Variety (Sep 1939)

Wednesday, Seplember 27, 1939 RADIO VARIETY 81 BRITAIN'S RADIO TACTICS S Well-Laid Plans Now in Op- eration for Duration of War—Normalcy Reflected by Program From Italy LESS NEWS NOW London, Sept. 19. British Broadcasting Corp. has rapidly resumed fairly normal opera- tion as to entertainment. In the flrst fortnight and especially during the tense days just before and just after the declaration of war, when the ex- pectation of an immediate military bombardment of London haunted everyone, there wasn't much on the air save news bulletins and phono- graph records. It was quickly de- cided by ,the government, BBC, and the public that there was too much of both. Sir John Squire and other prominent personages wrote the Times and in other ways spoke up that there was no need for such drastic departures from norm. Whole idea that the radio was something to stay glued to for the latest bit of horror was seen as bad for morale, disruptive to calm and business as usual. (Editor's Note: The overfrequencv o] news bulletins in England was duplicated in the United States, and on this side as over BBC the ulti- mate tendency was to confine news to fairly fixed periods, although not relinqutshinp the special 'flash' where warranted. In both coun- tries, the one at war, the other at peace, emotional exhaustion from too intense radio-listening was noted.) As carefully worked out well •head, the BBC, after war, quickly scattered its manpower, shifted Its •wavelengths and dug in. Apart from the importance of the domestic serv- ice, averaging 19 hours daily, the war footing established a 22-hour day for the shortwave division, which Is broadcasting news (i.e., propaganda) In 10 different languages. Tongues in use, aside from Eng- lish, are: French (for French Can- adians), Afrikaans (for South Af- rica), Arabic (for Near East), Ger- man, Italiali, Spanish (for Spain and South America), Portuguese (for Brazil), Magyar, (for Hungary), and Czech. Last was added at the week- end and was inaugurated by Jan Masaryk, son of the flrst Czech prexy «nd former Czechoslovak envoy in -London.- Bulletins-are-aMotted-flxed dally spots, using two short wave senders and the 261 metres Wave- length, the wave band position used Just off the Presst Business In BALTIMORE Published by the Merchandis- ing Department of Radio Station WBAL in behalf of retailers in the. Baltimore area, and in the Inferest of the manufacturers, representatives, distributors and advertising agencies who serve them. If I/9U haue not received a copy ujritc WBAL or InternatloTul Radio Sales in normal times by the main London stem of the U. K. network. Additionally, relays to the IT. S. webs are originated in BBC's Lon- don studios, which placed these fa- cilities in the hands of American commentators, Fred Bate, Ed Mur- row, John Steele, et al., for the du- ration. Other foreign language bul- letins are planned for pencilling in as necessity requires and where present heavy schedules permit. Watt's Plans In the fleld of light entertainment, variety director John Watt many months ago laid his plans. He signed for the duration of war sundry popu- lar entertainers who undertook to go wherever the BBC might demand to deliver the scripts and programs prepared to ensure up to 40 pro- grams in a week. Rep company includes Wynne Ajello, Betty Hunt- ley-Wright, Vera Lennox, Diana Clare, Tommy Handley, Leonard Henry, John Rorke, Danier Warren, Webster Booth, Sam Costa, Harry Pepper, Doris Arnold. Producers will be Gordon Crier, Vernon Harris, John Watt, Ernest Longstafte, Max Kester, John Burnaby, Mike Meehan and Archie Campbell; many of the latter are expert entertainers in their own right, so allowing enter- tainments to be on the broadest scale. On duty in London are John Shar- man, Douglas Moodie and Leslie Perowne to handle artists and pro- grams there. Sandy MacPherson re- mains at his post at the BBC theatre organ. Features and drama department, safely hidden 'somewhere in Eng- land,' has in readiness scripts of 330 plays and 200 features, together with 27 boxes of music and effects discs. Some 36 established performers com- prise the rep team, and among them are Gladys Young, Thea Holme, Patricia Burke, Barbara Couper, D. A. Clarke-Smith, Philip Wade, Cyril Nash, Patric Curwen, Norman Shel- ley, Carleton Hobbs, Ivan Samson, Ralph Truman, Mary O'Farrell, Audrey Cameron, Joan Carr, An- gela Kirk, Susan Taylor, Catherine Cordell, Valentine Dyall, Laidman Brown, Wallis Evennett, Stafford Hilliard, Charles Mason, (Gordon McLeod, J. B. Brown, Philip Cun- ningham, Cecil Trouncer, Edgar Norfolk, Brian Powley, William Trent, Henry Longhurst, Ewart Scott, Harold Scott, Leslie Perrins, Macdonald Parke, Dave Miller. Pro- ducers accompanying them are Val Gielgud, Moray McLaren, Peter Creswell, Barbara Burnham, Howard Rose, Laurence Gilliam, Stephen Potter, Mary Allen, John Cheatle, Lance Sieveking. Broadcasting House in London is completely fortified, operation hav- ing been sent into underground basements, where studios, control rooms, generators and other services have been standing in preparation for this emergency since the struc- ture was erected. Cable links be- tween studios and transmitters are duplicated throughout, and failure of any one set of antennae would mean an automatic switch to reserve sending plant How rapidly BBC got back to nor- mality is instanced by a relay pro- gram picked up from Turin Friday. Pick-up was planned months back as part of BBC exchange plan with European webs, and it was thought no sufficient reason existed for can- celling. Item was a light orchestral pro- gram on the Italian nation network's schedule, and there was no inter- ruption on the landllne connection. USTENERS h mah COVERAGE! In 20 Markets WLW In 20 Markets \ STATIONS I 129.5% I Ask any retailer what he calls a "Hot Spot" in his store and he'll show you the particular display space that commands ihe allenlion of the most cus- tomers, and, thereby, creates more sales than other selling space on which he may realize only a nor- mal return. He will probably qualify that choice, however, by adding that even the hottest spot in his store will not produce sales unless there are customers on hand to attract, people on whom selling impressions can be made I Just so, in buying radio stations you choose the "Hot Spots"; those that deliver the largest num- ber of proven listeners, since it naturally follows that the more people who hear your program, that many more will be prompted to buy your product. In our recent 20-Market Survey, which, inciden- tally, is one of the most extensive ever undertaken, 159;299"Coincid(SQTal'CallsAvereTm^ Federal Research Corporation, and the Alberta Burke. Research Comjpany, in twenty key cities. The results of that tremendous study may be summed up in one simple, direct statement of fact: An average of of Uiose listening to their radios in the 20 markets studied were tuned to WLW^ while the audience tuned to the next dominant stations averaged only 29.3%. Many of you have already seen the 13-Market and the additional 7-Market Studies that illus- trate, in detail, this remarkable dominance—and have made that dominance your own. For those of you who have not, we invite you to write, or telephone Transamerican Broadcasting & Tele- vision Corporation, or WLW...THE NATION'S ^">^/e*c^««^^'' STATION WBAL