Variety (Aug 1939)

Wednesday, August 2, 1939 RADIO VARIETY 8S Web Spending by Industries (nRST SIX M,ONTHS, 1939, CONTRASTED WITH SAME PERIOD FOR 1938 WITH PER- CENTAGES OP TOTAL NETWORK BILLING*) COMPOSITE BILLINGS FOR CBS, NBC AND MUTUAL % «t % of 1939 193g. 1938 Total. 1939. Total. Automotive .,$2,770,552 7.30 $1,950,109 4.74 Building Materials.,... 101,074 .27 134,205 .33 Cigars, Cigarettes, Tobacco 4,289,970 11.25 5,193,552 12.61 Clothing, Dry Goods 58,862 .16 152,724 .37 Confectionery, Soft Drinlts........ 1,405,651 3.70 1,046,782 2.54 Drugs ».839,152 25J3 11,267,164 27.36 Financial, Insurance 248,430 .65 413,779 1.0 Foods • 11,466,796 30.22 12,585,835 30157 Garden and Field 2,236 .068 House Furniture 479,990 1.26 248,604 .60 Jewelry and Silverware 145,164 .35 Lubricants •• 1,578,448 4.16 2,102,543 5.11 Machinery 186,749 .49 327 Paints 137,109 .36 201,926 .49 Radios, etc.. 644,142 1.70 476,948 1.16 Schools 7.2" .02 Shoes 122,932 .32 84,307 .20 Soap and House Supplies 3,850,954 10.15 4.618,242 11.22 Stationery and Publishers 261,009 .69 213,688 .52 Travel, Hotels... 26,836 .07 34,534 .08 Wines and Beers 179,205 .47 5,028 .01 Miscellaneou 311,042 .82 300,689 .73 Totals $37,948,411 .... $41,176,150 ^lil.q l.t datn■ romplUd for publication by Columbia Broadcasllnir ffysUm baKod on ilulH urlKlxMlly HLven Ihe Publlshem Tnforinutlon Bureiiu by hII the iielw.n-kH. FItuvcd III ihB totnlH m« the itrosa bllllnKn prior to BKcniy and nihrr dcduvllons o{ NnC'9 ml iinil blue looii». CBS nhd Mutual, or tour nctworkn In hII. Coimnunity Sing Contest Gives Sponsor Strong Local Appeal at Little Cost San Antonio, Aug. 1. Liberty Mills of San Antonio Is sponsoring a choir contest over WOAI each Sunday which may stack up as one of the best local program ideas of the season for the country at large. Stunt involves very little expense to the sponsor yet provides an ideal Bttcntion-getting appeal to 24 towns and villages in this sector. The various communities whip up enthusiasm by first staging their own eliminations and then sending the best aggregation to San Antonio on their own gasoline and lunch checks. Groups are limited to 15 voices, church music, and appear in com- petition two per program for 24 week.s. Final two broadcasts will be lor the grand prize. Solo, stuff is strictly prohibited as are choirs from San Antonio itself. Otto Wick, Julius Ehrlich, Troy CambcU and Oscar Fox, personalities In local music circles, are the judges. San Antonio itself may be one of the most church-serviced radio towns in the country. Sunday morn- ing on the four local stations is given over to a wide variety of denominations and from 11 to 12 its church or nothing on the air. . At 10:30 KTSA has the Mormons via CBS firom Salt Lake City. At 11 the Presbyterians are on WOAI while KABC has the Baptists and KTSA the network 'Church of the Air' program. At 11:30 latter sta- tion shifts to the local Travis Park Methodist church while simultane- ously KMAC goes into the Central Christian church. Christian Science. Highlights of the Bible, Denver Heights Church of Christ,- Business Men's Bible Class, Taylor Tabernacle and 'The Gospel Singer' are other religious programs heard over the air here. WELI Now Full Time New Haven, Aug. 1. WF,H goes full time this week in 930 kilocycles. New transmitter at Hamden went into service Sunday. Station will go along independent- ly pending network negotiations. Talks with CBS, recently in market for southern Connecticut vent, prac- tically halted several months ago when system took on WBRY, Water- bury-New Haven. WNEW SET WITH AFRA First of Local New Torh Stations ta SifD witb Voion Though details of the contract are unknovm, WNEW. N. Y., is the first of the Class B stations in New York to signature an American Federation of Radio Actors-pact. AFRA recent ly started the work of enlisting the vaHous indies in the met area and WNEW had, along with WMCA and WHN, been classed as 'B' outlets and were the first aimed at. Lesser 'C transmitters, of which there are many more, will follow. WMCA and WHN have not yet signed. WNEW's