Variety (Jul 1943)

40 RADIO Wednesday, July 7, 19W Fly Charges Cox Is Monop Too! Continued from 'trtg'r 13 - marked, 'the wives^and sweethearts of the'.soldiers and sailors, and. the men of the aimed forces themselves are looking to xnir military .authbri- lies to direct the winning o£.the war with the leasf possible loss of.lives. Even Fly owes a service to the na- tion, rather than the disservice of trying to destroy the. confidence, of the soldier in his commanders by charging ..them with conspiracy to- destroy- the FCC. ';. .. .. .: This commission ,is made up of seven members and several hundred employees that many .of our citizens feel could better serve their country, during, this great conflict, by carry- ing giins. ..<'- 'Has not Fly. in issuing the state- ment in question, confessed to all the people just what the - ; Army and Navv think about his Interference? If the .first public hearing of the special committee has-thrown Fly in such a state of hysterical wrath, what will be his condition after this inquiry has really gotten under:- way'/' '■•".'■ 24 Counts Against FCC Twenty-four 'widespread : accusa- tions' against the,FCC were read into the record Friday (2) by Garey at the Cox committee's opening session. • The charges: - 1. "That It has been and,is so com- pletely dominated by its chairman that. for. mPst purposes,. It- has be- come and is a one-man Commission. 2. 'That its- powers are unlawfully exercised for the purpose of further- ing its. own political ideologies and philosophies: '. . ■•' 3. 'That its. powers are. .employed, to reward its political friends and punish its political enemies. 4: That it is entirely motivated .by political partiality and favoritism, in the performance of its duties. 5. That. the_radio industry has been.so purposefully terrified by the 'Commission that it is ensiave"d..and lives in an unremitting state of fear, as'a result of which it acquiesces to every whim and caprice of the Com mission, f 6.. Thai the fear engendered in .the industry is so great • that licensees refrain from challenging unlawful excessive acts of the Commission or from asserting their legal-rights. 7/. That it acts arbitrarily, capri- ciously .and without Warrant, of law. 8. That in its. quest for power it has incurred the antagonism and dis- trust of other Government .depart-, ments and agencies.. 'Seeks Domination' o "Thai" it'hn« Wight' tn dominate theJpTTriwsc of unlawfully dpminalr ihg! the radio industry arid rendering it subservient to its will. and control the entire cpmmuhica lions field., private .and governmental.' without .lawful, authority' and-'coiv- trsry to the express intent of the Congress. 10. "That, in its Just for power, it has usurped the functions of the Con- gress by arrogating to itself the de- termination of matters of legislative policy resting solely within the com- petency of: the Congress. 11. 'That, in pursuing this course, It has .adopted and followed the re- puted communistic technique of 'ces- sation and gradualism.' ■ 12. 'That it has deliberately ab- stained from seeking froni the Con- gress power.-- exercised but not pos- sessed by it because of the fear that the grant'of such powers would be denied.. 1.1. That it has made misrepre sentutions ..to the Congress for the purpo.- of securing appropriations, and expended , appropriated funds controry to the purpose for which they wire granted. 14. 'That it. has unlawfully aug- mented V S-appropriated funds. by procuring 1 .the"'.transfer, to it of funds appropriated to other departments nd agencies-- 15. That it has violated the laSvs Of. the. United Stales and ;dcficd the will of. the; Congress, lfi. 'That, it has wilfully evaded and procured I lie evasion and viola? lion of laws alYccliitg the civil serv- ice . ."•'■ ;" ■■"' 17. Thai it has "sought to cloak Itself as .an' ■: essential war '.agency, making a vital contribution to the war effort, whereas in truth its al- leged war activities constitute - a danger and menace to national se- curity. 18. 