Variety (Jul 1939)

Wednesday, July 19, 1939 RADIO VARIETY 21 SILLY IiV the light of the smart" planning revealed by the National Association of Broadcasters in other directions, the Atlantic City convention impresarios marred an otherwise nice impres- sion by adopting the silly measure of barring the press from a couple of mass meetings. The barring was made to seem even more boyish by the circumstance that the meetings in< question were extremely tepid aflFairs. The masterminds responsible for this ostrich-like assumption that, by hiding themselves from the press, the generous posterioc.of broadcasting becomes in- visible, ought to brush up on their knowledge of how reporters invariably react to such a challenge. Why bar the press from meetings attended by hundreds of delegates? What does it accomplish that is worth the encour- agement to.an unfriendly attitude by reporters? Surely nobody at N. A. B, is naive enough to think that anything of impor- tance that might be said under such circumstances would be, or could be, 'secret'? It's as pubHc as Grand Central terminal to start with, so why the amateur press relations and the big lodge night hocus-pocus? As for the physical absence of the press encouraging timid broadcasters to get up and speak more frankly, that sounds like a joke. Timid broadcastfers never speak under any encourage- ment, and those who have something to say and are good at it, frequently want the greatest, not the least, publicity for their remarks. ^ ■ Broadcasters who themselves stand under constant threat of censorship make an awkward group-picture when they make a 'secret' of nothing in particular. Are they ashamed of some- thing? This is hick press relations. OlffiEFE IN N. Y. FORUFEBUOY SEPT. 19 Walter OTCeefe has been signa- tured bf RuthrauS 8i Ryan to head up the new Tuesday night Life Buoy show (CBS) which will ema- nate Xrom New York starting Sept. 19. No other talent has been set tor the stanza. On the matter of music It hadn't been decided whether it will be coming name dance band or a pro- duction combination with a free- lance maestro. O'Keefe recently completed ■ 29-week run for Ethyl with Andre Kostelanetz. D'ARTEGA'S 80 NBC STATIONS FOR JETHCK Enna Jettick Shoe has contracted for an 80-statioih hookup on the NBC red (WEAF) network sUrting Aug. 20. It will use D'Artega plus the remainder Qf the cast that the ac- count had in the program which ran over WABC, N. Y., for 13 weeks «arly this year. ; Others veere Jimmy Shields, Norse- men quartet ainkJlosamond Ames, style commentator^, Marschalk & Pratt Is the agency. Foor Carolma Stations, In Regional Loop, Added To Mutual Dixie Leg Charlotte, N. C, July 18, Four North Carolina stations have formed the Southern Broadcasting system. Each station will feed to all various daily programs. Comprising the new radio network are stations WSTP, Salisbury; WSOC, Charlotte; WAIR, Winston-Salem, and WRAL, Raleigh. The same four stations also com- prise a new southern leg of the Mu- tual network and the same lines will be used for both arrangements. THE ARBIIEII Craney in Blast Against ASCAP — Latter Replies He Wanto to Escape All Payments — Craney Two Years in Arrears—Frolich Gives Senator Insight into What 'Per Program' Checking Might Mean UNIQUE MEETING RAYMOND PAIGE'S 99 END RUN ON AUG. 1& U. S. Rubber Co. folds its CBS show, '99 Men and a Girl,' starring Raymond Paige, Aug. 18, after a run of 2S weeks. Attempt was made to get the account to extend the cam- paign to Labor Day and when this failed Campl>ell-Ewald, agency on the account, handed the cancella- tion notice last week. Tire manufacturer will likely be back on next spring. Resigned or Fired? Cleveland, July 18. Although he was one of WTAM's top veteran announcers, Russell B. Weiss and the station parted last week In a terrific huff. Studio when quizzed said he merely resigned and gave no details. Weiss, who wa« on staff for nine years, was not so reticent or polite. I 1 didn't resign—I was unfairly fired and I don't care who knows it,' he indignantly said, but .reasons are still a mystery. Arthur Simon in HosplUI Arthur Simon, g.m. ot WPEN. t-nuiy, entered a New York hospital ia|t week for an operation. Hell be out about, a. month.. Arrested-For $62.52 Cincinnati, July 18i Alpheus Triggs, WCPO announcer, was arrested Saturday (15) on a charge of embezzlement preferred by Paul Scherer, bookkeeper of the Peoria (111.) Broadcasting