Variety (Feb 1943)

14 Wetlaesdajt Febrnary 24, 1913 Nne Tears Down' Sister Network NBCs Qanns on Listener Popularity Ev*n though Ihe networks are jis-** 1«r subsidiaries of RCA. the Blue'is taking pot shots at NBC's study on listeninfl habits as compiled in two booklets entitled '412 Cities.' The Blue's research department has •quipped Blue salesmen With data •eoklng to show that NBC's listcnor- ship posiiion isn't all that network claims it Is. The Blue's research de- partment also questions the validity of the bases /or NBC's popularity findings. Th« memo tee,« off with the state- ment that 'people U.^^icn to profirams, not atations' and that if Bob Hope, Fibber McGce and Molly and Charlie McCarthy were on the Blue people would be listening most to the Blue Network," and scouts the NBC claim that its prOKrams an' li.<icncd to •most' every qvinrlcr hour diirint; the week. The memo declares that a 'recent analysis of Hooper reports •howed that Blue raiings exceeded NBC in 14 quarter hours and ex- ceeded CBS in 27 quarter hour.<.' ■ Another of the momn's liiic.<! of atr tack is that the total card- return which NBC used as the basis for its aiialy.MS sugpcftoil the probability thai the sample is too thin in many places, with the result that a single postcard 'can represent a dilTcrence of S'i to 10'^ and thereby affect the relative standing of a station in - its city.' Also that since but 12":!, of \hc cards were returned, there's no proof that the 12'; is representative of the 88% who did not return their cards. WRIGLEY PUSHING WMC IN BERNIE'S AIR SPOT Chicago, Feb. 23. 'Keep the Home Fires Burning.' an all-musical program, sponsored by Wrlgley's has replaced the Ben Bernie show over CBS, five linvs weekly from 4:45 to 5:00 p.m. CWT, emanating from the WBBM studios here. New show will cooperate with the War Manpower Commission in re- cruiting more people lor war jobs in area.<i experiencing a shortage of -war workers. Ben Bernie is at present in California recuperating from illne.'s. His return to the air la uncertain. Isabel Donald Steering Treasury 'Star Parade' Isabel Donald, formerly of the legit theatre, has succeeded Shirley Burke as script supervisor for the Treasury Department's recorded "Star Parade" series. Fir.it of the shows she has .set will have Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt as guest to in- trod'ucc an adaptation of her own book. This Is America.' in which Fredric March will have the lo.id. Dorothy Lewis has made the adapta- tion. ■ Miss Donald has also oblaiiied the adaptation rights lo the Noel Coward film. 'In Which We Serve' and the novel. 'Hostagos.' for the .scries.. In .tddition. .she has authored two orig- inals. 'Red .Army Woman' and 'Grandma Goes to War.' Betty Crocker Expounds On Food Rationing Washington, Feb. 23. Radio stations across the land this week are telling the story of point rationing of canned goods and other processed foods, over and over again, so that all can understand It. Most impressive of the programs is the federal show, Betty Crocker Ex- plains Food Rationing,' which has been running daily since Monday af- ternoon il5» at 2:45 p.m. over NBC. MLfs Crocker, nationally known f.iqd expert, has been Interviewing U.S. big.shots on rationing and the needs for it. Among those appearing with her on the program the past week have been Secretary of Agri- culture Claude R. Wickard: Milton Eisenhower, Associate Director of OWI and brother of General Dwlght W. Eisenhower; OPA Administrator Prentiss M. Brown: and Major Gen- eral Gregory, U. "S. Quartermaster General. 70 OWI DX Jobs 0p8ninN.Y.;NAB Seeks Candidates Best Shows of All Move To..Sez Gracie AUen Hollywood, Feb. 23. Burns and Allen troupe hops east after tonight's (Tuesday) broadca.st for three originations in Big Town. Guests set up for two of the shows are Madeleine Carroll. March 2. and double booking of Jose Iturbi and Deens Taylor the following week. prepare Gracie '-jr ri« vUi'tii'i broadcast in Carnegie Hull March 16, backed up by Paul Whiteman s sym- phonic crew. Making the trip with B. ti A. are iimmy Cash, Bill Goodwin, Elvia AUman. Clarence Nash, Willie Burns and writers. Swan soapers will make several camp calls while east. Servicemen's Families Furnish Program Idea Detroit, Feb. 23. Stories behind the service Rags families display in their windows provide the new 'Service Stars' pro- gram of Ty Ty.