Variety (Aug 1939)

\r««lnc8ila7, August 2, 1939 RADIO VARIETY 3S LOWDOWN ON SO. AMERICA Latm-America at a Glance TOTAL NUMBER OF NATIVE BROADCASTING STATIONS—510 ESTIMATED POPULATION. SETS. Argeriline 12.561,301 1,000,000 Bolivia 3,170,807 20,000 Brazil ' 45,332,660 400.000 Chile 555,872 75,000 Columbia 8,665,000 50.000 Costa Kica 577,833 10.000 Cuba 3,763,375 100.000 Dominican 1,478,121 4.500 EI Salvador 1,574,495 8.000 Ecuador ■■ 2,701,662 6.000 Guatemala 2,420,273 12.000 Haiti 3.000,000 3,000 Honduras 3,000,000 15,000 Mexico • 16,552,722 500.000 Nicaragua 750,000 4,000 Panama 467,459 7,000 Paraguay 926,580 10,000 Peru 6,500,000 40,000 Uruguay ■ 2,020,040 125,000 Venezuela 3,414,160 80,000 Total 119,432,420 1,469,500 LISTENING HABITS (Notes on a Little-known Subject)^ ' Wlndmill-Oiwrated Radios . Absence of electrical utilities in some of the countries does not handicap electrical sets. Many of the latter are sold together with small windmill units which generate enough power to operate the set. In the larger plantations windmill-generated electricity supplies all the wants of the group. Radio equipment worth $2,000 and $3,000 has been installed in some of the more-pretentious plantations, radio being an important ele- ment in lonesome lives. Dutch Sets For Tropical Statto . Phillips firm of Holland Is widely r«presented in set sales throughout South America. This firm is the largest radio set-maker in the world. Its sets are reported to be particularly popular in the equatorial republics, Columbia, Ecudor, Brazil, Venezuela, because this house has gained lots of experience with equatorial static and jungle reception conditions by making seta to work in Dutch Java, Sumatra, etc. Local Broadcasts on Shortwave Because of vast distances and the non-existence of telephone-connected networks of .stations as in the United States, many native broadcasting stations actually send on shortwave (others on middlewaves as in Europe). Shortwave sets are the only kind that have ever been sold in some areas. Only Alternative Program Choice Shortwave is the only alternativ« 'program choice' for many listeners Jf the native broadcasting unit docs not happen to please them at the moment. For example the Brazilian government preempts 8-9 p.m. for Its own (and very dull) broadcasts. Brazilian wags call this 'the hour of lilence.' Actually Brazilians turn instead to foreign o/fering.s. Uncle Don on 4 Mutuals; La Rosa Uses (p^xihle Web Into New England Two heretofore local WOR, N. Y., programs willjgo oiit on a small Mu- tual network in the Fall! Uncle Don, who's aired every night except Sun- day, cooperatively sponsored, will be heard on four stations three nights weekly backed by the Maltex Company on a program separate from his daily broadcast. He'll be heard from WFIL, Philadelphia; WHK, Cleveland; CKLW, Detroit- Windsor, and WGR, BufTalo. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 5:30 to 5:45 p.m. La Rosa & Co., which has backed operatic soloists and music locally for two seasons will pick up a possi- ble five station net when it resumes. WOR, WAAB, Boston; WTHT, Hart- ford; WICC, Bridgeport; and WEAN, Providence, will get it every Tues- day, 8-8:30 p.m.; WICC and WEAN if time can be cleared. Samuel Croot Agency for Uncle Don and Commer- cial Radio Service for La Rosa. Col. Stoopgnagle begins his 'Quixie Doodle' contest on eight Mutual sta- tions Oct. 20 and Ed Thorgerson reeling off football scores on 21 out- lets in behalf of CongrSS Cigar Co. aie also set. Scbroeder to Clevis' Clovis, N; Mex., Aug. 1. Karl W. Schroeder, former head of continuity department of station KWBG, Hutchinson, Kan., has joined the staff of KICA, Clovis, as program director. Paul Cochran, also of KWBG, will join the announcing staff of KICA next week. I General Electric M U ♦ ♦ ♦ 4 M > ♦ M ♦ ♦ M ♦ ******* Type of shortwave 'Portuguese' programs sent out do Brazil) from Schenectady, N. Y., via W2XAD and W2XAF is suggested by excerpLs from the G. E. schedules for days in Atigust. ■ : - All limes given in this schedule are Eastern Standard Time; EST is five hours earlier than GMT—i.e., 1 p.m.. EST, is 6 p.m., GMT. Aug. 13 (Announced in English) 7 00 B.m.