Co., where Triggs formerly was engaged. Amount involved Is $62.52. Spieler was pinched by local de- tectives after doing a pre-baseball game program. Jim Harvey's Prize Philadelphia, July 18. Jim Harvey, of the KYW program i department, is offering a new car' for sale cheap. Three weeks ago he bought a .new Ford. First thing he did with it was drive to the N. Y.' Fair, where he took some photos of the flags flying i over the Ford exhibit. When the j Ford company offered prizes for' pictures, Harvey submitted his. He won first prize—a new Ford, ex- actly like the one he had just bought. Washington, July 18. Conflicting reports have come out of the meeting last week in which Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of Mon- tana presided as an unofficial ref- eree between Ed Craney, operator of KGIR, Butte, Mont., and president Gene Buck and Attorney Louis Frohlich, representing the Ameri- can Society of Composers, Au'.^ors and Publishers. The meeting took place in Wheeler's offices here and became a verbal duel between the conflicting points bf view of a rebel- lious broadcaster, now the leading spirit in one of the harassment ma- neuvers against ASCAP, and the spokesmen for the perfcrning rights society. According to one version Senator Wheeler, a lawyer, was inclined to feel that the legal position of ASCAP was strong and that of Craney, who is two years in arrears on ASCAP royalty payments, is otherwise. But according to another version the senator emerged from the session a confirmed advocate of the per-pro- graam method of compensation for music use. In the latter connection it is reported Wheeler would favor and urge revival of the old Gov- ernment 'monopoly' action against ASCAP. Craney was accompanied by Phil Loucks, lawyer for the National As- sociation of Broadcasters to the meet- ing. Before the discussion got down to the current points of conflict, the two sides reviewed the whole Mon- tana situation as it affects ASCAP. Craney argued that ASCAP's present licensing system was unfair in that it did not confine its commercial fees to programs using its catalogs. He also stated that he believed that the fee on network commercial pro- grams should be paid at the source and that the same method should ^pply in the case of sponsored tran- scriptions. Attacks Craney Frohlich retorted that it looked to him as though Craney's only ob- jective was to get but of paying any- thing to ASCAP. If network pro- grams and ' transcriptions were cleared at the source and since news, sports and public events programs required no music, Craney would cerUinly have no need of ASCAP. In telling the story of ASCAP's lit- igatory and legislative troubles In Montana Frohlich and Buck charged that Craney and his local colleagues were using the Montana courts and legislature for their selfish ends. Craney rejoined that that wasn't so;' they were merely trying to protect themselves from ASCAP's unfair and oppressive conditions. i In replying to Craney's talk about. having to pay for something that he I doesn't use Frohlich pointed out that I ASCAP favors the present blanket: contract because it is the cheapest and most expedient for all con- cerned. If the broadcasters insist on | a per program contract they will get it, but the cost is bound tt prove' almost prohibitive to them, stated Frohlich. As things now stand the: blanket contract gives them unlimit-' ed use of the ASCAP repertoire, and ( does away with all checking on ASCAP's part. With a prr program agreement ASCAP, said Frohlich, would have to Install an extensive checking service and the cost of maintaining a check of this sort on (Continued on page 28) I Important Radio-Music Decision It i.s as,sumcd by New York broadcasters that the Na- tional Association of Broadcasters will appeal the decision of Federal Judge Leibell in the case of RCA Victor against Paul Whiteman and WNEW, N.Y. Under the court's find- ing radio stations may not broadcast phonograph records vifithout the permission, of the manufa(;turer or both the manufacturer and the interpretive artist. The NAB had intervened in the case on WNEW's side and was represented at the trial by Stuart Sprague. Latter lawyer v^-ent on a vacation last Friday (7), the day that judge Leibell released his findings, and is not expected, back until Aug. 15. . . Detailed story on the find ings i s con tained in the music section of this issue oT^Variety. ' Independents