Variety (January 1953)

98 RADIO-TELE VISION Forlyevenlh PfotiWFt Anniversary Wednesday, January 7. 1953 NBC (Circa 26-’30), Beginning of an Era By G. W, (JOHNNY) JOHNSTONE (The writer, for the past seven years radio-TV director of the Na- tional Assn. of Manufacturers, was NBC's first manager of press rela- tions (1926-34), also serving in the capacity of assistant to that net- work's first president , the late Merlin Hall (Deac) Aylesworth ) f NBC’s first offices were at 195 Broadway, New York City, then, as now, the headquarters building of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., and, at that time, the home of radio station WEAK (npw WNBC). On Nov, 1, 1926, WEAF and WJZ were merged, the former then, as now, under the flag of the Radio Corp. of America, though RCA at that time was a selling agent for both General Electric and Westing- house. Merlin Hall (Deac) Aylesworth, a protege of Owen D. Young, then head of GE, had resigned as managing director of the National Electric Light Assn., a trade organization in the public utilities field, to become NBC’s first president,, The Deac came to his. new downtown offices on the'Nov, 1 date and, being the highpowered public relations man that he was, sent for his' manager of press relations. I had been in that capacity at WEAF and was selected to head press relations for the new organization. “Johnny,” the Deac said, “here’s the Written text of a release Mr. Sarnoff (the now Gen. David Sarnoff was then general manager of RCA with offices in the Woolworth Bldg.) wants us to get out to the press associations and metropolitan newspapers as one of the first important pronouncements of NBC, Get it into the mimeograph machines and start ‘peddling’ it to your contacts of the press immediately.” “Okay, Chief,” said I, walking out of the Deae’s office and into mine without even glancing at the text I had in my hand. Calling to my secretary to get some stencils and to prepare for a quick mimeo job, I glanced at the first sentence of . the text. Now, dear readers, please remember that this was November, 1926. Here Was that first line: | Sarnoff in ’26: ‘Watch TV’ | “Television is just around the corner,” stated David Sarnoff today In an announcement issued following his first conference with Merlin Hall Aylesworth, the new president of NBC.” That was when I first discovered that Gen. Sarnoff was vitally inter- ested in the future of TV! NBC leased enough space in a bulding at 711 Fifth Avenue (corner of 55th and Fifth) to cause the owners of* the building to name it the “NBC Bldg.” The network offices and studios were opened there in October of 1927 and just prior to i the opening I discussed with my Chief—the Deac—the possibility and practicability of having a special “lounge” for the radio editors of those days. Some of my close friends today, knowing of my passing interest in gin rummy and poker, will understand why I thought my contacts of 1927 should at least be able to win my money without* having to take me too far from my offices! Aylesworth didn’t like the idea at all. And it wasn’t because he was thinking of my financial protection. He decided—and wisely, too, I thought, after hearing his reason— that some radio editor might suffer more of a financial loss than he could afford. He said, “No, Johnny, one of the boys, might get hurt. And if that should happen, he might take it out on NBC and its pro- grams!” ^^ Killing Millionaires in the Bud | Somewhat counter to the above, I could never understand why the Deac wouldn’t speak to me for three days following my reaction to one of his suggestions concerning the New York metropolitan radio editors of that day. We were discussing ways and means of “making radio editors happy” in our new quarters, at 711 Fifth Avenue. . The Deac said, “Johnny, most of the sportswriters today are subsi- dized (monetarily) by Madison Square Garden. “Why don’t we make the same arrangement with the New York City radio editors?” The very thought of the idea made my blood run cold. Perhaps it was because of my immediate thought that if the Nick Kennys and the Ben Grosses would even listen to the idea, if they were to accept subsidization they’d be getting more money than I was at that time!, Nick and Ben and the others of that day will please now forgive me if I kept them from becoming millionaires. 