Variety (Jul 1948)

28 BAOIO Wednesday, Jnly 7, 1948 hside Staiff-^Ao F. Chase Taylor and his "Col. Stoopnagle's Academy" got themselves oW lo a false start on Mutual last Friday night (2) as the result o£ some bickering from the outside about the format of the show. ''Plan had been to make the sustainer a spelling-bee with a classroom background^ but at the 11th hour a couple of freelance package producers raised a strong demurrer, claiming that the schoolroom idea was too close to their wares (Happy Pelton has such a background on WABD, N.Y.). The uproar resulted in MBS' .putting the spelling-bee thing on ice and to substitute for it on the scheduled Stoopnagle debut a run-of-the-mill quiz format.' Tlie web hopes to have the argument settled in time for a second start this Friday i9). ABCers are doing a slow burn over a New Yorker jibe that week that the web had abandoned plans for airing a documentary on Com- munism "because it was unable to find a single first rate writer who wasn't either pro-Communist or anti-Communist." The mag concluded; "That ABC, after a prolonged and most diligent search, failed to un- cover a script writer without an opinion of some sort on Communism is, we suspect, the highest tribute that radio script writers will be receiving this year, and we congratulate them on it." ABC emphatically has not abandoned ttie project, says public affairs > vccpee Robert Saudek. Freelancer Morton Wishengirad^ ^ho was assigned to tlie scripting job'in May, now is polishing oflE the- copy for the hour-long documentary*. It will go on the air either Aug. 1 or 2. WCBS, N. Y., is riding the crest of an alltime billings and ratings wave. In the latest Pulse poll, for June, the Columbia key's shows all but swept the daytime field, picking off eight of the Top 10 spots. Arthur Godfrey's 11 a.m. Chesterfield stanza tops the list and the T:30-45 segment of his local ayem show is in third, following Harry Clark's 8:45 a.m. news. Only non-CBS airers making the grade are ABC's "My True Story" and "Breakfast Club." " . /Nielsen's latest index for the metropolitan area, according to WCBS' general manager Arthut Hull Hayes, shows the station out front morning, afternoon and. night. Station's steady rating climb is attrib- uted, at least ui part, Hayes saidi to th% fact that WCBS controls all of Its local shows, buying no packages on the outside. While he could not disclose actual figures,' Hayes claimed biflings of the CBS flagship have reached a record high. Listener's correct guess Saturday (3) night that the phantom voice on CBS' "Sing It Again" was Bernard Baruch's enabled the web's Helen Sioussat to disclose how she got the elder statesman,- a friend of her's, to wax a ditty for the stanza. Seems he's something of a quiz show fan himself and so he agreed to It. He went to CBS' N. Y. studios last May to make the jrecording, even taking the precaution to have his chauffeur park, several blocks away so he wouldn't know where Baruch was going. ATTENTION-VIDEO High Spted 16 M.M. davefoping ma- chin*. Will develop negbtiv*, positive or reverial prints. This machine Is ideal for lele-transcriplion. This ma- chine. i> custom built of stainleit steel, i* entirely self-contained, Ihermostat- kally controlled and portable. This machine is available on lease, outright tale or combined with the services of an okperienced technician. Address replies to:— HUGH H. GWYNNE IS WEST 12TH STREET NEW YORK 11, N. r. 'On the Island with You' "This Time for Keeps" Mgf.: LOU CLAYTON Code Continued from page 19 huddle, however, the webbers re- portedly expressed as much con- cern over Oie code's strictures ■ on giveaway shows as they did over the headache of bringing existing contracts into line with the new standards of practice. The effect, it appears, is that the nets, which have been able to. get truekldads of giveaway merchandise scot-free in return for plugs in doling it out, will have to start plunking out hard cash for the loot. For it's unlikely that the many manufacturers .who've been soft touches for giveaway booty and only too glad to kick in as a cheap means of network advertising will contribute their products if they can't get brand-name mention on the air. And the code states: "Any reference in a program to any product or service under any trade name, or language sufficient- ly descriptive to identify it should, except for normal guest identifica- tions, be considered part of and included in the total time allow ances aS herein provided." The ruling