Variety (Jul 1944)

Wednesday, July 5, 1944 P^RIETY RADIO 25 Nix Off-Post Jobs For Coast AFRS : ' "... ; Hollywood, July 4. .. Members of the Armed Forces Ra- dio Service who have been doing off-the-post jobs of writing and pro- ducing for pay, are curbed by a new ruling. Aside from exceptional cases, this privilege will be denied by Lieut.-Col; Thomas Lewis, cbmrnand- ing officer here. Ruling affects only members of AFRS, and does not in- clude other Army posts. Banned under the new rule are program series, contractual obliga- tions or work before civilian audi- ences, without specific approval by the commanding officer of the post. Top Execs in Cowles Setup Shifted; Hoffman Into Des Moines H. 0. Chicago, July 4. Sweeping realignment of all ex- ecutives in the rapidly expanding Iowa Broadcasting Co. setup was seen here last week when five of the regional.network's top men were reassigned to new posts pending the — final-ECC-approval. 0 f the_network's purchase of WHOM, Jersey City, and WCOP, Boston. Purchase of WOL, Washington, D. C, is expected to be completed sometime in the next two weeks to add still another station to the Cowles chain. . Switches include Phil Hoffman, former general, manager of WNAX, Yankton. S. Dakota, moved to the horrte office at Des Moines as ex- ecutive assistant to Craig Lawrence, general manager of the network. Don E. Inman, former manager of the Waterloo studios »f WMT, moves into the top slot at WNAX, Von Linder replacing Inman as manager " at WMT; Art Smith, former program manager at WNAX, will go to Sioux City as; station manager, and Gene Loftier, announcer and production man at KRNT, Des Moines, will take : over at WNAX. as program manager. tte'TTharfgesTrlso-skeTldtdr—-—— -r WINS, N. X, Lining Up fro Football Sponsor Negotiations are hearing conclu- sion for sponsorship of the Brooklyn Tigers (nee Dodgers) professional football games on WINS, N. Y., dur- ing the coming season. ■ Same station is currently broad- casting Giants and Yanks baseball games with Don Dunphy and Bill Slater at the mike. Same duo are expected to handle descriptions of Brooklyn grid games. * ; /'■.'•:'• SEC Lists David Sarnoff's RCA Salaries at $100,720 Philadelphia,' July 4. \ David Sarnoff, president of RCA, received $100,720 during the past fis- cal year in salaries from the com- pany, according to RCA's reort to the Securities Exchange Commission here last week. ■ George T. Throckmorton, a vice- president and director, who resigned last year reveived $72,240. James H. Harbord, chairman of the board, drew $60,760. Latter is also a director of NBC, RCA Communciations and RCA Institutes, Inc. RIVAL BEER OUTFIT SNARES NEBLETT SHOW Chicago. July 4. Odd angle will be presented this month when Johnny Neblett's "So the Story Goes" changes sponsors On July 14, show, which is heard three times weekly over WBBM, completes two years under' the soon" sorship of the Prima Brewing Co and on July 17 begins a new contract for the Edelweiss Brewing Co.. rival concern; . Situation came about when word leaked Out that show might become available. Spirited bidding for the stint, which enjoys a nice local rat- ing, resulted' in Edelweiss offering more coin and snaring the program New contract is for 52 weeks and went through I. J. Wagner of the local Olian Advertising Co. office. Show will continue to be heard over WBBM, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:15-10:30 p.m. CWT. : : Blue, Don Lee Vie For Choice H wood Studio Locations Hollywood, July 4. Blue network and Don Lee chain are fighting it out for choice sites near Hollywood and Vine upon which to erect new studios. Don Gil- man, recently returned from New York with authority to strike a deal, has first call on four locations, block- ing off Don Lee, which hadn't been looking around until, a few weeks ago, when its Melrose avenue plant was sold by Consolidated Labora- tories to RKO.V I ■ ; ■ Blue's plans call for 13-story office building for allied crafts, which will front on the property and to be flanked by facilities to handle the separate operations of standard ra- dio, frequency modulation and tele- vision. Don Lee's blueprint calls for the three operations and a building large