Variety (May 1946)

36 RADIO Private Industry Turns Other Cheek, Endorses U.S.-0wned DX V&RIETY Show Did Go On WVrinetMluy, May 22, 1946 Washington, May 21. Sialonienls of. five lop radio execs. f nrioiising the international short - broadcasting program of the Stale Dept.. have been released by Asst. Secretary or Stale William Benton. Benton is now waging a light to have Ibe Senate restore $9.- 000.000 which the Mouse cut from his information budgcl. Without the money Benton will have to cut 6IT the DX broadcasts. Endorsements came from David SarnolY. RCA chairman; Frank Slan- ton. CBS proxy; Walter Evans, vice- president of Wcstinghouse Electric: Philip D. Reed, board chairman for GE. and .1. D. Shousc. vice-president -of Croslcy. In addition, statements ol support came from Charles E. Denny, acting 1 chairman of FCC: and Price Administrator Paul A. Purler, former FCC chairman. SarnofT .said his views had not changed since he mehioed the sec- retary of state in January. 19-13. thai American shortwave broadcasting in the postwar period would need ex- penditures of $15,000,000 to $20,000.- 000 annually. He said private indus- try would not provide the funds and that the Government should. "It does not seem." he wrote in part, "that international broadcast- ling Villi all ils national and -inter-. ! national implications constitutes' a i field for private competition: or. even rif it did,: that it represents a field I with adequate commercial revenue i lo provide the very large sums nced- ! ed to render a public service- of ! genuine world magnitude." "Democralle DX" i I Stanton wrote that CBS "believes : that democratic shortwave interna.-' I tional broadcasting is important to | the United Stales in its world rela- ! lions. We believe that shortwave ■ broadcasting is a inosl essential in- 'slrunienl for the direct and unrcn- ; sored dissemination of such inform*-, lion in peace as well as during war. i It seems to us of paramount im- portance that the present scale of operations not be abandoned or di- minished while a permanent peace- time plan of operation is being de- veloped." [ Shouse wrote: "I feel it is extrcmc- i ly .difficult to believe thai private ■ industry can. al the present lime. : assume (he terrific, operating loss which would ensue if international i broadcasting were to be-turned back to private industry. Every broad-- 1 easier faces the likelihood and the 'necessity of making, during these (Continued on page 4-4» Hollywood, May 21. Bud Lynn, tenor in King's Men choral group, -further etched in show-musl-go-on tradition-by work- ing with others of group for prcein of their new NBC show for Almond Roca last week—by singing while loling a flu fever of lO.'l. Stricken with serious attack the morning of day broadcast-' was scheduled, he insisted on holding his spot. He was rushed home im- mediately upon concluding show. 7h* first airship to cross tho Atlantic was tho dirigible R-34. It flew from Scotland to New York in 108 hours and 12 minutes. WIP WAS THE FIRST RADIO STATION IN PHILADELPHIA t IS FIRST IN THI NUMBER OF LOCAL ADVERTISERS 410 k. e. • ' mmWt'S 3nl MARKET WFtlMTE 5000 WATTS tmtsweo NATioNAur bv • tO. P. HOILINOBERY CO. "t wip -m 'Sad- Sacks From Saks 5th Aye.' Stage Reunion For Lord Queensberry The American Radio Mission to the ETO, which VIP'd around Eu- rope last August-September, in- specting American radio .installa- tions, in England and on .the-Con- tinent, staged a reunion Monday night (20) at the Waldorf wilh the Marquess of Queensberry as the guesl-of-honor. 'He and his personal aide. Jack Harding, were not only, very hospitable to the U. S. broad- casting party but. through Ihe war years, put themselves out for Glenn Miller. Bing Crosby. Dinah Shore and .others... During an evening of nostalgia and reminiscence a good percentage of the U. S. radio parly noblesse- obliged for the Marquess, followed by a visit (o Joe Louis' training camp yesterday (Tues.i. a trip which was bound over from the day before. .lodge Justin Miller. Mark Woods. Bill Hedges. Martin Campbell. Col. Harry Wilder. J. Leonard Reinsch and Clair McCollough couldn't at- tend for divers reasons. Some were in Chi or on Ihe Coast: the NAB prexy was held in Washington on business: and McColloughs brulher look suddenly and seriously ill. Mutual Broadcasting's Bob Swezey loaslmastcred. and brief addresses of welcome were made by Jack Alicoate. Joe Csida. Sol Taishoff. Joe Ream. ex-Col. Ed Kirby. Morris S. Novik. John Fclzer and Abel Green. Kirby was the group's con- ducting officer, and the Broadcast- ing Mission affectionately had (tubbed itself Task Force Kirby. The alternate billing was "The Sad Sacks from Saks Fifth Avenue." Along with the Marquess and Mr. and Mrs. . Harding, also attending were Mr. and Mrs. Percy Hoskins. Latter is the London Express col- umnist now gathering material which he cables as special dispatch- es to his paper. WRIGLEY ALSO JOINS IN NETWORK EXODUS Chicago, May 21. I Wrigley Co. is yanking its lialf- ; hour dramatic show, "Island Yen- ilure." from the 10 p. m. slot on CBS las of June 10. reason given being^ i shortage of sugar. Adventure scripts, | ; written by Ken Robinson and Ed ; Gardner, have been on the ether 1 since Jan. I. "Venture" replaced "First Line," one or.. Wrigley V three Wartime "in- stitutional" shows, others being "Service to the Front" and "America in the Air." Neither.or the latter have'-'been replaced, leaving the chew-chew out III with only the Gene Autry show on the net Sundays. 