signing brought many ap- plications for membership to AFRA from those on the station's staff who were not members. BONEBRAKE'S IDEA PropofM Stations Form 'Southwest Radio Paokage' Oklahoma City, Aug. 1. A new radio sales unit is being projected for the southwest by M. H. Bonebrake, manager of KOCY, here, and otluer small independent station managers and owners in the area. The plan calls for setting up of an organization to merchandise these southwestern stations as the 'Southwest Radio Package' in quest of national business which In the pa.st has been too expensive for either the stations or representatives to handle iii connection with smaller outlets. " - Invited by Boiiebrake to partici- pate in the plan have been the fol- lowing stations: WRR, Dallas; KFJZ, Fort Worth; KXYX, Houston; KABC, KMAC, KONO, in San Antonio; KLUF, Galveston; KOME, Tulsa; KRMD, Shreveport; KGHI, Little Rock, and KRIC, Beaumont. Set-up would be purely for promo- tional and merchandising purposes. Robson Will Boss 'Town'; Tiny Ruffner Quits R&R William Robson. CBS director, has joined Ruthrauff & Ryan for aJisign- ment in Hollywood as director on the L*ver 'Big Town' program with Edward G. Robinson sans Claire Trevor who did not renew as Lorelei. Tiny Ruffner, as expected, last week resigned from' Ruthrauff & Ryan where he had a v.p. tag. Ruff- ner will stay west if possible, being an adopted coast guard by now. Bill Betts continues unaffected »s manager of R & R's Hollywood of- fice. WNAX Man on tbe Wing Charles Worcester, farm service director of WNAX, Yankton, S. D., last week attended the annual meet- ing of agricultural college editors at Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., and the National Grange meet- ing at Hot Springs, S. D. To cover the widely separated sessions on successive days, he used a plane piloted and-owned by Jack Towers, extension radio specialist of South Dakota State College, Brook- ings, S. D. WLW Hillbillies Booked Cincinnati, Aug. I. WLW's Boone County Jamboree, hillbilly troupe, booked for 17 state and county fairs during August and September, by George C. Biggar, the station's rural program supervisor. Dates in Ohid,- Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Vir- ginia, Virginia and Kentucky. Talent includes Lazy Jim Day, Helen Diller, Lafe Harkne,^'. Kenny Carlson, Pa and Ma McCovmick. Drifting Pioneers, Judy Dell'and Denny. NEWS-WFAA IN FACSIMILE Dalla.s, Aug. 1. Permission to operate the first newspaper facsimile broadcasting station^ south of St. Louis was granted Wednesday (26) to WFAA (News). New station will be oper- ated through W5XD, WFAA's ultra- high frequency station. Experimental broadca.<!ts will be started as soon as transmitting and receiving equipment is received. RCA method will.be used. Nearest similar outlet is Ihii't of The Post-Dispatch in St. Loui.'!. Biggar Heads WLW DepL; Vinson, Pauline Hopldns LeaTe for New York City Cincinnati, Aug. 1. George C. Biggar, WLW rural pro- gram supervisor, became the station's program director Monday (31), re^ placing Oweii Vinson, resigned. Lat' ter's assistant, Felix D. Adams, Jr., also resigned to join KMBC., Kansas City, as program director. Vinson and his wife, Pauline Hop- kins, writer-actress, are leaving to script and produce programs on their own. Probably in New York with Transamerican. Miss Hopkins au- thored and acted in the Mad Hatter- fields series, spoiisored by Horlick's and off the air for the summer, and also writes the 'Midstream' serial on NBC Red for Procter & Gamble's .Teel, originating in Chicago. Harold Carr was moved up from director to production manager of Crosley's WLW-WSAI staff. McNinch Regrets Failure to Achieve Sbreamlining of Radio Regulation Rolling On San Antonio, Aug. 1. One of the prizes of the Aztec Furniture Co.'s amateur program over KMAC is an automobile. It is glowingly described as. the glad-chariot in which the winner (of the local eliminations) can: 'Drive to . New York for a chance on the Major Bowes pro- gram.' ECHO Brooklyn Chop Sney Mix-lip Not Tet Over—Up Again Oct, 19 Washington, Aug. 1. Still another argument in the long- I fought. Brooklyn cases is planned by ' the FCC. After several years of rowing, the regulators want attor- neys to go over the matter again on Oct 19. Questions currently pending are applications for renewal licenses of WLTH and WARD, which the Com- mish once proposed to delete, and the plea of WBBC for the facilities of these outlets.