Variety (May 1946)

40 Wedncwlay, May 1, I945 Educational Radio Can Boost Interest In Comm'l Shows, Sez WHCU Mgr. Educational radio can be com- bined with commercial practices in such a way that one type of broad- casting bolsters listener interest for the other, with, the result that a sta- tion could do strictly educational work and pay off at the. same time. That was the opinion expressed last week by Michael Hanna, manager of WHCU, Ithaca. N. Y, Hanna, in N. Y. to attend I I've. 2nd district meetinn of the NAB. pointed to the practices of his station which is owned by Cornell University but is run strictly as a commercial opera- tion; With FM radio promising a great influx of broadcasters devoted to educational work, Hanna pointed out. it's important to the industry to develop yardsticks whereby ihe two types of radio can be integrated. "That's what we are trying to do." lie declared. "We find that in a. sense the educational programs act as pro- motion for bur station, with the re- sult that many of the same people who hear our educational shows tune in also to the sponsored programs. ''One thing we must do. .however, and that is to have our listeners feel all the time that there, is nothing non-professional or amateurish about our shows, educational or otherwise. That's why we do not use our sta- tion as an experimental laboratory for the university, although wo are owned by it and closely tied to Cor- nell. We are not going to make guinea pigs out of our listeners. "The university is contemplating the establishment of radio courses with credit to a degree. If good radio people are developed by the univer- sity,, they can be of help to us and we to them. But we are a radio sta- tion, commercially operated, with a budget that must stand on its own. and we operate as a separate enter- prise. In other words, ours is a radio station, and not a schoolroom. "Far from selling educational pro- gramming short, we do shows that are strictly educational, beamed di- rectly into classrooms not only in Ithaca but in our entire listening area. For instance, we have a nature show built primarily for children in j'Grades Four to Six: and we run a show called "Journey Behind the News" in which news is discussed in , its relation to different- locales : throughout the world. Both these ■shows are run in close cooperation 'with'the public school systems, and 110 effort is made to disguise the fact that they . are educational. But it ; takes money to do programming of jthis kind. The news show distributes I about 10,000 maps a year. Somebody I has to pay for these maps. We pay ; directly, but the money of course j course comes from our profits from commercial broadcasting. . Thai's, a- .simple example of the combination ! of commercial and educational radio. "On the other hand, this is what ! happens. Listeners to our educational shows have developed confidence in 'j us. The result is that WHCU stands for dependable radio, as far as they I are concerned—and that means, of course, increased listening to and confidence in our sponsored shows. One type of radio washes the hands of the others, if you will." GRAY, DRAKE INTO WDGY Minneapolis. April 30. Twin Cities Broadcasting Corp.. owner of WDGY. announced ap- pointment of Gordon Gray as veepec and general manager and Melvin Drake as vecpee and station man- ager. ■ Lew W. Avery, was announced as 1 national sales rep by Charles T. Stuart, Corp. president. MEL BLANC PACKAGE WITH EYE TO COLGATE Sherman and Marquette agency has wrapped up a comedy package with music starring Mel Blanc, the I Pedro on the agency's Judy Canova- Colgate show.' Show was'put on ! wax on the Coast over the weekend by Joe Rines and Sam Fuller. tBoys. i incidentally, claim a 100% one-man ! audience Hooper on coasl-lo-coast i telephone riookup when they played j show via long distance to bossinan 1 Car Brown). j Colgate gets first crack at Blanc package; then 16 the open market. KMBC, K.C., Packages 25th Anni Show For Clubs; Kudoes Rival Kansas City. April 30.. The 25-ycar history of radio has been dramatized as a package pres- entation for local clubs and civic or- ganizations by KMBC as part ot -the celebration for its 25th annivcrsavy. ! First presentation was made beforey ' the Chamber of Commerce luncheon. April, 25. The routine includes a talk by Karl Koc'rper. v.p. of Mid- land Broadcasting Co. (operators of KMBC), and musical backgrounds through the years by the Texas .'Rangers. i The script also gives due credit to KMBC's rival, WDAF, through Leo Filzoatrick and the Kansas City Nighthawks. a program which is still in operation. Material for -the presentation has been gathered by E. P. T. Shuriek. chief of public relations and adver- tising for KMBC. and is being com- piled into a book soon to be pub- lished. Trend to Partial Shuffle of Clear Channels Seen in Denny's Position * Washington, April 30 ' I Tip-off that FCC inclines toward at least a partial breakdown of the present clearchannel radio WINS Showdown Stalled, . w H 1. j 1 present viearcnannei radio setup Compromise Is Readied'i an ^.. fi ;.