Variety (Aug 1940)

n RADIO If^eduesday, August 7» 1940 i> Siimer 1^ er ;-j^W^shingtpn, Aiigv '6. : iLong siiihm^r lay-oft that usually ha.i causae! a iic|g jam of ■ important opjJlications will hot.be ■allo\yed thiS: yiitir trj.'' delaiy, action.. on', any thing that,is iiilcpntested. Adrninlstrative. orcieV ameiided by the ; F.C;G. , last .vrtfaic- 'dtfletjates to 'a:bpard consist- ingof ill members of; tbe coirimis - sioii pvesent and. able, to . act' the ra:s[^» Muihitity for disposing of eyei'y-. thing that needs; approval, of a ' ma: ^j.-irity'of a: quorum. ' V Wiii le enabling, two : out, 6f three mi;rnl)'ets t'j traihsaGt .major jDusiness, the ■^ttKinded order •proyided that a inuiority ' cannot wind ' up ; arty. 'in vesfigafcions instituted upon.the com- nvi'-wioiv'/ DvTh motion'—meaning in th.is instance -the chain-mbnopply p'lphe-HM- any fuss between rival applic.inb. . Also any : proposed, .dfe- cision t> which exceptions have been ta Ice 11 h I usl go p ver. until four. merh-. . beH are on' the jpbv : • ■ • ./ ■ . [n . pi'eseht circumstances,: only thi:ee ; eeguliatprs—Jhe .; ultra-New .Dealish cresv—is ayailablei Goriimis- sioners Norman S. Case and. T;A.M. Ciaven,: generaily regarded as. thP break on ultra-eiithusiasm, are away,: a* ..wiill as : .C6nimissiPner , G Henry Payiie, whp lately, has been aligned with the administration fac-: iion. And Commissioner .Thad H. Brown cannot vote until the-Seln'ate,. stiU .waiting for a report froni;.its. Interstate Comrtierce Committee, has con.tiimed his nomination. T^^ stop-gap arrangement will help put a lot of. operators who have encountered no. opposition Pn theit pleas for more power, better fre-> quencies, additional time/ chince. to unload ,to new owners, or diflevent ■Jocjitions. Usually no decisions, in nialters of this kind: are rendered ivoixi, Independence^ .Day to Labor Day, and only a corporal's .guard is ion hand, to take care q£ the most liiinor .type of routine business^ Have a Title Philadelphia, Aug. 6. : "Thj;: w.k; oiie-:armed paperri ;hijn,i*ec was a burTi-in-the-park ■ compared to WDAS's Pat Stah- tiin- .Harold Davis,, aiid "Jei;ry : .Stone!.; '^'v.. / ::■•■' ■• ■. Here ire. some:"of theii" titles and johs .around, the sludip: , •. Stanton -— vice-pre.^idetTit,, gen- eral rtiVhager.bantone.'filnvcritiCi book reviewer, .wf'estlihg an- nouncer, director of 'Merry^Gp-* RoUiid' prog.iain, Irish program chief.-' ■ ■■■ V :' ■ .■-■v -^'. '' ■ . Dayis-^Pro.^iam director/ pro-^ . dlJCtic)Ii .nia^lagel^ -aale^^^^^^ .sports ; aii.hoiuicer, . music -prp- .graiTLs, night cliib.. cpinirieritatpf., , Stiirie-rPublicity' direc.toiv, sislant prpductipti manager, sales .proinotipn.director.'stafT announ-- ceK director or special eyierits, public relation.s bois,.leg it.theatre reviewer, head-of news bureau, recoi d and tran.scriptipn purchas- ing ligeht. • ... ■ ' IS Uses Acts Of {Stations \ / Chicago, Aug. 6.. . V/LS Bai'n; Dance \^h6ws go ^ into three state .fairs this, summer,;, play- in.g Illinois,- Indiana and Wisconsin as grandstand attractions. Illinois fair will use acts, from five, other radio, stations .in .this territory: WBBIVl and .WJJD, Chicago; KMOX, St. Louis, WDAISr, Danville (111.) and WMBD. Peoria. It will be the third year for the WLS show at Milwaukee and the ninth year at Indianapolis. i.' ' ' Musical Director Excliisiva Direction COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM PUMPHREY DEPARTS TevJ* Hulih Now Radio birilctdr of Warwick Se Legler Preston H.. Pumphrey, radio di- rector of Warwick & Legler, has re- signed and has been replaced by Teyis Huhn, formerly his assistant. Pumphrey is not known to have any plans. ■ ■ Agency . is readying . .'Metropolitan Auditions of the -Air' to retlirn in the fall for: Sherwin-Williams aiid is also looking for a show to; replace •Youth vs. "Age' for Sloane's Lini- ment. Washington, Aug. 8. ; Charges that-radio: i.s abput.'