques' tioned the lyrics. Nets were ap' parently satisfied at that time that they were okay when it was pointed out that if desired, the lyrics of most any pop tune can be miscon' strued. New lyric has been written around a dance type theme. Philadelphia, April 11 Sam Rosenbaum, prez of WFIL, (old Variety yesterday that the out- let has made an out-of-court set- tlement with Donald Withycomb, former g. m., and. that the suit filed by Withycomb In New York bgainst the station has been withdrawn. Rosenbaum refused to state the amount of money Involved. WiUiycomb was let out at WFiL Sept 19 after serving for three years. Three months later he filed •uit demanding $45,000 for breach of his contract Rosenbaum told Vabjety at that time that.'under the circumstances that made necessary Withy comb' s. separation from the •tafl, WFIL has no legal llabUity whatsoever. A generous offer of set- tlement was. made, but Withycomb has elected to sue.* Clair Heyer to WOC Clair Heyer has Joined WOC, Davenport la., as national sales manager. He was formerly with WHBF, Rock Island. He did a brief trick for Ed Craney of KGIR, Butte, recently, but the moimtain air was bad for Mrs. Heyer. ZEALOTS RAZE DISC-USING STATION Mexico City, April 11. Incensed because radio station XETH, 1,000 watts, at Pueblo City, used mostly records for its broad- casts, amusement Industry delegates to a national labor convention In Pueblo City, near here, raided and wrecked the station. They tried to beat up the manager-owner. There were yells that the station was de- priving many entertainers of em- ployment Police and troops, arresting 50 raiders, prevented the station from being set on fire. Sves Morris Siegal Clodoveo Persichetty filed a su- preme court action in N. Y. Wednes- day (6), against Morris H. Siegal as an officer of the Policyholders Ad- visory Council, and th e Ne w Jersey Broadcasting Corp.- (WHOM), for $l6i000 against Siegal and $5,000 against the radio station. The plalntlnff claims to have been hired by Siegal to .give radio. talk; in Italfan boosting Insurance policies. He says he was discharged Decem- ber 31, 193B, and the station Is ushtg transcripts of his voice. KESTEN TO VACATIOK Paul Kesten, CBS v.p., leaves for a month's vacation, probably at the end of this w«ek. Undecided whether to tak^ ai boat or an Ari- zona safarL Lou Ruppel and Meff Runyan were out of CBS Monday (10), each with a strained back. Dong Browning Joins NBO Cincinnati, April 11 Douglas Browning, announcer on WLW-WSAI for the past three years, left Sunday (9) for . New York to join NBC's staff of spielers. . . His last chore for Crosley was as narrator of the Easter dawn servrce program which originated in Eden Park and was fed by WLW to NBC's red and blue nets. BOSTON-LAWRENCE OFF Inter-Clty Lino Dlseontlnued Until Bis Warranla WMEX, Boston, and WLAW, Law- rence, Mass., have dropped off the Inter-Clty Network.' Break occurred after WMCA,. N. Y., the web's key point found that it didn't pay to con- tinue running' a line into ^ew England. Hookup will be resumed if a com- mercial deal currently in the works for the inclusion of WMEX and WIAW in an Inter-Clty group goes through. Associated Music Signs For Texas Network's 23 Associated Music Publishers, Inc., has closed ,a long-term licensing agreement for Its catalog with the 23. stations in the Texas State Net- work. Agreement gives each station the right to feed the AMP music to the regional and clear- AMP copyrights contained in Mutual programs. Mrs. Carrell Runs WBBZ Ponca City, Okla., April 11. Mrs. Adelaide Lillian CarreU wiU continue to operate WBBZ here fol- lowing FCC transfer of the station to her name from that of the Estate of C. L. CarreU. A tentative renewal of the station's license was also granted. Pick and Pat make three appear- ances at The Charlotte (N. O- Ob- servers House and Home Exposition this week. Gn!f Smnmer Sub Dae Toung & Rublcam expects to set the Gulf Oil summer show this -week. It will be for 13 weeks, start- ing June 18. Account has options for the resumption of the Screen Guild show next fall and It isn't likely that anything will be done «bout It for a few months. . SaiD» agency's 'What's My.. Name?' ibow, wtilch replaced 'Fred Allen for Brlstol-Mytb July i, wm h^ve Pet|^ V'tn Steeden M batonlsi' Cold to WNYC Predictament; Sees Only 'Lessonln Government Radio' The National Association, of Broadcasters in Washington 'has no interest' in the pending squab- ble between Tammany democrats and Incumbent fuslonlsts over radio staUon WNYC, New York City. This, in the - view of NAB, Is no trade problem in any proper sense. It is regarded as simply an effort of one political group to blacken by any means possible the standing and prestige of its opponent The offense cited against WNYC is threadbare and petty, in the opinion of friends of the New York City-owned station. They have as- serted that If the New York City council may conduct an inquiry