°. m u ^ c . li , n,{ , c J? a . i ! :ma, L9 ,,ai ' ie s Cleveland—WHK has announced the appointment of three new execu- 1 lives: Jackson B. Maurcr has been I named public relations director: Philip R. Hrebert. assistant sales, and Jacob E. Hines. assistant program director in charge of continuity. Washington. April 30. At request of the parties, the FCC has- postponed .an oral argument— earlier slated for April 28—on the proposed sale of WINS, N. Y.. from Hearst Radio, Inc.,- to the Crosley Radio Corp., now owned 100% by Aviation Corp. Companies asked for a 60-day extension and agreed to exlcnd their sales contract, slated to die on May 14. in an effort to work operation on clears that were dis. R. Denny here last Friday (26) win, announcement ot a . procedure the Commission will follow if and when the clears are duplicated. If it decides to let other stations climb aboard the clear channels, Denny said, FCC will provide a 60- • day .waiting period to let all appli. cants gel their applications on file, This means that all the bids for out a deal that would win FCC ap- proval. Commission earlier this month- nixed the WINS sale, with majority of the FCC members basing their opposition on a contract provision giving Hearst $400,000 worth of air time on WINS over a 10-year period. Hearst is reported holding out for the time-trade arrangement, al- though AVCO would like to settle in cash or by some other means. Best guess here is that the parlies will come up with a compromise 'proposal to limit the time-trade'ar- rangement to terms-.of the WINS li- cense period. This will bring the deal in line with several other such brokerage arrangements, such as the 09-year contract in effect at WMPS. Memphis. The WMPS contract dies automatically with the license ot the station. KAP MONAHAN'S SUSTAINER Pittsburgh, April 30. Kap Monahan, drama critic for the Press, will hit the airwaves next week as a commentator, reviewing the news with, a humorous slant. He's starting out with KQV on a sustaining basis; once weekly on Sundays at 2 o'clock for 15 minutes beginning May 5. TED MACK TAKES PLEASURE IN ANNOUNCING THAT HE HAS ASSUMED THE EXCLUSIVE PERSONAL MANAGEMENT OF ONE OF RADIO'S FINEST MUSICAL DIRECTORS JOHN CART CONDUCTOR, COMPOSER, ARRANGER THE CARRINCTON PLAYHOUSE T H E H A R RY SAV O Y S HOW NIB. C PLAYHOUSE OF FAVORITES THE JOHN CART TRIO FOUR EAST FIFTY-THIRD STREET NEW YORK 22 . PLAZA 5-3285 missed by FCC in January may be retllod, and will be considered on equal fooling with new applications. Clear channel operators will be given another chance to suggest ways and means to improve service to radioless areas at the July ses- sion, when engineering maps show- ing present coverage will be intro- duced. Denny's announcement followed appeals by spokesmen for college- owned radio stationsy-bulk of which share lime'with the'biglime outlets on clears—for more power and more hours, on the air. Majority of- some 20 college stations arc now limited to broadcasting between sunrise and sunset to protect the extended night- time secondary service ot the clears, CBS' Ball Meanwhile, according to observers here, CBS plainly "carried the ball" at last week's hearing, with a pro- posal strikingly similar lo those ex- pressed . privately by several FCC members themselves. The CBS position, presented by net pixxy Frank Stanton, opposed any wholesale reshuffling of clear channel assignments now on Ihe ground it would retard FM. Gearing the radio service of the future al- mosl entirely to FM, Stanlon de- tailed CBS plans for a 200-slatiou FM net. already drawn up on paper, which he claimed would serve al- most 90",'. of the U. S. population. To supplement competitive FM network service. Stanton suggested licensing of a few superpower AM outlets—up to l.OOOkw powei—. which would.be located so as to pro- gram for the lO'o of the popula- tion in the wide open spaces nut of reach of metropolitan FM service. Since operation of the supcrduper AM outlets would be unprofitable, Stanton suggested that FCC relax its ruling limiting one company to own- erihip of only six FM stations, and give a broadcaster more FM's on the condition he undertake to serve the uncovered areas with a high-cost AM outlet. CBS said It would take on respon- sibility of two such stations, which - might be located in northern Ken- tucky and eastern Colorado. Other nets could follow this same lack, Stanton said, and if necessary, a few of the present SOkw clears could be maintained to round out a full U. S. coverage. Caldwell Burns Columbia's proposal—dubbed an out-and-out "double-cross" by indi- vidual clear channel broadcasters- drew heavy Are from clear channel counsel Louis Caldwell. The big- tinte outlets immediately demanded that CBS chief engineer Bill Lodge be recalled to testify In detail on the coverage of the CBS proposed FM. network. The clfar channel broadcasters also are plugging for FCC to recall Stanton', for definite on-the-line as- ' surances that CBS will underwrite operation of the superpower outlets, and its policy of taking on Fill af- filiates in areas reached by the AM stations. ' FCC's concern that CBS would by- pass FM affiliations in towns cov- ered by the superpower stations was (wmcssed by Commissioner Clifford J. Durr. Stanton said his net had not reached any decision on this par- ticular point. Stanlon estimated thai, if Ihe commission's present FM policies re- mained unchanged, there would be 50",, ownership of FM sets in the metropolitan areas inside of three years. Some 45,000.000 FM receiv- ers would be on the market, accord- ing lo his prediction, by year-end. 1947. A 200-FM network might not j become an economic reality for an- other 10 years, Stanton added. But. j. he gave figures to show amp' 1 ' (ov " i cragc rendered by 100 to 150-link competitive FM nets;