Variety (Sep 1939)

Weduesday* September 27, 1939 RADIO VARIETY 23 'SEASON' SLANT NOT UKED Unhook KECA From KH as Step Others on Coast May Follow; Say Pacific Slope 'Undersold' While in New York last week Harrison Holliway, general manager for tha Earle C. Anthony stations, named Free & Peters the new rep for KECA, Los Angeles. The shift, from Edward Petry takes effect Oct. 1. Split was made,on the theory that the same rep can't represent two stations in the same town and do ail effective job for both. Petry has represented KFI, Anthony's other L. A. station, as well as KECA, since 1933. It was reported last week that the operators oC KEX-KGW, Portland, Ore.; KJR-KOMO, SeatUe, and KGA-KHQ, were considering putting through a similar split in the sales representation of their stations. Petry has all these on his list. If the proposal materializes into action Petry will have but one station in a town as far as the westcoast is con- cerned. It has been suggested by the op- erator of one of these three north- west stations that they pool the rep- resentation of their NBC-blue out- lets, along with other Pacific stations in the same network group, into a central sales end promotional or- ganisation. The argument advanced is lliat the westcoast as a potent ra- dio market has never been properly sold and that concerted effort in this direction was the solution to this i' long-felt need. Agency time buyers j still voice the opinion that indie broadcasters along the Pacific, with but few exceptions, are fog-bound wliea It comes to selling their mar- kett and facilities. 'LONE RANGER' UNMASKED SaterepQst Will Sh»w Earl eraser's Physoe in Story Detroit, Sept. 26. Showing first photo ever taken of 'Lone Ranger' (Earl Graser) out of costume, Oct. 14 issue of Saturday Evening Post will carry article titled 'Hi Yo Silver' penned by J. Bryan III. Several months ago WXYZ's 'Ranger' program got coupla pages of bally in Life mag. Besides offering an original story on western serial, article highlights ttiree personalities behind 'masked rider of justice,' namely, George W. Trendle, prez of KingrTrcndle Broad- casting Co. (WXYZ and Michigan network), who popped idea; Fran Striker, who authors serial, and Glaser, who plays role. 'Ranger' has been shown in vari- ous photos in past, but always in costume and masked, and, since sta- tion doesn't permit-audiences during broadcast. Post article will be first ever to show undraped mugg of 'Ranger.' Story was promoted by Felix Holt, publicity chief at WXYZ here. NAB. Rates Hannagan A Time-Chiseler Wright, McGarrett Out In Second Staff Shift On American Tobacco Washington, Sept. 25. Finger Is pointed at Steve Hanna- gan, til* press agent. Latest warn- ing to members from the National Association of Broadcasters says Hannagan is seeking gratis use of; radio, -He -want«-the-broadcastecs_to_!. plug—without compensation — paint,: rugs, and Insulating material. | Curse *Iso was put on the Angelus , niarshnieUows, White Cross (anti- tobacco) campaign. Parents Maga- rin« and Mademoiselle mag. For the second time within a year the executive setup on the Ameri- can Tobacco Co. account at Lord & Thomas—lias—undergone—a—ehange,- Jaines Wright is no longer No. 1 man on the account, He has been replaced by Emerson Foote, who had been his assistant in charge of pub- lication advertising. Also affected by the shakeup was George McGar- rett, who joined L & T nearly two years ago as radio contact between the agency and American Tobacco. McGarretl's succe.ssor may be a for- mer colleague of his at Young & Rubicain. Neither Wright nor McGarrett has plans for the immediate future. Wright came from B.B.D. 8c O., while Foot was formerly a J. Ster- ling Gctchell man. COAST WEB FOR VICK nNALLY GUARANTEED BESDINE XONSPIRACY' OUT, LIBEL STICKS Supreme court justice Ernest L. Hammer in N. Y. Monday (25), dis- missed the first cause Of action of Donald Besdine's which sought $500,- 000 against the Metropolitan Life In- surance Co.. Edwin C. Hill, LeRoy A. Lincoln, Wodaam Corp., and the Bamberger Broadcasting Service, Inc. The first cause Of action which claimed conspiracy to deface, was . found to have no equity in court, ! but the second cause, also for $500.- I 000, remains to be tried. This dcol.-i . with libel. Tlie plaintiff claimed the state- ments made regarding him took place April 1, 1938, over WNEW and WOR. Vick Chemical has finally found a home for its 'Beyond a Reasonable Doubt' series on the westcoast. It's the Pacific NBC blue plus the Mc- Clatcliy group, three times a week, startinij Oct. 4. Ca.-;e is unusual in that the ngency on the account. Morse International, issued three different regional net- work conlracLs before the program got started. First it was a group of NBC-afTiliated stations on the Coast and then the business went to some CBS stations. In either instance the network began to pre-empt time for national commercial hookups and the Vick's series found itself being shunted fiom one spot on the sched- ule to another. The blue schedule bought by Vick i.