Into a Federally-licensed radio station for the purpose,' as they claim, of playUg precinct politics It may lead to .other muni.cip.al authorities try- ing to do likewise.' However, th4 radio industry toiere- Oaiiih ' uh& tiirB -'lt li non* of Aur business. All it indicates is the mess that 'we could expect if radio by government ever became general in . this country.' WNYC became Involved when al- legedly a travel program carried 'Communistic propaganda.' WNYC says the travel-speaker merely said 'it is safe to travel in Russia.' The critics, who are trying to make something out of it have claimed it was much more than that Praise of Russia, however mild, is unbe- coming a tax-supported radio sta-- tlon, they argue. WNYC attempted to duck the in- vestigation on a Jurisdictional tactic, but lost out A Slant From England London, April 4. Listeners, who pay a $2JiO license fee annually for their government- controlled . radio, - are' peeved at BBCb propdsal to Appoint a public rdatlMa oSlcier in conofctloa with foreign language broadcasts. Claim this activity is subsidized from their payments. Similar squawk is made in respect of television; it is calculated every vlslo owner at this time costs the BBC $75 -for programs, yet tills de- partment is aliiio paid for from the ordinary radio license income. Thorwald Loses WBB Dallas, AprU 11. Charles Jordan, formerly as- sistant .manager, has been named operating head of WRR, municipally o-wned, after a court fight in which John Thorwald faUed to enjo'm the city coimcil from cancelling his man- agerial contract Jordan takes the tiUe of acting manager at a salary of $300 a month. Another iaftermath of the Thor- wald litigation W6s the resigriaUon of ' W. H,. Held from the municipal radio'oommlssloii. / ■- « < > . • With Major. Edward Bowes again running ahead of MaxweU House*! 'Good News' in popularity rating, the audience dominance maintained by the NBC red (WEAF) link of • Thursday night for.; years has «!• ready undergone a two-thirds col'^ lapse. The Kate Smith show, which precedes Bowes on Columbia, haa pulled appreciably to thd front of the Rudy Vallee-Standard Brands session, leaving the Kraft Music HaU the lone survivor of the red's once invincible three-hour stretch (8 to 11 p.m. EST). Ethyl's Tune-Up Time,' with Wal- ter CKeefe, has faUed so' far to make miicb of a dent in Kraft's rat- Ing. WABCS SPORTS JAM AIDS WMCA ■' Overloaded with sports since the clearing, of -major league baseball broadcasting In New York, Columbia Broadcasting has found it necessary to sluff' off some of its arranged spe- cial sports pickups of' this summer to WMCA, N. Y„ for local airing. CBS has almost every major event tied upi some of -which will confiict with baseball—hence the WMCA tie. All Important horsie races (except the Preakness at PlmUco next month, which NBC has), profeSsiional and amateur gold tournaments, and ten- nis matches (including the Dayia CUp finals) have been logged by CBS. Number of these wiU come in at a time when CBS is clear of basebaU and wUl be retained. WMCA is to get aU N.Y. horse track's take races and whatever else WABti cant take. What WMCA airs locaUy \MU- be fed to CBS affiliates out of to-wn. CBS' baseball is local to'WABC. Situation is an aftermath of last year's bidding on sports between CBS and NBC. - CBS tied up every thing in sight for this siumier after NBC grabbed an exclusive on stuff emanating from Madison Square Garden, N. Y., this past winter. That was before bascfbaU was cleared. CINDERELLA BOYS Abbott and CostcUo's LecM Bewe^ Ob Top of Badio Abbott and CosteUo, comedy team on Kate Smith's radio broadcast (WABC), are the new Cinderellas of show business. Team signed last week with the Shuberts to co-star with Bobby Clark in the 'Streets of Paris' revue, which is expected to get started the first week in May. . With the rest of the Kate Smith show,-they go off- the air the last week in June, but have already re- ceived a new. contract for next year from Calumet'Bakin'g Powder' caUing for a .material increase in salary. Between the revue and the radio program, they'U be earning nearly eight times as much per week as they did a year ago, if ''Paris' Is stlU run- ning by the time the new radio sea- son starts next falL . WUliam. Morris agency, set both the Shubert and radio deals. Frank Cmmit Oat, ID; Ed East Pincb-Hits Ed East did pinch-hit for Frank Crumit on 'Battle ,of the Sexes' (MoUe) starting last night (Tues- day). Crumit is laid up with pneu- monia, but improving,' Meanwhile East and Dumke's Kitchen Quiz is under option to Stack-Goble. Ed East added Long Island Storage to his participating stanza on WHN, N. Y., and wiU hereafter m.c. the Heams depart- ment kid show. HUlblUy Toms Cop New Orleans, Aprfl 11. Louie Bono, hUl bflly with the Dawn Busters over WWL, New Or- leans, for the'past year, has Joined the New Orleans poUce force. Act- ing In tfa« capacity of -poUc* an- 4W>unoeri* '. -. .