enough to house the personnel. Realty deals are expected to be closed within two months, but con- struction will have to wait until crit- ical materials are released. Hurly Burly of Station Breaks, Spots Tossed to NAB by Chi Agency Execs Chicago, July 4. Long time conrmlaint among local advertising agencies regarding the lack of standardization on lengths of station breaks and one-minute an- nouncements, by practically every station in the country, was brought to a head here recently when the Chicago Radio . Management Cliib urged that the NAB take up the matter at the August convention in an effort to clarify the situation as to whether stations are selling time or words. ; . : '\ " 'v. : Agencies claim the lack of uni- formity not only makes more work but adds expense. For example, in setting up a spot sales campaign on 50 stations, 20 of them will allow 50 words on a live station break an- nouncement while the balance have rules that limit them to 25 or 30 words. This means agencies have their choice of writing several sets of copy for all the stations; using the minimum requirements on all sta- tions, thereby losing several seconds of time they pay for, or leaving off some stations they would like to use because their sales story cannot in- telligently be told in 25 to 30 words. Matter of using transcriptions on station breaks is even more, of a headache, agency execs say. Again they must time their cutting to the minimum allowance of 10 to 15 sec- onds and pay for dead air or cut more than one master record, which is too expensive an undertaking. Chi agency radio driectors also seek standardization on wordage consti- tuting a one-minute announcement, variance : of which is also causing them annoyance. Some stations ac- cept as high as 135 words, while others have a 100-word limit. This, too, means the preparation of several sets of copy. One agency reported the recent use of one-minute tran- scriptions timed at 55 seconds which many stations refused to run, claim- ing that they had too many words. . I Bill Stoess Quits Crosley For Trans-American Post Cincinnati, "July 4. Dean of the Crosley staff, with a service stretch of 21 years as violin- ist and director, Bill Stoess resigned last week to join Trans-American in New. York in ■ mid-July on music production.- ■ i . . ■ • ■', Stdess .was among, the- first to be put on full time when Powel Cros- ley. Jr., bowed into radio as n station operator. When enough musicians were added'to make a sizable combo, Stoess tobk over a.s conductor and held that title until 1937, building up the largest music staff of any. indie station. In late years he has directed staff orchs. ■ ' In going to Trans-American. Stoess rejoins John CJiark.'.president, and Don Becker, who also are of the WLW alumni. - -v " v in Top Slot Cincinnati; July 4 Gilbert W.. .Kingsbury took over Friday (30> as editor-in-chief of' the . WLW newsroom,' of which he had been assistant editor-in-chief since been assistant editor-in November, 1942. , , ■ ' ;■ ... .. He succeeds William Dowdcll, who held the top slot for three years an ■ resigned. Both '.of them not nit radio news from the Cincy Post. We're still meeting our listeners in person • • • Our WJZ "Victory Troop" has just made its 250th personal appearance 250 separate /ace-to-face meetings between WJZ and more than three million soldiers, sailors and other service people, il war plant workers and bond buyers . . . The WJZ "Victory Troop" traveled 67,000 miles through New York, New Jersey* Connecticut, Rhode Island arid Maryland . . . the normal coverage area of WJZ ... Three million more people now know WJZ personally. They now have a new affection for the station which goes out of its way to bring them enjoyment. . . Jn addition to these, are the eight million in Greater New York, Westchester, and Connecticut for whom WJZ has taken on a new personality sinec its recent trans- mittermove now brings new strength and clarity to its signal in their homes . . . It's time you made a new estimate of the new WJZ .. . These new friends of WJZ can be your friends! m ;:.<■• m 1 m& mm am :: *w YOUR STRONGEST VOICE IN THE WORLD'S RICHEST mMkBT KEY STATION OF THE BlUE NETWORK ★ 770 ON YOUR DIAL