Variety (December 1943)

32 RADIO Wednesday, December 8. 1913 Haley Ascension As BBC Boss Cues New Speculation on Comm'l Setup London. Nov. Willi Donald Reed in The Daily Mail dubbing ■ roadcasting House, headquarters of the BBC, leak House. 1 '"' and taking half, a page to ot'iiross the hupe this govcrnnienl- subsidiv.ed monopoly . (having cele- brated its 21st' birthday i would •j.up.' (hero is move than ever speculation as to what the BBC's ■new boss. W.'J. Haley, will do about it w'nor. he gels. iiV.o his stride: \s former manning editor of the Haley ha; the BBC has ever gone On record with an admission of there being such a thing as 'commercial' broadcasting. Of course, while it is true sponsored programs in America are not broad- cast in ■"aelic or Wcish there would seem to be no valid grounds for be- lieving, advertising has no appeal in Scottish or Irish or Welsh ears. And certainly, in rilain as in America, school:children 'and farmers consti- tute quite as-iiuportani a market as any other groups.to whom-advertis-. • ilia is addressed.. Manchester Guardian. reputation as a most capable cxocu-j - 1, , * u ' - - • - **** Gillette Auditions boss'-.-hii) of I'm: business oflicc. as well a" the editorial side of the newspaper. It was, in fact, ."these combined tunc ions which gave rise to rumors- of the commercialization of the BBC on.ee he was in the sad- dle.. These rumors, incidentally, still persist in the face .ot an oftlcialan- nouncemenl of the impossibility of handled the ringside assignment : at tlic. .'corporation's present policy-.-o(-.(i, c St. Nicholas arena. N.. '.. Mon- ers Don Dunpiiy and Keye's Peirin non-sponsored programs being changed until Ihe expiration of its charter in 1946. hi this: . connection considerable significance attaches 16 a semi-ofli- cial pointer given by a source in close touch uit. the big shots in Broadcasting House. • 'In discussing' relative values, of commercial broadcasting vs. the BBC monopoly type." says the source, 'it is worth noting probably no com- mercial companies would ever think it worth their while to cater tor such small, but not unimportant, mi- norities as the BBC docs when, for instance, it produces its regular pro- grams in Gaelic. Likewise, it has i s Welsh- programs which would only appeal: to certain advertisers. It per- forms oilier services which probably no commercial company would ever dream of touching, such as broad- casts 16 schools, agricultural talks and features which arc of great as- sistance to .farmers.'' .-. So far as can be ascertained this is the first time, even semi-officially. day night (6> when Gillette launched its new series of boxing broadcasts over WHM: Only the main bout of the Mike Jacobs-promoted fistic show was aired, but several other, blow-by-blow gabbers were, on hand for audition purposes! Preliminary bouts were described and recorded by the hopefuls who competed on an elimination'basis to become Dunphy's assistant and pos- sibly a replacement for him on fu- ture 1 broadcasts from Si. Nick's. Sponsor is anxious to confine Dun- phy's fight programs to the Madi- son Square Garden and other impor- tant bouts he has.been doing with Bill Coruni oh the Mutual web. Among those auditioned' Monday night, were Steve Ellis. Paterson. N-. J.: Joe. Tooin. Boston: Ted Law- rence and Perrih; both of the WINS stall". Choice lo continue on the St. Nick's -assignment is expected to be made this week. D'ARTEGA ALL GIRL ORCHESTRA !Sou> . W orking in ' Their First Paramount Picture Personal Management ERNEST LIEBMAN . 1440 Broadway,' New York lllrri'llmi; Wllllnm Morris Amy. Rating Racket — continued from page 21 tlionv to detenuine whether the par- ticular station fits into the show. Nine times out of ten the small station writes back with the desired information, at the same lime ask- ing who the client or agency'., also, whether they can get a copy of the siirvc-v when it is completed. This, of course, is all that the survey com- pany has been>mgling for--and l.hey proceed to pour it on, Thev are very sorry: They can- not reveal the name of their clients, either agency or sponsor, hut pos- siblv llicy have a solution to Ihe station's '.problem. If the station wants to become a. participant in Ihe survey they .might he able to handle this without, compromising the cli- ent. Of course, they have to obtain the permission.of ihe client, . Fees From S10I) ti> SJ.OOO In. almost every ease the - slalion rises to: 'the bait and ends: up by paying .'any where from $100 to $2,000 for the privilege of partici; a ling in Ihe survey. Actually the.sfalion is the only client the survey company has from first., to last, Study of scores of worksheet of the companies. 1 show that while the station in every.ease was charged all that the traffic would bear, the ex- penses in all eases, were approxi- mately the same. Typical worksheet showed an ex- pense of $2.50 for stamps and sta- tionery, item of. SI.25 for an ad in the town paper soliciting -housewives to- make the - telephone survey: sal- ary lo the two or three, housewives -foi' making the calls. S15 (.l!vey in- variably have unlimited phone serv- ice in small lownsi: cost of printing folders for'survey. $3. and express charges to. deliver the surveys to the station, $1.25. Usually $25 covers the nut which, with fees running into hundreds of dollars, gives the survey companies a fabulous profit. .Usually the part- ner who sells the account assembles the figures which, not being accu- rate, aren't much' of a chore any- U. S. Subsidy on Bond Drive Adv. Washington. Dec. 7. Bankhead bill, ioviding a $15,- 000.000 subsidy to small newspapers in the form of Treasury Dept. bond advertising, was attacked Friday (3) by both Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau and the Wur.Ad- verlising Council, On the ground that it will hinder the sale of War Bonds. Bill has passed the Senate, and Norman Thomas = Continued from pate 27 s ; way. Stapp Quits WSM Post; ill Web Billings Goes Overseas for 0WI>L= continued rro... PW v, Nashville, Dec. 7. that the all-time high figure will be WMS.''Nashville, loses its program' achieved. Previous estimates had .. , .. , .. pointed to an accumulative level of director and a major production ex- | betwecn $140,000,000 and $145,000,000. The joint time sales tally for the ■ ecutive December 9. when Jack | Slapp leaves for the duration to join. the overseas radio branch of OWL ■ He will spend two months in N. Y. before leaving the country. ; Slapp. who has been program di- • rector at the NBC affiliate for the : past five years, is a Nashvillian and i although he is only 30 years old is a veteran radio executive. Where Microphones HRinc. Ipi.adness We sing your praise. WMBG! You bring the best of jorty-three! For jun.and laughter .Baby Snooks. For heav-nly music. Richard Crooks. Then Kaltenborn and Thomas, too, Who tell each day 6} ivhat is new." For the best in '43, stay tuned to WMBG. WMBG Richmond, Va. NBC 10 months ending Oct. 30. 