Variety (Dec 1942)

M RADIO WedncBdaj, December 9, 1942 AFRA "Severely Reprimands Bacher On Singer s Charge Gov t Show Director Nixed 5-Min. Rest Period Bill Bacher, director of the Treas- ury Department's 'Over Here' pro- gram on the Blue network, was given a 'severe reprimand' last week by the American Federation ol Ra- dio Artists. Citing Bacher for al- leged violation of a singer's rights under the union's network code, AFRA wrote a letter to the direc- tor notifying him of its 'reprimand' and threatening 'severe action' In case of repetition of such an inci- dent. Situation occurred during rehear- sals for the Initial 'Over Here' broad- cast Nov. 28. According to AFRA, the singer, a member of a choral group, asked David Broekmah, mu- sical conductor of the show, for a five-minute rest interval after the re- hearsal had been in progress two hours. Under the AFRA code, a flve-minute break is compulsory after every hour of rehearsal. Bacher is asserted to have over- beard the singer's request to Broek- man. and to have refused to permit an intermission at that point. There was an argument and, when the singer declared he intended taking the matter up with AFRA, Bacher expressed a similar intention and added that he would never permit the singer to work on another of his shows. The singer then left the stu- dio. The New York local board of AFRA held a hearing on the charges last Thursday (3), with Bacher and the singer each presenting his ca§e and offering supporting witnesses. Bacher's witnesses included William Murray, producer of the program for the William Morris agency; Broek- man, the musicians' union delegate and six members of the orchestra. The AFRA board conceded there were extenuating circumstances in Bacher's favor, but ruled that the di- rector had been guilty of a 'definite' violation of the regulations, had de- prived the singer of his rights and had acted against the interests of AFRA. Because it was a flrst offense, Bacher was given only 'severe repri- mand.' but AFRA officials subse- quently indicated that in case of a future incident of the sort the guilty director might be placed on the ■ AFRA 'unfair' list, as permitted un der the union's agreements with the networks and agencies. Unofficial accusations against certain other di- rectors and producers have come to AFRA's attention from time to time and, if made the basis of official charges, will be dealt with severely, the union executives assert. The singer who made the accusations against Bacher indicated he has no desire for further work on the 'Over Here' program, but AFRA has served notice that the other members of the choral group are to have first chance at any of such future as cignments on the series. Entire incident is the flrst of its kind to occur since the AFRA code became effective. However, there have been other performer-director K disputes, in some eases involving ac- ■ tual flstflghts, which threatened to <=*'a''8es being lodged with AFRA. Besides directing 'Over Here Saebor also handles the Camel Caravan* series Friday nights on CBS, for the Esty agency, and has for some months been directing recorded series for the Treasury. Colwell to Help Trim KraftllLH.to30Mnis. Bob Colwell. J. Walter Thompson T.p., left for the Coast Thursday (3) to confer with the agency's Holly- wood office on the format of the Kraft Music Hall as a half-hour pro- gram. The changeover from a 60- minute lap ukes effect at the end of this month. „ Colwell's mission will keep him there about two weeks. UcClintock Holds Off as 1st MBS Yxti Till Jan. 4 Miller McClintock won't take up the reins as the first paid president of Mutual until Jan. 4. He was originally slated to report on the job Dec. 15. The postponement is due, in part, to the fact that he won't complete the installation of a successor as executive -director of the Advertis- ing Council for another two weeks, and also to his desire to take a va- cation. Benny By Remote When Jack Benny goes abroad to entertain American troops, as Is now quite probable. General Foods, his sponsor, may arrange to bring him into his regular Sunday night spot on NBC for a flve-minute routine by short- wave. The pinchhitting program on this side would, of course, figure on filler material in the event at- mospheric conditions prevented an acceptable pickup. AD COUNCIL FORMS RADIO SUKOMMnTEE Leslie Harrig With CBS In N. Y. as Asst. Director Leslie T. Harris, formerly with th» production staff of WQAM, Columbia outlet in Miami, has joined the net- work's production department in New York, aa an assistant director. He was formerly 'Variety' cor- respondent in Miami. BOOK PUBS SIGN FOR MORE AIR Council on Books in Wartime, trade association of the book indus- try to correlate its war activities, Is expanding its radio coverage. Cur- rently it has Bennett Cerf doing 'Books Are Bullets' on WQXR. Starting the flrst week in January, Council starts 'Books and the War' on WMCA. Show will be a weekly quarter-hour with Kenneth McCor- mick, literary lecturer, as moderator, and the author and publisher of a war-angled book as guest for each program. Pencilled-in are Dorothy Thomp- son, 'Listen Hans': William