Variety (Jul 1939)

Wednesday, July 5, 1939 RADIO VARIETY 2S 6 THEMES FOR NAB. SALES CLINIC The Sales Managers' Committee Is participatine in NAB Convention with a special proffram on Monday, no) Tliere wlU be a luncheon. Monday noon at the Hotel Ambas- «dor for aU sales managers ■nd broadcasters who wish to attend, it which time Ed Kirby. . director of the Bureau of Radio Advertising, and Paul Peter, director of Research of NAB. will ouUine the work of the Bureau of Radio Advertising. They will discuss some of the projects al- ready completed, those which are iinder way and the work which they have planned for the future. Immediately after the luncheon, we will have an afternoon meeting with one outside speaker. He Is Dr. Her- man Hettinger of the Wharton .School of Finance, The University of Penn- sylvania, who will present a sum- mary of the recent survey made by one of his associates and which deals with the selling policies of radio sta- tions. This was a national survey and covered stations of varying sizes in all parts of the country. Immediately foUowing .this, there will be panel discussions d.ealing with a list of subjects; which is the outcome of various Sales Managers' District meetings since the first of the year. These will include: 1. 'Is there any audience measure- ;nent yardstick we can all follow?' Discussion led by Bill Cline of WLS, Chicago. 2. 'Most effective selling methods used on department stores, clothing stores. Insurance companies, ready- to-wear stores and banks.' Discussion led by Purnell Gould of WFflR, Bal- timore. 3. ^What can we do to get more manufacturers in all lines to do co- operative advertising with local stores such as they do in other media?' Discussion led by Charles Caley, WMBD, Peoria. 1 "Effective Sales promotion ideas In the local and national field.' Dis- cussion led by Ed Flanigan of WSPD, .Toledo. 5. 'How can we increase radio bill Ingi to chains in dry goods, foods, clothing and other lines?' Discussion led by Lew Avei7 or WGR, Buffalo. 6. Successful methods of selling Union musical talent to make the AF of M contract as profitable as possible.' Discussion led by Ken Church of KMOX, St. Louis. Church Hours Gash with Air Tavs; May Alter Toronto, July 4. With a large number of the clergy of all denominations, openly admit- ting that the Jack Benny and Charlie McCarthy programs are hav- ing a serious effect on Sunday eve- ning service attendance, matter of changing the hours of worship here u. currently under consideration. Inter-denominational group confer- ence of clergy and church officials u being arranged to determine uni- fication in the proposal to push back the hour of Sunday night church services from 7 p.m. to 9, at least curing the summer months. Num- ber of churches here have gone ahead with the proposal without waiting lor the round-table decision. JeUo program and Chase & San- norn hour are carried hi Canada over the government network. Eckley With Columbia Hollywood, July 4. Amory Eckley has been placed In h?.*"S* ""^'o relations for Colum- bia Management ♦.1 . conducted his own »«ent agency here. ftf'SSJ^U**'"^"' eeneral manager „J*°Z, Boston, will report for two ^"'y with U. S. Signal Reserve In Plattaburg, N. Y., stwtmg Aug. 14. His routine mlU- wry assignment relates to communi- MMons and censorship. THOSE RADIO DOORS One Has t« Be Broken Down—En- gineer Looked In With High Voltage Boston, July 4. Two door stories came out of WEEI last week. Charlie Hector's band bad to break down the door to the Instrument room, when they lost the key, to make the schedule for their matinee broadcast, June 28; Al Teachman, WEEI engineer, left his keys outside the door to high voltage room at .the Medford trans- mitter and the door snapped shut. He was imprisoned several hours in a nest of live wires until he man- aged to get attention of passersby at daybreak. This sort of accident is fairly com- mon in radio business. Omaha Quiz Uses Local Names Cutfo Omaha; July 4. / New quiz program tagged 'Answer Please' is' on KOIL here under sponsorship of the Foster-Barker In- surance Co. and runs from 7-7:30 on Sunday nights. Permanent board of experts on the show is compoised of four local promlnents, all of whom donate their services. They are Walter Bryne, v.p. of Kilpatrick's department store, who is interlocu- tor, Frank Fogarty of the Chamber of Commerce, Mrs. Paul Gallagher, social leader, Dick Stewart, auto dealer, and Allan McDonald, archi- tect. Program is tied in closely with the Junior League for promotion set-up, with the League getting a iset coin figure from each program. This sum is included in the general talent cost of the show, ticague assists in get- ting the board members and guests. Questions are sent in from listen- ers in the territory, with those ques- tions' used on the show being worth a buck apiece to the sender. O'CONNOR, PURGED CONGRESSMAN; PANS RADIO CODE CLAUSES AS tOMMYROr Apparently Linked to Boake Carter.