>-nn. veteran sports an- nouncer here, who goes on the air twice a week via WWJ for the J. L. Hudson Co.. department store. Ty.son pick.s a street at random and head.s into the homes of tho.se who signal that they have men in service If he finds a story he re- cords the interview with father mother or other relative. The pro- gram.s are broadcast each Wednes- day and Fiiday evening for 15 min- utes. Washington, Feb. 23. National Association of Broadcast? rrs reports no luck so far in its ef- forts to find personnel for U. S.- operatcd short-wave studios In N. Y. At the request of OWI. the NAB has..sent an SOS to its member star tions to recruit personnel for the 0 jobs in the U. S. stations han- dling DX programs. Needed are studio control engi- neers, recording engineers, transcrip- tion engineers, studio supervisors, studio master control supervisors, transmitter engineers, maintenance .supervisors, maintenance men, de- signing and planning engineers and radio draftsmen. The posts are open to both men and women. From other sources here it was learned there are two reasons why the stations are not anxious to co-' operate with OWI. First, when OWI took over programing of interna- tional broadcasting stetions. it' em' ployed a number of technicians, stepping on the toes of many statjon execs. Second is the general belief that many of the stations ere hoard- ing labor, fearful that the draft will take some of their best mechanical and technical men. BulTalo.—Clinton Buehlman. who has conducted the 'Musical Clock over WGR here for a dozen years, .switches to WBEN March 1, Food Plugs Seeman Bros., packers of White Rose products, will keep its name before the public by plugging Flavor Bake over WABC, N. Y., in the 9:00- 9:15 a.m. news bracket, Mondays, Wednesday.s and Fridays. J. D. Tarcher is the agency. Account executive reports that no plans are being made to advertise any of the company's other food lines, most of which are subject to rationing. Del Miintc. on the other hand, ha.s just renewed lis 52-week Mon. to Sat. contract with WNEW, N. Y., and will push a dllTeront Jarred fruit or vegetable every day. Its cam- paign will be semi-institutional, for the spiels will be primarily devoted to general problems of food ration- ing, the grocer, and past Del Monte services. Irritant Tales Effect Hie triphammer methixla which George Washington Hill, American Tobacco Co, prez, adopted to ballyhoo the opening of Lucky Strike's 'Your AU-Time Hit Parade' program (CBS), had, according to the Co- operative Analysis, delivered the desired results. The CAB's check of the introductory program (12) gave It a rating of 17.9%. the hich- est opening count for any network show In the records of this lis- tener-probing organization, 'Information, Please,' which 'AU-Timt' succeeded, had a closing rating of 16.9. Consensus of opinion in the trade is tliat the 17.0 represents the product of a potent exploitation campaign, but that the rating, be- cause of the 'thinness' of the program's basic idea Is not likely to hold up. touhoperate With Layoff-Spadng of Rinso Spots Because of the curb on its allot- ment of sugar, Fanny Farmer Candy has cancelled its spot campaign as of this Friday (26). Account has been using participa- tion programs through the J. Walter Thompson agency. WLWOnlyCincy Stati To New 0. Tone WRVANixesCBS' liquor Accoimts WRVA. Richmond, won't carry any of the beer or wine accounts that Columbia has added to its schedule. The Virginian affiliate has a rule against liquor accounts and it has declined to make an exception of this policy for the network. The taboo affects CBS' Ballantine, Pabst and Roma (Schenley) pro- grams. Kuhl Returns West Cal Kuhl, staff producer for the J. Walter Thompson agency, re turned to the Coast laft week, after several weeks stay In New York. He will handle the Sammy Kaye' Old Gold show when It moves west in April. Autry in San Antonio San Antonio. Feb. 23. Gene Autry and his rcKular Sun- day afternoon broadcasts aired Over the Columbia network will originate here through KTSA for the next several weeks. Autry is on tem- porary leave from Luke Field, Ari- zona, where he is