Variety (Jan 1945)

Wedneaday, Jaauwy IT, 194S RADIO 29 Canadian Bcasters Have Plenty To Mull in Feb. But Dud Predicted By C. W. LANE Montreal, Jan. 16. When the Canadian Association of Broadcasters meets under the presi- dency of Glen Bannerman in Febru- ary at the Chateau Frontehac, Que- bec City, it, will have a pretty knot to unravel as to what i? happening "jo Canadian Radio under the cur- rent set-up. ; Totalitarian government interfer- ence with the private stations of Canada' has made giant strides in the past year and, at the present rate of progress. these stations will be merely the docile stooges of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation by this- time next /year, picking up the crumbs that, fall from the rich man's table. It is, of course, a one-man set-up that is exercising almost unlimited powers. Hardly a month passes but what .the axe falls on some lucrative private station source of income that is declared unnecessary and duly squelched. The one court of appeal —the Board of Governors—is of ho account; all, with one or two ex- ceptions, men unknown to the gen- eral public and sitting only four times a year, their chairman a part time official who leaves! everything to the manager and knows next-to- nothing of his subject. '. Political' action through Parlia- ment is out' of the , question. The whole CBC lay-out is governmental and the government. has other fish to fry than to investigate complaints' by disgruntled private station'own- ' ers. CBC Cracks Whip The method does hot vary. The private .stations are informed that the CBC does not.like thrillers, soap operas and the like, and would like ' to see them taken off the air. Its added that, If this, isn't clone within „a reasonable time', the CBC will ban them. Thus, 'programs very lucrative for the private operators will be cut out of receipts, although there Is a large and vocal demand for them. Similarly, the five-minute programs are out and wjll be en- tirely cut from the private stations In a-short while. ■" An instance will point the moral .of fne situation.. Just before Christ- mas Day, all private stations affiliat- ed with the CBC networks (and that • means a very large proportion of them throughout Canada).were told to cut. out all commercials on Christ mas Day, substituting CBC pro- grams. There was no appeal pos sible. Once the whip had cracked down, the stations obeyed—or else. Once professing itself above all such sordid matters as commercial sales, the CBC has gone for adver- tising on 'a scale never dreamed of when it was first set up. In addition to collecting a'$2.50 fee from every radio owner in Canada, the web is making millions yearly from straight advertising plugs aired. There will be plenty to do when CAB meets at Quebec, but it is not too likely that they will do it, many observers opine. Duffy's Chi Branch On Non-Hibernian Basis -.»■''■ Chicago, Jan. 16. Advertising itself as the joint "Where the Elite Meet to Eat" and using other gimmicks from Ed Gardner's airer as come-ons. - Duffy's Tavern, new Loop night spot, opened last week—but, leave us face it, Duffy ain't there. •. Non-Gallic handles-of owhers.are ..Mike Romano, who also has pieces of other niteries here; Sam Alex, who used to manage-. Gibby ■ Kap- lan's, and Fritz Farley,, who owns part.of Yankee Doodle and Elmer's Lounge, latter bistro being where Dorothy Dohegan.. got her Start a few years back. Irv Mansfield Will Produce for Biow Irving Mansfield, former p.a., is now with'the Biow agency's radio production staff: He'll work on the Eversharp account's Phil Baker and Milton Berle' shows as producer. Mansfield formerly flacked Fred Allen and Eddie Cantor. B&A Drop Guests Hollywood, Jan. 16. Burns & Alien's last guester: to night is Alan Ladd, keynpting pos-. sible new trend locally in that, as George Burns puts it, "you find you- say -the same .thing about ail your, glamour guesters and it becomes monotonous." Idea is to adhere to straight script. What's My Name? Tendency of top air programs to use mccoy names of agency reps and. other "behind the scene'.! trade people instead of inventing fictitious tags appears to be shaping up as an accepted practice this season. . The names of Don Stauffer, . the Ruthrauff & Ryan exec, and George Washington Hill, have been bandied about on the Jack Benny show; Harry Ackerman, who heads up radio at Young & Rubicam, is a character on the "My Best Girls" program and the. Hooper-Crossley combo have, emerged as neighbors on the