Variety (Sep 1942)

Wednesdaj, September 2, 1942 RADIO 39 28 Natl Spot Accts. Pledge GchOp With OWTs War Message Plan 41- Washlngton, Sept. 1. Cooperation of 28 national spot ad- vertisers—surprisingly small num- ber, at flrst glance — has been pledged for the OfTice of War In- formation plan to round out the net- work allocation scheme with separ- ate Government messages about the war program via groups of five or more stations. First of the organized non-web plugs went on the air Mon- day (31). when the 'Group A' spon- sors using live talent joined the parade of drum-beaters. Request from the OWI did not draw as wide a response as had been anticipated, but Federal authorities maintain they are not disheartened. When the appeal went out, there was nothing like a comprehensive idea of how many non-web advertls- ers were using five or more stations for either transcribed or live pro- grams lasting at least five minutes. The station-break sponsors, by the terms of the invitation, were not considered for inclusion in the na- tional spot phase of the Government message plan. Assignments for the B and C groups of sponsors went out last week. The former will %o on the air next week and the final group follows the following week. Participants are: American Chicle, American SnufT, Anacin, Bristol-Myers,^ Broadcast Ad- vertising Inc., Cluett-Ptabody, Coca- Cola, Consolidated Products, Curtiss Candy, First National Stores, Gen- eral Cigars, General Foods, Jackson Brewing Co. (New Orleans), Kroeger Grocery, Langendorf-United Baker- ies, Mississippi Power & Light, Northwestern Yeast, Nutrena Mills, Peter Paul (Naugatuck, Ct.), Phila- delphia Dairy Products, Planters Peanuts, Rosefleld Packing Co., Seru' tan, Spark-o-Life (Kansas City), Stanback, Standard Oil of New Jer- sey, ( Texaco, and Western Grocery Co. (Marshalltown, la.). hyiting Mex to a Burp Mexico City, Sept. 1. Now that Coca-Cola and Canada Dry are using radio extensively, 7-lJp, a soft drink that recently ap- peared on the Mexican market, is using considerable' time 30-mlnutes daily each of four of the leading sta- tions, XEW, XEQ, XEB and XEDA. Programs feature music, sports and news. WWJ TO WAVES Detroit, Sept. 1. First candidate in the Detroit area for officer training in the WAVES, new feminine naval reserve, Martha Jane Shuggs, transcription librarian for the last two years at station WWJ here, will leave in October for training at Smith College. She was the first of numerous candidates here selected for the course, which leads to an ensign's commission. Gosch Will Produce A.&C. Show for Camel; Other Program Details Now Set Hollywood, Sept. 1. Production setup for the Abbott and Costello Camel show has been completed. Martin Gosch will pro- duce and supervise scripts with Howard Harris. Other writers are John Grant and Don Prindle. Leith Stevens will be music director with a crew of 18 men. Guest stars and stooges will be used and singer is likely to be Betty Rhodes. Music Corp. of America package costs around $10,000 weekly. PrO' gram replaces Bob Hawks on an NBC 100-station hookup Oct. 8, air- ing east at 7:30 and Coast repeat at 7 p.m. Hawks, who draws $3,500 weekly, is being dropped by Camel which will have three shows this fall, A. &C., 'Blondie' and the one hour Camel Caravan. C-P-P Buys Can You Top for Full CBS Network; 2 Airings in N. Y. BuBalo—Bob Armstrong, WBEN musical director, has enlisted in the Army Signal Corps. Joe Kelly Renewed Chicago, Sept. 1. Joe Kelly, who, as Jolly Joe, reads the comics to kids over the air every Sunday, from 11:30 to 12 o'clock, has had his contract renewed for an ad ditional 92 weeks by the Chicago Sun. In addition, Kelly begins a new program, Mon. through Fri., from 7:45 to 8 a.m. CWT, consisting of a monolog describing his own comedy characters in action. Colgate-Palmolive-Peet will start sponsorship Oct. 3 on a full (jBS network of 'Can You Top This,' ad- lib comedy series which its subsidi- ary, Kirkman Soap, now