-! guaranteed against removability. mm HIATUS Major Networks View 'Cur- tain Raiser' Campaign by N.A.B. as Stressing a Sea- sonal Factor They Have Spent Much to Offset SALES VEXED Networks express themselves as both pu7.zled and irritated by the promotional stunt of the National Association of Broadcasters which, in lifting a leaf from the motion pic- ture industry, is sell the listening public on a bigger and better radio 'season.' The drive, cooked up and steered by NAB, is described as 'The Curtain Raiser Campaign.' As the networks view it the NAB promotioneers are by thair present efforts undoing .something that NBC and Columbia have spent hundreds of thousands oC dollars to do and have succeeded to some extent in accomplishing, and that is selling ad- vertisers out of the idea that there is any particular listening 'season.' In their own campaigns the networks have sought to prevail upon adver- tisers to continue on a year-around basis, arguing that the summer sea- son from the listening percentage an- gle does not differ from any other segment of the year and that the value of broadcasting as a sales-me- dium cannot be measured by any period on the calendar. The webs state that they have al- ways discouraged any tendency with- in their own organizations to talk about season openings, and they feel that the NAB promotion thinkers by Jodicectly desig nating two diff erent seasons in radio are, at the least, not" going to make it any easier for the selling end of the industry. Stuart Dawson's Revised Duties as Brown Leaves , Chicago, Sept. 26. Stuart Dawson becomes acting pro- gram manager for Columbia-WBBM here following the departure of Bobby Brown to the west coast to take over supervision of the new Wrigley 'Gateway to Hollywood' show. Dawson has been on the Columbia- WBBiyi production for several years and is handling several shows. How- ever, due to the pressure of his new activities, will allocate several of his programs to other members of the production stafif. Legal Steps Taken to Set Up Ni£. Music Publishing Firm; Behind-Scenes Stuff Reported WMCA Pickets End Picketing of WMCA. New York, has stopped. It had gone on without interruption since Dec. 19, 1938, when the station pulled the Father Coughlin broadcasts off the air. No pickets were on hand past Sunday (24) afternoon and, according to Michael Flannagan, who's been leading the paraders past several Sundays, it will probably be per- manent. It was stopped without explanation: When picketing ylariod there were as many as 2.50!) in line at one time, with never any fewer than 125. However, for the past several weeks it's been confined to four paraders.. This was after N. Y.'s Mayor LaGuardia's emer- gency plan was issued following outbreak of war in Europe. •Among other things he forbade large scale political picketing. Radio Men on Congress Floor Enjoyed Jump Over Newspaper Tribe Washington, Sept. 28. Special session of Congress was a field day for radio. All webs bulged their neck muscles trying to get an exclusive and each did utmost to show up the other fellow. With extremely strict regulations in effect, th e microphone legmen were somewhat ITaTiarcappEd but- still enjoyed an advantage over their competitors in the press gallery. They had access to the floor of the House of Representatives and could nail legislators for opinions' before the scribblers were able to break through the police lines. For first time in history, NBC scheduled daily summary of legisla- tive activities direct from the Capi- tol. With Earl Godwin, byliner for the Washington Times-Herald and president of the White House Cor- respondents Association, doing the gabbing. He's on the web at 6:15 (E.S.T.) each evening-^if the legis- lators are at work. Setting aside of a regular period for news of what Congress does during the day is a major innovation reflecting the widespread public interest in keep- ing the U.S. out of war. Sidney Kaye, special copyright counsel for the National Associati9n of Broadcasters, expects to have th« registration statement, prospectuses, etc., of the NAB publishing venture; Broadcast Music, Inc., on file with the Securities Exchange Commis- sion by the end of next week. It will take 20 days before the SEC's ap- proval becomes effective and the« the project's operators will start asking the NAB members to con- tribute their assessed shares to tite initial fund of $500,000. After the money comes in Broad- cast Music will employ a treasurer and general manager and set up its staff of song pickers, arrangers, pub- licity men, etc. Officials. • of th« American Society of Composers, Au- thoris and Publishers are meanwhile maintaining an attitude of passivity. Several broadcasters have already extended feelers to ASC.