Variety (Jan 1945)

28 RADIO Wednesday. January 17, 194J ns San Fraorisco, Jan. 16. i The war ot nerve.* against Japan I vras slopped .to nearly double tempo h\ OW1 transmitters hereabouts al. the very moment Gen. .MacArlhur's forces drove ashore on. Liizoj).' Six new 50.0flO-wall transmitters : were ptil into service. These new facilities almost doubled the hours.' of broadcasting lo the Japanese and. improved air coverage of entire Far East. N'BC operates four bi' the trans- mitters at Dixon, in the Sacramento ' Valley, while CBS operates two at' Delano, in the San Joaquin Valley.. At bulh locations, dual transmitters; permit simultaneous'beaming 01 the same program to -different'.-areas on separate wave-lengths. . '. Programs originate in .OWTs'jie-w ' studios in San Francisco and include! several new programs of news, com- "■ mentary and features in many lan- guages and dialects. Also ready- for j the Luzon invasion and in service , Dec. 26 were a new 100.000-waU. short-waver in Honolulu and a" 50.- ■'■ 000-watl medium wave broadcaster ■ on Saipan: ' ■ The Saipan station, broadcasters' hope, may prove one of the greatest anti-Nip forces unleashed in the -air. war. Medium wave broadcasts,' it's - believed, can be Heard by iri'nss audi- J. dices in Japan, and many Nipponese i "Joe Doakcs'' can hear. United Na-J lions" hows versions not available to J those unwealthy Nips who lacked; .relatively .scarce short; wave re- .. cei\;ei:s. FCC monitors report .thai radio Tokyo is attempting to.dis-j coinass and prevent listening lo the.j Saipan medium-waver.' '■■ _[ ■ r ■ ■■ The new stations -.are: KCBA and KC'BF, Delano: KNBA. KNBC. KNBI 1 ami KNBX, Dixon. /Former OWI:. voices here were KGEX: and KGEI. j General Kieftrie optfralcd.' Belmonl: I and KWID and KWJX. operated by■; Associated Broadcasters in South , San Francisco. j Jim Cassidy, WLW, On Way Back From Europe Cincinnati, Jan. 16. . After five months on Europe's western .front, most of the. lime un- der (Ire, James Cassidy, Wl.VV cor- respondent, is due to reach fJ.Y. via plane Ihis week-end for a rest; Leav- ing the First Army's front line Thursday ill\ he originated his daily broadcasts from Paris and London for'several days. Rila Rackett, wife ot'Cassidyi who conducts WLW's ''Crossroads Cafe" series, will meet him in N.V. and re I urn with him to Cinry. 'Heaven' to Sun. on Blue B J .ue has shifted the air time -for; its new sustaincr. "One Foot in Heaven." from- Fri. nights at 8:30 to Sun. at 10:30, starting this weekend. Show will now follow Bill Bcndix- in ''Life of Riley." - "Heaven'' was slated to make its bow last week, but casting trouble stymied" its premiered Stanley Wolf.; theindie producer whocowhs the package.: and Blue program execs, were...-unable-..lo agree on a lead.; Ralph Bellamy, i who was to hava' handled it. h::ving lefl for the Coust. HOMER FICKETT FROM BBD&O. TO THOMPSON -Homer Pickett.' one of .the-..pioneer agency production men in the indus- try, is checking out of BBDIO after 17 years to join J. Waller Thompson, where he'll handle creative program duties. Transfer will be made Feb. 1'. He's been connected with "Caval- cade of America" for many years, and "recently returned from the Coast- .where he worked with the agency , staff whipping "This Is My Best'' into ' shape for: the Cresla Blanca teeofV; Ficketl's decish io leave BBD&O was made soon after his return east., it's understood. FCC NEVER HEARD OF THAT LEA COMMITTEE Washington, Jan. 16. Tenth annual report of the FCC. oul.lasi week, completely sidesteps any mention of the Cox-Lea Cdm- millee investigation of Ihe coirmiilr tee. For all tho notice, the 92-page report took of the. situation it might never have happened. Report has the, .following high- lights on 1944: Number of AM stations increased from 912 lo 924. There were 37 FM stations oper- ating for about 500.0QQ FM receivers, with 202 applications on file tor new FM outlets. Si x commercial video arid I wo ex-, perimenlat stations were in: opera lion, and 52' applications' were on file. . ; '■•'■: FCC pointed with considerable pride tojhe fact that 1944 saw the 'network regulations in operation for a full year, with no casualties re stilling. Fred Allen to Wm. Morris Fred Allen has signed a manage- ment contract with the William' Morris off tee,.'''agency to represent him for all branches of the : business It's a. two-year' deal and was set with the.