-PcorlOM Trio (New Yorl;). T LI B.in.-CIolslrr Dells iNcw Yorl.i. 7;.ri B.m.—Tone Plclurw iN<w Yoikl. B:IIO n.m.—Ccnot-Io-Const (.Vow Torkl. 9M10 a.m.—U.inrc On hcsira (.New Ymk). 9:;:n n.m.—ll"W>"n Mcloillcs (Niiw ^ttiM). 10:00 a.m.— SIkk 0(f. (Announced in Portuguese) :lo p.m.—f';inft(ll:in Urcnadier Hand i.Mon- treal). ■30 p m.-Haul Lavall'a Orchestra (.New Yorli). •no p.nl.-l'upuhir rias.'li-.-" (N'ew Y.irk). :3i) p.m.—D.mi e Tlmif i.Snheii(rt.T<l.i). •UO p.m.-SunOfiy .N'iKlit tfymplluny (New York). :00 p.m.-<>n wi(h llio U.-ince iSihont-.- tndy). :13 p.m.-Sinn ofT. Aug. 14 (Announced in Englisli) ■nn a.in.-(Jcr>e & lilcnn i.Vtw V.nk). •l.'i n rn.-Thi> HI Unys iHiirlfonli. •:I0 n.tn.—Po Yuu UriiK-mhrr? n IcvolanilV W a.m.—A'Sii' Imod i'lcvs Ncwic (New York). 0.% :i.m.—IlrrHhf;iRt Chih (Clilrnco). ■(Kt u.(il.-<'onc''rl .\I;i.*'lfr i.^^-liMii'rl:iilO. 30 ii.n)'-.Mi'mfiit MuMk-nle (J^chon'^fliiily). ijil a.m.-.SlKo •itl. (.\nnouorcd In rortiipiieyp) 1.^ p.m." I';iirli-lu (jIUnore. soiij:;» iNew York). 30pm.-ll;iv I'(>rliin«, iiLinM i.Ww York). rl.'i p.m.-<mi'.* I'pon a Time (.-J-ii^n- (Bilyl. 00 p.m.—Aloha r.an<1 i.«'hrne. l.iilyl. l.T p m —ttn Willi Iho iJancQ i.'^i-ii<-nef• ■ ta.ly). M p.m.—iMncc Orchcjt'-a (.Vow York). 4Ti p.n).-.N>w-B In l*orlupue.se (Schoncc tnily.y 0«) p.m.—Mu».|'- rlraphft r.^^'-honpna.iy), :I0 p.in.-TrrlvrloKill* i.S -hp:i«-( i.-nly). (K) p.m.-CM'Kan (ttvci-lort i.Si-hent-t.l.lily). :J.'i p.m.-.SlKi) oft. IT'S A JOB TO SIFT OUT BONK Clearer Picture Now Emerg- ing After Year or Two of A c t i V i t y—United States Standards Would Rate Latin Radio Audience as ' Small — But Community Listening Is Common OTHER ANGLES By BOB LANDRT Confusing and cotitradictory in- formation and a considerable volume of. sheer bunk has been typical of reports, discussions ..and special pleading where ■ South American radio and the relation of foreign shortwave services thereto has been concerned. But gradually it is be- coming somewhat clearer just what the radio picture in the 20-odd re- publics of latin America is and pre- cisely what is being done and what results are being registered both as concerns the United States own efforts and the efforts of the Ger- mans and Italians. Some Americans returning from the latin countries have tended to emphasize their impression that German propaganda was more evi- dent to the ear than American. Part of this may be due, it now appears, to the circumstance that of the six hours of German DX service daily three-quarters is, or until recently was, in the German language whereas much of the Yankee short- wave programming, and all of NBC, is in Spanish or Portugese and might easily give a casual visitor the im pression that such programs were native, not American, in origination The German gutturalism in speech is prominent and attracts American ob- servers' attention amidst the latin lingo; at least this is one sidelight. American interests have latterly equipped themselves with detailed analyses of German and Italian broadcasts as beamed on South America. Transcriptions of actual programs have been filed away. The Italians are averaging less than two hours to South America daily, the Germans six. Against this the vari- ous American licensees are now bombarding the latins with a much greater volume of shortwave stuff. NBC, CBS, Westinghouse, General Electric, WIXAL, Boston and others are spraying fairly steadily and