Variety (Jul 1946)

46 RABID PARIEfY Wednesday, July 24, 1946 Inside Stuff-Radio «. The payola racket, sometimes stemming from advertisers who arc well known for reputable brands and actually spend a lot of money to bankroll shows plugging their stuff legitimately, is being used by some ovcrzealous press agents, and advertising agencies arc beginning to look Into the situa- tion. One prominent disk jockey on a local N. Y. station was approached by a press agent last week and asked if he would like a couple of cases of a certain beverage every week. All he'd have to do would be to sneak in the name of the beverage a stated number of times. As far as this jock is concerned, it was no soap. Inquiry showed, however, that this beverage flack was not the only one who'd been propositioning various people on the air. Some of the propositions, furthermore, have been taken up, according to some ad agency people. These say they're checking up and, if the practice isn't stopped voluntarily they'll try to And some legal means of halting it. In his WINS box-score broadcast, following the' Yankee-Browns game Thursday (18), Bill Slater took an oblique poke at a couple of New York's top sport columnists for' remarks they both made about Branch Rickey, the'Dodgers' impresario. Slater led off with Dan Parker, taking the scribe to task for stories about Rickey's alleged raids on the Negro ball clubs, which supposedly cause the sepia stars to jump their original contracts, but softened the blow by finishing with, "Dan is a great guy and was probably the victim of misinformation/' Sportscaster was not so kind with Jimmy Powers, who has been calling Rickey "El Cheapo" in his Powerhouse column. Slater said, "I just don't believe that's true, as is the case with so many of the things Jimmy prints." Bicck added that "Programs like 'Gangbusters' and 'Mr, District Attorney' had a marked fascination for him. Radio crime programs of this nature are shown to have an effect on juvenile delinquency." . Heirens admitted during questioning that he still liked the bang-bang alrers. Radio Writers Guild has issued a statement on its policy regulating participation of members in radio script writing contests. Guild holds that contests must conform to the practice of licensing scripts for but one use only; that full payment must be made 10 days after the final days of contests—and not 10 days after the broadcast of material; full name credit arc to be given; that writers must have the right to use the prestige of awards to their own advantage, and that there must be no stipulation in agreements permitting later purchase of non prize-winning scripts at lower rates. Two Canadian radio actors, John Drainie and Hedlcy Haianie came down from Tqronto with writer-director Fletcher Markle to appear in the cast, of, "Three's Company" on the Columbia Workshop broadcast of July 14. AFRA granted them clearances for the one performance only. Another former Canadian actress. Patricia Joudry, was in the lineup of "Three's Company." Miss Joudry, an AFRA -member, has done relatively little acting of late, being preponderantly engaged in writing every other script for the commercial "Aldrich Family" at Young and Rubtcam. The first issue of the Canadian Radio Year Book,- including a Who's Who in Canadian Radio, is off the press—and it's an extremely valuable volume. For the first time there is included in one book just about every- thing one wants to know about radio in Canada. Edited by Hugh S. Newton (Jack Boothe was production manager, and M. R. Mallory, business manager), it includes everything and everyone in the field, from the official government setup of CBC to the privately- owned stations, agencies, writers, producers, directors, musicians and com- posers, engineers, salesmen, etc. The Year Book shapes up as an invaluable source of information, of and about Canadian broadcasting. Radio crime programs were partially blamed for the criminal career of William Heirens, University of Chi; student currently held on 28 charges of assault, robbery, burglary and murder, by Judge Frank Bicek of the Chi juvenile court. Remarking that Heirens had been arraigned before him in 1942, Judge if : : : ; 0 "HIRES TO YA'' FOR SECOND YEAR HIRES SUNDAY PARTY ARC. COAST-TO-COAST DISC JOCKEY, ttrow) oa conanr- cloli, promotions, clever, original, highest rtftrncH, seeks aaw setup. ROX lot Varlaty, IS4 Wait 46* Street Naw York If. N. Y. AIR SCRIBES, M'GREGOR