to Hold Convention In Chicago; Prelims Up Aug. 4 in N. Y. NEW MUTUAL LINKS Nunn, Clsler, Draughton Slgoatare With Fred Weber With three outlets in the Ken- tucky-Tennessee areas slated to join Sept 24 Mutual will have a total of 121 stations carrying its programs. The newcomer trio are WLAP, Lex- ington, WGRC, Lo.uisville-New Al- bany, and WSIX, Tenn. All three contracts were closed by Fred Weber, Mutual g.m., at the NAB convention last week, with GlUmore Nunn signing for WLAP, S. A. Clsler for WGRC and Jack Draughton for WSIX. GULF RENEWS SCREEN AaORS GUILD Gulf returns the Screen Actors Guild show to its Sunday night spot on CBS Sept. 24, Deal is the same as last year's. Motion Picture Re- lief Fund will collect $10,q(H> per broadcast, ^ries this time will run at least 26 weeks and a possible 39 weeks, while last season it did but' 22. Account win as, usual pay extra tor the orchestra headed by Oscar Bradley and the regular m.c, who is yet to be picked. Stars for the initial program won't be. set for an- other few weeks. Young Si Rubicam is the agency. Tune Twisters join Gulfs sum- mer show this Sunday (23) for tlie remainder of the 13-week cycle. TONY STANFORD WILL HEAD LONDON BRANCH Hollywood, July 18. TQny Stanford, for the past five years producer for J. Walter Thompson, goes to London next month' to head the agency's radio department there and injict Ameri- can methods into, the company's programs in Europe. He will pro- duce the firm's transcriptions made in London for Luxemborg and Nor- mandy stations. Stanford jointed JWT in 1925, pro- ducing the first Lux show'. He later switched to Rudy Vallee and Kellogg Circle, recently participating in the writing and production of the agency's coast shows.. Agnes Hoorehead Better Agnes Moorehead, who was taken 111 during' a broadcast week-l>efore- last, has left the hospital. Is again regularly on 'This Day Is Ours' and Philadelphia, July 18. Platform and organization com- mittee of the Independent Radio Net.- work Affiliates have completed plans for an early fall convention of the body. ntNA chairman Samuel R: Roscnbaum, prez ot WFIL, has called an organizing committee meeting in New York City Aug 4. He named to the group H. K. Carpenter, WHK, Cleveland; Arthur B. Church, KMBC, Kansas City; Walter J. Damro, WTMJ, Milwaukee; John A. Ken* nedy, WCHS, Charleston, W. Va.; Paul Morency, WTIC, Hartford; John A. Shephard, 3d, Yankee Network, and himself. Committee at its New York meet- ing will prepare a preliminary draft - of proposals to be presented to the IRNA convention, which will prob- .ably be held in Chicago at the same time as the industry meeting which is tentatively set for early Septem- ber to discuss the ASCAP situation. Rosenbaum declared the draft will be circulated to all 357 netwo^rk af- filiates before Sept. 1 so that they can be acted upon intelligently at the convention. Rosenbaum also made a. personal plea that all affiliates submit opin- ions and suggestions concerning sev-* eral items of paramount importance to IRNA members—proposal for pay- ment of copyright tax at the source, payment of copyright tax only on programs using ASCAP music, elimi- nation of 'free rider' network spot announcements and elimination of network chain break free announce- ments by network advertisers. Quaker Oats Brings In Riggs Sept. 4;'Carters' 0yaltinesAgamSepL25 Chicago, July 18. Several time renewals set for fall radio by Chicago agencies. 'Quaker Party:, with Tommy Riggs. will be back on NBC-Red web on Sept. 4, which means the shifting ot that show from Saturday to Monday nights at 7 p.m. COST. Set through Ruthrauff & Ryan agency which "on Aug. 7 will put 'Dick Tracy' show in the Monday night spot for a four- week spree. •Carters of Elm Street', five a week strip for Ovalltine will be back on Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. central standard time, through Blackett-Sample-Hum- mert Agency. Red Heart dogfood will repeat the Bob Becker dog chats on the NBC red web starting Oct. 5 at 2:45 p.m. over a 30-station hook-up. , Set through Henri, Hurst & McDonald agency. PALMOLIVE PONDERS RETURN TO NBC BLUE Palmolive may return to.the NBC blue (WJZ) link after a four ycar'j absence. Dlscus-fions so far have been limited to periods available and the 'Valiant Lady,' besides making- spot I number ot stations that could be pro- appearances on 'Aunt Jenny.'' I vlded for a cross-country hookuD.' ''