Variety (Sep 1946)

Wednesday, September 18, 1946 RADIO 23 RADIO'S BATTLE OF THE BIBLE Hill's Monument: Sock Plugging That Pays in Ratings, Sales, Coin The death' last Friday (13) off- George Washington Hill, president of the American Tobacco Co., fol- lowing a heart attack at his private fishing camp in Quebec, has per- haps left as great a void in the field of radio advertising as in the busi- ness world, Hill s impact in radio in setting tlie pattern for the trip-hammered commercial technique and lifting the controversial slogan into raditi's established formula has remained unparalleled. That he was as much a showman as he was an advertis- iny tycoon was evidenced by the fact that his multiple air shows sold cigaret, paid off in ratings, and spiraled American Tobacco billings into a gross 'of more than $500,^ 000,000. The Hill technique in its ap- plication to radio was no; small lac- tor in American Tobacco becoming solidly entrenched, along with R. J. Reynolds (Camels) and Liggett & IVIyers (Che.sterfleld), as one of the three leading tobacco outfits in America, But long before Camels, Ches- terfield, Old CJold, etc., ventured into bigtimc radio programming op- erations. Hill had sensed the impact of" wrapping up air personalities and big budgeted shows to sell his cigarets. Hill himself oftett said that his only philosophy was to give the public a good cigaret and to show a good profit for the stockhold- ers; it the bellyaching esthetes didn't like his shows^that was their con- cern, he didn't care. The commercial was tlie thing, so far as HiU was concerned. He maintained a strict hands-ofi policy on comedy shows (in the two years that Jack Benny has been selling Luckies, Hill never once tried to kiclc. Iris weight around), but on the musical shows, particularly on the "Hit Parade" program, he took a more active role—and usually got what he wanted, including ratings. Sired Slogans Hill himself inspired tiie_ contro- versial slogan "Reach For a Lucky Instead of a SWeet" and also sired the "LS/MFT" plug, the telegraph ticker technique, "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco," "Lucky Strike Green Has tJone To War" (postwar gag is that Green must have been a casualty, for the green wrappers nevesr got back from the war), in addition to other Lucky slogans that were given the trip-hammered treat- mtjjnt through the multiple Hill- budgeted shows. Hill's death has cued some specu- lation as to how it will affect the pattern of American Tobacco pro- (Continued on page 34) The Succession Paul Hahn, president of the American Cigaret Co, (Pall Mall) and right bower to George Washington Hill, who died last Friday (13), is expected to suc- ceed Hill as American Tobacco prexy, although Vincent Riggio, V.p. and sales rfiahager,' also must be reckoned with. There's also the possibility that George Washington Hill, Jr., who has been groomed for the presi- dency, may follow his dad, the same way as G. W. Hill, Sr., took up- the succession of his father, Perclval. Hill's other surviving son^ Percival, who'd rather be' called Val, is learning the ad biz at Foote, Cone ,& Beldiiig and working on all accounts except American. . ■ . Net Swallowing 5-Min. Capsules Negative reaction of prospective bankrollers to buying chopped-up tinie has cued a switch in ABC pol- icy aimed at eliminating five-minute segments. As a result, the Harry Wismer sports roundup* Which was beard cro&s-the-board in the 9;55- 10 p,m, slot, will now be reduced to a Friday evening- capsule only. For one thing, Turns; moving into the 9:30 Wednesday night period, wanted a full half-hour instead of 25 minutes, so Wismer'-vVaS yanked out of the Wednesday time; With ■the Boston Symphony moving into the 9:30-10:30 Tuesday segment, that' automatically rubbed out the Wis- her broadcast on that night. And with the Bing Crosby disk show go- ing into the' Thursday at 10 slot, ABC is inviting ct mmerei-'l bids for •the previou.s half-hoUr. And it doesn't want to risk a "tune-out" during the five-minute