Variety (Dec 1941)

so RADIO ITednesdaj, December 3, 1941 Blackett-Sample-Hummert in N. Y. tests^ with Stanton-Lazarsfeld Tape for American Home Products A series of audience reaction tests on actual sponsored programs are be- ing conducted by Blackett-Samplc Huminert agency in New York in 'Which the Stanton - I,azarsfeld mechanism is being employed. This is the running tape device whereby listeners assembled in a room are enabled by pushing a 'like' and 'dis- like' button to produce a listener re action record correlated with the ac tual vuifoldment of the program. The Idea is to trace the troubles of a given entertainment down to the of- fending portion. (A special scries reporting the Raymond Spector agency's experi- ences with this same Stanton-Iiazars- feld mechanism ran in the four July Issues of 'Variety.') The present experiments»with listeners panels is unusual ' for Blackett-Sample-Hummert and Is confined for the present entirely to programs of American Home I^od- ucts. Hold Broadway Cartain 20 Minntes for Radio Date of Alan Reed GEORGE MONAHAN, DETECTIVE. AT NBC George Monahan, former police- man and private detective, has been hired by NBC in a confidential capacity, with the title of 'custodian.' Believed bis duties will be in con- necUon with the recent bomb scare at the network's New York 'studios. Company has since then , taken elab- orate precautions to prevent possible •sabotage. Sick Harrin to Hollywood Richard Marvin; Esty agency ra- dio head, went to the Coast last week to launch the four-week Shir- ley Temple series for Elgin watch. Due back next week. Curtain for the Wednesday night performance of 'Hope For a Har-' vest,' at the Guild theatre, N. Y., was held 20 minutes to permit Alan Reed, one of the leads in the show, to double on the Fred Allen pro- gram. Reed for several seasons has been a character comic on the radio series. As he Isn't in the first act of 'Harvest' he can make his second- act entrance with the 20-minute de- lay. During the tryout tour of 'Har- vest,' Reed was replaced on the AUen show by Ward Wilson. Ed Latimer subbed for him on the 'Duily's Tavern' program during the same period. Latter show airs at 8:30-8:55 Thursday nights, so Reed can make his 'I^arvest' appearance without delaying the curtain that night Both the AUen show and 'Tavern' have repeats at midnight, so there's no difficulty there. OLIN DOWNES' SON AT CBS other FM Employea Inolnde Jeff Sparks, Eocene Stinson - Columbia last week added three more employees In Its FM division. Edward O. Downes, musical writer and son of Olln Downes, N. Y. Times music critic, joined the FM staff as a production assistant Jeff Sparks, free-lance announcer who worked mostly at WOR, New York, Is added to the FM spieler staff. And Eugene Stinson, who re- cently moved from Chicago to do agency scripting, joined the writing lineup. JEANSABLON 'Sablon'a repertoire is surefire— the staid Persian Room resounded time and again with Insistent re- questa for encores'—Abel^ Variety. GuMt appearance Wednesday night (Dec. 8) on Eddie Cantor's Sal Hepatlca-Ipana program on WEAK, 9 P.M. Exclutive Dacoa ReeordinBi Direction: WILLIAM MORRIS A6EN&Y ZOOG OF WFPG HEADS NJ. RADIO ASSN. Trenton, Dec. 2. Officials of a majority of the ra- dio stations in the state of New Jer- sey met last week (28) in Hotel Hil- debrecht and fomjed the New Jer- sey Broadcasters Association for the purpose of establishing state-wide broadcasting policies on defense, governmental, charitable and other programs In the public Interest. A. Harry' Zoog, president of WFPG, Atlantic City, was elected president; Edward Codel, manager of WPAT, Pate rson , and O. L. Maxey, manager of WFNJ, Bridgeton, were elected vice-presidents, and Walter Patrick Kelly of WAAT, Jersey City, secretary-treasurer. Bob Hawk-Vaughn Monroe to Camels; 'Penthouse Party' (Oka Chase) Folds; Phil Baker Likely for Biow Job Gilbert Ralston Winters West for Compton Check On Jim Saphier's Hazard' Gilbert Ralston, network program manager for the Compton agency, goes to the Coast in about two weeks to supervise production of 'Hap Hazard,' the agency's new show for Procter k Gamble. He will take his wife and family with him and remain about three months. While there, he will also supervise 'The Bartons,' another of the agency's P. tt G. stanzas. Harlan Ware, who scripts the latter series, now lives on the Coast. 