'That., jn furtherance' of . its al- leged war. activities, if has' drawn to its tisr. manpower and critical •materials : from, the limited sources: available find .needed by the armed forces of the United Strftos. and has. procured the exemption -frOm mili' tary service of a large number of persons ho I entitled thereto, 11). That it -has set up a group. • commonly called 'the 1 Gestapo,' for ■ 20. That 'the Gestapo.', under the- guise of lawful and- proper investi- gation; is violating constitutional rights of individuals.: 21. That it has been guilty of re- prisals against individuals who have attempted to challenge its asserted .powers.- : ■'.-. " . 22. ^That. -in. its pursu'il.:ot power and dominance over; broadcasting, it ■ has neglected its functions.' duties and responsibilities in other ., fields, of communications. . : :23. That it is.so much interested in .obtaining publicity that the possi- bilities of publicity affect and gov- ern its judgments and determina- tions.' ' .'.,- • That, hot withstanding- the ex- press .statutory-.prohibition to the contrary, it has. sought to exercise the" power of censorship oyer radio broadcasts, and- has interfered with the rjght of free speech over the radio." ,. : '.- '; ■ -.'.'■' 'Subsidizing the Press' A threat to .one of the most im- portant news sources for radio.sto> tipns. press and commentators was contained in the first" hearing. Al- though it was generally overlooked by newsmen, .the threat was con-- taindd in ri icule of the FCC foreign broadcast intelli '.. service by Garey. -.Garey. called the information, mon- itored' by FCC and turned "over to OWI for dissemination as 'nothing more than a sort of glorified, world- wide newsgathcring and dissemina tion agency which serves the. na- tional and international press asso ciations, Ahe daily press and the broadcasting companies,; Whole idea here .seemed to be that FCC was* wasting the Government's money to subsidise ■ the '-'piress ' and broadcast stations. The information referred to -is monitored from. Axis broadcasts. No private hews gathering' agency, has •either the equipment.,personnel or 'means' in wartime to do the job. If the service were to be eliminated, I press and radio would, be cut 'off for days from some of the warls big-, gest news stories, and some would be missing completely.' The kind of stories first picked up and disseminated in this manner, in? eluded: -the end of the Russian worldwide Comintern; the '.death'i of. Jap' Admi ral Yamamoto;. the landing Of American troops -on Attn: the final, windiib of the battle for At\ \\. Frank McDonnell, Jr., Suicides in Frisco .' San Francisco. July 6. Frank McDonnell, Jr., salesman for. KGO.in.SanFrancisco, and formerly ■in radio sales work in New. York and Chicago, took .his own life in Frjs'co'by swallowing a huge overdose, of sleeping tablets. He left. notes—one to his wife, Vcra.:itr'tas Vegas.-.Nev., seeking a divorce — telling of h'; is'couragc- ment with, life: • McDonnell went to KGO two months ago from KSF.O, Frisco, where he was .national sales man- ager. Before that he had been sales manager, of "Advertisers', "Recording Service. New York, and with W.HN, Columbia/Broadcasting System radio sales, New York, and WBBM, Chi- cago.. : .'-' ..'■ 1»» ♦♦♦♦»< >♦♦»♦< ' ♦ M ♦ ♦ Payroll Traffic ♦♦♦♦♦♦< Toledor-Bill O'Day Is newcomer, to spieling staff of WTOL. coming from WBLK. Clarksburg. W, Va. Newscaster Charlie Baxter: has left WTOL to join the U. S. Navy. S. A. Radio's Problem Child Continued,from puge 35 ■ Akron—Mickey McClowry has iclt the. staff of WJW. , Also leaving WJW is announcer. 'Russell . Longs: who will ■■.'fatten-:'iip" «n- a farm : in' an effort to qualify-' for service; in the 'Army/; Bob Hiniiers. is taking Lengs' place on ■'. late night trick. Portland — Edwin A. Browne Vis back at his. old- post of continuity chief of KGW-KEX. following Atmy. discharge- in Florida. : A. C. (Bert) Griscom..formerly of WFIL, Philadelphia, has joined the staff of. KG.W-KEX as a producer af-: tex his discharge.-frpm .the. Army at a camp near here. / New York—Louise Lenlz has. been made. head of the script routing division of the Blue continuity "ac- ceptance department, effective July 6. She replaces Marcella Garvin (Mrs. E, V.' 'Bcrgstroin», who re- signed to havc.-,a baby.;' San Antonio—Richard Smith has joined the staff:of WOAl as news- caster.. Smith replaces Trav Ca- banhiss and conies, here from Port- land; Maine. Philadelphia. — Patricia ■ Bickford' lias taken over the- corilihuilv desk at WFIL. .