over a wide range of frequencies. The Americans feel more confident today of their ability to make out a good case for their own activities. More- over they believe that the question o£ "how much' is not as important as the 'what' of the program service. They believe that theirs (the Ameri- can) approach is far smarter than the dictatorships' blatant appeals. (See adjoining columns for examples 6t fascist slurs at the United States —a type of stuff the Yanks have been studiously avoiding.) ' Skeptics Skeptics in the United States who have suspected that there were few sets and fewer listeners in South America so far as contact with Yankee shortwave is concerned are '.lot conti'adicted by di.spassionate persons who know this subject. Both private interests and government advocates of establishment of gov- ernment shortwave stations will, if they are not born stuffed shirts, con- fers that they have only lately had any dimensional conception of their audicrfce below the equator, that the sets are few and far between by United States standards and that there has been much vagueness on the whole subject. The volume of: high brow folderol di.shed out oh the subject of American 'good will' pro- I grams has been restrained by very | little (actual illumination until now.' But while conceding the mea.ijre j nature of data in the pa.st, the secminply small number of sets in use when compared to the United ■ Stales own 25,000,000 radio-equipped ' European 'News German newscasts particularly, Italian less so, are loaded with .<;liii'.<; against the United States. Attempts are repeatedly made to stir up bad feeling toward Uncle Sam. Some examples of the campaign ol ridicule, misrepresentation and belittlement are these; The American munitions-mongers, du Pont, hotic made $40,000,000 pfofit, twice as much as last year. President Roosei;e(t is related (o tite du Ponfs by Jiiarriage.' * ♦ * 'The United States has more mental patients in hospitals Ihoii fli>u other country in the 7rorld. Nervous breakdowns are more /rcqueiii, more complete, more lasting.' 'Do Soufh Americans realize thot.the United States has 'inrnded' Latin America umpteen times in the last umpteen j/ears?' * * 4 'The only country that ever thought o/ annexino Canada xcas the United Stales.' * * * 'President Roosct°elt hns com7tiunistic tendencies.' *■ • » 'The Spanish Marxist ship of state is sinking and the rats are scurry- ing. Ttco 0/ the biggest rats londed irom an aeroplane in Toulouse, France, aiid immediatelv drove to the yincst hotel in town. Anollier plane (ii.'igorgeti 12 rats at Algiers including the only woman .who cuii boast 0/ having throttled human victiTirs with her teeth.' A contrast of European and American news was provided when Italy took over Albania on Good Friday. This Information was heard im- mediately from the United States but did not come through from Europe until the following Tuesday. homes, the shortwave profession is convinced that the right measures have been adopted and the eccentrics have been partly checked. There are several considerations peculiar lo South Air :rica.that mean a lot in terms of actual penetration through radio. For example NBC's fan mail reports from three Brazil- ian provinces the spreading custom or community listening to shortwave through a central set set up with ljudspeakers in the local plaza. One from Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul recently wrote: 'In The Marechal Floriano Square of this city we hace installed three ppwerlUl ampli- fiers to broadcast your programs. It is very interesting to notice how a great number of our friends start moving toward these amplifiers just before 9 . p.m. (Brazil time) anxious to hear the latest world's news^ which you supply.' It is stressed by realists in the United States