—Makes Sensa^ tional Charges of Radio Industry in Collusion With Administration Tactics By BOD REED Atlantic City, July 4. Radio comics to broadcast at Wha-. len'a Wonderland. The World of Tomorrow presents the Jokes of Yesterday. Hillbillies battle over television firsts.. Last one in is a city slicker. Jnles Albertl's band will have a tap dancer as part of the- percussion section. He'll play foot notes. Indian claims his art was injured by his omission from broadcast If so, -first time silence ever hurt any- body. WSPA and Newsmen In Joint Move; Make Peace Spartanburg, S. C, July 4. Hatchet having been buried be- tween station WSPA and local news- papers after several years intermit- tent and mutual mayhem, Arthur Gurley, Herald-Journal sports edi- tor, joined with James' Mugford, sta- tion's m.c. in special program seek- ing—successfully—to save city's base- ball franchise by drumming up 3,000 customers for night game at a buck a throw. First time in years a local press man has faced • WSPA mika. WCAU Now Pa. Chartered Philadelphia, July 4, Approval was given by the FCC last Thursday (28) for the WCAU Broadcasting Company to dissolve its charter as a New Jersey corporation and assign its rights to a Pennsy- chartered corporation of the same name. Assignment includes licenses of WCAU, W3XAU, short waver; W3XIR, ' experimental high fre- quency transmitter; W3XEO, port- able relay Uansmitter, and W3XHW, used in remotes. Air men wary of 'pink ribbon, Easter egg* shows for moppets. Afraid if you give the kids pink rib- bons the plays will lay their own eggs. MILLER BOILS DOWNASCAP FINDINGS Copyright committee of the Na- tional Association of Broadcasters is slated to meet Saturday evening, July 10, at the Ambassador hotel, At- lantic City, for a final discussion of their recommendations on the terms of a new contract with the Amer- ican Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Following this meeting President Neville Miller will draw up his report on the ASCAP conferences for submission to the NAB convention which opens next Monday (10). Miller has during the past several months met with John G. Pahie, ASCAP general manager, on various occasions to get his reactions to cer- tain formulas and clauses that the committee would like to see in- cluded In the next ASCAP contract GABBER'S PENALTY IS TO GO rmr bitty Philadelphia, July 4. Rupe Werling, gabber on WIBG, made aJ>et over the air that Galento would win last week. His penalty for losing was lisping all through his ri-iorning show. The World's Worst Program;? And with hlth baker sponthor plugging therewberry thortcake, it thertainly wathn't eathy. Gotta Hear 'Em, Too? Hollywood, July 4, Office here of American Federa tion of Radio Artists Is without a radio. Maurice Levy making debut on air with The Music Makers,' 30 min- ute feature for BBC. Washington, July 4. Attempt to make political capital at the expense of the broadcastUig industry had 'front men frothing this week. Fearful of inviting atten- tion, both network people and the NAB were maintaining a respectful silence toward the charges of former Representative John J. O'Connor of New York, who managed the futile 1938 attempt to send a Congressional committee on the prowl. Virtually confirming suspicion he was the source of information used recently by Boake Carter, ex-micro- phonist, for a column blasting the New Deal, the former Tammany lawmaker, now engaged in legal practice and lobbying here, de- nounced the NAB's proposed code is 'boosting censorship' and sought to use a letter to the trade body as weapon in his fight with the New Dealers. The letter attracted attention in trade circles, although not generally publicized, more because of the pe- culiar circumstances surrounding its transmission than for its contents. Couple of weeks ago, the purged legislator wrote Ed Kirby, press re- lations boss at NAB headquarters, asking for a copy of the code and indicating he was sympathetic to- ward the movement to lift radio pro- gram . standards. Quite a surprise Saturday (1) when the long blast was received, carrying a footnote that copies wo)ild be released to the press and one was being sent Neville Miller. Purpose in O'Connor's mind was apparently to cause a newspaper furore. Since being licked by a Roosevelt-blessed candidate in the 1038 campaign, the former Congress- man has been out of public gaze. The Boake Carter piece, which occa- sioned some tongue-clucking in Con- gressional . lobbies, is regarded by radio people as an initial attempt to agitate the editorial writers. Failure to accompllch this result Is thought by industry observers to be' the ex- plantation for the non-sequltur cor- respondence with Kirby, While he voiced opinions about the NAB pact O'Connor edvoted most of his three-page epistle to a blast at the 'radio trust,' which he frequently denounced whil'e In Congress (after sitting on the Con- nery investigation resolution for a long time), and at the Roosevelt Ad- ministration. Still burned over his defeat at the polls last November. Allegations After recalling his Interest In radio, his-'concern' over administra- tion of the Communications Act, and the unsuccessful attempt to probe the industry and the FCC, O'Connor let loose with the charge that Presi- dent Roosevelt was responsible for failure of the investigation efforts. He said that at-the outset the Ad- ministration was enthusiastically In favor of a probe—with 'one recently assistant secretary' in the President's cabinet helping frame the Connery resolution—and then somersaulted after the perfection oiE 'an arrange- ment with SarnofI, Paley,,etc., heads