Variety (Dec 1942)

Wednesday, December 16, 1942 BAOIO 91 Too Jittery About Spot Biz The time-buying heads of major agencies think that station reps are getting unnecessarily Jittery over the relative quiet which has pre- vailed in the national spot field for the past several weeks. The agency meA agree that spot business is slated for a slump the early part of 1943, but they are of the opinion that It won't be anything as precipitous as some reps are beginning to anticipate. National spot, the buyers point out, is now going through its biggest year in history and it would be amiss for the industry to gauge the wartime outlook by the 1942 graph. The agency men describe spot as a supplementary force used by a national advertiser for direct sell- ing, and they predict that, as goods become scarcer, the tendency in that quarter will be to retain networks for primarily institutional pur- poses and taper off spot participation. Also, as the changes in the civilian economy become more marked, the spot end of radio will find itself resolving from a seller's market into a buyer's market. WlKder Scores FCC For Sendiiig a 'Novke' Before His Senate Group Washington,. Dec. IS. Federal Communications Commis- sion received a tongue-lashing from Senator Burton K. Wheeler, chair- man of the senate interstate com- merce committee, for sending as its representative before the commlt- •go. Senator Wheeler heatedly de- nounced the FCC. declaring that its actions showed that it 'has no re- spect* for his committee. He added that he resented the 'slight.' Denunciation came when the committee opened bearings Wednes- day i9) on a bill which would au- thorize the Navy Department to suspend for the duration of the war certain provisions of the Federal Communications Act of 1934. As its spokesman, FCC sent before the committee Jeremiah Courtney. Commander F. D. Willenbucher, representing the Navy communica- tions division, told the committee that relatively few events have oc- curred thus far which would make the proposed legislation necessary. Senator Wallace White, of Maine, father of the 1934 communications act, remarked at the hearing that Federal agencies had no right to come to Congress and ask it for power to waive duly enacted laws. Professor ob the News Falling Revenue Contlnned from page 24 stations broadcast OWI and other Government messages. Fly Looks for Plan Chairman Fly told his press con- ference Monday (14) that he is hope- ful some sound plan can be w'orked out to aid the small broadcasting stations which have been hard hit financially because of decreased ad- vertising. 'We are beginning to wonder,' he stated, 'if we can't stir up some ad- vertising for those stations. It seems to me to be the most wholesome way to handle it; much better than to have the Government move in and give some artiflcial stimulation and throw some additional burden on the stations.' Chairman Fly said the FCC was making studies and holding confer- .SrsfX%Jixttxi\ni the..'Jluatian oL.the small stations that may have trouble in staying on the air. The prob- lem is particularly serious, he said, in a number of smaller towns and cities served by local stations de- pendent on the business of the par- ticular community. About 175 stations operated in the red in 1941. the chairman said, point- ing out that a great majority of those were in one-station towns, where the town is wholly depend.mt upon that station for local service and in some cases for primai:y ser- vice. Number of single-station towns, he said, was 115. There are also, he pointed out. 103 stations in single- station towns that have virtually uo earnings. Spector Gets True Story The Raymond Spector agency has taken over the True Story mag ac- count from Arthur Kudner, Inc. Kudner had been using minute an- nouncements on around 90 stations, and' Speotor -will retain approxi- mately the same list, but make it ^^flv^minute transcriptions based on Rochester, N. Y.. Dec. 15, Professor Dexter Perkins, head of the University of Rochester history department and city historian.'will begi n a series of news broadcasts over WHAM Dec. 20 at 5:15 p.m. The program will be sustaining. He will be the second locaJ news commentator, the other being David Kessler, who has a morning spot on WHAM. All other news handled lo- cally is 'oil the wire.' SEES COMMERCIAL DX AS MEANS TO BOOST POST-WAR ANZAC TRADE BILL ADAMS AGAIN HEADS N.Y.AFRA LOCAL Bill Adams was re-elected last week as president of the New York local of the American Federation of Radio Artists. Other officers elected at the same time were Walter Pres- ton, first vice-president; Ben Grauer, second v.p.; Betty Garde, third v.p.; Alex McKee, fourth v.p.; Ken Roberts, fifth v.p.; Anne Seymour, recording secretary, and Ned Wever, treasurer. All but Roberts were in- cumbents. George Heller Is local ezecutive^secretary, a non-elective office. AFRA's national administration, headed by president Lawrence Tib- bett, is continuing in office another year, the election having been dropped when plans for the national convention were called off because n* w<>r"tie travel restrictions. V 'Mil Radio Exec Says Time Is Ripe for Future Planning— No Trouble Finding Sponsors Once Government Gave Its Okay Sydney, Dec. 15. Disagreeing with W. Cleary, diair- man of the Non-Commercial Aus- tralian Broadcasting Commission, on shortwave broadcasting of advertised products, Comwallis Paddison, vice- president of the Australian Federa- ti<« of Commercial Stations, has urged the government to establish an Aussie commercial DX setup as a medium to increase the post-war markets. Paddison's proposal is in direct disagreement wiUi that of Cleary, who stated that although America had a commercial broadcasting sys- tMn, products were not advertised via shortwave. Paddison also pointed out .tbat commercial DX had been adopted by American troops, and that broadcasts were popular with U. S. forces here as well as with others, particularly programs such as Jack Benny, (General Foods), Bob Hope, (Pepsodent), etc. Contention of Paddison is that the time is ripe for 'Australia to pave the way for postwar markets. He said that America was doing this throughout the Pacific area and else- where. He cited that sponsors could easily be found by commercials, pro- vided the government granted DX permits. Paddison felt sure that Australian programs would be welcomed in ttie U. S. and It was time that respon- sible folks realized Australia must find otitlets for merchandise. He daimed that the DX buildup now was the sanest way to insure postwar expansion. COMrBBHINSIVB BABI* tUBYBT BVBB MABB* There are 412 cities in the United Stales with a population of 25,000 or more. Nearly 50% of the notion's radio families Uve In them. Vthat $tation$ do they f/sfen fo mosf of night t The lorflest survey of rodio listening habits ever under- taken—NBCs 1942 Notionwide Survey—has just turned up with the answen In 324 of those 412 cities, NBC stations were listened to most at night, compared to 85 for the second network. That's o had of. neor/y 4 fo Y f Or put another way, 52% of the radio families in those 412 cities listen most to NBC stations, as compared to 24% for the second network. Or put still another way, NBC stations (as the survey showed) hove a substantial lead in night-time listening over the stations of ell other networks in every type of market. Or, to put it even more simply, NBC is today, . more thon ever, the network most people listen to most. On* Ml of avary ISO radio fomlltot In lh« Unltad S«alM WM ut whol thilr liitcning hobili wtr* end what iHh tiont were thdr (avorltai. Th« raiutti •f Mmm MTwyt, whMt will glv* M* Information for avary county and a**ry radio tiafton In Ik* (ownlry. will b« pubiithcd thoftly. Our toon—Tha tlory of nlghl ita>* lltlanlng In the 413 33XK)0-and ovar ciHei. Watch for l».