■:. .' Emma May Roberts, radio 'promo-, tion chief for the Philly Record! be-. (CnniihiipH nn papp■ 5S i ciohal. de Agribultuira, is: rated • by some as a kind of seml-goveiriment agency, but even so it keeps from any .over-Strbn'tS. officiating, and the Administration' makes little attempt to have' other outlets follow either i(s practices'or performances. Gen- eral tone, ori this" transmitter, and, in fact, all others./ranges. from mild to strongly ^pro-democratic. - Before Axis break the blacklisted stations. Radio Maipu and Radio Cervantes, were .'going 'strong spraying Goeb- beis-directed Transocean venom up ai-.l. down the Cpast. Maipu, which even had a ' shortwave: transmitter reportedly powerful "enough- to. be caught; in ■-Berlin,- has been com; pletcly shuttered. Cervantes is al- lowed to operate but without news programs. Transocean, which in ad- dition to.serving many newspapers, also acted as messenger and scout for the Axis, has been locked tight, al- though still operating in Argentina, at. this" writing. (Since the Argen- tine revolution of last week, it's be- lieved in New York . that Transocean was one of the first to be hit by the nevx' Pro-Allied goyernmeht.—EdVl ; . While most Chilean stations still work their, -platter jockeys 'from early morning to 'off-thc-air.':..'.in- creasing-' number of live show, arc- being heard, mainly- because of job being done by Stei-ling' Products, the U. S. drug outflt, . : which.:gpt Uncle Sam's blessing to: ballyhoo aspirin and tooothpaste in Latin Americk provided it waged verba! war on tlie. swastika spielers' at the -same time. Sterling a year ago sent down Bill Steele,- -Texan with an accent as; broad as- the Pacific and formerly scripler for such -Mutual shows as The Shadow,'- 'Bulldog bruminorid' and.'Sky Over Britain;' He has, in addition to putting on four- weekly live.half-hour.shows, plus an across- the-board soap opera, more or less shifted the entire pattern of Chilean radioV." with : . such • 'jioyelties' as. re- hearsals. Continuity of scripts, audi- ence-participation shows and U. S.- slylc use of musical:bridges.:etc", as an integral part of program..'deyeW opmcnt. Steele's experienpe is perhaps .typ- ical of progress being made in-radio here as well as other smaller Latin countries wjicre standards and prac- tices, unlike those iii Buenos Aires; Rio and fytexico: City, are.:closer to the old-style European-model than to Manhattan. At. time of Steelc's.ar- rival.. Sterling, which operates here as the Sidney Ross outfit, had a lio up le- uf m o re—or le s s i n dtffer-ent- From the Production Centres Continued from--page 37 . here for the next two months: . . .Norman Blackburn, talent buyer for J. Walter Thompson, doubling over to his old job as head, of the firm's picture -department to write, and produce a commercial short f6r Cali- foriiia-Hawaii Institute (wine)... ..Columbia's Davidson Taylor here from New York to set up the audition for a Norman Corwin piece and to work oyer some of the house shows, for time buyers.. . .For weeks. Nale Tufts and his aides at RuthraulT &, Ryan were wondering what to call the"Frcd Brady ,show. summer sub for Bob BurnsS. So it was finally decided to' call it the 'Fred Brady Show"... ILarry Robertson joined Blue network announcing stair on a move from Frisco. Word reached KNX that Jack Bersingor, former guide, was a. casualty in air action over Germany... .Edgar Bergen's overseas assignment must wail until he recovers from a cold. . . .Walter Johnson, whp used to peddle radio talent for MCA, now a caplalri in the Marines.. . .It isn't going to be easy, but Phil Harris- has a 7:45 a.m. call at NBC July 12 for his guesting on 'Hollywood Theatre of. the Air'... ..Gvicsters on Chase & San- born for successive Sundays arc Bo'b Burns, Lou Ilollz and Ed Gardner ....Owop Lallimoie, who used to be adviser Id Chians Kai-shek, will be narrator .on .a - neiv NBC program. 'Pacific: Story'..Columnist Eleanor King .is Pond's. 'Charm Counselor'.on CBS. ' J IIS CHICAGO .... .'