Variety (Feb 1948)

32 RADIO Wetlnnlflay, February 23, 1948 St. l-ouis—To determine whether liighbrow or hillbilly music is the lave among dialers in the area cov- ered by KMOX, local CBS ouUcl, the station will inaugurate a new weekly program tagged' "Concert or Corn" with a $25 cash award given for the best letter received each week. " • - . .. Memphis—Wilson Nortlicross has returned to announcing staE at WIMC after two years with his father's mantel and grate company. North- cross was formerly with WMC for three years-before the -wari but en- tered father's firm on return from service.. He sings as well as. spiels. Dallas-^Charles B. Jordan has re- signed as managing director of W.RR, the municipally-owned outlet, ,tp be- come veepce and .assistant general manager of the Texas State Network. Salt Lake CHy—^Fourteen awards in seven classifications were given to local sponsors at the awards dinner of the Salt Lake Advertising Club helcT Thursday (19), Gold awards were evenly divide' among KDYL, K'ALL, and KSL programs, with KDYL grabbing three and the others two each. KDYL and KSL wrapped up three silver awards each, and KALL copped one. The two other .stations in town, KUTA and KNAK, were out of tlie running. El Paso—Newcomers to the staff of KROD here Include Tom McGov- ern to the ' announcing staff and Richard Stephoison and Martha BulUngton to th« station's continuity staff. Minneapolis—KTJOM sparked ex- tensive radio observance of Univer- sity Week ending^ Saturday (21), pro- motion staged by: University ot Min- nesota and MinneapoUa Junior Chamber-of Commerce in behalf of university activities. KUOM, non- commercial university statioHi pre-' pared .transcribed 15-minute shows, series of four, which were used by 20 Minnesota stations, all those out- side Twin Cities, KSTP, WCCO, WLOL, WMIN and WTON, all Twin Cities, did various special programs during the week. Albany—^Frederick S. Daiger, vet- eran of 18 years in radio and for a time night supervisor and chief- announcer-producer of shortwave broadcasts • ov«r KGEI, San Fran- cisco, has been appointed director of special events for WXKW, 10,000- waiter schediiled to go on the air at Albany in March with ABC af- filiation. Seattle—New studio building of KOHO, local NBC outlet, has for- mal opening tomorrow (Wed.), New building will house all departments of the station, aP'nrcIl as northwest headquarters of United Press, and installations include facilities for FM broadcasting as well as television apparatus. Canadian Femmes Continued from page 25 i over complete control of Canadian broadcasting, 97% of the S0,000 members.stating that the CBC ex- ercises too much control now and that this is not In the best interests of the Canadian people or Canadian radio. They also believe that the 103 Independent stations, in this country are giving a localized public service that the nationalized three chains of the CBC doesn't give, . Apart from the discovery of cur- rent listener lethargy in Canada, the survey revealed a diversity of opinion in regard to radio advertis- ing. With annual radio license fee of $2.50 for every listening set in the home—or automobile or boat in- stallation — the majority report is that CBC commercial advertising is Mot satisfactory, and they favor its elimination. They also believe that constant repetition of "Somebody's Watch Time" is becoming an irrita- tion. They view with tolerance, however, 'the fact that privately- "THE BELLS OF ST. MARY S • Roinbow Production- BRIEF ENCOUmTER UI VP rsai-Internal ionoi .'V-.a.Jiweii Andeison 'THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY Samue! Goldwyn THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES' Samuei Coidwyn IT'S A WONDERPUL LiFE' MY f-AVORiTE BRUNETTE Liberty Films „ ►\-:iro!ncunt P'C'U,e> "THE SECRET HLART ' Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer I "THE FUGITIVE" ^ Argosy Productions A ,■> \ "SWEETHEARTS" Metro Goldvvyn-Mayer-' "BOOMERANG" Tweniteth Cen'ury-Fox "DESCRT FURY'' Paramount Pictures THC TROUBLE WITH WOMEN' Paramount Pictures "THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM' Twentieth Centvry-Fox Hollywood's Greatest Motion Pictures are presented on 'THE DARK MpC?r"IVY" Universal-International Ur^iversal-lnternational MIGHTS owned stations must have commer- cial programs but would curtail commercials to "With the compli- ments of So-and-So, makers of Such and Such." Kids' Programs Unwanted In general, the programs of mu- sic, drama ahd _tallts given over the CBC are consictered superior to those given by privately-operated Canadian stations but U." S. pro« grams are usually given preference because of thair more finished tech- nique. Disconcerting to certain sponsors is the reaction that many parents would 'be satisfied if there were no children's programs but, because of the existence of such, a drastic reduction of crime and gun* play is strongly recommended. Other survey findings or recom- niendations: That good recorded music is pre- ferred to second-rate talent; that more good comedians be used but that good musicians do not try to be comedians; that jazzed organ mu> sic is. unpopular; that fewer western and hillbilly programs be broadqast; that crime and: jnyStery pfeys bie re- served for tete evening hours when children are in bed; thst "Super- man," the "Green Hornet" anot "Bos- ton Blackie" series be dropped from Canadian radio;-that news, and com- mentaries be dropped ffora adyer- ■ tising sponsorship; that soap serials be diseontlnued; that more good Ugtft opei^a be used, plus book Re- views and book dramatizations; that thft ''^ttgi!i)p dad#'! type pit co^j^^ Reserved by anhouhcer^ foir ietfilniti^ artists cheapens and detracts ftom; the program's worth;, that progriims' be arranged to stinaulater -interest in. hobbies. Territorial Areas By BMft in E?entie$s Broadcast Measurement Bureau's annual board meeting came and went in apparently orderly; peace- able fashion last Friday (26), with no really major Issues arising or fur flying. With all four networks in camp and station subscriptions hov- ering iiear the jU)0 mark, BM8 top- pers could; report the tripartite op- eration's fiscal health was liiiprOV- ing steadily. ~ Board gave a go-ahead to station audience measurements in U. S. territorial areas (such as Hawaii and Aliaska) provided a majority of sta;ti(>ns in each locality subscribed to BMB tod all out-pf-pbcket ex- penses were recovered. In other actions, the BMB direc- tors appointed the Statistical Tabu- lating Co. of Chicago to handle the bureau's listener measurement tab- ulatipus> and iapproved formation bt a televistoii committee to look into problems expected to arise in con- nection with measurement of video audiences in 1949. A sales commit" tee also was authorized, to advise on efforts to increase the number of BMB subscribers. (Current figure is around lOCf under the ^tal number ; subscribing for E^MB's initial U. S< survey in 1946.) AH BMB officers were reelected, including J. Harold Ryan, board chairman; Justin Miller, first vice- chairman; Paul West, second vice- chairman; Frederic R. Gamble, third vice-chairman; Roger Clipp, secretary-treasurer, and Hugh Feltis, proxy,'. •■• Seattle Pgm. Directors Collab on Operetta Seattle, Feb. SI4. Johnny Forrest^ program director for KOL here, and Roland Bradley, KJR, program director, are collabo- rating on an operetta titled "Johnny Appleseed." Pair are now in throes of fitting book and music together after some months of preliminary research; Play will be based on the legend- ary theme of Johnny Appleseed and his peregrinations about the west, but authors are as yet undecided whether finished job will be « folk operetta or a straight musical comedy. ' Forrest was co-author with Earl , Robinsort of the wartime "Thumbs ; Up," and Bradley' has authored an^ {produced a number of radio musical shows, '