Variety (May 1946)

Wednesday, Why 1, 1946 43 Anson Wins KFWB Jock Post Vacated By Jarvis in Typical H wood Audition AFRS-FL Knox Station Set to Serve Hospitals Hollywood, April 30. Nationwide contest for new disc Jockey to pilot KFWB> three and a half hour waxparade, recently va- cated by Al Jarvis, was ended April g4 with naming of Bill Anson, of WBKB, Chicago. Newcomer, ex- pected lb assume job in from two to four weeks after serving notice on present employers, was voted in by 150-odd ad agency, press and other persons who listened to live pipmgs- in of seven contestants at special •dinner-audition at Ambassador hotel, with Bob Alda, Warner player, jn.c.ing. No name has yet been selected for show nor time of iffai'tihg. Origi- nally pegged "Make Believe Ball- room" under Jarvis, it' has been nameless for five weeks, following ■Jarvis'shift to KLAC on million dol- lar deal. Trade, observers think KFWB lost good bet in-letting pe- riod drift with varied Jockeys for so long and should have seized upon a switch immediately. Oft-postponed suit, now scheduled. for May 6. in which Jarvis seeks to restrain War- ner station from use of "ballroom" or similar tilling, may decide. Smith. Bull and McCreery aeency handled entire deal for .Warners. They will also direct the follow-up promotion' campaign which has been budgeted at $50,000, and will include car cards, billboards, trades and . dailies, theatre trailers, etc., to re- build 13-ycar old period. Field was kept anonymous but names of. most became ■:- generally known in the trade. Deal started with estimated dozen or ..more and was.boiled to seven, who were wired In. for 10 minutes apiece: Stunt, some observers thought, was a good Idea to sustain interest but was hardly proper yardstick for any in- volved. All contestants were under option while participating- Winner gets guaranteed minimum of S250 weekly, plus talent fees, spot btz percentages, etc., which may up possible take lb exceed $1.000weekly. And 'from here on out, winner will be in a goldfish bowl, carefully ob- served as a ■ "furriner" by locals still pondering the many facets to what was biggest indie station event in this area iii some time. Louisville, April 30. Regional hospital at Ft. Knox, 30 miles from Louisville and a perma- nent Army post, is to have a hew radio station, a division of the Armed Forces Radio Service net- work, with wide radio connections to provide information and enter- tainment to GI's at Army hospitals. Applicants for positions as sta- tion manager, three announcer- writers, a chief engineer and ail as- sistant engineer were" interviewed Thursday (25). Clri Reps in New Deal For Filipino Outlets Chicago, April 30. John Blair Co., radio reps, is cur- rently dickering with the major nets on programming for its newly pacted Philippine stations. Agree- ment with one of the skeins is ex- pected to come through shortly, un- der, which the island network will receive the mainland web programs on. platters, via air express. Short- waving of programs, originally con- sidered, was discarded as imprac- tical. Although it is hoped that the Ma- nila station, WOPI, will begin airing by July 4, actual operation is ex- pected to take longer. Other sta- tions are in Cebu, Davao, yCambo- anga, Iloilo and Tacoblan. Accord- ing to Blair execs, all the stations are 250-watters. Domestically, the outfit has added WLOL, Minneapolis, to its string. FCC 'Blackmails' Radio, Projects Government TVopaganda'-ChiM WJW Juye Show to Help Drive Vs. Delinquency Cleveland, April 30.: Before a large luncheon gathering, WJW announced it: will sponsor "Junior Olympics" in the Greater Cleveland area.' This effort to combat juvenile de r linquency will seek to promote play- ground contests and games in an effort to get the kids off the streets, to turn idle hands and minds into channels of sports. Bill O'Neil, WJW president, has been promised the support of the city Board of Education and from the editor of the Press, Louis B. Seltzer. Chicago, April M0. Col.. McCormick swung the FCC at the administration's head Wednes- day (24). in a full column editorial, titled •'Censorship Through • Black- mail,"! in his -Chicago Tribune. Owner of WGN, Mutual's outlet here, and stockholder in the web, McCormick accused- the commission of making radio an administration propaganda tool. through the "com- plex and self-conflicting'' standards by which it governs the issuance of licenses. The editorial declared: "One. has only to listen to the radio through a 24-hour span to discover lo what a large extent it has been made a ve- hicle for administration propaganda and slanderous attacks upon ad- (Continued on page 44) Tosses Up Sure Grand a Wk. Chicago. April 30. One of Chi's top platter jocks. Bill Anson, is tossing up five local strips which netted him in the neighbor- hood nf $1,000 a week, to move into the KFWB Al Jarvis disc spot, starting in two weeks. Anson stipu- lated in his'"entry" that the outlet would have to provide housing for his wife, their child and the child's nurse, as well as himself. In Chicago. Anson had a telephone quiz show on WGN as well as 'Words and Rhythms" under Chi Tribune sponsorship on the same outlet. The three other segments were on WIND indie, with a quar- ter-hour for Atlas Pragcr beer, two 15-minule strips weekly and live ■half-hours Sundays for the Cook County automobile disliibs. Anson also had a 20-niinule television quiz show, 'Telequi/.icalls" oil a once-a- week basis under-Commonwealth Edison sponsorship, over WBKB. Meanwhile Jarvis has moved over to KCAL under a contract reported to provide $1,600,000 for seven years, which should be something of a record for a disc hopper. Twin City Hookup For U. of Minn. Ceremonies Minneapolis. April MO. Inauguration of Dr. James L. Mor- , rill as prexy of Univ. of Minnesota was Kiven radio coverage which maiiy aRiced did credit to tho in- dustry. . Five Twin City commercial sta- tions al various, limes carried cover- age of educational conference pre- ceding the inauguration, and of inaugural, address, at one time ■using an intcr-slalion hookup Unprecedented here. KUOM fed WTCN; which relayed to. WCCO, which in turn relayed to WLOL and WDGY. all cutting, transcrip- tions of inaugural address, an im- portant educational event. KSTP cancelled three commercial prowams and part, of another, to carry the entire address, while other ■stations, working from advance! scripts, carried transcribed portions. | Listen to the new Mutual programs over your neighborly MBS station. Increasing recognition of our progress comes fjtnm radio'artists and "station men; from advertisers and their:agencies;'and from listeners themselves. The combination of better, programs plus expanded facilities is the solid base on which we are building this network. *300thstation,WKRZ, Oil City, Pa., added April 27,1946 MUTUAL BROADCASTING SYSTEM WORLD'S LARGEST NETWORK