1943. was $123,051,000.- representing a marginal advance of .31";, over the $93,407,000 chalked up by. the webs for the parallel period of 1942. Reflecting the month-to-monlh percentage up- beat in: comparison to last year's business, the accumulative, margin' has advanced from 22% in June. By July it .reached 25':, and in Sep- tember was up to 30",. Tabulation of the October billings gave a total of $5,501,000 for Colum- bia, representing a 36':: increase over '42; $4,885,000 for NBC. a 26"; in- crease; $2,481,000 for the Blue, a boost of 52V and $1,408,000 for Mutual, whidi is an increase of 85':; . Columbia's estimated $47,025,000 for the 10-monl'n period leads the roursome in total billjngs and repre- sents a nearly $10,000,000 advance over the net's '42 time sales for a margin of 27T. NBC's $43,750,000 is second, up 21''; over last year: the Blue. $21,501,000. which is 74% ahead of Jast year, and Mutual. $10.- 775,000. for an increase of 37',",.. present economic order. . I am sug- gesting thai a reasonable ceiling be set upon advertising. If great cor- porations directly- or indirectly want to propagandize us concerning- the glories of 'free enterprise.' let -them pay for- it out of,their own profits, which! Heaven , knows, are large enough. 'One social consequence of greed tor this Hood of advertising is to be seen in what is happening lo the very useful radio forums like the University of Chicago 'Round Table' and the 'Town Meeting of the Air.' Every one of them, with possibly one exception. 'will, be' forced to take a commercial sponsor or be kicked around in respect to time so that their usefulness will be greatly min- imized, if not destroyed. I speak-frpm personal knowledge when I say that those responsible: for forums believe that lo maintain them on desirable time should^ be part of the price radio stations and networks owe the public for the invaluable privilege of the use of one of a limited number of air ways. . 'Subtly, if not crassly, forums' which are sponsored will be subject j lo influences and' pressures incon- sistent, with the best discussion of public, issues. The public itself will be suspicious, perhaps unreasonably suspicious. Imagine how you would feel if you should hear a discussion on private insurance by courtesy of the University of Chicago and the Mammoth Insurance Company, or on price control by courtesy of the Town Hall Meeting of the Air and the Monster Milk Company: 'There can be no doubt that our American system of broadcasting is vastly superior to'the governmental monopoly of radio in-European coun- tries, where radio is a major instru- mentality of potential or 'actual.dic- tatorship.' I think our system is bet- ter than the British broadcasting system under a public authority, which would probably be made worse, not better, in an American copy. I my sclt havereason to know and appreciate the fact that broad- casting in America is free from gov- ernment censorship, except oh mili- tary mailers, and in a great number of cases free from private censorship. 'Nevertheless there are serious problems. One ot them concerns the fate of forums, to which I have re- ferred. Another has to do with the right ot labor and cooperative organ- izations to buy time. One of- the most serious is the treatment of news.' another one.' for $30,000,000 for the same purpose, has been introduced in. Ihe House; Measures only take care of. small dallies and weeklies and ignore radio . stations, maga- zines, film houses and other media which have been plugging bond sales. NAB is on record as opposed to any such subsidy; but insisting, that radio should get its share , if newspapers do.: Small picture house operators have argued that they are equally entitled to a piece of (he melon, for the job ,they are doing for the Treasury., slensibly.' Moigenthau wroie to- Senator Harry Byrd (D.. Va.), chair- man of a joint congressional eco- nomy committee, 'this, proposal was made in an effort to help sell War Bonds.' I should like lo have- it, on the record thai it-. will not help sell War Bonds. As a matter . of fact, it i.s likely to prove an almost in- surmountable hurdle lo the con- • tinned- promotion of War Bonds: 'As you know, we now depend upon cooperation by advertisers, publications, radio and the adver- tising industry generally, to provide, without cost .lo the Treasury, the huge amount of advertising space and time required, to reach and convince 130.000.000 people. By this means, we arc amply reaching all the important markets thai would be available through this subsidy. "We cannot continue this method if we pay some of those cooperating, and leave the others in ..stains quo. Either wo must pay all or none. And if certainly seems wasteful- to. pay any of llicm as long: as the vast majority are willing lo continue sup- porting bon rives on a patriotic basis.' , San Antonio—More of the distaff side are taking over control room duties at KABC. Latest to join the ranks is Mary Davis, who was given a special:course by the engineering staff before assuming her duties. WMC Memphis .,. also selling many other products on many other stations. TEXAS RANGERS LIBRARY: 13th WEEK—CAFE SOCIETY UPTOWN PHILCO "RADIO HALL OF FAME" DEC. 19TM