• New York office of BBC' has asked Walter Preston; WBBM program director, for a recording of This Is The Underground' program to send to ils : .London office as a sample of efTectivc' Icchiiiciue' *\6n# this. line. Program is produced hpre and goes pill over the CBS Noi lliwcsiern chain. It : is 'written-- by- Alan Surgal and; Sullivan J. Powl. .. .Frances Clark has .succeeded James J. 'McGiiirin as picture edilor ot-the' NBC -Central Division press • department. .. .Edith "Davis, recently tommeivlator on- 'WOKs .'Wpirich; Make'- News'.' .will be commentator qh the free open air concerts in Grant Park .-,.. wo WGN hews programs announced by John llol brook hav'e been renewed by their sponsors:, McKesson & Rbbbins and Sliidcbakcj-. : . .-nai ry C: Kopf. NBC vice-presidchl and general manager here,, has ; reiujrncd to his: desk aftpr scyeraV days' illness.. . ...More Ihan .$0,509.00.0'. nT*\viir<. bonds were sold 16 .4,500. persons -.who '.crammed' the Civic Qperii Hbiis'e last Monday (28) to heiir the 'Information Please' experts'. . . .Biiiclv Davis has replaced jim Poole as WGN's market re- porter find livesloek iiews^ualysl. C, ..Holland Engle, - WGN. farm editor,' i-s. spending his two-wpek vacation farming.. : .Mildred • Carlson," Home Forum director ori.' WBZ. Boston, is visiting local studios and coriterrlng with clicnts and agencies iii this. area. " . ■' ';'■'■ : ; : Charlie Garland. WBBM local sales- manager, was an impprtonl '.factor, in the success of the' American Legion Benefit 'Carnival last week at Des Plajncs.' Illinois: where he "is.the mayor..". .Philip Lord is'a'newcomer to that ca><<rol NBC's' .Lonely Women .. . . Jack Baker, tenor on the. Blue • Net- work's Breakfast '-Club..-is in the Colunj'bus Memorial hospital recovering 'from, 'a- suiistrok acquired, .while golfing. .. .Bill■■ Stern. NBC sports - di- rector. 'has. been appointed chief of the radio division 'of.'the National jPhysical Filriess ProgVniii. Stern was named„ to the post by Arch Ward, Chicago Tribune "sports cdijor, who. heads the Program! '''. soapcrs. all done without even a sin gle prior run-through. There being no ad: agencies to. handle the', job, Steele set up a complete department; with the first objective lo plug U. S. aspirin Mcjoral as against the Nazi Bayer-made Cafiaspi ririay irst show! and currently- the most popular ; of all Chilean serials, was 'Shadow of Fu Marichu,' fivertimc weekly. 15-: minute stand on CB76. • Radio La Cooperative Vital icia. Steele found legiters, generally used for such shows, not only indifferent perform- ers but unwilling suggestion-accept- ers because they considered radio like playing- benefits. Resultingly he dug arou.nd, finally got the Tcalro Experimental of the University of Chile excited about the idea of 'a new -medium,' and inked it on the dotted line: Present chief actor; oh the 'Fu Ma'nchu' series is!, in -fact, head of the 'university's Latin de- partment, who makes quite a shud- der-inducing Sherlock. Manchu. in- cidentally, has been reworked to be- come a renegade Chinese plugging for the Japs and., in addition, to Sell- ing aspirin, manages now and again to gel -across",, a little Subtle pro- dcmocralic propaganda. Mejoral alsb preemed Teatro del Aire, half-hour weekly.■ With same actors as 'Manchu.' . Program has now ;.bcpri taken over .for, For'han's' toothposle,. another Sterling product. Script writers, for this- and other shows had to be trained from scratch: and .indication of just-' what Steele arid 'other U. S." radio experts' have been tip against in some .locations" is fact that they had lo even teach typewriter chaufreurs to put dialog on, one side- of the sheet and jiamos of characters, cues. etc.. oh the other, Previously' it used : be all mixed up. ' -■•.■Another weekly show. for. Phil lips.Milk ot Magnesia, . racias: Doc lor' ('Thanks,; Doctbr - 1. is dedicated to local medicos and also manages.to smack in .a 15-miiuite dramati/.atloii about some self-sacrificing saw-bones ■who gives all so that the tiny tot can pull through. Occasionally corny but gets' .across. For Ross Pills. Steele puts on an audience-partici- pator' that's, a combination of - the U. S. 