Variety (February 1950)

Febiiiiiry 8, 1950 BAmo TO DINAH By DINAH SHORE That "‘Frances to FSnny to Dinah” 15 some parlay, particularly in view of the tact that t had borne the brunt of the various.ramifications of that middle ope for some 19 summers when I met a gentleman named 'JWrajftiii Block. ' It air came abolut ; this, way. One summer—the one pceurring between my junior and senior years at Vanderbilt University—I was selected to repre- sent ouf sorority at a National Conyention in New Hampshire. On the Way back home I decided to treat myself to two weeks in New York, at my father's expense, of course, feeling sure that if I got a job singing on the radio in New York, my father would allow me to stay and plunge into that career' I’d been dreaming about all my life. I had had the foresight before leavinig Nashville to equip myself with a letter of introduction “to whom it may concern’* from the program manager Dinah: Shore ^ pf One of pur local radio stations. It was.forceful and to the point-—it read “This will serve to intro- duce Miss Fanny (I) Rose Shore whp has sung on our radio statiPn* any courtesies you extend her will be appreciated.” This enthusiastic appraisal of my talents led me to four network stations, three inde- pendents and completely through the RCA building on a guided tour ■/for. free. Many~ of dozens of people I approached hopefully were sympathetic, but only one came through and really listened. He was a fellow who was attracting ho little attention in the music world with his “Make Believe Ballroom” on a station called WNEW. Martin Block’s novel idea of spinning records on the radio and tying them into a three-hour well integrated program had set “the tradeV on its collective ear. This Was a busy and successful, man but he and another gentleman I’ll never forget named Jimmy Rich of WNEW took the time and had the pa- tience to listen to a plain looking,,nervous college girl who thought she could sing. They lisitened to me for about I5 minutes and toward the end of it their obvious interest and kindness almostmade me for- get my nervousness, I got the job^startihg that evening. Fanny, nee Frances, Rose Shore was on the radio in New York!! I had only been Working a few days when Martin sat me down for a long heart to heart lecture starting off with “about your name-—.” We decided on the name of one of the tunes I had sung on my audi- 'tlon-^“Ditiah”—^it felt good and fitted fine with my last name. After about two weeks of the exciting business of singing on big time, big town radio, my father began to insist that I come home and finish that one year of college. I agreed—but by this time I was com- pletely infatuated with my new name and was determined to keep it. r couldn’t quite swing it and still can’t completely to this day. With the folks back home who had changed the respectable Frances Rose to Fanny Rose and liked it that way^but after graduation I went back to N. Y.-t-WNEW ^nd Dinah.. .Thanks,^ Martin! Poll Projects Martin Block’s annual popularity polk whose results are announced each February on WNJEW’s “Make Believe Ballrboni’s” anniversary broadcast, this Jipar put Perry Como in first place In male vdcail- Ists category for the first time. Como displaced Frank Sinatra who has ranked in the No. 1 spot for the past five consecutive years. In the orchestra classification, Vaughn Monroe again won top position, and Doris Day again rated first place in the few vocalists divi- sion. Poll jiist finished was the 24th (origihaily the surveys were made semi-annually, but recently have been conducted on pnce-a- year basis). Big surprise Of 1950 poll in band division was showing of Cordon Jenkins who last year placed num- ber nine and this year climbed up to niumber two position. Similarly, newcomer Ralph Flanagan, Who didn’t even show in the First 10 in ’48, but rated fourth place in ’50. Guy Lombardo’s music made sweet showing this year with the Auld Lang $yne maestro hopping from last year’s fifth place to third place. In male vocalists division, Frank Sinatra was in second place, only a few thousand votes behind Como. Placing third was Vic Damone, who was number four last year, Also climbing higher was Tony Martin, who rahked ninth in ’48 and fourth iii ’50. Frankie Laine, num- ber six last' year, made fifth place. Bing Crosby, in" third place last yeai'i, wound ujp In sixth place in latest poll, Alan Dale Who didn’t make the Top 10 last year, rated number seven spot in this