Variety (Sep 1939)

so VARIETY RADIO Wedneddaj, September 27, 1939 Foster, Father Burke Move WEW, St. L, Out of Attic Into Profits St. Louis, Sept. 2G. How One Man Broke Into a Hard Market" might well be the title of the efforts of Al S. Foster, general man- ager of WEW, in establishing this sta- tion in the commercial field in less than two years. When Foster and Father Wallace Burke, S.J., came from WWL in September, 1938, tliey found that WEW, owned and oper- ated by the St. Louis U., had been supported only by private contribu- tions for 16 years. It was the first station to go on the air in this burg, but had never obtained a dollar's worth of business. The equipment was somewhat run down and the broadcasting booths were located in the attic in the uni- versity, and entrance to them was gained only via five flights of stairs. Foster began building his organiza- tion as he sought sponsors for the station. He solicited national ac- counts. The local field was pretty tight. WEW operated on a dawn-to- dusk sked. Foster and Father Burke immediately began changing things j around the university station. New olfices, broadcasting studios ^nd modern equipment were pui'chased and arranged and approximately $00,000 was spent in bringing the sta- tion, etc., up to date. Live talent programs, for the most part, supplanted records, but the best of the. latter were retained. Foster brought to St. Louis the 'Lone Star Ranger.' This feature was commer- cialized and was one of the opening wedges Foster drove into the local field for commercial accounts. Other foUowings were established by weekly programs arranged for school children, players on the city's municipal sports field, etc. Foster has, also inaugurated special pro- grams for the Catholic, Italian, Ger- man, Hungarian and Negro citizens of the burg, and WEW is the only station here that carrieis so many for- eign-language programs. This resulted in Foster getting his share of biz, even though there Is SCHOOL CALLS NBC to Educate 10 More In Selling Talent George Engels is to pick 10 young men from, those already employed at NBC for the purpose of schooling them to become the future personnel of the NBC concert booking, activi- ties. It has lately been evident that the job of getting 'the right type' was growing constantly more diffi- cult as the dwindling of the road and the changin.i; conditions of today united to prevent the necessary ex- perience. Once selected, the students will be given a realistic education. One part of the apprenticeship will be class- room lectures with various outsiders invited to tell the young men some- thing of show business, art and re- lated matters. plenty of stiff competish from KWK, WIL, KMOX. KSD and KXOK, the latter being the last to enter the local field. Since Foster and Father Burke have been master-minding WEW, the station has paid oft many o£ its obli- gations, has some coin put away for furtlier expansion and is making as much progress as any other station in town. PATTERSON REEASED BY WHEELING STEEL Ardenne White, tenor last year on Wheeling Steel's 'Musical Steel- makers' program on WOR-Mutual, assumes an assistant producer post on the program as well as singing when It returns to the air Oct. 8 over 45 Mutual outlets. 'White was a clerk in the audit dept. of the spon- sor, giving up that job to devote full time to the radio show. He replaces. Walter Patterson who returns to station work. Patterson originally was. with WWVA, Wheel- ing, from which point the Steelmak- ers emanate. • WKY's 4lh NBC Feed Oklahoma City, Sept. 20. Last Saturday (23) WKY ori.iji- nnted another program for NBC with the presentation of 'Southwest- ern Serenade,' featuring Marty Hall, vocalist; Two Keyboards and. A Con- sole, and Ken Wrigbt at "the organ. Polly Taylor and Josephine Alves were at the pianos with Wright. This is the fourth musical program originated at WKY for NBC this year. Others were 'Southwestern Stars,' 'Summertime Swing' and 'Cameos of Melody.' GRAND IN WAHS V4^ goes if- f- f0 Denrer Now Has Fonr FuD-Time Affilates As KVOD-KFEL Separate Denver, Sept. 26 Receiving notification from t'ha FCC that reports on the broadcast- ing ability of the new KVOD trans- mitter were okay, both KVOD and KFEL went on the air full time less than two hours later. Both stations, which have been dividing time.^hava had their power boosted from 500 to 1,000 watts. KFEL will retain the 920 wavelength which both have been sharing, with KVOD goinc on the 630 band. This gives all four national net- works a full-time Denver outlet, KFEL is affiliated with Mutual- KVOD with the Blue NBC: KLZ with Columbia, while KOA. owned by General Electric, is leased and programmed by the NBC Red. KFEL and KVOD will both have five newscasts dally, KLZ four and KOA two. KFEL uses Transradio- KVOD, United Press; KLZ, Inter- national News; with the Post furnish- ing the news for KOA. PETER VAN STEEDEN GETS SPOTUGHT Fred Allen's forthcoming series for Bristol-Myers on the NBC-red will not only have guest names and Wynn Murray as. the regular vocal- ist but will seek to bliild Peter Van Steeden, maestro, into a major com- edy asset. Van Steeden will stay oft the show but on salary for the first three weeks, during which there will be that many different conduc- tors. Allen, according to the scripts, will have so much trouble with them that he will be glad to have the gadfly Van Steeden back on the pro- gram. Van Steeden will meanwhile play around on hotel or one-nighter stands, with a sustaining pickup as- sured him by NBC. Young it Rubi- cam, agency , on the account, staged a lunch for radio eds, etc., Monday (25), to break the news about the revision of the Allen show. Ed East Spreading Ed East, who currently emcees •Name It and Take If on NBC Blue, starts a new program Monday—(Oel. 2) on WJZ, New York. He'll air from 7-7.55 p.m. flUing almost an entire hour with news and weather reports, songs, records, etc. Program ii scheduled for six days per week, Monday through Saturday. It's sus- taining as is 'Name It.' East's quiz show drops off tht« Friday (29) for one week, returning Oct. 6 with same format and time but on a full NBC-Blue net whereas it previously aired only in N. Y. WIP Man to Ecuador Philadelphia, Sept. 26. Frank Dougherty, head of the WIP supply department, will leave for Guay quill, Ecuador, ^n^ Oct. 6 to join tlje staff of the Ministry of In- ' dustry there. No successor at the radio station has yet been chosen. StatixjyiAu an. 3)etnmt (• In Lislenir Inltrett, 2. Adve/tisini; Preftrinee, 3i In Community Servlet. Amtrica'i Pioneer Station