Variety (Jul 1946)

Wednesday, July 31, 1946 RADIO 27 ABC Toppers in Detroit for WXYZ Transfer; Hookup Cues Exec Shakeup Detroit, July 30. ■♦' Top officials oi the ABC net were present here for the formal transfer of station WXYZ from the King- Trendle outfit to the network. At- tending a party in Hotel Statler tossed for the press were Ed Noble, chairman of the board of ABC, Mark Woods, ABC president, Robert Kint- ner. ABC vice president in charge- of public relations, and John Norton, ABC vice president. James G. Riddell, formerly sales manager, has taken over as general manager of WXYZ from H. Allen Campbell, who will continue his association with George W. Trendlc in handling the "Green Hornet" and other programs. Trendle has an approved FCC per- mit lor a new station in Flint, Mich, and this permit is open to protests only until. August 8. The former WXYZ owner has a 1,000 watt trans- mitter and a 20-acre site outside Flint. He will buck WFDF in Flint, the ABC outlet. The permit calls for 1,000 watts in the daytime and 500 at night. Both Noble and Woods announced there would be no personnel changes at WXYZ, the network's fifth owned station for which they paid $3,G00,- 000. WTRY, Troy, Becomes CBS-er for Tri-Cities WTRY, Troy, N. Y„ becomes the CBS outlet for the "tri-city area," embracing Troy, Albany and Sche- nectary, next Jan. 1. Station replaces WOKO, Albany, the net's affiliate setup. WTRY operates day and night, on l,000w, at the 9B0kc spot on the band. learne Quits FCC In Frisco for Pvt. Practice Hollywood, July 30. John P. Hearne, regional attorney lor the Federal Communications Commission, headquartering in San Francisco, will resign soon to go into private practice, specializing in ra- dio industry lawyering. He will be succeeded by Ray Lewis, FCC investigator, who was visiting here with him for several days while Hearne was acting on final testimony required on video applications of Don Lee and Hughes Tool Co. Pair returned to Frisco over weekend to make arrange ments for takeover. FCC Hears Tribute To Pope as He Seeks To Bay Jersey Indie Washington, July 30. ■Heavily bulwarked by endorse .ments from such men as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas E. Dewey and Herbert Hoover, formal application of Generoso Pope to buy the Cowles Jersey City station, WHOM, was filed at the Federal Communications Commission today (30). Station is on the block for $450,000. Pope countered rumors of his pre-war "nationalist sympathies" in Italian politics by filing with his application statements from a dozen U S. leaders of all faiths and politi cal creeds. The letters were unani mous in espousing Pope as a "100 1 ;; American" and praising editorial policies of his Italo-American daily, II Progrcsso. The Cowles brothers, according to the application, are willing to sell ■WHOM after two years of operation at no profit, because they believe their best talents lie in operating stations to appeal to "prc-domi- nantly English-language audiences.' WHOM, the bid declares, is a "natu ral" for a foreign-language audi- ence. Pope intends to continue the sta tioit as a foreign-language waiter and "to bring the best there is in radio" to the Italian, Polish, Ger man and Yiddish listeners. Over half of New York metropolitan area's 4,500,000 foreign-born population speaks one of these languages, his statement adds. Under proposed operation, Pope himself will own 83.9% of WHOM stock, with his three sons and daughlcr-in-law holding the rest His balance sheet shows $1,814.41 to finance the station. Pope expects to keep picscnt per sonncl of the Cowles station. ARMOUR RETURN TO NETWORK SEEN IN FALL Chicago, July 30 Deal for Armour & Co., mea packers, to go back to a network operation looks set for the fall, with Mutual execs Phil Carlin, veepee in charge of programs, and Jess Barnes, veepee in charge of sales in for a confab with Foote, Cone Sr. Belding's Chi office, which handles the account. Nothing has been set, allhougl it's known Carlin and Barnes have made a pitch to WGN to tal "Crime Files of Flammond" off its local airing basis on that station and put it on the net, with Don Manchester, F-C-B exec, rumored interested in the deal. Looks like Mutual has the inside track,, inci dentally; however, everybody an his uncle is known to be bidding for the Armour biz. Push Vet Airer Washington, July 30. -B. Wade Thompson, newly ap- pointed