poil,: This Was the second consecutive win for Doris Diiy. Upbeat of in- terest in Dinah Shore is evidenced In fact that she won second iplace, as contrasted with her number four position in last poll. Another strong contender was Fran Warren, ranked’ nine in ’49, and third in 50i Mindy Cafson this year Showed up in First IQ for first time •^in number 10 spoL Interesting reflection of chang- ing trends in band popularity is re- flected in comparison of 1950 Top 10, with Top 10 of 1938. The lead- ers 12 years ago were—in order of their ranking In that p611-*-Artle Block That Block How Times Have Changed Department: These day$ fec- ord companies and bandsmen spend big coin pn promotion material and contact men to win disk jockey plugs for their tunes, but d u r ihg Martin* Block’s first couple of years on the air, there were some rec-. ord: outfits • and quite a few bandleaers who actively re- sented his broadcasting their recordings! In fact, a couple of them actual^’' brought suit to re- strain Block and WNEW, N. Y., from airing their disks. One of the maestros who sued was a famous gent who later served a term or two as a disk jockey himself—Paul Whiteman. WNEW's vietpry in the courts—plus the fact that the music-makers soon realized that radio plugging was a muchmeeded shot in the arm to the ailing record business, soon changed everyone’s tune to: love those disk jockeys. Shaw, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Glen Gray, Sanimy Kaye, Coynt Basie, Larry Clintori, Gene Krupaj Guy Lombardo, arid Chick W^^ebb. (BJdck only started polling his listeners choice.s in femme and and male vocalist a few years ago.) Today, orily Ddrsey, Lombardo and Kaye are still up there in thie First '■ 10 .: ■■ ■ Breakdown on 1950 poll is; Orchestras—V21 ug h n M 0 n r o e/ Gordon Jenkins, Guy Lombardo, Ralph Flanagan, Tommy Dorsey, Tex. Beneke, Harry, James, Art Mbbriey, Les Brdwh, and Sammy ICaye (in order of votes). Male Vocalists: Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Vic Damdrie, Tony Martin, Frankie Laine, Bing Crbsby, Alan Dale, Gordon Macrae, Billy Eckstine, and Vaughn Mon- roe (in order). Female Vocalists: Doris Day, Dinah Shore, Fran Warren, Jo Staf- ford, Hay Starr, Margaret Whiting, Peggy Lee, Sarah, Vaughan, Evelyn Knight, and Mindy Carson (In order). Idea Into a New Radio Pattern Tastes and trends, in pop music have changed in these last 15 years, but come sweet or swing, be-bop or hillbilly, Martin Block is; stiil riding high in his spot -hs the na- tion’s Number One disk jpekey. The f ecords-to-riches saga of Block has been sphn as many times as one of his disks—the ex-sjalesman, ex-pitchman from California who lande^ broke in New York 15 win- ters, ago,/talked himself into a $20 staff ahnoUhcing job With a year- old. station calied WNEW, and then parlayed himself into a few hun- dred fhdusand a year and his “Make Believe Ballroom” into, one of the tOprated shows/ Sometimes overlooked is the fact that the Martin Block story is mpre/thah just the story of a successful mike performer/ more than a major chapter in the history of the na- tiori’s top ittdie-r-^in many ways it's also the success story df/inde- perideht radio in the U. S. A. What started that February morning in 1935 wasn’t only a career that was soon to pay off in prestige and big money for Block and WNEW, but a way of radio, a pattern of programming that was eventually to show indies all over the country the way to compete against the netvvorks, and make WNEW the most-copied Operation in the land. And calling the sig- nals for the plays, was WNEW Manager Bernice JudiSj who dis- covered Block, gave him a chance to, make-believe with records, and kept the “Ballroom” on thfe ball. The idea of mood or block- block with a small b program- ming with disk jockeysi the for- mula of broadcasting carefully selected recordings iii solid across- the-board blocks, seems obvious to- day; it Weisn’t so obvious 15 years ago. In those days, with: a few ex- ceptions, there were no important or successful unaffiliated stations. The only big time Wa^ rietworlk time, and if a station operator didn’t have a network to plug into, there wasn’t very much Jie could do to win friends and influence sponsors. For the most part, np one had yet come up with ah inex- pensiye and effective vyay; of com- peting against the big name shows of the nets. The Days of Lullaby Ladies | Sure, a station could broadcast records. But most of them didn’t. It wasn’t considered good broad- casting. In fact, whenever a sta- tion did spin some disks during that era, it was strictly sans show- manship, without any regard for production values, or for program- ming disks for variety, pace and audience-interest. The usual way of introducing a record Was nega- tive and apologetic: . > .