1928 was a year of many highlights in NBC’s first years. The net- work’s coverage of the Republican and Democratic national political conventions was one, although not a “first” for both WEAF and WJZ, individually with a small group of affiliated stations had broadcast direct from the 1924 national, conventions. In fact, my first “out-of-studio” publicity assignment occurred in July of 1924—“escorting” a former church and concert singer on his. way to fame, Graham McNamee, to the old Madison Square Garden in New York (then at Madison Square), assisting him by writing news copy and publicizing both him and WEAF in its coverage of Democratic National Convention. Major J. Andrew White, later to become CBS’ first president, covered that convention for WJZ, ably assisted by my counterpart at that station, Herbert Glover. But this story doesn’t go into that colorful event. It has to do with Election Eve of .that year. Herbert Hoover had won. the Republican nomination, the late Gov. • Alfred E. Smith the Democratic. Aylesworth had arranged for both Mr. Hoover and Gov. Smith to make separate election eve addresses via NBC’s network—for free, Mr. Hoover; as I recall it, spoke from Wash- ington A1 Smith from NBC’s studios at 711 Fifth Avenue in New York. The Deac invited A1 Smith to listen to Hoover’s radio address in his office on the top floor. The Deac had assigned me to await A1 Smith’s arrival at the entrance of the building, and . I had an elevator standing by. to whisk the Governor to the top floor. The Governor arrived, I brought him to the Deac’s office and remained at their joint invitation. The Deac turned on his handsome' cabinet loud speaker and soon Mr. Hoover began his appeal to the electorate. Gov. Smith, seated comfortably before, the Deac’s desk, listened attentively, .though to me he. appeared to be nervous. As he listened he chewed away at top speed. Then the Deac and I realized what he was chewing! . As Mr. Hoover would say something which the Governor thought ill of, the Governor would utter an unprintable word and expectorate a rather large mouthful of tobacco juice clear across the room aimed toward- tlie cabinet-loud speaker. The Deac looked'at me with a quizzical look, which I immediately interpreted to mean “Johnny, why the devil didn’t we plan on having spittoons in this office when we made our building plans?” for one may readily realize that Mr. Hoover said plenty of things on NBC radio that night which his opponent didn’t agree with. And the rug in Mr. Aylesworth’s office as well as the cabinet went out to the. cleaners early the next morning. Niles Trammell, until recently board chairman of NBC, had joined the network.^ organization as.. a time, salesman, in. the early days at 711 Fifth A'veirae. He established such a fine record that he was ap- pointed central division manager and supervised the opening of new studios and offices in the “world’s largest office building,” the Merchan- dise Mart in Chicago in the fall of 1929. He, the Deac, and I all agreed on the caption which was used on the first mimeographed press handout heralding the new Merchandise Mart studio-office setup: “CHICAGO TO BECOME RADIO BROADCAST CENTER OF tJ. S. A.” Nuf sedi Deac Aylesworth had personally negotiated with George Washington Hill, then president of the American Tobacco Co., for the'use of NBC network facilities for Lucky Strike advertising. . In fact, it was George Washington Hill’s signature on an NBC contract in 1927 which enabled NBC to extend its wireline facilities to the Pacific Coast, thereby creating a “first”—a transcontinental network. , Aylesworth wanted Hill to buy the biggest name of that time in the dance orchestra world—Paul (Pops) Whiteman. But the Deac couldn’t get Paul to go along at the Deac’s price. Their last discussion at that time, in the Deac’s 711 Fifth Avenue office, sent Whiteman away with the Deac hurling all sorts of invectives towards a closing door. “Last time I ever want to lay eyes on you,” said the Deac—all because Pops couldn’t see his way clear to meeting the Deac’s figure to keep in line with the Deac’s budget he planned to submit to George Washington Hill. That was when the Deac called in B. A. Rolfe and Rolfe got the job. And for at least two years no one dared mention “Paul Whiteman” to Aylesworth. Ip the fall of 1930 I preceded the Deac into Chicago by one day. The “depression” following the Wall Street “crash” had forced the dis- bandment of Paul Whiteman’s large concert orchestra in the middle of a crosscountry tour—business had fallen off so badly. Pops had found refuge with a small combination in Al Quadback’s Granada Cafe in Chicago/Jimmy Gillespie (Old Faithful, I have always called him), was sticking with Whiteman as his manager. During the afternoon I have in mind, the then manager of the Congress Hotel phoned me at the NBC offices in the Merchandise Mart to tell me that he had taken the prerogative