Variety (May 1946)

12 RADIO Wednesday, May 22, 1946 Love Thy Freedom, Hate FCC New G.O.P. Credo Cuddling With NAB. Washington, May 23. t Charge that "seven bureaucrats" have set themselves.up "as judge .of what 70,000,000 American radio lis- tener?: should be allowed t olisten to" was made Saturday night (18) by Cm-roll Reece, chairman of the Re- publican National Committee. Recce, in a broadcast over CBS, attacked the recent FCC Blue Book and declared the Republican parly is pledged to maintain the fredom of radio. The speech followed -up a number of recent local talks in which Reece had indicated that the G O P. was cuddling up close to the N.A.B. in its troubles with FCC. "Radio, (he newest medium for ex- pression." he said, "is entitled lb the same constitutional guarantee of freedom accorded those other me- dia by our. founding fathers. In the name of 70.000,000 listeners we resent, the arbitrary actions of seven self- dppoinlcd guardians of the listening public." Pointing out he was a mem- ber of Congress at the time ■ the Communications Act was passed; he said thai it was never the intent of ilii legislators to give the coinmisr , For Whom the Bell— Another round in the Battle of Ihe Blue Book is skedded for next Tuesday night (28) when Sidney Kaye, veepee of BMI, and Charles A. Siepmann, author of you-know-what, tangle over the FCC programming report at a meeting to be run by the radio committee'of the American Civil Liberties Union. Thomas Carskaden, chairman of (he committee, Will preside at session to be held at Lbngacre Theatre, . N: Y.' This is round two for Siepmann and Kaye. They also tangled via CBS from Columbus. f-ioi) power over programming. "The commission thinks," he con- tinued, "that you and I are not {.'tiling nearly enough culture and education out of radio, and that our listening standards must be liflcd. Now I always get a little bit suspi- cious of anybody-, who wants to ele- vate my culture and education. Down With Uplift "One thing that bothers me about the uplift proposition is that so many of the programs in which the commision seems interested have a political slant favorable to the pres- ent administration in Washington. A.<. a politician I will tell you frankly ;hat any political party would give its eyeteelh to be able to control broadcasting for propaganda pul- pites. But as a private, citizen 1 can tell you frankly, that any citi- zen who is not on the alert to block any such effort is inviting national disaster, because freedom of speech »nd politically-controlled radio can- not live for long under the same roof. "The only explanation of the gov- ernment wanting to control radio is that it wants to control the ihoughls of the people. American radio today is half slave'and half free, and it cannot thus survive in a democracy. "The Republican party is pledged to the maintenance of freedom— freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom' of radio." Reece did not mention that the Blue Book was isued by a six-man commission, half of whom are Re- publicans, and there were no dis- MlltS. THAT'S A SQUEEZE, SON Claghorn Almost Impaled on Mason- Dixon Fence There was a three-way spread of the jitters over the weekend when it looked for a time as if Kenny Del- mar wouldn't make his Georgia-to- ft. V. plane hop in time for his three network commercial shows, on Sunday H9). Delmar went to Georgia to take some bows during the observance of "Claghorn Day" down there, and lie was grounded by bad weather. As resull, Phil Harris, who guested on the Fred Allen show Sutic'tiy nighl. filled in on a Senator Claghorn alley routine during reheasals Friday (.17). There was some question, too, as to who would go into the Sunday af- ternoon RCA show. And what about that opening Jack Benny commer- cial? But Delmar slid in on time. Dunninger Vice A&A Dunninger, who.replaced Amos 'n' Andy for Lever Bros, last summer on NBC, Will ditto this year but only for four weeks, starting June 4. Will be part of variety package as before, with emcee, singer and-judges, not yet set. Deal set through National Con- cert and Artists Corp. Axe Swings Hard At Ad Agencies Agencies and networks are re- ported preparing for wholesale axing of staffers to bring budgets in line with loss