“And now we bring you a phonograph rec- ord” “Those were the days of lullaby ladies and organ inteiiudes,” Ber- nice . Judis recalls. “In the first year of its operation, WNEW was staffed, largely with ex-network people;” “They /started making just another radio station,” Miss J. says. /‘There was nothing wrong with the way they were planning* things, blit it was just another sta- tion. .They blueprinted a kiddie program and a. recipe program at the right tihie ,. /a lullaby lady whete you. Were supposed to have one/, .an Uncle Don type show Where you Were supposed to have one;;, /and ail that;”; Miss Judis was starting to de- velop her concept that WNEW ought to program against the net- works rather than like them. It seemed logical that, the thing to * put opposite: the network shows was good pop mu!?ic, and plenty, of it. intuitively, Mis Judis^ a pop music fan, figured there, must be a great many women like herself-:^ Women who didri’t want to hear recipes arid other talk on the air all day long. She wasn’t manager theri .arid, at first, had to put /her | ideas across slowly; She was listeri- ing, watching arid learnirig; *?Nobody at the station really paid much attention to rive,” she r e m e m b e r s, uritil my eyes lighted on Martiri Blpek’s tonsilS; Then, I cariie into niy own/. I could finally put into effect my kind of program schedule.” Block started at WNEW late in December, 1934, and for the first few weeks did nothing but routine staff announcing. Theri, one day he asked Miss Judis to listen to a show he wanted to put on the air ,;/: soriiething called “The Make Believe Ballroom.” The station only had a dozen Or so disks around, so Block went across the street to Liberty. Music Shop and bought a few more for his audi- tiop. He clicked^. and clicked big, arid on Feb. 3 “The Make Believe Ballroom” bowed in—rWith as odd a schedule as any show ever had. WNEW was just then winning atterition and big audiences for the first time in its young history with its pn-the-scene .broadcasts of the Hauptniann trial from Fleiningtori, N. J. Block’s assignment; was to fill in with records, in between pickups from Flemirigton. So “The Ballroom” was on between ’10:07 and T0:23 a.m,, between 1(1:30 and 10:53 a m., arid between 11 arid 11:23 a.m., across-the-bpard for five or six weeks- The Fiemington broadcasts gave Block a tremen- dous readyihade audierice arid by the time the trial Was oyer, he was riiade. Before long, Miss Judis Wgs block programming Block six days a week, three and a half hours a day.- that there’is a lot more to this busi- ness of disk jockeyirig than the tradewisemeri used to think, an^ that a good disk jockey is not jiist a guy with a pleasant voice who slaps platters on a turntable. Today, surveying the position and audience that disk jockeys have Won all oyer the country, Block pees several factors necessary for the success of any good disk; jockey: “Long hours on the air pvery day With great regularity, .. i ri t i m a c y of coriversation . / the' ability to make people feel that you know what you’re talking about (everi if yOu don't)., - and i good basic knowledge of pOp mu- sic and perfornVance Block sees his own success a« largely based bn the fact that “I happened to be at the right place “Tigat the, right time--With the right ' thing. The right place was WNEW, / a new station that needed new talt^ ent. The right time Was just then when WNEW was carryirig, the Mauptmanri tif al, which meant thaf^ just about every set in town Was Umed to WNEW/ / The right thing at that time Was .swing music. Th® public waa clampring for it, and brily records arid radio could give them all they wanted.” There are Other factors respOriL- sible for Block getting up to the top and staying ther^^^ according to Bernice Judis; Not only hia radio persoriality, thoiSe ■ goldea . pitchpipes and that irresistible sell- ing power/**. ; ; But also-good .taste. Good taste in everythirig he does on the air: That plus a, wonderful ability to pick talerit, and a kirid 6£ 12th sense about hit tunes; He cari pick, therti like rio one. else. ; he al- most never mi$ses:” TV? ; Block isn't worried about