radio chief of the Loa Angeles office of Veterans Ad- ministration, is in Washington this week to confer on plans for a new VA-sponsbred network show from Hollywood. VA which is stepping up its use of radio month by month, now has plans for a weekly 30- minute all-star variety show from the film capital. Show would debut in the fall and continue through the winter months. Weldon to Lynchburg To Start New Station Lynchburg, Va., July 30. Jack Weldon, former program and educational director for WDBJ. Ro- anoke, has arrived in Lynchburg to take over management of the Old Dominion Broadcasting Corp.'s new outlet, permit for which has been issued by the FCC. Weldon is hiring personnel, but construction of the station can't start until CPA gives the go sign. Weldon, New York native who got his radio start on NBC, has been a member of Univ. of Virginia Extension Division as instructor in radio writing and technique since coming to Virginia. He also did a newspaper radio column, and served as UP correspondent in Roanoke. 52 Mutual Affiliates Ask FCC Hikes; 19 Applications Already Okayed Upton's *Vox Pop' To Pop at Iowa Fair "Vox Pop,'' coming back to the air Aug. 27 for Lipton's Tea, will go lit- erally down among the people for its opener. Teeoff will originate from the fairgrounds in Des Moines, where the Iowa State Fair will be held currently. Aubrey Williams has been given the production assignment for the show. Agency is Young & Rubicam. Arnaz Vice Ennis On Fall Bob Hope Show? With Skinnay Erinis exiting from the Bob Hope show next fall, deal is on to fill the vacated spot with Desi Arnaz and his orch. General Amusements is handling the nego- tiations for the bandleader who has not been heard on the air since his Army release last December. . Arnaz is skedded to leave the Copacabana, N. Y.. on Aug. 13 when he goa)S to the Chicago Theatre Chicago, for a two week date, fol- lowed by a one-nighter tour of the mid-west. Mutual has 52 affiliates with ap- plications pending with the FCC for increased wattage. WIBC, Indianapolis, and WNOE, New Orleans, are applying for 50,000 watts, and WCBM, Baltimore; KFEQ, St. Joseph, Mo, and WHYN. Holyoke-Springfield, Mass., asking for 10,000 watts. Others want any- where from 1,000 to 5,000 watts. In addition, applications of 10 affiliates have been approved, with one, KSJB, Jamestown, N. D., which went from i,000 to 5,000 watts, al- ready in operation under new power. Others of the 19 have been granted increases from as low as 250 watts to as high as 5,000, with such Mutual stations in Pittsburgh (KQV), Washington (WOL), Jack- sonville (WJHP), Canton, O. (WHBC), and Minneapolis-St. Paul (WLOL), now in the 5,000 class. The network's president, Edgar Kbbak, announces 40 new markets, with estimated 1,113,000 radio sets, added in the past 12 months, to give the net 310 affiliates. Net has also added $40 more to the network gross rate, as well as making reduction of Vk% in its discount structure. YANKEE GOES TO DETROIT rr Exclusive • for-New England Coverage of Automotive Golden Jubilee Four members of Yankee's Special Features Department, under the direction of Linus Travers, Executive Vice-President of The (Yankee Network, recently returned from the Automotive Golden Jubilee celebration in Detroit. They brought with them, via Wire Recorder, behind-the-scenes interviews with top-ranking execu- tives of the automotive industry; PLUS an important message from Governor Kelly of Michigan especially directed to New England dealers, future customers and to the six New England governors. • "Yankee goes to Detroit", another example of on-the-spot reporting of headline events, was broadcast June 8, 10 to II PM from WNAC, Boston, over Yankee stations in New England; and presented before the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association 6th Annual Convention, Boston, June 18. ILLUSTRATIONS: 1. Mary Grace SimeKU, Queen of the Golden Jubilee with George W. Mason. President of the Automobile Manufacturer! Association and President of Nath-Kelvinator. Wire- recorded interviews include: 2. Chrysler Corporation; 3. Henry Ford II; 4. General Motors; 3. De Solo Division of Chrysler; t. Nash Motors; 7. Chevrolet Division, Generol Molors; 8. Packard Motors Company. THE YANKEE NETWORK Inc. Member of the Mutual Broadcasting System 21 Broolcline Avenue, Boston 15, Mass. RtprtstnUd Nstionally by EDWARD PETRY & CO., INC.