\P through a third party about meeting with some one from ASCAP who could talk contract terms. Knowing wtiat these terms are the- inquiring sta- tion operators figure that they could then decide whether to get out from under the NAB assessment in con- nection with Broadcast Music. Tha third party in these feelers Is an of- ficer in an organization which does several million of dollars in business a year with broadcasters and has a major interest in the settlement ot the performing rights issue. ASCAP's committee on radio will most likely be named when the So- ciety's board of directors holds its regular monthly meeting tomorrovr (Thursday). ludience Contact Committee Set To Run Code NBC Disinclined to Sanction Wax Repeats of Blackett Shows on KXOK Paul Ross Moves Paul Ross, who was with the Co- lumbia Artists Bureau for over oigiit years, lias joined the Jack Curtis- Leo Morrison booking office. ^ Ross will head that firm's rndio tioparlment. Herzog Upped at WTMJ Milwaukee. Sept. 26. WTM.f confirmed Saturday (23) the appointnioill of L-.-W. Herzog as mananor oi' the station. Don Albert, former station manager, had as.sumed an executive position on the Mil- w.mkce .lournal. station owner. KirMil hii.-i been close to WTMJ for years as Public Service Manager of the Journal. He-has. directed much of the coinpany's experimental radio work, ?is an assistant to Walter J. Diirnin. neneral iiiana.gcr ot all Jnuiiiul radio activities. After signaturing contract with I Hummert last Friday f22) was confi- KXOK, St. Louis, for the time. | dent that the situation would be Blackett-Sample-Hummert last week' straightened out and that KXOK found that it could not go through | will be in a position to clear the with the plan of having that station i serials on a day-and-date basis by repeat in the evening by the tran-1 the time its contract takes effect scription route the eight quarter- Oct. 2. The schedule is for two hour serials which American Home | hours an evening five days a week. Products Corp. and Sterling Prod- ■ Setup is the same that prevails on ucts broadcast over NBC and CBS WMCA. N. Y., with the programs during the day. NBC tossed in the consisting ot 'Stella Dallas.' 'John's monkeywrench when it advised the Other Wife,' 'Just Plain Bill.' Lo- agency that FCC rules banned the; i-enzo Jones, 'Romance ot Helen taking off the air of such programs, Tiont,' 'Our Gal Sunday,' 'Young without permission oC the original- Widder Brown' and 'Backstage Wife.' ing station and that 1*116 network. Weed & Co. agented the deal for anyway didn't fancy tlie idea of j KXOK Washington, Sept. 28. F.leven-man committee was named. Friday (22) to interpret and apply the new NAB program code. In- cludes five of the ccauthors and- • representative of every category of members. In naming the group, which la tagged 'Committee of Audience Re- lations,' Neville Miller reminded the industry of the need to keep in mind the fact that 'radio reached people of different creed.s, races, educational and age levels simultaneously.' Enforcement squad is headed by Kdgar L. Bill, WMBD, Peoria, one of the stron.?est advocates of such self- regulation methods, and compri.ses Martin Campbell. V/FA.\. Dallas; Edward Cargill, WMAZ, Macon; Ed- Craney, KGIR, Butte: Waltsr J. Damm, WTMJ: Milwaukee; Earl J. Glade, KSL. Salt Lake City; Edward Klauber, CBS: Lenox R. Lohr. NBC; Don Scarl, KOIL, Omaha; Calvin J. Smith. KFAC, Los Angeles; and- Theodore Striebert, MBS. Four individuals who had a hand in writing the creed were not named on the committeii. Karl C. Wyler, KTSM, El Paso: Samuel R. Rosen- baum, WFIL. Philadelphia: Paul W. Morency, WTIC. Hartford; and Herb Hollister, KANS, Wichita. Member- ship on the board of directors ruled- out Morency and Hollistcr. who will be required to pass on petitions for review of the interpreters' rulings. these records being played on iion-; WMCA's nightly series tor Amer-: affiliated oullol.s. 1 ican Home and Sterling Products is! , r'ii,«,«-'» Isl^,^ P«.» The agency in return pointed out, the same that NBC's and CBS' New *-en Cramer S nevr rosi the handicap that the red network ; York key stations clear earlier in J Wire Broadcasting Corp. of Arncr- porlion of these daytime shows face | the day. In this case the agency ob-! ic.i has signatured Lcn Cramer, for- in St. Louis because o( KSD's part-, tains the transcribed versions direct |mcrly an exec ot Dumont Television, time status. It also suggested that from the networks. Unlike CBS,., as sales manager with headquarters it NBC weren't to co-operate on the, NBC has no mana.ged and owned | in New York. KXOK matter it might cancel the station in St. Louis where the serial"] Company currently is concentrat- two accounts' daytime serials al-: could be recorded direct from the j ing its new biz drive largely in New together on KSD. Blackctl-Samplc-1 line. j Jersey, Philadelphia and N. Y. !■■■ i