video. He’s done quite a few film shorts, and he’s already in televi- sion via the Perry Conio show. But more than that he/ believes that radio is here to stay, and that there’ll always be miliions of people who want a steady flow of good pop music at the flick of a radio switch. And Mr. B. figures it will be the indies and the disk jockeys Who’ll always be able to deliver the musical goods/ By MINDY CARSON Still Packs ’Em In Fifteen years and a couple of thbusarid disk jockeys later, Martin ; Bipck is still selling theni and i sweet-talking them as effectively as ever at the same old stand on the , dial, rollirig up the ratings and billings, arid the Disk Jockey is • firmly established as a basic staple of American radio fare, the prime ingredient of indie programming, And at last it’s realized generally j to Claim that Martin Block could sell reffigerators to Eskimos, will probably never be put to actual test, but M, B. once pulled off a sale that was almost as tough as mercharidisirig iceboxes in the Arctic. /Back in. the winter of '38, Block went On WNEW, N. Y., during an epic blizzard^ blithely plugged a Newark store’s sale of refrigerators.; Nejif day, 3(10 Block fanaticos bucked blizzard drifts to buy 300 refrigerators. Block,, who since then, has sold millions of dollars of everything from soap, cereal and cigarels to sealskin coats, says “That’s still the bigge.st kick I ever got out of selling on^^^^t^^^^ riir.” Another one of Block’.s menriorable pitches happened during the war, when the Arniy asked Block to make ari appeal for pianos for local hospitals arid camps. Block delivered three plugs—r-they got their pianos;r-r4i500 of ’em,/ /./// ^^^^^ Behind •Block’s succbs.s as a mike Salesman is a philbsophy of; radio salesmanship, arid behind that, not only about 20 years of broadca.sting, but years of a tpiigh kind of selling: “In my day, before I got into radio,/I’ve sold door-tp-dpor, oVer-the-cpunter, arid/over the phone; I‘ve sold hardware, women’s. wear> men's wear. I’ve sbld tires, autos, vacuum cleaners, radio parts arid advertising space for Zit’s /Weekly. , ; The things you learn about sellirig ringing doorbelis come in mighty handy in radio selling.” Block’s theory of how to sell on the air is built not only around technique.s of delivery, but on a copy approach. He: ad libs the majority of his commercials, and in other jcases, usually uses the written cppy he’s given, as a springboard for his own pitch. “First of all,’/ says Block, “you’ve got, to know your product. Secpndly, you must explain it iPgically and clearly (repetition, yes, but riot too rniich). Always have a good peg to hang your hat on. The success of a commercial is often determined by the very first sentence; if your lead-in captures your listencr.s’ interest, and If your story Is Well told, they/ll stay with ypu. Another im- portarit angler Don’t shout—I’m a firm believer in speaking to people/and not at them.” How importaht ate disk jockeys to a singer’s career? . , Probably the best arid quickest way; to answer that one is tp go back to the pre/rradio era. ill those days, theatre arid club date* were the main outlets fOr :a singer. Rec- ords were be- ing made, of cPur.se, b u t they didn’t pull rhUch weight. Eve n after the ad- vent of radio they were considered : the pppr relation of show business. A not-very-important phase of a singing career—untiL a man named Martin Bipck came along. It was; Martin who helped to pluck the lowiy record from is thankless place: at the bottom of the music industry and; make it the most im- portant; single outlet in the career of every singer in show business today/ He did it by the simple proc,es.s of building the first,. and one of the; most intere.sting pro- grams pri the air, out of a balanced, daily blend of the records of top, and up-and-coming artists of the Mindy Carson That was 15 years ago. It hap- pened on New York’s WNEW. To- day, Martin stand.s weU at the top of the list of the riatipn's disk jock- eys/ as inripyator of the all-import- ^ ant disk show/ arid proprietor of :“Make BeiicYe BaUroom,” , / It should be iriteresting tp look into a couple of thirigs that make the inventor of the disk jockey the success he is today. First and fore- most-^he .has a talent for changins the word “v/ork” to “pleasure.” I think that is the overall secret of Martin’s t r e m e rt d 0 u s success. Whatever he’s doirig, playing ree- ords, selling a product or a person- (Cpritmued on page 34)