Variety (June 1942)

\redBCsd«7i 3nne 24, 1942 RADIO ST C.O.I. Now OWTs Foreign Divisioii Richard Dana, Jerry Rots, Sidney Sloan, Harold McGee, Josef Mariiis Richard Dana, formerly a collabo- rator on the 'Mardi of Time* script, has joined the' radio branch of the Foreign Division (formerly the Co- ordinator of Information) of the Office of War Information. He's a writer in the features division. Jerry Ross, former serial scrlpter, has joined ibe saine organization in a similar capacity. Sidney SlOan, radio actor-writer, has joined the foreign language sec- tion of the same outfit, while Harold McGee,- radio' director, is supervising foreign language programs and Josef Marais, who does the 'African Trek* series on the Blue network, handles South African shows. Walli Marriea, Joins Army ' Cincinnati, Jime 23. Secret of his marriage two days earlier leaked out Wednesday (17) Just l)tfore Gordon Waltz, on WLW's production staff since 1936, was to Eup^tris^ bis final broadcast of the •jEveryboiiy's Farm' program. "The organist played Wagner's Wedding March and announcement of - the wedding was made; Waltz was inducted into the Army the following day. Wy Rqis WDAF Tower Kansas City, June 23. Electrical rainatorm which brought over two inches of rain, to the city within two hours caused severe damage to Station WDAF's transmitter tower located in John- son County (Kansas)' aa the steel structure broke in half under the force of more than 50-mlle wind velocity. Tower buckled at 12:31) a.m.. when station l^ad been oS the air half an hour and a temporary aerial was put into use in time to resume broadcasting at 6 aJn. with- out any loss of time. Stewart Williams, transmitter en- gineer, with Joe Flaherty, diief en- gineeri and Dean Fitzer, commercial manager, were on hand all night supervising fiie work whicli put into use a copper wire aerial strung be- tween two telephone poles pre- viously erected oh tht transmitter site for just such -an emergency. MORE STRICT AFRA Carries TIffongh CiuConvenfo^^ Only Couple Dozen Have to Travel when all 5 Pittsburgh radio stations carried the same program at the same time? WCAE popularity! AH 5 Pithburgh sfafions carried th* «ani« govcrnmeiit- apprav«d pr«<ordm at 7 to 7i30 PiA. Saturdays, Feb. 21 to May 9—a biiijet-proof set- up fer a popukirMy check. The HOOPER Continuing MeosMrament of Radio listen- ing Report on that time period, December through April, •hows theso averages: (^oFUcfenen) Condoiilve proof of WCAPs popularity. Same program-^ some time—all stations . . . otid most Pittsburghers tuned to WCAE! WUIUAl WOAOaSHMG SYSIEM Th« KATZ Agency N«wYork Chkogb DatTBtt Atlanta Kopiiu Ctty DaDot.' San Frandxo BANONRADIO BUILDING . Washington, June .23. Further freezing of radio' station construction,' Imposing restrictions on experimentation as wall as on specialized services, has bean recom- mended to the FCC and the War Production Board by tha Defense Commimications Board to curtail the consumption of strategic mntfrials, Proposal would lorbid any release of sirategic materials for amateur or Class S ei^sriinental stations and would require convincing showing ot vital military or public need be- fore pennit Is issued for construction of -police, -emergency, aeronautical, motios lecture, forestry,- Are, and similar plants. Belaxatlon of tfaa operating ban imposed on amateurs sine* the Pearl Harbor attack -was in prospect, how- ever, when the FCC and Office of Civilian Defense began arranging to use such stations for civilian defense worfc, Bie D.C.B. paved tiie way by .specifying that 'national secuhty and dtfense and the, sooccMfuI conduct of the war demand that all stations in the War Emergency Radio Serv- ice -shall be subject to control super- vision, inspection or closure' by Ac FCC. . To provide two-way communira-, '£ton In ease coony attacks disrupt wire lines, selected amkteurs will be recndted -.to^construct and man de- fense stations. Xranamittars era ex- pected to be made jot left-overs and upaxTM .now on the shelves and will be'low power—probably not using more than 29 watts, considered' enough to cover 10 miles—to avoid Interference wUh more Important services. Fraquencies over 112,000 kc. tiave been staked out by the FCC ior such oi>eratlon. J. i^tiriinsr ^etchcll Makes Slight Capital Change Albany, June 13. J, Stirling Qetchell, Int., New York, has decreased its capital stock from 10,466 to 10^1 Aarcs. In- stead of 3.7M shares of prafeixed «t "$100 jwr value, the advertising agency now has 1,568 shares d pre- ferred. The total authorized aum- ber of common shares, no par value, remains at 7,738. Hughes, Hubbard h Ewing ware the attorneys