FALL OUT ON PACT Hollywood, July 23. Radio Writers Guild and C. P, MacGregor have failed to come to an agreement on new minimum con tract for scripts. New ticket, which was to have raised minimum from four-year old figure of $45 per to $100, was virtually set for signature when blow-up came. MacGregor learned all he could purchase was transcription rights. Producer was surprised that his rights were limited, according to Guild rules. The troublesome angle is the same one over which the RWG is now haggling with the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies. The union's position is that literary, film, video and other subsidiary rights should be retained by the writer and that radio buyers, in any form, have no further inter est in works beside their broadcast purchase. MacGregor is being dropped from the RWG's Market List, it's stated And if the situation remains un- changed it is possible that he will be listed as unfair and members will not be permitted to submit scripts to him. KANSAS CITY 6, MISSOURI • ••Ic A»C forMID-AMlKICA NAtlONAl RIPRIMMf ATIVI...iOHN I. PIAIION CO. Forced experiment, on CBS' "Surprise Party" whereby commercials were dropped because of time shortage may develop into program policy. Due to away-from-statioh activities of participants, show threatened to gq over time. Producer dropped all but one, the opening, commercial. Reaction has been such that producers and agency are seriously considering per- manent lopping, letting continuity, which lends itself readily, take up slack. Initial show carried customary three plugs, one on each end and midster, coupled with raft of running mentions which saturated. Jurisdictional fight over CBS television directors isn't over until the National Labor Relations Board says so, and officials of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees are resentful over claims that the Radio Directors Guild has won the election held June 14. IATSE spokesmen point out they challenged those two ballots being held up on the date of the election, not on June 27 as reported. They also point to fact that they, too, were on the ballot—and not only RDG or no union at all—which is true. IBEW, COAST INDIES SIGN FOR TECHNICIANS Hollywood, July 23. Ending a three-month battle that twice verged on strike, the Inter- national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and indie stations have arrived at terms on a new tech- nicians' contract acceptable to b;'.h sides. The only station holding out is KRKD, which seeks further un- ion clarification of "jurisdiction" of engineers, but is expected to join the fold before the end of the week, when signatures will be placed on t 1 •■» dotted line. The terms call for wage hikes ranging from 18% to 41%, and rc establishment of the 40-hour five- day week. Other terms call for 15 •:<> ev'"- for supervisors. Th? contract will be for two ;. .s, but permits reopening of vagc pro- viso If the Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics reports a five-point increase in living costs. George Hicks', commercials for U. S. Steel, voiced during the "Theatre Guild on the Air" hour-long shows on ABC last season, have been brought together .in a brochure being put out as Steel. .Corp. promotion by trie firm's assistant to the chairman, J. Carlisle Ma'cDonald. Booklet illus- trates various phases of Steel's work, each locale tied in with Hicks' broadcast of a given date, and in most cases, there are photographs of the stage, screen and radio stars who appeared on the broadcasts. Meredith Willson's new show for General Foods got a terrific plug, and Willson himself got a big build-up, in an editorial in the Amarillo (Tex.) Daily News. The editor of the paper, Wesley S. Izzard, devoted a fulsome edit to Willson after his recent bow with his own show. Wrote Izzard: "If we were a sponsor looking for a radio network show (which is a fine way for a newspaperman to be talking) we'd ■ consider this fellow Mere- dith Willson He has a fresh sort of humor which radio needs." FCC has licensed for operation some 39 new radio stations in the western area of the U. S. since Jan. 1 this year. Of the total, 16 were okayed for California. Oregon got two and three went to Washington. Remainder were split between Arizona, 3; Colorado, 4; Nevada, 3; Ncsv Mexico, 3; Texas, 4, and Utah, 1. CBS 'School of Air' Adult-Slanted One-World Series on Curriculum Rolling into its 17th years as CBS' prize