.to be misused to : circurhvient'' the Hatch 'clean pplitics' act were rnade Tues- day (30) by Senator Guy M. Gillette, Iowa Democrat, who is chairman of the Seriate Campaign . Expenditures Committee. Claiming that a scheme was being, hatched through which the law might be 'evaded' by asking, political spielers to appear as guest speakers, on commercially-sponsocfid programs, the iPwan .warned that action tnight be taken to circurnyent any such sub-rosa activity. .: No formal complaints have, been received, Gillette admitted, and. it. is probable that no formal crack-down will be iriad-e /Until the matter is brought to the committee's attention.' : However, it is felt that any whole- sale use.pf the rriicrophPne by prp^ fessional politicos wOuld violate the spirit of the Hatch Act, which bans individual party contributions in excess of $5,000 .and political cam-, paign contributions of more than $3,OO6,0i)O by any political party. Cuddling up with commercial pro- grams-7-under the guis,e of 'guest- speakers'—would represent, a flout- ing of the Corrupt .Practices Act against contributiotiiby corporations to campaign funds, the senator indi- cated. ': Gillette further stated that he felt that his committee had authority, to 'delineate' betweeh -.proper or ; ini- proper political . practices, even though they might be considered to be within the law. No Appreciation Such It' Washington Interpire Geprge B; Porter'* Quitting of FCC—Ring Consents to Stay Segregate V P's V San Francisco, Aug. 9. Special get-togiether • for all NBC-ites attending convention was staged at Mardikian't Omar Khayyam restaurant Sun-, day night. Every seat in tha place was occupied by NBC, with arrangements that no: twO' V-p.'i. could sit together. Affair was get-acquainted ideaj with exec : chevrons forgotten for evehing. Meat consisted of exotic dishes which only Chef Mardi- kian; can think up; Boiled . mli crophones among them. N.A.B. Gridiron SPARTANBURG, S. C, STAFF REAUGNMENT Spartahburg, S. C, Aug. 6. Re-staffing of WSPA, recently purchased from .Virgil V. Evans by. Spartanburg Advertising Corp.. has been . completed, Manager Walter Brown announces. ■ Personnel: fol- lows: "Thad E. Horton, commercial man- ager, formerly with WIS, Columbia, S. C, WTAR, Norfolk, WGH, Nor- folk. WGBR,, Goldsboro, N. C.i and WCOS, Columbia. Jack Walters, program director, formerly with WKZO, Kalamazoo. Mich., WBKA,. Muskegon, WOOD. Grand Rapids and WSAV, Sa- vannah. •.' Hal Moore, music director, with WSPA for several years. . 'Sterling . Wright, hews commenta- tor, formerly with WOL, Washing- ton, and WCOS, Columbia. Cliff Gray, announcer, formerly with WEEU, Reading, WCAU and WIP, PhUadelphia. James ■ Waldrop, annpUncer, for- merly with WAIM, Anderson, S. C. . Ed Martin, commercial, formerly with WFBC, Greenville. S. G, Jane Dalton, wom^'^'s c'Jhiinehtii-; tor,: retainisd :froni former WSPA ! staff. ,. . . 1 Ralph Bennett, chief engineer, for- merly with' WfmD, Frederick, Md., I WDAY, Fargo; George Tait. assistant chief ■ ehgine'sr, formerly with WDOD, Knoxviile, WSPA; Biil iHar- rnph, retained frPrh, former WSPA staff; Alvih Lanford and, Cat'ey isley, retained. ■ ' . AlspJreJairiedlf com-iormejLwSPA ;. San Francisco, Aug. 8. - Gridiron type of kidding fevue called 'Cireeher Pastures' will close N. A. B. convention tomorrow XWed.) n ight, first time this, sprt of thing has bieen. included- iri ah N. A; B. convention program. Sponsored by the Dodo club, organized by Lambden Kay of WSB, Atlanta, skits authored by Kenneth Jones and Ed Kirby, will rib ASCAP, AFRA. FCC, children's programs. Women's clubs -and everybody and .everything- else adding to broadcast- ers' headaches. , Burlesquing - ,'Green Pastures,' thing will be done on two stages, upper one representing office of De Lawd & Gabe, who will decide to 'Let there be; .radip,' whereupPn montage pf confusion via transcrip- tion breaks forth. Life' of a broad- caster, with Will Aubrey of NBC doing the fall guy, will* then un- fold. FC;C members will ..be repre- sented by the Seven Dwarfs singing 'Hi Ho, we" run the radio,' tlpott of' type