in billings. At one of the lop agencies in New York.which lias already been • affected by the can- cellation of commercial program- ming-, upwards of 75 are reported to be facing the firing squad. There : s a prevailing: feeling of Jit- ters around some of Ihe agencies and webs in the wake of orders to revise budgets downward, fliiecomb the payrolls and lop heads off wher- ever possible. Grauer-Sergio-Reynolds In 3-Way WincbeU Sub During 6-Week Layoff Summer replacement for Walter- Winchell has been pacted. with a Ihree-'way commentary lined up to share equal billing in the Sunday 9 p.m. ABC spot. Announcer Ben Grauer. Liso Sergio, and Quentin Reynolds are slaled to take over the 15-minule show. Winchell will leave the air in mid-July for a six-week layoff. Grauer will do straight reporting from the news wires during his stint, followed by. Miss Sergio taking the woman's angle, and lopped by Reynolds with analysis of current, news, plus gossip. Reynolds re- portedly drawing $1,500 weekly for his efforts. MARTIN, G. GIBBS FILL FOR DIGEST' Looks like Freddie Martin and Georgia Gibbs get the nod as the summer replacement show for Hall Bros, i Hallmark greeting cards) "Radio Reader's Digest" Sunday af- ternoon show on CBS, with Foote, Cone & Belding, agency on the ac- count, currently wrapping up a deal. "Digest'' returns in the fall, but with a revised format aimed at giv- ing stanza more dramatic substance and hypoing the capsule shots. It Took a Year, But Downey Lands WOR Spot Morton Downey, heard over Mu- tual network outside N: Y. for over a year, will finally be carried by WOR. MBS' N. Y. flagship, suiting sometime .in June. Program is to have new name throughout net "Coke Club." Query why WOR carried a mu- sical suslainer in the 12:15-12:30 p.m! spot instead of a sponsored Downey all this while has not been officially explained, but it's believed the. nix came because the local coke bottler, who would have to carry sponsor burden, didn't care for the program. Hope Bings Eternal 'Kraft is still hopeful of retaining services of Bing Crosby for next sea- son. He has informed cheesexecs that they will be given' a chance to compete with other offers. General Motors tendered a stock deal lhat has since chilled. . Kraft is now working on a similar proposition that will likely be landed to. Norman Blackburn, of J. Walter Thompson agency, in -Chicago, this week. Details of plan have not been disclosed, but it is being guessed as an opportunity (o lake stock iiv National Dairies, parent company of Kraft. KLZ'a TROPICAL TENOR ROY EBERHART Roy. who loured (wo years wilh .lack Dempsey's Coast Hiiaril Bond Show, waihles dally on Kiwi's "Pol-, luck Parly." KLZ, DENVER 'Hucksters' Soap Uproar Pays Off the Ad Agencies With a Hotfoot (Less 15%) By GEORGE ROSEN Frederic Wakeman, who was a former account exec oh the George Washington Hill-American Tobacco account at Foote, Cone & Belding before taking lo writing best-sell- ing novels, has written a satire on the advertising agency business called "The-Hucksters" which Rine : hart &.Co. has just published and which is -getting a 400,000 circula- tion-hypo as the June selection'of the Book-Of-The-Monlh Club. To call it a satire, however', is strictly a misnomer, for under the protec- tive cloak of a "novel" format, Wakeman has come up with a fac- tual—not to mention exciting—case history of Ihe heartaches, ulcers and kowtowing dial's legion among the Madison-Park-Lexington a v e n u.e boys who lake a ycar-'round beat- ing lo pocket 15';, of the billings' on their multi-million dollar ac- counts. Wakeman's book is a lulu; in terms of entertainment it packs a terrific wallop lhat will probably land il -a top spot on the Wo'mrath rating parade. Too. it's loaded with dynamite, hueing so close to the mccoy characters' who operate be- hind the commercial programming scene that it's already started talk of a cycle of reprisal threats right down the line which, though they may or may not be true, won't hurl the book's sock payoff when the final bo. returns are in. And cer- tainly, it's Ihe most provocative treatment to date on the ad agency business. ■Long before publication dale, the trade was kicking around the pros and cons of the saga of Vic Nor- man, Evan