bankrolls locally on WOR, New York. How- ever, the network spread will be in addition to the local airing over WOR, giving the program two week- ly airings in New York. It's believed this will be the flrst such setup in radio history, Colgate sponsorship of the 'Top This'' series is tied up with the same account's bankrolling of the Al Jol- son program on Saturday nights on NBC, also starting Oct. 3. It's virt ually definite that the account will present both shows, but it still had not decided late yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) which of its various prod- ucts to plug on the two programs. However, it appears certain that the Ted Bates and Sherman-Marquette agencies will share the two shows. Under the contemplated schedule, 'Top This' will continue in its pres- ent 8:30-9 spot Tuesday nights on WOR and will also be heard 8:30-9 Saturday night on CBS. The CBS version 'of each week's show will be completely different from the one heard on WOR. The Jolson series Is slated to occupy the 0:30-10 niche Saturday nights on WEAF-NBC. In addition, C-P-P will continue to sponsor "Hobby Lobby' at 8:30-9 Tuesday nights on CBS (Bates agen- cy) and the Bill Stern 'Sportsreel' at 10-10:15 Saturday nights on the same network (Sherman-Marquette). N. W. Ayer continues as the agency on the Tuesday edition of 'Top This' for Kirkman. Jce Laurie, Jr., Harry Hershfleld and 'Senator' Ford are the leads on 'Top This.' WOAI'S Medicine San Antonio, Sept. 1. The Chattanooga Medicine Co. will sponsor a series of daily quarter hour broadcasts over station WOAI, Monday through Friday, using the Texas Tumbleweeds. Accounts is handled through Nelson Chesman and will be inbe- half of Zyrone. Anne Lorentz, formerly with WTAG, Worcester, Mass., joined th« Office of War Information 'in N. Y.^ effective yesterday (Tuesday). She'i the sister of film producer Par* Lorentz. RADIOCASHESIN .ON POLITICAL BATTLES Minneapolis, Sept. 1, With the Isolationism ^Issue crop- ping up- in the Minnesota primaries to choose nominees for state, county and congressional offices, and re- sulting in a number of hot fights. Twin City stations have been selling the most time In their history for political campaign talks and broad- casts. Every bit of spare time available has been grabbed up by the candidates. In one instance, KETP set up Its mike and equipment at the bedside of a political speaker. LeRoy J. Bowen, campaigning for Congress- man Oscar Youngdahl, suddenly taken ill and bedded, solved the problem of making his scheduled radio talk in this manner. Stations strove to apportion their time on a 50-50 basis between the L<!Olationists and antl-isolationlsts. The demand for time exceeds the supply. 'Eyes and Ears' Program Set on WMCA, New York 'Eyes and Ears of the Air Force,' a new dramatic series about civilian and military ground observation corps, will be presented 0:45-10 p.m. Tuesdays by the Army Air Force Fighter Command on WMCA, start- ing next Tuesday (8). The broad- casts will also be recorded and of- fered by the various Fighter Com- mands to other stations throughout the country. Idea of the series is to publicize the work and Importance of civilian- military ground observation. Such civilian observers as Helen Hayes, Elsie Ferguson, Henry Hull and others will guest on the series. Westbrook Van Voorhees, 'March of Time' announcer, will be a regular on the show, which will be directed by Earle McGill, of the CBS produc- tion staff. WhyReid's Expiration Didn't Expire ■ ■ % ! \tf. JL*nt 0. W4A, yUMrtbiiw UiM§m if tiritt Itt Sales'Despite Regulations iHi8t radio can help you main-; tain your tales volume de«pite' drastic regulation growing !out of warneeds u a fact worth .knowing. Do jrou have ijrob*, .lems arising from r^;ulation 'flu9 a sales quota to make <in'"the New York market? Call WEAF Jor_a program suggestion. -. .'one that may help you meet that situation.^ Make it .WEAF. because... 50,000 WATTS 860 KILOCYCLES NBC NETWORK