Ozzie Nelson-Harriet Hilliard show. . : Now it's Edith Hophan, of the Lenrien & Mitchell radio dept. on the" Coast, who found her name doing duty on the Ken. Murray-"Which Is Which"-Old Gold show last week. " ,Des Moines—George Cremeehs has' been added to the KRNT staff as special events director. John Hack- ett, who has .a medical discharge from the Army Signal Corps, has been named sports director for KRNT. CCNY to Launch Annual Awards At Teeolf Radio, Biz Huddle in April Pattern of the first annual confer- ence on radio and business to be held in April by the City College of New York at its School of Business and. Civic Administration is finally taking shape. CCNY has long felt that the job radio and its agencies have done for " American business should receive greater consideration ahd that commercial and promo- tional achievements of radio should, receive wider;recognition. With Dr. Robert A. Love as di- rector, the. conference will provide business, broadcasters, advertisers and producing agencies with . a forum for presentation and a chance to discuss problems of mutual inter- est and postwar importance. Attend- ance will be limited lo those resid- ing in the N. Y. area, because of- wartime restrictions.- - Conference will inaugurate a se- ries pf national awards, with entries on,a national basis. ',' --Categories for awards, follow: for the niost effective,, sales promotion by ' a radio station of (a) a local program, (b) a network program; for the most effective commercial radio program developed by t'a) a radio station, (b) a regional network, (cVa national network 1 for the. most effective merchandising of a radio program by an advertising agency; for the most effective radio program. developed by ta) an advertising agency, lb) a sponsor: for the most, effective radio program developed by a transcription producer (a) for. an individual sponsor, (b) for syndic catioii; for the most effective radio program developed by a radio sta- tion for the purpose of increasing the station's share of the local audi- ence;, for the most effective radio program developed oy a radio network' for the purpose of in- creasing ■ the .network's share of the national audience: for the most effective radio spot'campaign. Awards -will be judged by »• com- .liiittee heV.'Jccl by Dr.- J. G. Peatman. • ADVERTISING MUST PACE PROGRESS WANTED TO LOCATE The I'rrM'nt WliemilHiuU of MISS EVELYN MAC NEVIN : Formerly Connected In Optra Communicate lor 274 This Publication ,1 l 1nco I u o'urrontly »orklnj, I toioy dncto'thli 14 to onothor Author or Co»o7*o to ulthorti loo. A fw tuM Ju«Ur. bo toiom- Jokoi tr<m how book - oltho on orooto «. lino too, SpooUllloo in 'nmrt' oooodjr. oMoh <(t«B-|Oto bli Uuilh. Hoi jood d«ll»0ry » - oon doublo oi ttoogo. TTlro olio roods ooll. For »«» yro; old talk' of orltlni Toaoo SUr tlioo. »o pojonM up no. or lomy lorlpti. Cblu U'o olio dooo ploturo work tm Coott. Olvo thlo bo/ o Job. Coll rat Kur/tt. o«d rotor to Cooo UMn.. and Revolutionized FOOD MERCHANDISING! Back in 1932, Irene \Vicker, The Singing f Lady started advertising cereal to children, who do not buy cereals—but eul them. An- other trail was blazed . . . and along that trail scores of children's radio programs have traveled, to create vastly expanded markets for a large category of food products. IN THE Advertising must again BLAZt NEW TRAILS! ^LONG the highroad of America's industrial progress, many of the main milestones have been advertisements and advertising ideas that opened up whole new concepts of mer- chandising the products of industry. Post-war ... . because expanded production and abundant manpower and capital will demand at least 40% consumption increase over pre-war levels-... the distribution of merchandise to consumers will be the key factor in achieving national prosperity. Again—advertising must pace .progress. As never before, advertising men face a responsibility and an opportunity to raise the world's highest standard of living to a new pre-eminence. Your clients will look to you, in the Distribu- tion Decade after V-Day, for accomplishments surpassing, everything advertising has ever done. Alert advertising men are,looking ahead . . planning and preparing for that responsi- bility and that opportunity. So is the 'Nation's Station. When the time comes, we will be ready to help you do a bet- ter post-war job for your clients in the vast four-State market that is WLW-land. DIVISION Of 1HC CI0S1EV COffPOf AVION THE NATION'S MOST MERCHANDISE-ABLE STATION