of admitting Paul and Jimmy into my room and “would I please hurry over?” Most irregular, thought I, but quickly recovering with the thought that I had left no dead bodies in my room, I taxied over to the hotel. Pops and Jimmy outlined an idea which “sent” me. But there was one terrific obstacle. It was an idea which needed Deac Ayleswbrth’s personal attention. Would I dare attempt to bring White- man and Aylesworth together? “Okay,” said I, “I'll' make a stab at it. The idea’s so terrific, it’s worth it.” I established that Pops was living at a hotel just 20 minutes from the Mart, told him to stand by in his hotel room the very next morning and to have a cab ready. The next morning I drove down to the railroad station with Niles Tram- mell in a chauffeured limousine to meet the Deac, who was coming in on the “Capitol Limited” from Washington. “My Gawd,” I thought, remembering, that the Chief had spent jhepast two days in Washington. Legislative matters in Washington always took plenty out of Tiim; men- tally and physically. But, in all fairness, I should report that he never used a whip! Driving up Michigan Boulevard after Niles and I had exchanged some pleasantries with the Deac, I said: “Chief, guess who’s in town?” Quick as a flash he said: “Paul Whiteman. And "don’t mention his name again!” I always had thought that the Chief was a mind-reader. j Tough Man to Break Down ■ ' The Mart layout of NBC always has had a special office set aside for visiting VIPs, particularly the Deac. Niles went about his chores and the Deac and I went into the special office. I spent the next few minutes looking out of the window at the Chicago skyline while the Deac opened his briefcase and removed his papers. “Johnny,” the Chief said, “you’ve got something extra special on your mind this morning. Come on out with it, but don’t mention that man’s name.” “Okay, Chief,” I replied. “I won’t mention his name but, Chief, he’s got the most terrific idea and you’re the only one who can do anything about it. And, Chief,” I implored, “he’s really the only one who should reveal it to you.” Then came that look on the Deac’s face which I had learned to recog- nize—and love/ He was toying with an idea. He was going to come up with something which would be a challenge to me. And if I failed, he would have me where he wanted me—a sort of “Well, "Johnny, you can’t meet my challenge, so it must not be much of an idea.” “Johnny,” said the Deac, “you think so much of Paul Whiteman and his ‘idea.’ It’s now 10 o’clock. You get Paul here by 10:30 and I’ll give him exactly 10 minutes of my time!” “Eureka,” thought I, dash- ing out of the door to a phone where the Deac wouldn’t hear me if Whiteman wasn’t on the other end of the line. This story is already much too long. Suffice it to end quickly with this report: Pops was at the other end of the line, dressed and waiting for my call. He reached the Deac’s office at 10:25. Did he stay 10 minutes? No! he and the Deac were together until 4 o’clock the next morning and during the interim, with most of the evening and wee sma’ hours of the morning spent at the Granada where the Dehc listened atten- tively to both Whiteman’s music and ideas, they came away with, the Deac leaving on the first train that morning for Detroit. There the Deac personally “sold” Pontiac Motors a lengthy commercial radio series, the “Youth of America” auditions with Pops Whiteman at^the helm. The Deac' also had me annoum^tO 1 the press that Whiteman was, in addi- tion/ to be NBC’s musical director for the central division with head- quarters at Chicago. - Pops Whiteman—and I—will never forget that beautiful episode in our relations with the Deac. . 1, ■ A&A^-In Person, Not Wax Amos ’n’ Andy have recently celebrated their 10,000th broadcast. Though now with CBS they acquired their original national fame through NBC facilities. In the summer of 1929 Deac Aylesworth was disturbed over the prog- ress a then little known duo was making in the “shot transcription” field,- Aylesworth was a prime mover in the network’s ban on transcrip- tions* NBC, he pointed out to everyone—particularly the legislature in Washington—had invested huge sums of money in buildings, studios, engineering equipment, the leasing of wire-lines for network broad- casting, etc. This investment could be knocked into a cocked hat if “electrical transcriptions” caught hold. Whenever the Deac was faced with a problem as Amos ’n’ Andy were, helping to build up, he worked as fast as lightning. In this instance, he, went to Chicago where the two young fellows were operating their “wax works,” making recordings of 15-minute radio