filing papers on 4he change with the lecretaiy of l^tate. Extend WilUam Winter Van Dyke Cigar has extended .Its sponsonMp of William Winter, com- mentator, from the Cellfomie iTst- work to tfaa CBS Padlle link on the bads of two quarter-hours a "week. Federal Is the agen^. Another addltton to the CBS Pa- ciflo Network is Bexel vitamin tab- lets (McKcsson-Sobblns), Involving three flve^nnte p«iods « week of Dick Joy, newscaster. Placed by the J. D. Tarcher agency. Many Commentatois At University of Colorado Denver, June 23. Special second-anniversary broad- cast of the University of Colorado's 'History in the Making' series Thurs- day night (16) on KVOD, local Blue outlet, dealt -with the swiping changes that have occurred in American opinioh since the program started in June, 1940, about the time' of the faU of France. For the oc- casion, the show was expanded from 15 minutes to a half-hour. Novel aspect of the broadcast was its round-table form. Participating in the confab were Robert L. Steams,'president of the university. m.c.; Dean' Jacob Van Ek, Prof. James G.' Allen and Prof. Frederick D. Bramhall, all university com- mentators. Zarl C. Crockett, -uni- versity econonust and a regular panel member, is now a 'WFB divi-! sion chief, so he was replaced in the: discussion by Vernon- Jensen, of fhe university faculty. Panel members usually, discuss the topic in advance, then one of them' ■goes on the air with a .condensed version of all fiieir ideas. Recorded edition of the .series is supplied by- tbe Bocky Mountain Radio Council- and broadcast by KGIW, Al amos a, Col.; KlUP, Durango,. Gol.; KFXJ. Grand Junction, C0I4 KDFN, Casper, Wyo.; K'VRS, Rock Springs, Wyo.; KWYO, Sheridan,. Wyo., and KGES, Sterling, CoL Last week's suggestion by tiie Government that national conven- tions and aimUar organizational gatherings should be curtailed or cancelled this year will not aSect the annual convention of the Ameri- can Federation of Radio Artists, scheduled for Aug. 28-30 in Chicago. The union executives note that the Government's proposal was aimed at large get-togethers, whereas the AFRA conclaves Involves only a couple of dozen people. According to the AFRA leaders, fewer delegates will probably be sent to this year's convention by the New York, Los. Angdes and other locals, so the number of people ac- tually traveling -will be a negligible factor In -(he national transportation setup.. It's also pointed, out that matters isettled at tiie conyentlDn normally obviate numerous trips. across the country Tjy representa- tives of the various locals. Probably not more than - half-a- dozen representatives will go to-the Chicago confabs from New York, -with possibly leven less, from Los Angeles, San Francisco and the other locials. The Chicago delegation,' be-. ing on Its home grounds, will doubt- less be full-strength. But, as always, each delegation will carry proxy voting strength proportionate to Its local membership. BEECHNUT CIGAREmS IDLE FOR SUMMER Beechnut.cigarettes (LorUlard) Is. paring itsi^pbt schedule for the sum- mer and -will likely wind up with but two markets, Syracuse and New York, remaining on its list l%e .saine manufacturer's Sensa- tion, brand Is on the Ather hand ex- .- panding its spot schedule, having . just added KGO, San Francisco, and KIDO^ Boise, for nightly IS-minute' ' news . programs. .' • ' Stella Unger to H'vrood . ] " Hollywood, June Sj3, ' " Stella Unjger, heard out of New . York, oil NBC 0.S 'Your Holljrwood Ntws .GlrV jets in July 8 for' a three-week visit. ' '• Shell do Her. broadcast from here during the stay, _ ' . -" "' Siaoe Veul Huboi. moie bluejsuiets have enlisted ficom Dettoh than £com any other distpct in dte oation. This didn't /tut bappen,' When xecniiting offices sought assist- ance, WJR assigned a staff mcmbet as I, civilian ladio odvisoi. Dounatic broad- casts poittaying life in Uncle Sam's Navy ' were created and producexL Navy news was aired in special newscasts. Naval heroes reconnted dieir thrilling expen- cnces before WJR. micropfaones. And enlistments swelled. 'We're proud of Detroifs -men in^fUTf blue ... ^'blocs" worth cheering aboad Proud too, of die silver plaque presented to us "in appreciation of co-opctatidn 4a furthering naval rectuitingf.'' Still another "hluc" we s^trd widi pride Is oar blue Mdote Man Bag . .« the first issued to Mf xadio station ... emblematic of 100 per cent eo^Ioyee acceptance of die pay toll savings plaa for U. S. Wat Bonds. • ASIC STATION...COLUM6IA » R O A 0 C A« TI N C SYSTEM Cdword fairy SkCempoeibiHk O. A. Rtchardi, Praildent ...Leo J. Fltztiatrtclg VkW'PrMldanl and Ganaral AAanagar Nothmat lUpret«nteft^