that well-meaning but clumsy advocates of better relation- ships between North and South America can do, and have done, real damage by their attitude of patron- izing Latins as less advanced. There was the case of the shortwave hero who addre.tsed a- group of visiting Latins in New York and said 'we want to make English the second language of your country.' The visitors didn't fancy his plan to edu- cate them. True tact would have been to put it the other way and say 'we want to make Spanish the sec- ojtd language of the United States.' American clubwomen have ad- vanced ideas that were pretty naive, too, it is said. And the broadcasting of programs in English is not con- sidered ideal although General Elec- tric and others do l lot because it is a.i easy solution of the program problem to simply plug in, with per- mission, and pick up network pro- grams. Critical observers wonder who in South America besides homesick Yanks would listen to Amos 'n' Andy,- "Information Plea.se' or 'Battle of the Sexes,' to name several. NBC for its part relies on news as a standard ingredient. The news is taken off the American. wii-e syndi-l cate in New York and relayed in crisp, comment-free, uncolored tems. To increase the appeal it is always broadcast for 15 minutes ex- actly on the hoyr. Twice a day in Portugce.se and four times a day in Spanish there is a full hour. Music and a.«sprted items, including speeches by Sbuth Americans visit- ing in New York. (Balance of the schedule is for Europe, etc.). By far the most active American shortwave unit is that of NBC, which has about 20 persons regularly em- ployed under the direction of Guy llickox. This unit meets all Incom- ing boats from latin America, makes recorded interviews in the native tongue of all visiting celebs and .sends the program at a favorable hour to the per.son's own country. Particularly since the opening of QUIZ SCRIPTS SELL WELL TO SO.AMERICA Sotith American radio hag discov- ered quiz shows which have been overrunning U.S. nets for some time. Radio Caracas, Venezuela, alone has bought between 20 and 25 sets of scripts In the past six weeks, nearly all of which were quizzers and man- on-the-street ideas with several who- dunits in the batch. These were all bought from one New York agency. Radio Events, Inc., which also has been supplying more and more shows of the same nature to stations in Rio de Janiero, Buenos Aires, and Val- paraiso, Chile. South American air ha,<) .hereto- fore been 90% filled with music and dramatic fare with the accent on the former. DR. L Q. AIR SHOW TO STANLEY, PnTSB'GH Chicago,' Aug. 1. Dr. T. Q. theatre broadcasts for Mars candy will quit the Balaban h Katz ChicagC) here on Aug. 21 and will shift to origination point in Pittsburgh at the Stanley thcatie, starting Aug. 28. Quiz show will stick in Pitt.sburah for eight weeks. Room for Guest Dept. Guest Relations Department of NBC, New York, is being realigned to facilitate activities of the tour pro- motion division. There is no shift in personnel, but the division is being moved to a more accessible spot on the second floor of the RCA building i and the telephone setup changed to ' speed up calls. I Entire Guest Relations department ' will be given added private offices, : with a small enlargement of floor ' space. I - . I the New York World's Fair the unit has often sent portable equipment outside the Radio City studios to get ; material. There is a constant effort to flavor the programs with matter* of fatherland interest. Regular pub- licity hook-ups are maintained with Pan American Airways at Mi.imi and Grace, Moore & McCormick, Furne.s.s,' etc., of the ship lines to keep tab on visitors. A.ssocinted Press file of items on South America and South Americans is al.so employed when of general in- terest. \