- Succession-of hear- ings, arguments, and decisions has kept the matter before the FCC ^ince its inception in 1934. Case was initiated' while the old Radio Com- mission was still doing busine.<;s. More FCC Lawyers Washington, Aug. 1. New grovip of attorneys admitted to practice before the Federal Commu- nications Commission last week in- cluded the following: John Todd Dootson, Frederick P. Lee, Chester C. Ward and Thomas Winfield Wilson, Washington, D. C; Ambrose Gherini and Pier Gherini, San Franci.sco; Gordon Burt Affleck, Salt Lake City, Samuel C. Braucber, Harrisburg. Pa.; Charles T. Balcoff, Madison, Wis., and Carl J. Burke, Pittslon, Pa. Andrew Haley Forms Law Firm With Another FCC Alumnus, Pierson Washington, Aug. 1. Another defection from the FCC legal staff is the resignation, effec- tive today (Tuesday) of Andrew G. Haley, author of many articles on radio law. He'll enter private prac- tice with Theodore Pierson, another ex-FCC barrister, and set up firm of Haley and Pierson. During six years' service wi'.h the FCC and predecessor FRC, Haley served in many capacitie.s, finally becoming senior attorney. Lately had charge of appellate court work and before was at various times head of the complaints and investi- gations section, chief of the de- cisions section, and in the common carrier (telephone and telegraph) wing, Pierson used to be chief of Mail and Files and was bo.ss of the Commish docket. Inside Stuff-Radio In.stead of a successor to Dorothy Thompson on Phil Spitalny's renewal with General Electric, resuming over NBC Sept. 17, an 'achievement award' idea for distinguished femmes will be essayed. Will be a postscript to the basic 'Hour of Charm' music by Spitalny's all-girl band (actually only a 30-minute show, despite the billing), and will salute notable women who have made significant contributions. For instancerx;at<ie Jacobs- Bond, whose 'I Love You 'Truly,' 'End of a Perfect Day'/and 'Just ft^^^eary- ing for Yoii,' are immortal lovesongs authored by hpr, will be the" first guester. It was Spitalny's idea, whereupon G.E.—which myhufactures mazdai unearthed that the frosted bulb: idea, which is easy/bn the eyes, was per (ected in G.E. labs by a woman. John Shepard, 3rd, president of the Yankee and Colonial Nets, is going into the radio receiver business as a result of the opening of the frequency modulation transmitter (WIOXJ) in Paxton, Mass., near Worcester. Latter is now carrying Colonial and Mutual shows with a potential listening audi- ence estimated to be 5,000,000, but actually no listeners since conventional sets cannot receive the non-static stuff. About Aug. 10 Shepard will launch a 'Yankee' .<:et, to retail at $200 and to receive all radio bands. GE will have a similar model at $225 and Strombcrg Carlson at $375. Washington, Aug. 1. Another public-ownership advocate' .goes on the FCC, assuming the chair- manship in the near future, as the result of the long-forecast resig- nation of Chairman Frank R. Mc- Ninch; Effective Sept. 1, James L. Fly, now general counsel of the Tennessee 'Valley Authority, be- comes the fifth new member of the radio regulatory body since its crea- tion in 1934. Anticipated retirement of Mc- Ninch — predicted exclusively in ■Vamety seven weeks ago—became a reality Thursday (27) when Pres- ident Roosevelt sent to the senate the nomination of Fly, a 41-year-old fighter of the 'power trust.' He will serve the remainder of McNinch's term, which expires July 1,' 1942. Originally expected to clean house and put the FCC on an even keel within a year, McNinch's letter of resignation at the end of not quite two years at the helm explained in- ability to end the scandals, com- plaints, and delays which have