'Hucksters' Continued from )>as<- 32 sonalized slory mature and absorb- ing treatment, while the fictional- ized development puts it in Ihe ranks of one of the besl novels of ihe year, irrespective or ils appeal lo those in the agency-know. The circulating library c;ud hold- ers, thanks lo that second half, will eat it up. And • "Metro, which plunked down $200.01)0 for the screen rights, has a surefire prop- erty on ils hands, once it's brought in under the boy-loves-girl code limitations. | Hollywood - dak-lined slory in this issue stales.Clark Gable nixed it as his nexl vehicle. Prop- erty was bought with , that star in mind. I UN, Broadcasters Huddle On Facilities for Wider Coverage of N.Y. Meets Plans for wider radio coverage ■than heretofore of the United Na- tions activities, were laid before I broadcasters yesterday (Tuesdayi al j a meeting' in UN's midtown N. Y. ! offices. I Christopher Cross. UN radio -liai- son man. and Hugh Williams, in, charge of UN foreign broadcasting.) outlined plans for radio coverage j from the site of the UN General As- j sembly which is scheduled lo open : at the former N. Y. World Fair ; Grounds Sept. H. j Instead of the present 12 booths: al Hunter College, there will be 14^ booths. Separate space will be given to each of the four nets. WNYC WMCA. BBC, CBC. and the U. S. Stale Dept. shorlwavers (OIC). These are the organizations that have been giving full .coverage. In- dies WHN and WNEW will share one booth. WLIB and WQXR another, one will be set aside for out-of- town broadcasters, and one each will be given lo the international di- visions of CBS and NBC. Booths will be larger than those at . Hunter College. There will also he two studios for origination of shows. Television plans are in the blue- prints of the UN film division, but video will be,taken care of—if the lelccaslers. straighten out their troubles about labor union jurisdic- tion. In addition to the selup at Ihe General Assembly, there will be two mure coverage points for the UN. both al Ihe sile of Ihe Sperry Gyroscope plant just outside melro- - politan N. , Y.. in Nassau County. j There, booths will be set up in the buildings to be occupied by the Se- curity Council and by the Economic and Social Council. Cross asked the broadcasters to i form their own committee, through : which UN radio affairs would be ! channeled lo the trade. Committee, selected by Ihe broad- casters, consists of Stanley Richard- son. NBC. chairman: 'Tom Slater, , Mutual: Elliott M. Sanger. WQXR; Mo Ranson. WHN: and J. , Arthur l.azcll. OlC. Troubles Pile Up For San Antonio San Antonio, May 21. As result of damage caused by a hailstorm which struck here Thurs- day (18i program schedules and sla. lion damage were the second dis- aster to hit the city in several weeks. The first was the polio epidemic which has put. a ban on all. enter- tainment for the next two weeks. Lines to KTSA and WOAI were blown down with resultant lose of network programs. In addition lines lo the KTSA transmitter were blown down and al! programs for six hours on Friday U7> originated from llic transmitter. WQAI also suffered loss of lines to its. transmitter and was forced to use. its 5,000-wall trans- mitter at its studio instead of il s regular 50.000 watt transmitter. As the city went into ils second week of a polio epidemic, local sta- tions Wenl all out lo serve listen- ers wilh the latest in news and in- formation on how to combat the disease, wilh stations lieiug in with health depl. FOX CASE IN CBS CHECKOUT Washington. May 21. Fox Case resigned last week as assistant to Earl Gammons. CBS di- rector in Washington. Reason given was increased responsiiblity of per- sonal business. Case came here from Ihe Coast, where he wax director of public relations for CBS Pacific net- work activities. <Vt» *1 BBC'S SACRED COW ' London, May 1.1. , BBC has intimated to comedians i that they must not gag about land- workers. , This is result of protest by Nor- j j folk County Council education com- ! j millec which claims that these jokes j have hindered the recruiting drive. 1 Every .Weed stai 'lion'is a"1 sales ..winner., fof. ,Jhe advertisers it serves.'And \\'eed'and^Contpan>'4 italf. of trained .representative*, wins many firsts in the radio lime. 'selling'.derby^for.' all their "clients' all 'year long} "5. T r \ \ ; > ( : ) V !' \ \ \ RAII0 SWIM REMESEHTATIIIS Niw Yark • lattN • Cbicaft ♦ WW* Dt trait • Saa FraKtatt • ITHIVIS I • Mia* I A SHOWJJMTH . « 1 O P " ^ ut . N £«lOBA, RADIO J. NOW TRANSCWBtD ^^