eliminates a spon- sor's wori'y over his own product's identification on 'a g i v e a w a y stanza. But it also promises to hike his tab. At least one case is known in which a web was able to make its price on a giveaway more attractive when it was .discovered that bountiful booty was. obtain- able for the cost of telephone, calls to the manufacturers; JRoy Peterson, 55, Fatally Stricken in Milwaukee Milwaukee, July 6. Roy Peterson, 5&, assistant mu- sical director and staff arranger of WTMJ here, died of a heart attack June 25 at liis home. Peterson, who had been ill for two weeks, was on the staff of the station for 20 years. Among his other duties he wrote originals for the "Grenadiers" pro- gram and for 16 years was a trom- bonist in the "Grenadiers' " band. Before coming into radio Peterson played in vaude theatre pits. BILL MURRAY'S SON TO STUDY VOICE IN ITALY William Murray, son of Bill Mur- ray, head of the William Morris agency's radio-television depart- ment, sails Friday (9) on a Greek freighter to study • voice . for a couple of years abroad, ■ Young Murray (who refuses to use "Jr." in his name) has schooled abroad until interrupted by the war. -He is 22 and has grand opera aspira- tions.' His mother is Italian, and the boy is well versed in several languages, conversationally, as well as for libretto, purposes. The Greek freighter, the Hel- lenic Wave, takes 16 days to Genoa, its first stop. Only 12 pas- sengers are accommodated. Mutual Continued from page 20 daytime coverage, based on "listen- ability," to be 29,337,940 radio families, or 86.3% of the total. Also, for the first time, tiie net dis- closes its nighttime claim—28,600,- 000, or 84.1% of the families. Other networks' nighttime figures aren't given. The net states th&t the day- time total is "Grade I as of May, 1948, and the night the Ground- and-Skywave figure as of March, 1948." The daytime figure, therefore, has been revised upward, incor>- porating station additions and power gains.' Last fall when Mutual unveiled "listenability," its totals were 28,398,000 without :dual affiliates, and 29,089,000 with duals included. At that time, the other nets were rated as follows: NBC, 29,275,000; CBS, 28,688,000, and ABC, 28,412,000. Since none of the other nets has expanded in recent months at the rate Mutual has, the conclusion ap- pears to be that, by its own meas- urement standards, MBS Is the No. 1 web, The net isn't, however, in any apparent hun-y to unwrap the nighttime "listenability" story in full. Feeling is that it would be "selling everybody down the river" to rush out with totals based on the 1946 BMB estimates. At the same time, it's felt that summer- time lis a poor time to get a good audience for the Big Story. So the web will wait for county-by-county breakdowns of the new '48 esti- mates and set the Nighttime List- enability debut for the fall. Durr Continned from page 19 ing,. sparked particularly by Fly, who saw his influence on broad- casting as something which won't be erased for decades to come and who conceded that, more than any man before him, Durr breathed a life and consciousness into the radio industry. The luncheon was arranged by the radio committee of the CivU Liberties Union, with Thomas Carskadan and Morris Novik, of the CLU, and Charles R. Denny, exec veepee of NBC and former FCC chairman, joining in the tributes. . . »j+.4»t)ttt<iWhat*s 80 remarkable about diving; into a bowl of Wheaties)*' FCC In Statement of Praise Washington, July 6. Retiring FCC Clifford Durr was praised by fellow Commissioners last week in a statement that read in part: "He wholeheartedly de- voted himself to the task of giving .substance and meaning to the statutory standard of the public interest under which the Commis- sion administers the field of radio broadcasting." Chairman Coy had the statement adopted'into the. records of the fihal " meeting Durr attended, last Wednesday <30), Durr has been with the Commission since 1941. Miss Frieda Hennock has replaced him on the FCC. Froiii The Produation Centers Continued from page 20 , West Point cadet.., .Eddie Freckman, formerly with Wade Advertising, has joined WBBM's production staff, Vaughn Monroe originates his CBS airer from here July 12 and 19 ., .TRa^io-department of Morris F. Swaney shifts to N.Y. in mid-month ftex Allen, of the WLS Barn Dance, opening a disk shop in the Loop... .