'Battle of the Sexes' and 'Dr. Q.' ideas.' Ross Pills also had an. amateur contest m.c.'d by Jose Bohr, Argentine-Mexican . actor and. film director; 1 which: for first time locally, used a warm approach to the giveir 'em-the-hookers. Applause to -judge winners was: a novel idea for. Chile. Important note w'hich has done much to change 'local: sentiment has been j-., : the minute-and-a-half pro-demo- cratic 'drarnatizafipri's';■'. which "' have been voluntarily: inserted- at the end of every 15-minute Sterling show. Aside from these, prpbabiy : best shows on Chilean air are a series of station-sponsored half-hours •done with the gentle but invisible nudg- ing of resident Yankees'. Cy Nathan, recently sent down by the Rpcke- ;. teller office as radio field rep, done-much to spark and improve this'kind, of show throughout Chile. He' was formerly - with 'Lord & Thomas. Having a Wonderful Time Best of Hie pro-democratics is 'De Mujcr a Mujpr' - ('From Woman to Woinhn') ori GB76. It:s a. daily 15- minutc shot which goes on during the', strong after-liinch period of 2 p.m. and. describes thc : driings of a fictitious Chilcair faiTiily travelling in tlie Stales. Papa, , mama and the ninos are a great bunch of letter-, writers/and their haying-wonderful-..., times--form -start of prpgram: which ■ then fades Off into di-nmatization of.. . what they see .. and do; up -north.' Show, written and megged by Raul Vahisoo: has riot only caught on be- cause of entertainment value, but : has-been an especially 'painless' way- of -getting across what U. S. cilizcnry, parficuiarly distaff side, is doing to aid the war effort. Another.-socle':, sustaiher on CB76 is "Hugo . Silva Escribe' clliigo Silva Writes'), a Monday through Friday 10-minute' cditorial and column. ' Silva, editor or El Mcrcurid. of Antofagas.la,, is one v of the top Chilean newsmen invited lo the Slates as-guest , of National Press Club. JCveir zippier in ils smacks Axis- ward is"Frcntc al CbrifliCto; on CB57, which features another Chilean fourth eslater, Juan Arttisa. 'Dia en Siiitesis.' '■ " 15-minule daily, espe- cially-sCripled reworking of United - Press news on CB7C. has also at- tractedla. large-following.; ; - Most of the efforts produced : by (he Coordinator of Inter-American. Affairs, like' 'March of Time.', 'Tri- buto a los Heroes,' "Cdntraespionajt" ~ and 'Hit Parade." are carried here via transcriptions, Spot phrases are'still bane of local- radio: with U. S. and ''.local advertis- ers equally favoring the 20-.timcs.-a-- day, hammering of some trade phrases. 'Ipana and Alka-Scllzer go particularly heavy on this kind of stuff, as: do such local wines as La Granja and Casablanca. U. S. Zenith radio's concentrate on-spots only.,-and . British perfume line, Atkinson's, use.' same method.. Radio La Coopera.tiva Vilalic ranks- at the head of the broadcasting pic- lure, and is owned by Chile's largo* insurance company of same, handle. Has its own telephone-tjed st'aliOn in! Valparaiso. Chilean seaport, arid a DX web which , hooks it in with Temuco, Valdivia and Puerto Monti. Viialieia's .head is Raul Santamaria. young, smart progressive and gen-- crally reported to have one eye on a political career. Agricull.ura, CB57, j.s akin iO,B. A.'s Mundo. as contrasled with Vilalieia. which is like the-'Argenline Bclgrano, Agriciillura has a higlier.standard of music and' reserved spot - plugging using fewer of the Chilpan 'cyiccas' and other disc programs. , ' : - Radio La Americana.' CB130. generally given third place, and Ra- ;. dio Carrei-a. CB12li. owned' by the ; Banco de Chile, is oiie; of the stronger. of the smaller siatioii's. . Aetpr -his - . Bohr lias beetVat'craptihg to improve' - standard of Radio Buincs. Another ;' irilercsling bulle.t,is Radio .ChOc;|iyii; owned by the big U. S. shipping firm of W. R'; Grace- & Co:. Whose; vcs.-cls.; particuterly before the war., had the stranglehold. ' Soulh American 'Wcsl. Coas.t ecorioniy;, Statio|i. only one operated. !?y a woman in Lali America, uses . practically .iiothim! ; else, but its iiiriitabics v and picks the' •best of . symphonic and -'jive record- • . ings wilh: comparalively little blurb- 1 , .ing.' . : .' Radio Mercurio. . owned .by - amazingly rich" Edwards family, bp- : crators of Chile's No. 1 daily: Mer.- curio, has surprisingly little 'standing in the air field.