Llewellyn Evans, the soap manufacturer with a penchant for (he triphammered commercial, and the dypsomanical agency head whose hatred for and fear of the know-it-all client was only tem- pered by an ail-too awareness of where the rent was coming from. To the agency guys and all the others close to the radio program- ming operation, there's little heed for second-guessing in identifying Wakeman's siring of fictional char- acters. It's hardly a secret that the ex-FC&B account exec probed into his personal files in endowing Boss Mann Evans with many of Ihe off- Ihe-beaten-track trails and char- acteristics long associated with G.W. Ypu-Know-Who. All of which accounts for the re- prised "you - can't - do - this -to - us" theme and flock of rumors and counter-denials circulating the trade. To hear Ihem tell it, 1) the agency which would permit an ex-account exec to sabotage its files is all set to lose its favorite account: 2) the agency's No. .1 man is pulling out: 3) the prototyped "hucksters" are talking in terms of libel action, defamation of character, etc. Which can be taken for what it's worth. But the simple facts remain: Wakeman's expose of agency-lal- ent-cliehl operations is One of the treats of the season. For the trade, the first half of. the book will be' its chief allure; there will probably be a difference of opinion—at least among the trade boys—about the second half, with its love interest motif. And plenty torrid, at that. But taken as a whole, "Hucksters" will have a universal appeal. Be- cause Wakeman has given the per- (Continued oh page 36) WLW Sending Typical' Citizens To Europe for Famine Fight Tiein Flask Web SeUs Skow Mutual program, formerly known as "Don't Be A Sucker," and now titled "Special Investigator," will be sponsored starting June 23 by Com- mercial Credit Go. DeaL set through Sheldon, Quick and McElroy. Program, which will be done in cooperation with the Better Business. Bureau, stresses biz infractions, such as GIs being mulcted by black mar- keteers, rackets, etc. Lift Web 0&0 Rule, Sez CBS CBS is rumored ready to chal- lenge the FCC's present ceiling on KM station ownership by filing a bid for a seventh outlet in Washing- Ion: Web already has filed for the ceiling of six FM stations throughout. Hie country, and there's talk* now' about applying for the seventh, lo bring the total up lo its seven o. & o. AM stations. Although nothing definite lias been decided yet on ll>e Washington application, CBS has always taken the position that there's' no justi- fication for the ceiling of six. accord- ing .lo Joseph H. Ream, veeper-scc- rclary. It's merely an arbitrary figure, same as the ceiling of live stations decreed for television, Ream said. He pointed out, however, that CBS proxy Frank Stanton had urged Ihe FCC at Ihe clear channel hearings last month to relax Ihe FM ceiling under certain conditions. Meanwhile, mystery surrounds the FCC's silence On announcement of a policy tlxing ceiling on the number of AM stations any one company may own. Commission is known to have tentatively okayed the policy of giving out no more than six apiece, but is rumored lo have changed its mind recently. Turns Drums Out of CBS Sunday Night Spot, As 'Danbury'Doesn't Amaze Lewis Howe . Co. (Turns ) has de sided lo throw in (he sponge. On June 16 it- drops Ihe Agnes Moore- head "The Amazing Mrs. banbury' show and is relinquishing the Sun day night 8 o'clock slot on CBS., for which it was paying $550,000 a year, exclusive of talent-production costs. Cancellation, however, differs 'in motivation from'the.others checking off the bigLime, in this instance it being strictly an unfortunate cir- cumstance. Two months ago, turns' "Beulah" show was giving the sponsor cause for plenty of elation, making an impressive showing despite the op- posite-Bergen spot. Sudden death of Marlin Hurt, however, changed the whole picture. Client played around with a couple of shows featuring Agnes Moorehead, but they didn't pan put. So it was decided to call it .quits. UAW Seen Bowing Out As FM Contender in N.Y. When the FCC opens its regional hearings for New York FM grants on July 1, one of the numerous trade union contenders for a channel : is likely to bow out, according to word last week. FM picture