characterized regulation of radio for years was due to several factors. Chief of .them are insufficient per- sonnel and ^inadequate framework' of the five-year-old Communications Act. In his r.equest to be relieved, made public Friday (28), McNinch ad- mitted he had expected to wind up his job much earlier when in 1937 he agreed to try and reorganize the Commish so it would 'function more speedily and more uniformly and more nearly to our satisfaction.' After digging in, however,-he found the chore 'so fraught with prob- lems, and difficulties and the Com- mission so disunited that not until now have I felt justified in respect- fully, requesting yoii to release me.' He also informed the President ha does not feel he could do much more without staying indefinitely. While changes in procedure and personnel—obviously a reference to scrapping the divisions and examin- ing department and the 1938 purge —have resulted in more eliciency, McNinch advised Roosevelt. As has been known for many months, McNinch's health was such that he felt it. nece.-sary to give up the 'onerous burden.' After having spent two months away from the job last summer, he has been ill and convalescing now for eight weeks, although he was expected to resume the driver's seat early in July after being discharged from a Philadel- phia hospital. New member, who probably will be designated by the President to take the chairmanship when Mc- Ninch leaves officially, has been in government service the last 10 years. Started with the Justice Department as special assistant attorney general and handled antitrust matters for several years. After the New Deal was launched, he specialized in power cases, moving to the TVA.in 1934 as general solicitor and later being boosted to general counsel. Has directed numerous defenses 'against the attacks of privately- owned utilities seeking to handcuff the power program. Background includes Naval Academy and Har- vard Law School education and pri- vate legal practice in New York. Fly was. approved Tuesday by the Senate committee on interstate com-• merce which has jurisdiction. There will be no hearings. Gift of I.OOO .shares Columbia Broadcasting System Cla.'ss A stock, from Samuel Paley to an unknown recipient, revealed in the May report of the Securities tt Exchange Commission issued recently. CBS director retained 11,000 shares of the same class of stock, following the May 31 transfer. Also listed as holding 23,000 shares of CBS Class B. Only other radio stock recording concerned Frank E. Mullen, recently elected vice prez of Radio Corporation of America. Showed that the RCA'er held no equity securities in the outfit at the time of his appoint- ment. George W. Henyan, for nine years sales manager of Genera) Electric's radio department at Schenectady, has been named manager of the trans- mitter and tube sales divisions in the recently organized radio and tele- I vision department John Shepard, 3rd, has given publicity to the Yankee-Colonial networks adherence to the new N.A.B. program code by asserting that all future time contracts of both are subject to harmony with the vei;botcn list Doc Schneider Tenting Schenectady, N. Y., Aug. 1. Doc Schneider, who with his Tex- ans had been broadcasting over WFBC, Greenville, S. C„ under aus- pices of Coca-Cola, is back in the North with a tent show. Schneider currently is playing in WGY terri- tory, although he does not air via the Schenectady station, as. he did while trouping under canvas for sev- eral summers. This year Schneider has a second- tenter put in Southern ■ territory. OIlie and Eleanor, of his radio gang, head the No. 2 show. New Ma.sses magazine is peeved at Father Coushlih's remnrks Sunday i30) and is demanding equal opportunity to answer him on same .stations. Jodson Lallaye Promoted Bridgeport, Aug. 1. ' Judson LaHaye, program and ■ publicity aircctor" of WICC, becomes I manager of station's New Haven ; branch, succeeding Malcolm Parker, new manager of WEAN, Providence. I Florence Ballou, secretary arid as- i sistant to LaHaye, moves to program ' and publicity desk.