assigned to the Air Force. Autry will do shows at Randolph Field and the San Antonio Aviation Cadfet Center on succeeding Sundays. He will be assisted by Doug Rominc and Jack Mitchell of the KTSA staff. Zi^ards' Tmdi or Consequences' On Tour to Sell $20,000jWO in Bonds Ralph Edwards ' will take his 'Truth or Consequences' program on a War Bond tour to the Coast start- ing March 13 and continuing through the balance of the season, ending June 5. During the course of it he'll play four weeks of thea- tre dates to cover his expenses, while Procter & Gamble, the spon- sor, will pay the line charges in- volved. Although such things are admittedly almost impo.ssibIe lo estimate in advance. Edwards hopes to sell $20,000,000 In bonds on the tour. Making the trip with the m.c. will be his production .staff, including Herb Moss, the director;- Alfred Paschal, stage manager; Phil Davis, writer, and Lily Engel, secretary. Cost of transportation and living ex- penses for this group, estimated at $14,400, will be just about covered by the four scheduled theatre dates. Besides paying the estimated $7,000- $10,000 line charges, P. & G. will take care of the transportation and living expenses of a Compton agency representative with the program. Broadcasts, heard Saturday nights over N'BC, are .scheduled for Albany, March 13: BulTalo. March 20; prob- ably Pittsburgh, March 27; prob- ably Indianapolis, April 3; St. Loui.s, April 10; Omaha, April 17; Denver, April 24: Spokane, May 1: Seattle, May 8; Portland, Ore., May 15: San Francisco, May 22; Oakland, May 29, and Hollywood, June 5, First theatre engagement, for two weeks. will be at the Roxy, N. Y.. starting today (Wednesday) with subsequent ones slated for St. Louis and San Francisco. Campi, Too Between some of his broadcasts on tour, and probably after the program goes off the air for the summer, Edwards also Intends mak ing some Army camp appearances with the show. He's also been af fered some film work on the Coast during the summer. For the first five weeks of the tour he'll return to N. Y. between broadcasts, but after that he'll be on the road full time. Mrs. Edwards will visit her family in Youngslown, O., during the first few weeks of the tour, then meet her husband in Denver and go pn to Oakland to be with his parents until his arrival there. Reason Edwards is so uncertain about the total War Bond sales figure he may -set on the trip Is that admission to his broadcasts will be by bond purcha.ses. but they may b: anything from $25 to $5,000 apiece, However, since he has a regular broadcast and a repeat- show each Saturday night, he figures he has better chance of piling up sales than programs that have only a single airing. The circusy nature of his show, with a premium on visual stuff, is also a favorable angle in drawing a studio audience end thereby increasing War Bond sales, he believes. Cincinnati, Feb. 23. WLW is Ihe only one of Cincy'js ve stations adhering to the law en- acted by the Ohio legislature which, effective Sunday (21), moved state clocks back an hour, changing from Eastern. War Time'to Central War Time. Cincinnati is going along with Cleveland, Akron. Youngstown and Canton In overriding the slate order, at lea^t until fall, and sticking to EWT. On the other hand. Columbus, Dayton, Springfield, Middletown and Lima are among the cities cnmply^ing with the state's CWT change. James D.. Shouse. general manager of Crosley's broadcasting division, explained the reasons for WLW's CWT change in this statement: WLW is a 50.000-watl clear chan- nel station. FCC licenses such sta- tions to provide service not only to people living in metropolitan com- munities, but also to people living in small towns and rural sections who do not have local radio stations to serve them. 