in N. Y. Is rather crowded with union applicants, since all the big unions who've been want- ing in on the new bands have had their eyes on N. Y. Among the big union applicants are: International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Na- tional Maritime Union, Amalga- mated Clothing Workers of America, and. United Automobile Workers- CIO, UAW. however, was reportedly, ready lo bow out of the New York scene. Instead, word had it, this union would apply for a community station in Newark, N. j. Macon—Plans for doubling office space and studios' for WMAZ at Ma- con, have been revealed by George P. Rankin, president, and Wilton E. Cobb, gnl. mgr. of the Southeastern Broadcasting Co., operators of ihe elation. ♦ Cincinnati, May 2) What shapes up as one of the lop postwar public service contribs in- volving a top coin expenditure is being unwrapped by WLW hew Climaxing a succession of episodes which won for the station a Variety Showmanagement' plaque for "con- tributing to the World's Bread- basket," WLW is sending a "typical midwest farmer" a "typical midwest consumer" and a retail grocer on a plane circuit of Poland. Italv, Greece and other famine-stricken covin tries of Europe. Couple will do a series of broad- casts from overseas on conditions as they see Ihem, timed with ihe planting season and the vital neces- sity of farmers to utilize every available inch of land to help ; ,|- ■ leviate famine crisis. C. D. Blubaugh, farmer living near Danville, O., will make obser- vations for the. agriculturalists, while Mrs: Rhea McCarly Aim. wire of a Columbus physician, will r».p. resent housewives. Alvin v. llok;in- son, retail grocer of Porter, Indiana will report from the angle of fond merchants. All three assembled in Cincinnati Monday in preparation for tomorrow's t.22) takeoir i 0 Washington on Ihe (list lap 0 f ( h e long journey. Direct broadcasts from Europe are being arranged by Kit Fox, director of the Special Broadcast Services Dept. of WLW. Miss F°x is in general charge of ar- rangements for the trip and broad- casts. Journey has been sanctioned by' bolh the Famine Emergency Committee and UNRRA. Alter ar- rival in Paris the delegates will au- tomatically become reprcsenlaiives of UNRRA in official circles and have complete access to the 'famine territory and the assistance o( U: S. officials. In communicating with James D. Shouse. veepee. of the Crosle.v Corp. in charge of broadcasting. Chester C. Davis, chairman of the Famine Emergency Committee named by President Truman, complimented Ihe broadcasting foresight of WLW. In addition to on-the-spot broad-, casts, the group will send cables daily to WLW describing .actual conditions' from their individual viewpoints. Upon their return, mem- bers of the party will make formal reports to Chester Davis and other Washington officials! It is the pres- ent intention of WLW officials to use the cabled and . broadcast in- formation on various programs that are heard regularly over WLW. Heading the delegation is Roy Battles, station's farm director. D.S.T. Shakes Up Daytime Ratings Switchover to daylight saving lime, has raised havoc with Ihe four- network daytime rating averages, according to the new Hooper tallies, with the nighttime skeds escaping with a minimum of damage. The nighttime slandard-lo-day- lighl snafu was particularly bene- ficial to Mutual, which picked up 50% on its overall rating average, which totalled the combined loss of the other three webs. ABC lost 1.9% on the nighttime average rat- ing; CBS lost 2.1%, and NBC went down 0.8%, for a total of 4.8. It was a different story on the daytime circuit, with ABC off 10.1'r, CBS down 12.0% and Mutual olf 18.8%. NBC's daytime rating casual-, ty. by comparison, was only rufTled —down 6.1%, again demonstrating that "the star's-the thing." : CAST CUTS ITS NOSE TO SPITE OWN FACE Cast of "The Aldrich Family' 1 demonstrated last week one way of gelling publicity for itself when it became annoyed with tardiness of. the CBS flackery in failing tu *el up promised billing oh the Broad- way theatre from which tht shot*' airs. Gang chipped lit about $300 lo pay for two houseboards, listing t\try-. one connected with the show, and » marquee sign. They were erecl.itl Jasl Friday 117).