Variety (December 1943)

Wednesday, December 8, 1913 RADIO 29 Dunder n Blitzen Blitzed Lynchburg, Diec. 7. WLVA's annual Christmas parly, a one-day community event sup- plying food to thousands in recent years, is threatened with extinction as a result of'an OPA ruling. In order to fill baskets with rationed foods, station will have to •borrow' 38,000 points from OPA on promise to pay back by collecting points from persons who receive baskets. Entire idea is too colossal for station's staff as it stands. Chief headache will be likelihood of beneficiaries not having suf- ficient points left by Christmas to cover 'cost' of basket. Also, station thinks it would be unfair to require handover o( five-pound coupon for the one-pound of sugar usually included in a basket. On other hand, the station, doesn't want to attempt to supply baskets either without sugar or with the full five-pound quota. Meeting of welfare agencies which supply names of basket receivers has been called to see if plan can be worked out to give baskets with- out the point payback. Documentary Radio Shows Folsom Named RCA V.P Frank M. Folsom, former chief of the Procurement Branch, Navy Dept., was named as v.p. and direc- tor of RCA, and will head RCA-Vic-. lor Division. He takes over his new position Jan. 1. Folsom replaces George K.-Throck- morton, who is resigning due to ill health. Esty Angling for Web Spot to Unearth New Durante-Moore Combo The William Esty agency, which already has Abbott. & Costello, Durante &' Moore,. 'Thanks to the Vaults,' 'Blind Date,' 'Blondie' and Grand Ole Opry' on the air for Reynolds Tobacco Co., is interested in still more programming for the .same sponsors if good network time can be found. The agency has been quietly looking into the time situa- tion on the networks' in recent weeks. If time is found, it's likely Esty would prepare some kind of comedy package. Agency leans to comedy, as j against variety or all-musical shows. Nor is it discouraged by fact that [ most good comedy talent is already ! working. Esty execs feel they- piay | be .able to pull another rabbitt.out j of the hat as was done by teaming Jimmy Durante with Garry Moore. What concerns agency most is lack of good writing talent. It's harder to find than the thospian talent, say the Esty toppers. Trammel! Sees Post-War Radio Strides Shackled Under Gov t Control In Testifying Before Senate Group Washington, Dec. 7. NBC prexy Niles Trammel! dipped into American history before the \ Senate Interstate Commerce Com- mittee hearing today i.7>. and. para- ' phrasing Lincoln, said "radio cannot -remain half slave-and half free.-') Citingtremendous sums running into millions ready to be poured into radio and its tele and FM fields in the immediate postwar period, Trammell declared the industry; must be freed from fear of Govern- ment control if .it is in take ad- vantage of this potential investment. 'The. radio legislation which you write.' Trammell instructed Con- gress, 'must be such as (o guaran- tee freedom of opportunity and operation of these scr\ ices—espe- cially freedom from Government domination and control. Only free j enterprise can obtain from '.lies achievements the largest divider, in public service.' Indicating the importance . with which NBC is viewing television Trammell described it as the "biggest challenge to the industry' during the technical revolution in broadcasting immediately after the.war. He'-pre- dicted that, in time, the radio indus- try would have to scrap Us entire plant, covering .millions in capital- investments, and rebuild fr.Mii the ground. He foresaw the rrcctimi of hundreds of new stations, estab- lishment of new networks and the stringing of thousands of miles of additional telephone 'wires and . coaxial cables to cany progra throughout the nation. 'All this," said the NBC chieilai (Continued on page 331 The cutting and splicing technic in | everyday use for the assembling of j ncwsreels is currently the subject of •xperihieiilation and -limited appli- cation in the production of docu- mentary feature discs for radio broadcasting. The idea, which in- volves the recording of events for several or .even six hours to get 15 to 30 minutes' worth of acceptable material, is receiving an extended tryout by WMCA, N. Y. That station has been sending out a mobile unit since Monday 16) manned by an engineer and an an- nouncer to pick up material out of which a number of documentary shows may be fashioned, depending upon the quality of the materia). The initial experiment actually look place last Wednesday (1) when the unit recorded the docking of the .refugee ship Gripsholm and included, interviews with its passengers who had been Jap prisoners since the early days of the war. Several hours or narration and interviews were taken down, but when the discs were brough back to the station, they were redubbed on two platters. Highlights were selected, and the less desirable material eliminated, The segues were generally smooth, so that the jumps were scarcely no- ticeable. The station is planning a feature on the Stuyvcsant-Bcdford section of Brooklyn, the .subject of two Grand Jury blasts which charged the city administration with lax crime en- forcement. The shooting script pro vides for a statement by the Grand Jury foreman. Police Commissioner Valentines reply, a statement by Mayor La Guardia, and ihe com- plaints of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Doakes First Tiled In 193" The application of the newsreel method to radio was first tried in )!)37 when KMTR. Hollywood, ar ranged an exchange program deal with stations throughout the coun try. It was handled by Radio News- reel, Inc., a subsidiary of KMTR and provided for the swapping of news discs, which were pieced together by each statioii to make a complete show. This lasted for six months. In 1940 BBC took over, the titled 'Radio Newsreel' and the idea, and has been operating such show ever since. While BBC's is a compendium of several independent shows, WMCA plans to piece together its 'Newsreel' from a number of discs offering different phases of one topic. The station has, for the time being, ear-marked $1,000 for several week's experiments. Radio Writers Guild Pacts NBC on DXers; Raises Pay Minimums Radio Writers Guild signed a con- tract last week with NBC, covering news writers in its shortwave depart- ment. Latter are tinder Office of War Information orders for the du ration, but are paid according ti NBC rates. The new wage levels, involving raises in, all classifications, are subject to War Labor oard ap proval. In general, the new pad calls for minimums of $2.C00 a year for junior writers and $3,800 for seniors, T Guild considers these figures nival... factory, but better than Ihe previous rates and at least comparable to those in effect at the OWI overseas office. About 30 men are covered by the new contract. One Part Holly wood — One Part New York - Mix Well in Chicago OUT in a California training camp, a couple of thousand soldiers are howling their heads off at a gag ... the band plays a short fanfare-. . . applause. : the announcer conies in with his commercial. A neat, smooth operation—yet the comedian and announcer are 3.000 miles apart, and probably have never.met each other. They're."mixed" in a studio in Chicago. When there's to be a pick-up'from' any out-of-the- studio spot, .NBC sends equipment and engineers to the scene two or three (lays ahead of time. They set up a circuit between that pick-up point and the ''mixing" center. If ihe'■announcements on the program arc to. come 'from New York, they will go over a special NBC circuit direct to the same "mixing" point. The mixing engineer gels his cues and his.timing.by telegraph. Then he sils down before an NBC mixer— and with a flick of the wrist performs the miracle of blending together a comedian on the coast with an an- nouncer from the east—so subtly that it sounds as if they were both silting in the same room! NBC engineers helped develop this miraculous mixer—which automatiailly, fades out a voice from on source and fades in a voice from another source. Perfecting devices and operations such, as this, working out every new means for making broadcasting more effective", increasing the scope and richness of radio ilnough every-resource at its disposal — Oust are some nf the things that make A'fiC "The Network Most People Lislni to Most." -The National Broadcasting Company America's No. 1 Network-A service of radio corporation of America