of thing to be: expected! Boys have:even found way to work in. a strip tease aiid various chorus girls from: Aquacade. Odd sidelight is that characters ribbing, AFRA will be played by AFRA members who are getting bang out of Whole thing. • f: Washington, Aug. 6- Roundabout, pit-otest against re- fiusal to advance staff workers was registered this week ' when Geprga B. Portet^; one of the mainstays pt the legal force, submitted his resig- nation to the Federal Communica- tions Gominissibn.v Porter will g(> off the payroll \upoh termination ot his accumulated leave, : about a month after the .Commish accepts his rcsijgnation. . : . : ; The i withdrawal; e m. p h a .s i zad mounting resentment \agaih.st FCC practice 'of bringing ia outsiders '10^^^ top jobs. Although he. has been' with the regulators since 1931 and. has had a hand in almost eyery vital case;- the bosses passed, him over in filling the last two vacancies. Ef- forts were made by friendly com- missioners to have the lowan move up after HampsPn Gary was booted and William J. Dempsey quit, but in esfch instance the prders from on high were that somebody eliie Was to be .installed. ; . Impending collapse of morale is. iiidicated by. Porter's dbpartu lawyer leaves right after Andrew W. Ring, assistant chief engineer, let it be khown he was tailked out of. quit- ting.by Gha:Trmah-James L. Fly, who reportedly said it Would be humilir -. ating if too many subordinatPs left in quick succession. • ... Joins Haley • After joining the Federal Radio Commission as attorrtey in Fehruairy, 1931, Porter has been .the principal hearing attorney since I^pvernber,, 1931. He was designated assistant ;general . counsel in charge of broad- ca.stihg matters whetn the present FCG was created. In the latter ca- pacity, he handled .some of the out- standing issues, including the KNX, Los. Atigeles; license renewal fuss; the super-power matter; the Texaai, cases; and the changes in broaiica.';!; policy. He also performed important, seryicie with the chain-monopoly! In- quiry, where his long experienca bridged the gap between the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. Porter Will joitji Andrew G. Haley, another snubbed FCC iDarrister in private pra.ctice. / Haley walked out about /18 months ago after being shifted arpund from one division, to another and no appreciation alleged^ ly wSis shown for willingness to take on much of the wearisome pick and shovel jobs. Lovell Mickles Bei&inish Winnipeg, Aug. 6. Lovell Mickle.s; of. Joseph Hershey McGiUvra, Montreal station sales rep office, just back from a swing through the west on an Inspection tour, reports that despite.war condi- tions, or passibly because of them, that business condition's: throughput the country show decided upturn for coming season. ^Reports stations all are antici- pating better business this fall with many accounts already booking time for fall schedules. WCCO's Ndle Queen Minneapolis, Aug; - . What star ted, as a gag and ended as ■ gag—paid "off to the tiiha of beaucPup publicity for WCCO. - Kay LaVelle. 280-lb. mistress of Ceremonies of WCCO's 6-7 a.m. Sun- risers program, was entered in the Minneapolis Queen of the Lakes . crown bathing contest for beauts. She was plassifled as finalist at large and, as such, appeared at all eventii arid rode in a special cat In the three parades. Climax came during coronation of the queen. Chairman Neil Messick (who's also mianager of Hotel Nicol- let) presented WCCO super-gal with a teacup-sized silver trophy en- graved: Kay LaVelle, Queen of the Puddles. lively S howmanship WINS LARGER AUDIENCES in the INTERMOUNTAIN MARKET staff, Mrs. E. F. Kay, cpmmeccial; Fannie Newman, cashier, and Hor- tense Bishop, hostess. "•■ Station has applied for night broadcastihg and is negotiating for network connection. New station will be built. A. B, Taylor, Spar- tanburg capitalist, is prexy of com- pany. Brown came here front Wash- ington newspaper connectioa. I 7/?^POPULAR Station Salt Lak^ City BC RED NETWORK