interval be- tween the two shows. Wism&r's 42 Sponsors , On the other hand, Wismor'5 comeuppance in commercial sports announcing hits its stride this sea- son. He's got 42 sponsors, with at Jeast half of them locatid in major 'narkels around the country, for hisi 'ialurday evening co-op spOrts Show. WebWalks Where Cabots, Lodges Fear to Tread Considering he staid conservatism of the organization, the Boston Sym- phony orchestra is getting frisky. It's revamping its 1946-'47 schedule to conform to ABC's bioadca.st require- ments. In terms of Cabot-Lodge tra- dition, that's comparable to a Back Bay bombshell. Starting Oct. 8, the Boston symph moves into the Tuesday night 9:30 to 10:30 ABC segment as one of the network's public service .sustain- ers. Last year it was sponsored Saturday nights on the same web by AHis-Chalmers, but the latter cancelled itself out this year. ' : To move it over into the Tuesday .slotj however, meant a reshuffling of the Boston aggregation's entire trav- eling schedule, with 12 Cambridge concerts previously booked for Wednesdays now inked in tor Tues- days, and out-of-town engagements al.so slotted for the same evening. ABC is plunking down $50,000 to meet the costs, but figures that in terms of a public service payoff it's getting in cheap. ill THE MIDDLE , A "battle of the Bible" is shaping up to? harass the radio industry on tlie issue of the sale of time for re- ligious; broadcasting. Actually, the fight is between two large, powerful sections of the Protestant churches. On one side are the so-called "funda- mentalists"'; on the other is the group considered "rationalistic." .; ' Each side is influential enough to' make things tough for broadcasters. Each side lis lining up to toss the fight into the lap of the forthcoming convention of the National Assn. o£ Broadcasters. Beyond tlie NAB, each side wants to sway the FCC And if the "fundamentalists" lose, both before the NAB and FCC, they will probably press their case be-I fore the next session of Congress, ! with the result that the entire Com-1 munications Act may come in for Congressional overhaul, I Involved as far as the radio indus- try is not a matter of choosing be- tween two- types of religion, but rather a choice of radio business principles. The "rationalistic" group is not strong for sale of time to re- ligious groups, being interested only in the improvement of that type of broadcasting. The "fundamental- ists," on the other hand, want time .sold to religious groups. Leading the fight for the latter GF Radio Billings of May Be Affected by Top Reshuffle CBS' '46 Finis—7% Off ■ CBS, which last year wrapped up gross time Sales totaling $65,- 724,851, will wind up 1946 with a 1% loss in billings. • It's chiefly due to the fact that the heavy-spending "war babies" have pulled out of the radio pic- ture. In a sense, tobogganing of billings adds up to one of the ■ year's ripley's. For,-with the ex-' ception of the 7-7:30 Saturday evening time,and Tuesday.night . 10 to 10:30 periods the web is completely sold out. (Tuesday 10:30 to 11 is also open; but board chairman- William S. Paley has: frozen the time for-pubUo.serv^ ice programming;). Satevepost Coml Nixed in Philly As Slur on City Philadelphia, Sept. 17. Two of the largest Philly radio .stations last week rejected a spot idea is the National Religious BrOad- | transcription from the Saturday casters, Inc., headed by Rev. Dr. Evening Post plugging a story about ABC Cops Crosby Disking Job, Outnosing Both NBC And World for Fat Waxing The ABC Recording Division has been granted mechanical handling of the new Bing Crosby program for Philco. Because of the prestige at- tached to the job, virtually every bigtime transcription firm bid for the chore, including World Broad- casting and NBC. ABC was granted plaltering task on the basis of supplying tailor- j made publicity and other efforts, in j addition to feeling in handing out waxing that net would give greater care to fetching platters in effort to protect its own interc.