prestige sustainer, "American School of the Air", has mapped a new curriculum for its 1946-47 se- ries with a stronger bent toward adult listeners. Although still pri- marily geared for the junior high school bracket,, two of the five weekly sessions will have a topical postwar-world accent on interna- tionalism and problems facing cx- GI's. Partial shift in the program's slanting was cued by d.ata garnered from a recent audience poll which revealed a 200% increase in adult listeners since the series switched last year from a 9 a.m. to a 5.m spot. The research further disclosed the fact that more kids were also tuning in at the new time. Original early morning time was designed for classroom usage of the series but with few schools as yet suffi cient air - minded, the program reached, only a small fraction of its intended audience. Starting Sept. 30, when the 'School" resumes, Monday segment will be filled by a dramat series titled "World Neighbors". Accord- ing to CBS Director of Education Robert B. Hudson, the scries will express no point of view of the United Nations as a specific organi- zational entity since the issue is still controversial. Purpose of the series, however, will be to encour- age one-world thinking through glimpses of life in other countries. Friday sessions will be devoted to topical problems under heading of "Opinion, Please". Format will have two prominent authorities counter- ing views on a debated issue with ensuing discussion being picked up from various colleges where vets are schooling. Remaining sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thurs- day/will be pitched to the kids, con~- tinuing the series on music, science and literature. Program, budgeted at approxi- mately $250,000 exclusive of time costs, is produced by Leon Levine. William Paley Initiated the program in 1930 as a commercial airer but the net took over goon after and ever since has been carrying it as ah untouchable sustainer. Out of the CBS' 158 outlets, over 100 carry the series, an unusually high pro- portion for a rion-commcrcial broad- cast. Al Jarvis Hits the Road Hollywood, July 23. Personalizing its sales pitch on Coast's top platter pilot, KLAC will shortly launch Al Jarvis on national introduction . tour to cultivate na- tional accounts for the Thackiey radio interests. He Journeys East to connect with Dave Lundy, general sales manager of KLAC, here, and KYA, San Francisco. Together pair will handshake buyers, agency men and station reps. "Original Make Beljevc Ballroom," his disc marathon on KLAC. will continue with a substitute while he's gladhanding. Cott, in Weekly Fireside Chat, to Bare WNEW's Soul Cued to the FCC's Blue Book suggestion that stations establish closer liaison with their audiences, WNEW, N. Y., will start a new show in the fall on which program di- rector Ted Cott will report to the listeners and invite them to submit their gripes and kicks in return. . Show, to be tabbed "Report to the Listener," will be given 15 minutes of nighttime air weekly. Cott will report on plans for programs,' dis- cuss Current shows and explain why they were handled in a cer- tain manner, and answer letters of criticism from the listeners. The station,, in other words, plans deliberately to put itself on the spot before the listeners on the theory it owes them an accounting for stew- ardship of the air. KMBC'c 10G Promotional Hoopla Between Covers Kansas City, July 23. KMBC's "First Quarter Century of American Broadcasting," book compiled in celebration of the sta- tion's 25 years of continuous broad- casting is . ready for the (trade) public. The book of 16 chapters and 300- pages has been in the. making for 19 months. E. P. J. Shurick, promo-, tion director, has corresponded with most of the American broadcasting stations in running down the list of about 1,000 "firsts" of radio and 40 photos regarded almost as collectors items. . Over 300 stations, networks and individuals sent in material for the historical record of broadcasting for which Shurick is acting editor, and which is now in the hands of the publishers being readied for fall de- livery. for NATIONAL COMMISSION CO. Per Hit tilth rim* daring the pert M* weeks. A. W. "Ace" Lucas will Make Ml livestock market report at 12:45 today direct from the Oklahoma City Steckyardi. "Natloaal Report! the Market!" Ii eae of the pro- gremi tarried by WKY which makei thli station the favorite »f farm Htteners In Oklahoma.