L. White, 'They Are Expendable'; > Stefan Heym, 'Hostages', and Harold Den- ny, 'Behind the Lines.' The Advertising Council has com- pleted the formation of a subcom- mittee comprised of advertising of- ficials of major firms active in radio. The new group consists of Charles G. Mortimer, Jr., of Gen- eral Foods, chairman; Robert Brown, of Bristol-Meyers; William A. Hart, of E. I. DuPont Nemours, and Wil- liam Ramsey, of Procter and Gamble. The foursome will work with the ad agency advisory committee on the Council and In cooperation with the Office of War Information. As is the prevailing policy with other contingents on the council, the mem- bers of the advertiser group will act as Individuals and not as rep- resentatives of their respective companies. ^ WNYCs OK to Stretch To 10 P.E Revives Beef From WCCO in Mpls. Minneapolis, Dec. 8. WCCO, CBS station here, is ob- jecting to tbe federal communica- tions system's order permitting WNYC, New York municipal radio station, to extend its broadcasting from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., but to no avail. Both stations are on the same wave length and a fight between them over air time has been going on for two years, with WNYC pre- viously forced to go off the air at sundown, Minneapolis time. Last October the commission denied WNYC permission to broadcast 'in a manner that mi.tht interfere with WCCO.' Following WNYCs appeal, the present order was issued. It con- tains a proviso, however, that a di- rectional antenna must be used and WCCO, consequently, is hopeful that its service may not be affected. Also, It's pointed out. It likely will take WNYC six months or longer to get critical materials for construc- tion of the antenna. Beatty.St John Switdi D. C London Posts in NBCs News Staff Shutfle Guesters for Riggs Hollywood, Dec. 8. Young & Rubicam agency Is prop- ping up the Tommy Rlggs (Swan soap) program with guest atars now that all hands on the show have been optioned for another quarter, Roy Rogers gallops in for the ^rat shot Dec. 11. Blue Gets Two Tests on Daytime Program Tastes The Lord & Thomas agency has completed for the Blu* Network a survey on daytime program pref- erences in two test markets and the study will likely be put on a na- tionwide basis after Edgar Kobak, the Blue's v.p. and general man- ager, has returned from his current visit to the west Coast. Kobak took along with him a report on the test's findings. One of the towns surveyed was Birmingham, Ala. The job was overseered by Samuel E. Gill, L&Ts director of research. ABBOn-COSTELLOSTAY UP LATE AFTER JAN. 27 Akron — Mary Jean Schultz, for more than a year with wJw, con- ducting women's programs, will be- come director of women's activities at WKBN, Youngstown, her home town. Oldham in Navy Cincinnati, Dec. 6. William H. Oldham left the Cros- ley staff this week to report for ac- tive duty in the Naval Reserve as an ensign. ' - - He joined WLW-WSAI more than three years ago as advertising pro- motion manager, and of late has been director of food relations. Abbott & Costello (Camel) will take over the Thursday, 10-10:30 p.m. niche on NBC Jan. 27. The comics now occupy NBC's Thurs- day 7:30-8 p.m. arc. The switch is made possible by the reshuffle of National Dairy Co.'s time commitments on the same web Thursday nights, with Kraft Music Hall going to a half hour and the Sealtest-Rudy Vallee show moving forward to 9:30 p.m. Mutual Gains Four Affiliates This Month NowThat It sSignedfith AFM. Boston Symph Returning to Air tk<st 5 Years Overall in Navy Jack Overall, Mutual salesman in N. Y., was commissioned a lieuten- ant in the Navy and reported for •ervice Monday (7). He will not be replaced. Formerly with NBC, Overall was ttie flrst salesman for Mutual. Boston Symphony orchestra, which has been off the air for five years, returns Dec. 26 with an exclusive series over the Blue network. Sched- ule calls for concerts 8:19-9:15 p. m., Saturdays, with Serge Koussevitzk,v doing most of the conducting. Deal is a two-way exclusive, tying the or- chestra to broadcasts only on the Blue, and the network to air no other symphony group. Understood the Blue is getting the orchestra at a comparatively low price, but that the orchestra would get a share of any sponsorship deal worked out. The Blue is cerlorted to have several sponsors interested vin the series, which would be the only name sym- phony carried on a commercial net- work basis. Addition of the Boston Symph gives the Blue an impressive musical lineup. Network already carries the Metropolitan Opera performances Saturday afternoons for Teftaco, the 'Metropolitan Auditions 'of'-the Air* program Sunday evenings for Sher- win Williams and, in the popular classification, the 'Spotlight Bands' series six nights a week for Coca- Cola. It also has the customary as- sortment of musical sustainers. The Boston Symph series calls for 46 broadcasts a year, including the regular concerts from Symphony Hall, Boston, the 'Pops' concerts un- der Arthur Fiedler in the early sum- mer and the outdoor programs from the Charles River Esplanade. It's also hoped to air the orchestra's con- certs at the Berkshire Symphonic