<;ts. ABC, by keeping it in the family, just managed to nose out' World,, a Decca subsid, which was favored by Crosby. Latter has interest in that firm. . Snappy, presentation of ABC's shellae stint was the' edge in final choice. Clinton H. Churchill, of Buffalo; as prexy, and including among its offi- cers Rev. Dr, Eugene R. Bertermann of St. Louis and Rev. Dr.- Glenn V. Tingley, Birmingham. On the other side is the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, headed by Rev. Dr. Frank Goodman, and a group of midwest preachers headed by Rev. Dr. Everett C. Par- ker of Chicago, The "fundamentalists" have circu- lated a resolution to radio station managers around the country, in- sisting that time be sold to their- group.'!. They are banded together in the National Assn.. of Evangeli- cals. Behind the mildly-worded res- olution of this group, there is implied a threat which reads: Bid tor'"Equal Richts^ "National Religious BroadcasteFs. Inc. became essential wheb it was evident that existing . interdenomi- national organizations, while claim- ! ing to be representative of all Prot- estanti.sm, were in reality repre- sentative of the point of view here- Philadelphia on the grounds that it was "offensive and a slap in the face to: the city." The blurb was nixed by WFIL, ABC outlet, and KYW, local NBC station. The transcription was put out by BBD&O, agency for the Cur- tis Publishing Co., and plugged the article, one of a series on American cities, published by the Post. The transcription used some phrases from George Sessioi-is Perry's piece, including these descriptions of : (Continued on page 36) Top-shelf exec reorganization o£ General Foods Corp:, aimed at a dar centralization of the flock of GF i subsidiaries and vesting greater autonomy in the individual brands, is expected to eventually cue a re- shuffle in GF radio billings. . Just how this: step will affect the various agencies harr'ling GF shows, on the air is creating considerable agency speculation,' with: the decen- tralization move being watched closely. In effect, it seems that there will be a separate inner-sanctum setup (prexy, etc.) for each of the companies; Jello, Maxwell House, Grape Nuts, Postum, etc., all op- erating as separate companies (similar to American Home Prod- ucts) and each distinct exec setup will make its::own decisions on bud- get allotpftents, radio programming, etc. - One of the top spenders in radio, with billings totalling $8,300,000 iti 1945; considerably more than it spends in other media, the GF night- time programming schedule is di- vided between Benton & Bowles (Burns & Allen for Maxwell House); Young & Rubicam (Fannie Brice for Jello; "Aldrich Family" for Grape'Nuts, "Thin Man" for Pos- tum), and Foote, Cone -& Beldinjj (Kate Smith for Postum). THE RAZOR'S EDGE Or, the Hollen-bfeek Saga Kasy Lesson in Acquiring^ a Sponsor Here's one for the books. A few weeks back, Don Hollen- beck was bounced by the ABC net- I work because,, on his early morning WJZ (N. Y;) sustaining news com- mentary, he got off a., crack about a Marlin Blade spot announcement preceding his program. T^^ web tofore described, namely, that which rejects the infallibility and absolute I [jreiy off ^)a-se authority of the Bible. , ^ | Now Hollenbeck is returning to "While recognizing the rights of j yvjz. this time for a Saturday morn- Jews, Roman Catholics and rational- ■ commercial news program. And (Continued on page 38) his sponsor is—Marlin Blades. The Sound and the Fury Of Tree' Radio in Greece Ry HERB tANDON Athens, Sept, 4. I ish Army, Four hours of the broad- casting - day., are turned over (or We can-l guarantee to pick up a i^*^""? '^^ ^^e Britons-for programs I for Ills Ma.iesty s forces stationed in Look, a Talking Dog Victor Moore has been pactrd for the Jead role in the hew package show, "Jolly Hotel for Dogs," based on Beth Brown's new noyel, -vyith Ed Cashman set to cut the'first: record in about 10 days; Show, packaged by Roger White Radio Productions, features novel treatment of dialog . between dogs who are taken Jn by a retired Brook- lyn postman, -wiho has set up a hotel for the canine*. Program will be cut on the Coast, sigrijl from Greece, were the last words a GBS official told us, as our DC-i .plane took .off from Newark Airport on the "County Fair" flight carrying, three calves to -Athens in connection with Greek War Relief. Wlic-n we arrived here and sot about malting arrangements for the bro'iidcast to be picked up as a seg- ment of the "County Fair'' broadcast on August 24, we found but . what he meant;. . .and why. ' ■ British Army control of Greek ra- dio should be placed pn the United Nations ■.agenda.. The word: that the Greeks 'have'for it, must be "iuafu" ...and at the present time not a thing can be.dene about it: During the Cjerman evacuation of Greece, when Allied troops were sweeping the bums out of the Balkan area, the Nazis set about to carefully destroy Greek radio transmission fa- cilities. When the British moved in, the.v erected transnlitters.-for local and shortwave broadcasting. Today, Greek radio uses tliose transmitters for their programs. But, as it appears,. onl.y with tlie per- mis,-iion and co-operation of the Brit- Greece. Oniy once a day, for a pe riod of 15 minutes, are the Greeks allowed to broadcast via sliortwave out of. the country.,.and for this privilege. Radio Greece must;pay the British for the use: of-the transmit-: ters. -- V - . ... ■■'■■:;■ ■■::.:..-:'^--- Greek, program schedules are cleared with British army men. who maintain offices in the radio station itself. As soon as programs are drawn up., the. :program director walks upstair.s and works tlie sched- ules out with a corporal or -some other raii-k who might be on, diiityi: Trouble Starts " .When we set about to make ar- ranijomciHS for our broadcast; which was to consist of an interview with 17-ycar-old Gus 'Kaloss, whom "Coiihty Fair" sent as caretaker for the onima'is, and about eight rninutes of general talk and interviews with Greek gcvcrnment officials—that seemingly easy job becahie snarled in all kind.rof red tape. : The regular CBS nian as.5igned to the arec was not on hand, since he (Continued on page 38) Crime Pays Off, Confounds Cnx The agency boys who have been steaming up radio bankrollers: to grab hold of a whodunit "rating stealer" and get a fast audience pay- off at minimum cost, are doing plenty of finger-pointing at the Hooper tallies and performing an "I-told-you-so" routine. . They say that the proof-positive is in the Hooper pudding, which shows that eight of the Top 15 pro- grams on the air for the Sept. 1 period are in the whodunit-cops, .'n' robbers category, most of them moderately-budgeted shows. These include the No. 1 rated "Mr. District Attorney;" "Crime Doctor" in the No. 2 spot; the Pepsodent Bob Hope-replacement, "Man Called X;" Roma Wine's "Suspense;" Iron- ized Yeast's "Big Town;" U. S. Steel's "Mystery Theatre;" General Foods' "Thin Man," and Whitehall's "Eliery Queen." While it's conceded that summer ratings are not a true barometer, nevertheless they point to the fact that with 126 network prdgrams in the rating competition, an eight-out- ofrrthe-Top-lS payoff c^m't be laughed off. HAROLD STOKES ABC'S CHI PROGRAM DIRECTOR Chicago, Sept. .17. Harold Stokes, Chicago radio musical director for the ' past 18 years, has been appointed program director of ABC's central division effective immediately, according to Ed. Borroff v.p. in charge of the net's central division. Fred Killian, who has held the post of acting program manager, will become the permanent program manager under the; new setup. . : . Stokes,, who started in the band biz in 1921, succeeds Gene Rousey who resigned last month. Killian had formerly been assistant to Wal- ter Preston, . program- director of WBBM. RADIO AND CHURCH EDITOR ''■ Miami, Sept. 17. ■ IWiaml Daily, News is latest daily to hypo its radio cQveiage. Louise Leyden has been named, radio edi- tor. Sheet runs the column $even days a week. , Miss Leyden is also the paper's church editor.