of the radio trust' under 'which Mr. Roosevelt would become czar of the industry, at $150,000 yearly stipend, upon leaving the White House. The New Yorker then screamed about 'political censorship,' which he laid at the door of Chairman Frank R. McNlnch.. Applauded the NAB, however, for fighting the in- ternational rules. Principal squawk was about treatment given him by CBS during the 1938 campaign. After the purge was started, Co- lumbia offered him a nationwide hook-up to reply to a- speech in which the President flayed him, O'Connor said. When these plans were announced, the White House sent for the web's Washington rep- resentative, he charged, and a Pres- idential secretary said CBS was in the Administration dog-house for giving him access to the microphone. About the same time, he elaborated. Secretary of Commerce Hopkins told 'one of our most eminent citizens,' a CBS vice-president, (not named) that 'the boss was mad as hell'. be- cause the web offered him time and 'unless something were done about it' the Administration would niake' NBC the falr-halred boy. The result of the alleged White House pressure, O'Connor declared, was to cut him oft 20 midwest stations so that 'the ad- vertised broadcast just never did float through the air.' For many years, the whole radio situation has been 'rotten,' O'Connor told the NAB publicist. Been getting worse in recent years, so that 'it smells to Heaven, or North Carolina, or Texas and way stations.' Indignant ex-lawmaker did not go into details In condemning the code, which he said contains 'most un- American' clauses and is equivalent to 'pernicious censorship.' 'The pro- visions about religious and contro- versial talks, along with several of the practices and standards, are tommyrot' he declared. Industry will 'rue the day you fell in line with the present regime of political cen- sorship,' he predicted. CBSandNBC Cautiously Weigh ASCAP Demand ToEndSongFeeds ToMontana American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers has failed to get immediate action from either NBC or Columbia on its demand that the networks cease feeding, pro- grams containing ASCAP music to their affiliated stations in Montana. 'The request was sent the webs after the Society had decided to cancel the licenses of broadcasters in that sate and force a showdown on the latest piece of Montana anti-ASCAP legislation by bringing these broad- casters in the federal courts on copy- right infringement proceedings. Columbia answered the request with a letter to ASCAP setting forth its legal position in the matter, while NBC's lawyers decided that they would do nothing until they had had a chance to read the pleadings of the suit which A. J. Mosby, of KGVO, Missoula, Mon., has brought against ASCAP. Mosby charges con- spiracy monopoly, extortion and fraud. Mosby's action followed the pass- age by. the Montana legislation of a bill forcing ASCAP to register its catalog with a state official and also stipulate the price for performance of each of the hundreds of thou- sands of wbi-ks. This measure took the place of another which had been invalidated by rulings of the U. S. supreme court In its notice to the networks ASCAP stated that any further ser- vicing of ASCAP music to Montana stations would be done at the webs' own risk and that they would be held accountable fur any damages ASCAP collected in the. courts. ASCAP last week began to gather evidence of infringements by the Montana stations with the view of filing suit as quickly as possible. The papers will ask for a temporary In- junction pending the court's deter- mination of actual damages. Peon Law Is Amended to End Radio Hazard Philadelphia, July 4. Amended act concerning the use of leased wires was signed by Gov- ernor Arthur H. James last week, climaxing a seven-month legal and legislation fight by almost a score of Pennsylvania broadcasting stations led by Dr. Leon Levy of WCAU. The amendments remove from radio sta- tions the possibility of arrest for broadcasting information concerning horse races, baseball, football or any- thing else that might be construed as leading to gambling. Act was originally passed by the last Demo- cratic session of the legislature to put out of buslnfe'ss Nationalwlde News Service, which supplies track .results by wire. NNS is owned by M. L. Annenberg, publisher of the Republican Pbilly Inquirer. Legisla- tion didn't think about radio stations coming under the terms of the bill when it was passed. Amendments also eliminate much red tape which was previously necessary In the use of leased wires by radio outlets. Original law made it necessary to sign a contract for - each remote pickup and file a copy with the Public Utilities Commission. Phillips, KMOX, to CBS, N. T. St Louis, July 4. Several change^ in the personnel of KMOX last week. Paul Phillips, continuity director, transferred to CBS headquarters in New York and has been replaced by Lawrence N/e- vllle. Another change finds Jerry Hoekstra, public affairs director, re- taining that post and adding to it the duties as publicity director, Hoek- stra succeeds Gerald Holland, whc has been assigned to special writing assignments. Holland wrote The Land We Live In' seri.es for the Union Electric Co. for two years and may repeat on another series.