'Hap Hazard' will start Jan. 20, on the full CBS network, after a' three-week tuneup on a small Coast hookup. It win then have a broad- cast to the east and a repeat for the Coast James Saphler, package- producer Of the show, is retaining Ransom Sherman in the lead, but has to line up writers, directors and the rest of the talent. Program will plug Ivory soap and Ivory flakes, each getting a commercial on every broadcast. John McMillin, Compton radio head, who returned east last week after signing for the program, and William Ramsey, P. & G. radio director, will go to the Coast late this month to latmch the series. During Ralston's stay on the Coast, his supervisory duties on 'Truth or Consequences,' 'Right to Happiness' and 'Life Can Be Beauti- ful' will be handled by other mem- bers of the Gompton staff, but actual assignments haven't been set. Edward Marrow, booked for lec- ture at Bushnell Memorial, Hartford, on Jan. 7. CBS local affiliate, WDRC, is 'sponsoring.' Program lineup for Gomel cigarets has been reshuffled by the Esty agency for the R. J. Reynolds to- bacco. Series of changes effectlv« the week of Jan. 4 add a new pro* gram, 'How Am I Doing?', with Bob Hawk'and Vaughn Monroe's orches- tra, and drop the 'Penthouse Party,' with nka Chase. Other shows change times. As a result of the moves. Hawk bows off his present 'Take It ot Leave It*, series for Eversharp with the Dec. 21 broadcast. Although no contract had been signed iipi to late yesterday (Tuesday), Phil Baker was 'virtually set to replace him for the pencil account. Biow Is the agency on the latter. Walter O'Keefct and Ken Murray also were being considered for the replacement spo^ but these deals are apparently cold, , 'How Am I Dding?' will take over the Al Pearce spot Friday nights. Latter show will replace the Xavler Cugat. show Thut;sday nights, with Cugat moving into the 'PenthoUE« Part' time Wednesday nights, 'Blondie' has been renewed and re- mains at the same Monday niche. Thus, the Camel show lineup is now as follows: •Blondle,' Monday nights, 7:30 (with a 10:30 repeat) on CBS. Cogat, Wednesday nights, 9:30 on NBC-Blue (WJZ). Pearce, Thursday nights, 7:^0 (with a 10 o'clock repeat) on NB(> Red (WEAF). 'Bow Am I DoIng7' Friday nights, 7:30 (with a 10:30 repeat) on CB&, Pearce series had not been rer newed as of yesterday, but is slated to be within a day or two, accord* ing to the Esty agency. Don Ber- nard .wlU be producer on 'How Am I Doing?' which will have a corned^ audience participation format. Bert Parks will be the announcer and Hawk will supply the script mate- rial. An Epidemic of Trade Associations Wonderment -^vhether the National Association of Broadcasters will be able to keep its ranks tight and avoid being stigmatized openly as primarily the mouthpiece of the networks is the liveliest trade subject just now. With regionals and affiliates asked to rally under the new Network Affiliates, Inc., banner and the non-network stations still plan- ning to set up a vigorous National Independent Broadcasters (feeling is spreading that N. A. B.'s always numerous problems are multiplying to a dangerous point). Renovation of the NIB, originally due in No- vember, has been put off until after the holiday season, due partly to difficulty in getting station people together at this particular period but also because of general confusion over the objectives and course of the new Chicago-spawned NAI. Lat- ter crewd is regarded as probably, a stronger threat to the N. A. B. and IRNA than the indies, field marshalled by former commissioner Harold A. La- Fount and former N. A. B. secretary Ed Spence. .The latest entry in the trade association derby, NAI, is more interested in heading oflf superpower than fighting any other issue, according to under- standing in trade quarters. Though anxioiis to ' break down clear channels and for that reason pre- pared to put up stiff'■ resistance to the -Sanders- White regulatory bill, chief rallying point is fear that a few wattage behemoths will result in drastic constriction of national chains and virtual death for regional webs. Roster of officers and leaders of NAI is somewhat bewildering, since former bitter foes seemingly have become pals and the number of factions causes some eyebrow-lifting about what they can find in common. Except for hatred of superpower. ■ As some observers see the picture, the regionals fear that once the present wattage lid is lifted— though there still is ^ considerable doubt the FCC will risk Senate retaliation—a scramble will occur in which many of the present network outlets can- hot escape being burned. Either they will have to try to get 500 kw in self-defense or they will see the big'gest network advertisers concentrating their outlays on fewer transmitters.. In view of the feared