\comic"by Abe- Laslfoge.l. Allen " split with . his long-time manager, Walter Batchelor, last year. ; " ' ■' ear is to avenue VOI/IAIRI'] Voltaire would have liked December onWABC: . For during that month, Arthur. Godfrey^ Phil Cook and Margaret Alien conducted three separate campaigns on the air, on behalf of the men and women in our armed forces. Codfrey (from 6:30 to 7:45 A.M.) asked for blood...Cook ■ {a half-hour later) asked for books... Alien (only fifteen minutes after that) asked ipr Christinas gifts. Results: CODlluiY got 2,083 pints ofhlood in a single day - GAPSALS DAY at the New York Blood Bank — -establishing' a new:-record •which Col. Earle Boothe, Director of the Blood Donor Service - ,' is "sure will stand for some time to come." (GAPSALS are members o£ /VYABG's"Give a Pint ^-Save a Life Society", of which Godfrey is founder and honorary president.) PHIL COOK'S listeners seitt .him more than 20.000 books for veterans" hospitals and rest centers in the New York area! . New books, once-read books, books to nourish e\eiy possible reading taste. MAKGARF l AR1.ENreceived over 30,000 Christmas' gifts for the New York Port of 'Embarkation! Tliev.'-filled the p.o.c., then over- flowed onto ships scheduled to leave before Christinas, into adjacent army hospitals and camps. There never was a Christmas quite like this Wfore. For these were anonymous gifts; each ofthem, blood, book, or.package, labeled only: "For any C. I. Joe." You can't help marveling at the generosity of people. You can't under- estimate the bond between great radio personalities arid their listeners. Represented by Radio Sales, the SPOT Broadcasting Division of CHS Gabbers Dinner Boost to Radio /.I ' Washington. Jan. i,j Smartest goodwill stunt in a l.mu time is being credited.lo the bimd- casling industry for lasl fhu'rsday.'s (11) first annual dinner of the Jl.ulio Correspondents Association. Dinner was perfectly: handled. Ihroimboui entertainment was tops, and Uie place was packed with big and'little- shots of. Government, with President Roosevelt as No.. 1 guesl of lion,;,-. in general, the affair might be compared with the annual dinners of the . White House -.Correspondents' Association. However; the ' While House boys are prelly much oil their own and operate their dinners With- out organized . backing from e'lher individual newspapers or- from the Newspaper Publishers Associatioi . Difference last week .Sfas that lhe networks virtually underwrote lhe dinner. It was estimated that close to 90'< of those present were cui'io, wUh the. .webs reported picking . U! |., the check. In addition. I'ne wetis carefully handpicked the show. As •a clincher,: the four .nets ran open house. cocktail parties before lhe dinner, with a couple keeping open' afterwards. , JBlue beat the' gun on this phase- o'f the evening. It had grabbed a lurge room near the banquet hall of liie Slatler Hotel plenty early. When ihe' other webs woke up to the situa- tion, it was tod late; to gel rooms on thai floor since -.-'everything was booked for the. evening by olhec affairs. So CBS and NBC took suites^ on "upper -floors'of-^he holel and Mutual gol a place across' the. street in the Carlton Holel. Stunt has probably put broadcast- ing on a better footing with ; otlicial. Washington than anything eisc it has ever tried. It was necessary, to set up a junior head table to lake care of the overflow of .big shots, because so many news commentators grabbed spots at the No. 1 table. - Among those present:, FDR. who was flanked by £arl Godwin, presi- dent of the association, and Richard Harkness, its v.p.: Rep. . Clareiica- Lea, Chairman of the House Inter- stale Commerce; Committee: Director •of War Mobilization. James F. Byrnes: Speaker of the House. Sam Rayb'urn; Justices Douglas. Reed, Rutledge arid Black, of the Supreme Court: Paul Kesten. Edward . .T. Noble. Frank E. Mullen. -Chester LaRbche. Brig. Gen.'-David SarrioITi David Sweze'y. Harry Hopkins, Paul A. Porter. Afty. Geji. Biddlc. Gen. George C. Marshall, Geh. H. II, Arnold, J. A. Krug. WPB Chief; Elmer Davis. Henry. Kaiser. Admiral E'dwards, Judge Fred M. Vinson, and senators, • representatives, aiid army and navy brass and braid in whole- sale quantities. Jack Benny emceed' the show which, included: Alex Templclon,: Dunninger. Connee Boswell. Bill Robinson.\;Sally Moore, Bob Merrill, the -Varsity Chorus., the Murtah Sisters. Johnny Burke. Rosni io, and Antonio, and Frank Black and hiJ NBC orchestra.