-"Bfarvest of Stars" emanates from tiie Civic Opera House July "Freedom Is Everybody's Business," new marching song penned 21,-, by web musician Tommy Filas,' has been accepted as official anthem of the American Heritage Foundation NBC installing an emergency lighting system of battery-operated lanterns in its Merchandise Mart' studios. . . .Gil McClelland (Mutual), Bob White (ABC), and Betty Ross (NBC) will lecture at the Creighton "Univ. Radio Institute in Omaha Friday (9).,. .Film of Illinois Gov. Green delivering the GOP keynoter was 'telecast: by WBKB before the guv gave his live version in Philly ,... Jacque Jarco is the newest addition to Maraleita Dutton's stable of radio flacks ,.. Cruising Crooner Jack Owens and his 13-year-old daughter Mary Anne blend voices in a disking of "Won't You Be My Darlin'V" that hits music counters next week.... Motorola's sale! for the six months ending May 29 totaled $26,000,000, with net profits of $1,550,769 Six German broadcasters from the French, British and American zones here to attend the NBC-Northwestern University Sum- mer Radio Institute. m WASHINGTON.,. NAB proxy Justin Miller appointed to finance committee of Commit- tee to Inquire into murder of George Polk. NAB has voted $1,000 to fund... Bill Herson, WRC morning man, off for three weeks' vacation at Delaware Water Gap. Holly Wright and John Batchelder filling in on Herson chores, latter takiitg his video-stint,.. Senator Joseph C O'Mahoney, considered a leading candidate for Democratic vice-presi- dential spot, on WTTG television show yesterday (6).... Edgar Camn has joined WNBW, the NBC video outlet here, as art director He formerly did sets for summer theatre groups.... Also added to pro* ductlon staff is Charles Christenson, who comes from WBAL-TV Balti- more. He is scripting Johnny Bradford's "NBC Television Journal" Foreign Affairs Editor Felix Morley, of Sunoco 3-Star Extra, vacation- ing, with Ray Henle and Ned Brooks taking over the Morley work on the air and filling in on occasion with guests from the Embassies in Washmgton. . . Benjamin B. Wolf, in charge of the FCC Grand Island Monitoring Station for the past 18 years, retired last week. Turnover Continued from page -J Daniel Tuthill, Jo h n McKay, Frances Rockefeller King. CBS: Edward Klauber, Paul W. Kesten, Douglas Coulter, Mefford Runyon, Paul White, Gilbert Seldes, Lou Ruppell, Joseph Bur- gess, Stanley McAllister. Leonard Erikson, A. D. (Jess) Willard, Harry Butcher, Francis Barton, Hoy Passman, Roy Langham, Ben Feiner, Leonard Hole, William Forbes, Sterling Fisher, Albert R. Perkins, John C. Turner, A. N. Steele, Charles Vanda, Herbert Polesie, Jierome Sill, Herschel Williams, J. G. Gude, Chester Renier, Hiram Motherwell, Earle McGill, harry Puck, Robert J. Landry, Frances Wilder, Ernest Martin, John Becker, Howard G Barnes, Richard Sanville, Paul La- Porte, Carl Beier, John Mosman, Halsey V. Barrett, Dave Fredericks, Paul HoUister, Nick Keesely, Jame.<i Ilarl. WGN Continued from page 21 1941. Switch to duplication sup- posedly was based on a listener survey, but ole debbil budget cast a heavy vote in the poll. Contra- dicting rumors of her shift to WGN-TV, Marion Claire continues as WGNB director. Ted Mills meanwhile has re- signed as program coordinator of WGN-TV and Buck Gunn is sim- ilarly out as WGN's program di- rector. Both resignations report- edly were brought about by man- agement policies that reduced pro- gramming to rubber-stamp chores. Jay Faraghan is doubUng as traffic manager and acting program manager of„ WGN-TV. Walter Preston, WGN's commercial man- ager is said to be set as Gunn's successor. Mills is in line for a top post at WNAQ, NBC video ven- ture that bows here in fall, Buffalo-^Randolph Swift, form- erly an account exec with the Moss Chase Agency, Buffalo, has joined the sales staff of WBEN and WBEN- "Cowhoy Hymns," by The Texas Rangers, is the first album of its kind! This exciting new al* bum by Bibletone features six. oufstaoding cowboy faymo selections. Just one more accomplish* raent of The Texas Rangers, America's largest and finest group, playing and singing Western tunes! They've built a national reputation that can be put to work for your client, through their top quality tran* scribed tunes. It's appropriate that The Texas Rangers music is transcribed vertically for high fidelity, America's only vetticai cut transcriptions of Western music. You'll find ttiem ideal for either FM or AM.Th^ are priced right for your market, and your station. Wtra/Wrife or Phone for Complele Details ARTHUR B. CHURCH PRODUaiON IMNtM Clir f MO. 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