programs, pressings of which were,shipped to several hundred stations forlocal and national “spot” sales. Shortly after his arrival in Chicago the Deac not only signed Amos ’n’ Andy to an exclusive NBC contract, had them cancel any further transcription work, but also found them an' NBC) network sponsor, Pepsodent toothpaste. And—his most important . consideration —he issued instructions that the following important words. be voiced by the announcer introducing Amos V Andy in their each Monday through Friday network broadcast program: “Presenting Amos ’n’ Andy IN PERSON.” Those two v words Vin .person” killed off the Amos ’n’ Andy transcrip- tions in the field and did much to further the Deac’s campaign for the transcription ban. Many of the old-timers in radio will recall that George Washington Hill wanted his Lucky Strike Orchestra loud and id strict dance tempo. All during the B. A. Rolfe series Hill wanted .to hear.the 36 men he and the • American Tobacco Co. were paying for. NBC engineers in- stalled the finest loud Speaker available in the board room, of the NBC Buildipg at 711 Fifth Avenue. This room was adjacent to Dcac AylOsworth’s office—in fact, his two femaie Secretaries’ Office and mine were in between his and the board room. Each Saturday morning —and we all worked a half day in the office of radio network in those (Continued on page 104) Why Baseball Moguls Should Not Drop TV By BILL STERN “Let’s watch the night game from Ebbets Field tonight,” says father,' “By all means,” agrees mother. “Sure, I want to see Preacher Uoe, he’s keen,” agrees daugh- ter. “Me, too, I’m luffing that Duke Shny- der,” chimes in Uncle Boris from Bulgaria. “Wish I’d Bill Stern . discovered the D o d g e r s 87 years ago,” remarks Grandma Rose. That’s the way it is with base- ball, at least since the arrival of TV. No longer does Dad have to hide away in his room with a port- able radio' to hear the ballgame. Today, everybody sees the game’ and baseball, since the arrival of video, has probably cultivated more -new fans- than - in its- entire- past history put together. “I sure got a thrill out of the World Series,” remarked more than one housewife who, a few years ago couldn’t tell an umpire from a kangaroo. Sure, baseball is mak- ing new fans faster than a gem multiplies: Total income of the sporfs"in- dustry in 1952 will probably reach an alltime high of more than $1.7 billion, according to the Sports Committee of Radio-Television Mfrs. Assn. The RTMA committee notes, “television and broadcasting have helped to achieve the excellent re- sults this year. Certainly. there is no reason to believe that the rapid growth of TV has hurt either spec- tator or participating sports. The record is very ejear on this point.” Blame the Weatherman 1 Yet the baseball moguls debate on the future of television. During 1952, attendance in both major leagues was off. Some hasty club owners blame video, in truth the game’s staunchest supporter. Why not throw the blame exactly where it belongs, right in the lap of the weather man, the gloomy boy who killed the big weekend dates dur- ing the spring and early summer months? Many minor leagues feel TV is striking them a death blow. Why should folks watch class B and C baseball, when they can see the best pros on their video screens? Not true. Minor leagues were getting hit at the box office for some time before video moved into the smaller cities. More than likely the scarcity of talent is an important factor. During World War II, the draft killed quite a few minor leagues. It’s doing the same again today. The talent isn’t in the minors, and the fans just aren’t going for that brand of ball. While baseball was the only major sport to show a definite de- cline in attendance and income, in 1952, the RTMA has pointed out the difference is partly made up by. the sale Of radio and TV rights for nearly $5,000,000. Actually, the full impact of TV has not yet been felt in the sports industry, including baseball. The fan of tomorrow has not yet ar- rived: the millions of youngsters who will one day be paying their way into the ballparks. They’ll be better fans than their daddies, be- cause they’H have a more solid baseball foundation; They’re not satisfied to watch baseball on TV. They want to get out to the ballpark and root ana they will, just as soon as they re old enough and rich enough to pur- chase their own tickets. „ Keep your eye on TV. It’s going to work wonders. And those won- ders will be worked a few yea^* in the future. Then watch the box- office re turds sweli. The mogu will have to double the sizes o their parks. 1 Just you wait and see.