festival at Stockbridge, Mass., with Koussevitzky. Return of the Boston Symphony to the air follows its signing of a con- tract with the American Federation of Musicians. Orchestra had been barred from the air because of its failure to sign a contract with the union. Station WLAG, La Grange, Ga., has joined the Mutual network. Ed- win MuUinax Is general manager of the outlet. WAAB, Worcester, Mass., former- ly located in Boston, starts opera- tion Sunday (13) from Its new site as a Mutual and Yankee network af filiate. Mrs. Dorothy Robinson, with a vast business and theatrical back- ground, has been appointed WAAB station supervisor and sales man- ager, to be assisted by Edward Crockett and Margaret Schoeffer in the business department. Mrs. Rob- inson was a' leading woitia'n,'playing opposite to Lou Tellegen and Mel- vyn Douglas in stock com pan ies. Twelve years ago she joined WTAG as producer of radio plays, later en- tering the business department as local commercial manager. Two other Mutual affiliates, WSAP, Portsmouth, Va., and WCNC, Elizabeth City, N. C, start opera- tion next Tuesday (15) having been delayed by construction difficul- ties. Morgan Beatty, NBC's Washing- ton military analyst, his been as- signed to network's London office, and Robert St. John, formerly of the London staff and now in New York, will take over Beatty's post. The moves are part of a general re- shuffle of NBC's news staff as de- vised by William F. Brooks, director of news and special events. Richard Harkness, formerly UP and Phila- delphia Inquirer, also goes to Wash- ington for NBC, and Carey Long- mire, WEAF, N. Y., is being trans- ferred to the same town from New York. Other staff moves involve: Alex Dreier, returns to Chicago, following service in Berlin, London and the States, to resume his daily broadcasts for Skelly Oli. Edward Wallace, from NBC news editor in New York to Sydney, as chief reporter in the South Pacific area. Elmer W. Peterson, succeeds on th« London staff, John MacVane, who is now attached to General Eisenhower's headquarters in North Africa. Peterson spent 10 years for the Associated Press in Europe and the Far East. Marlon Gerlng claims staging cred- it for 'Her First Murder,' although it was reported the play was redi- rected. WJW Moving to Cleveland And Blue Net Affiliation Akron, Dec. 8. Akron will have two radio stations rather than three when WJW, local Mutual outlet, completes the trans- fer of its studios to Cleveland under authority granted by Federal Com- munications Commission. WJW's 5,000-watt transmitter, which has been in process of construction and not yet used, will be moved to a new spot near State Route 94 and Walling road in Cuyahoga county. In Cleveland, WJW, owned by William O'Neil, Jr., son of the head of the General Tire and Rubber Co., will be an outlet for the Blue net- work, until recently serviced by WHK-WCLK Jessel-Haley Get Two More Rounds on Allen Show for Stage Tend' Fred Allen will climax his Georgle Jessel-Jack Haley guest se- quence with the appearance of the two latter comics on his Texaco pro- gram of Dec. 20. The series of three guest dates represents the flrst needling contest of this type in net- work radio, but actually it's a fol- lowup of the Jessel-Haley .stage rou- tine. On last Sunday's (6) Texaco broadcast, Jessel took a few verbal jabs at his confrere in Show Time,' Broadway vaudeville show, and Haley is slated to pay off Jessel in kind when the former does his guesting for Allen this weekend (13). Allen himself, the following Sunday (20), will double from steamer-upper to referee. Jessel also ribbed Eddie Cantor on Sunday and got a nice wire from the comedian on the Coast. Jessel has been set by Sol Lesser, United Artists producer, to do a couple scenes for 'Stage Door Can- teen,' which he'll also author. BLUEiEES POLKAS AS ANTIDOTE FOR SWING Henri Renee, accordionist-leader of various bands which recorded for Standard (Victor's foreign label) be- gan a series of programs on the Blue network yesterday afternoon (Tues.). Originating from WJZ, N. Y. Renee airs regionally each Tuesday after- noon 3:45-4 p.m., and on the network Thursdays at the same hour. He's leading a WJZ studio orchestra. Blue gave the musician the spot because it believes the type of music he recorded for Victor (polkas, etc.) has a large following oiiUide metro- politan centers, which will contrast witb'the in;avysch«dal« of American dance bands radio now carries. Directors' Meeting Radio Directors Guild holds Its regular membership meeting Mon- day night (14) at its quarters in the Berkshire hotel, N. Y. Discussion of the organization's attitude toward Government war programs will be discussed, and t'ier- will be an election of new members. Council meeting will precede the regular ' membership confab, and there will also be an off-lhe-record talk by a Naval officer recently re- turned from combat c'uty. Welch Quits KSO KRNT Des .'.D nc'i. Dec. 8. Wayne Welch, .sale: promotion and merchandising manager of sta- tions KSO-KRNT. resigned last week to become awocLnled with the Meneough Advertising ency here, in the capacity of account executive. Welch joined KSO in 1935.