'Coiwequently, WLW expects to ar- range its program schedules lo con- form to the Ohio Stale law, regard- less' of action by Cincinnati's (:ouncii to continue EWT. People of Cincin- nati will continue to receive WLW's network pr.i^rarr.s at the cuslorr.jry time.' Crosley's WSAI, 5.000 watler, re- mains on EWT. For WLW's schedule, the change means that all NBC progronvs con tinue in their EWT spots, yet will be designated by the station in CWT periods. WLW's originating pro- grams have been moved to a CWT basis, causing them to be heard an hour later in areas .sticking to EWT. The setup necessitates two sets of clocks in Crosley Square, where WLW and WSAI studios are main- tained. ' . ^■ ■ Ruthrauft & Ryan is looking to the NBC and Columbia-managed and Operated stations to cooperate wnli it in a new plan that It ha.s evolved for the scheduling of'Rin.so's (Lrvcr Bros.) minute announcements. Wnii the support of the two nctw^n-ks' in & o's, the agency sees no reasKii why the rest of Ihe Industry wi'n t be amenable to the plan, evni though one station rep shows .<.it:iis of kicking up a row. What R. tt R. is offering i> n<l- mitted to be somewhat unorthndi-x In client-station contr.ictual ivl.i- tions, but times being what they arc the agency figures that the .statimis should go along with the account. The Rinso onc-minute recurdinps urct due to go off March 5 and R. f< n. is a.sking the .stations that aio now carrying this campaign to hold the spots until April 5, when it will ri- siime the blurbs fur nn ailtliiiKii.il live.weeks. Aflcr that Vncvv will W a two-week layoff and the miIjm-- quent run of the annouiD'Ciiirnis will extend for 15 weeks up to i.almr Day. R. & R. argues that the foivtioMig arrangement should be .sati.-r,n.iiTy to stations on the Rinso list, since it is quite common for the .same sta- tions to hold open periods (or pr,is- pcctive accounts for as long as :I0 days. There shouldn't be any nii- jrctions to the layoffs as Ions as the stations know that the contVads are being renewed. Under the Lever Bros, .•■ysii'in, each of lis various agencies opi-ratrs as an entity when it cax^jgs. to carv- ing out .<ipot sclydulcs. One Lever agency does not dovetail its spot re- quirements with those of annihcr Lever agency. At one time there was talk in this client quarter <>f issuing master contracts fur an- nouncement periods, but the idea. (<ir various reasons, did not materialize. CITIES SERVICE RENEWS 0NNBCF0R17TH YR. Cities Service Concerts rt-newcd its NBC contract last week for'the 17th consecutive ye.'<r. making it the oldest continuous ':ommerx:ial1y spun- sored air show. It's debut was Fob. 27, 1927. Frank Black condxicis the orchestra, with Lucille Manners and Ross Graham as soloists. Foote. Cone & Belding is '.he agency for Petroleum Advisers, Inc., the holding, co. CIcve. Slays EWT Cleveland. Feb. 23. Although the state will go back to Ea.stern. time, Cleveland. Akron, Columbus, and several smaller cities have defied the state legislature and will remain on Eastern War Time, The rebellion will give WHK- WCLE an extra hour on the air., as signing off is at sundown by the (iiock. ASKS l Oc TAX ON N. Y. RADIO SHOW ADtmSSIONS Albany. Feb. 23. As.semblyman John V. Downey has Introduced a bill impo.sing a tax of 10c on each per.son over 14 at- tending as a spectator radio broad- casts exhibitions in radio stations of theatres, except where the show is held to encourage the sale of United Stales war bonds and admi.S' sion is contingent on their pur- chase. The bill, which has been referred to the Assembly Taxation Commis sion. exempts firemen, police and representatives of the press. Elaine Carringtoii, HI, Is Temporarily Off Scripting Elaine Sterne Carrlngton. auihAr of 'Pepper Young' and *When a t; vl Marries.'- Is ill at Ft. Lauderdale. Fla.. and is not writing cither of t!ic serial.'. 'Pepper* is temporarily br- ing scripted by Dora FoilioiI. "ii" .subbed la.st .summer for Jane ("ru- sinberry on the authorship of 'Maiy Marlin.' 'When a Girl Marries' is being written for the time bcinu I'V Roy Bailey^ of the Benton & Bin\ Us production staff. Story oiitliiK'- which Mrs. Carrington had for .•.upm- weeks in advance, are being f"'- Inwed pending her resumption - f the as.signment, expected .soon. H s the first time anyone but .-he h:-- written either program. 'Pepper' is .sponsored by Proi u r & Gamble, through the Pedlar i^- Ryan agency. Chick Vincent direct- it. 'Marries' is bankrolled by Pr;i- dential Insurance, through B<'ii;> :i & Bowles. Theodore Yates tlii ri: . Both shows are on NBC. Tom Revere to Coast Tom Revere, Bales agency rail!-- director, left Friday for the Coan to look Over talent for several ne-v programs the agency Is readying f< • audition. Plans to stay about three weeks.