contraction of sponsor expenditures—due to national defense, mounting ta)tes.and.,priority.dif-.. Acuities, in particular—regional operators don't relish being forced-into putting up cash for new plants in order to retain their relative position in the industry. Several of the NAI leaders have out- lets in areas where one super-power plant would be a verjr dangerous menace and it is natural for them to organize for a fight against raising the present 50 kw maxirhum. As for the other threat to N. A. B. organization plans are being carried on by the LaFount-Spence group and an 'important' policy statement is due shortly. Within the next fortnight, leaders of NIB plan to make a definite announcement of their ob- jectives and reasons for the venture, particularly countering the idea there is any duplication or con- flict with NAI and reasserting that it is not a closed corporation promoted by a few axe-grinders. So far, LaFount and Spence have emphasized they do not contemplate joining or leading a walkout .from the N. A. B. ranks, though they have made no secret of their feeling the indies have been pushed into a corner and cannot expect the senior trade group to pve proper weight to their problems or ample help in safeguarding their interests. Rightly or wrongly, the spreading anti N. A. B, feeling is traced to FCC Chairman James L. Fly. At any rate, the commish chairman has 'encour- aged' formation of such groups as NAI and NIB and has let it be known how suspiciously he re- gards N. A. B. New Dealer group here quite openly sneers at ^. A. B. "as the mouthpiece of the net- works, with Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold seen as considering the organization as vir- tually synonymous with NBC and CBS in all his conversations. number of station proprietors, should be to fight any censorship trends, punitive taxes, government ownership threats, and unethical business-getting practices. ^ There is a bad taste in the mouths of various blocs of broadcasters over ,the copyright row. Neville Miller has been accused of getting too chummy with Gene Buck and the other AbCAP, figures since -the consent decree in the Justice De- partment's civil suit, and many a station manager's breast still harbors the feeling that the independents were sold down the river to help the chains, despite the change of ASCAP methods which requires the nets to pay royalties on their own account. On this angle, there is no denying that other factions con- sider N. A. B. has served its chief purpose in break- ing the ASCAP clutch and that BMI can go it alonft as a rival source of program raw material. In N. A. B.'s defense, it is contended there is more reason than ever for a strong central trade body. With the Federal Government's mushroom- ing defense agencies clamoring for more and more gratis time, the trend toward rationing of materials in order to advance national defense efforts, th? mounting danger of active entry into war with th« stronger threat of a government take-over or shut- down of commercial stations, pro-N. A. B. people say this is no time for the industry to let factional differences over technical questions split the organi- zation. Miller's current swing to the series of re- gional meetings is seen as a sales campaign alon^ this line, together with a plan to disabuse the mem- bership of suspicious ideas he has climbed in bed with Buck & Co. From about the country have come reports of station managers questioning if the N. A. B, should be permitted to go on claiming to speak for' the entire industry. If the association is to con- tinue, it should keep hands off any issues so con- troversial that the ranks of broadcasters are split several ways—especially such items as the commis- sion's anti-monopoly reforms, clear channel preser- vation ,and superpower—and stick strictly to broad questions involving the integrity of private enter- ,prise.. ^.,A.JB.'s iunctibn, in the min<i of a growing Right at the moment, there is so much smoke that veteran industry figures and watchers—includ- • ing the battalion of Washington barristers who have been wondering which way to jump-^won't be surprised if almost anything transpires. General consensus, anyway, is that N. A. B. leaders ought to start trying to justify their continued existence and realizing the various possibilities of revolt by the time of the summer, conclave, if not earlier. Any such development as a commish move to boost power limitations or breakdown the clear channels on a broad scale will bring the issue to a head soon- er and the Sanders-White bills may hasten a crisis.