Variety (Jul 1930)

yittdatBifkj, July 9,. 1930 A A ll III VARmrr NBC Intends Artists' Bureau in Chi. for Mid-West In line with the Impendingr vogue for "canned" prosram broadcasts, which Is regarded now as part of the general stSLblllzation of radio, the NBC Is reorganizing its Artists' . Bureau in Chicago. That city will Bhortly bec6me almost as inripor* tant a broadcast central as New York for coDimercial programs, serving as the key of its own mid- west and Rocky Mountain network, distinctly apart from the eastern chain. The reason for this is the desire to eliminate duplications of broad- casts. Several artists must repeat their stuff twice nightly, "piping" it into the far west for dissemina- tion there, to coincide with a certain hour owing to the time differences -1>etween Atlantic seaboard time and Bocky Mountain or - Paclflc Slope time. Hence the advantage of re- corded programs on mammoth 18- Inch dibks, with cut-outs for the usual commercial announcements to blanket the entire country simulta- neously, which idea, however, is not favored, by NBC. So far, only WOR put that into effect. Developing Mi<;lwest NBC wants to disassociate its coast-to-coast hook-ups and partic- ularly develop the mldwestern ter- ritory which Is still virgin excepting for the comparatively few hours where coast-to-coast networks give the radio public In that sector an idea of the better type of commer- cial hours. By using Chicago as a key for the western territory, this expensive "piping" and attendant land-wire charges will be elim- inated. Walter O. (Gus) Haenschen and Frank Black, veterans In the record- ing Held, have formed the Sound Studios to "can" this type of disk- recorded program for advertisers favoring the WOR idea of synthetic musical programs. NUMBER TIMES SONGS PLAYED OVER RADIO Most frequently played tunes over the radio from WMCA, WEAF, WOR, WABC and WJZ between 6 p. m. and 1 a. m. is tabulated as follows this past week: "Singing a Song to the Stars," 36 times. "Cheer Up (Good Times Are Coming)," 32 times (both Robbins). DeSyJva's "I Remember Tou From Somewheres,?' 30 tinges. "Swinging in A Hammock" (Ber- lin), 27. Bye Bye Blues" (Berlin), 21 times. ■ "If I Had A Girl Like You" (Fleet), 19. "Ro-Ro-Roiling Along" (Shapiro- Bernstein), 19. "Dancing With Tears In My Byes" (WItmark) and "SOng Without A Name" (Feist), 18 times- each. "Anchors Aweigh" (Robbins). 15. "Exactly l;lke Tou" (Shapiro- Bernstein), 15. "I'm In The Market For You" (Red Star), 15. "The Moon Is L-ow" (Robbins), 14. "Oh 'The Sunny Side Of The Street" (S-B), 14. Thirteen each for '^Telling It To The Daisied" (Remick) and "With My GFuItar And Tou" (Sherman- Clay). Twelve time each for "Blue Is The Night" and "Dark Night (both.Bob- bins) and "It .Happened In Mon- terey" (Feist). "Happy Feet" (Ager-Yellen-Bom- eteln), 11. Ten times each for "I Still Re- member" (Joe Morris), "Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder" (Santly), "Living In The Sunlight" (Famous) and "My Heart Belongs To The Girl" (Bloom). Mexico's Most Powerful Station, 5,000 Watt, Sept. 1 Galveston, July 8. Unable to make satisfactory broadcasting arrangements with Federal Radio Gomtaalssion, Rio Grande valley .intereata- have or ganized Itaternatlonal ■ Broadcasting Co., and plan what' Is called'. Mex- ico's most, powerful, radio station, to operate across river at Reynosa. John C. Penn itt- general manager, Station will have -SOOO-'watt-power Opening, set for Sept. 1. $l,OOaW]cIy:Ady. Budget Detroit, July 8. Plans to spend' ardiind 11,000 a week being, m'ade by WXTZ (for- merly Station WGHP) and now owned by Kunsky-Trendle. Thirty- inch adds were used in all the reg- ular sized daily papers - to an- nounce change ' In call letters as part of 'the plan of the new owners to bring to the radio, field the same aggressive ballyhoo and exploitation ihat.. brought;. ;the picture biislhess to the place It Is today. kunsky-'Trehdle took ovier the WGHP £ron^ , George . Harrison Phelps, Call letter WXTZ was forinerly reserved for use, .of .the army .'and niavyi but speclal permjsf 61oh was allowed with the provfsb the letters revert back to the army If ever released by the local station. STBUCK OUT BT LIGHTNING While Charles King and other en- tertainers waited for WGBS to re- pair daihages done to its broadcast- ing apparatus during the storm Thursday night, the Fanphon and Marco half-hour period was finally declared off. Jesse Kay, F & M's program director, resumes the regu- lar weekly broadcast tomorrow .(July 10). Lightning put the broadcasting system out of commission. B. F. Team on Chain Hollywood, July 8. William Le Maire and Jimmy Allman will do 12 weekly broad- casts over the Columbia system, starting July 15. The tfeam is known as "Sweet William and Bad Bill." Broadcast will originate at KHJ here. ROGERS DIDN'T CUT.. SO OFF AIR FOR SQUlBBS Squibbs didn't take up Will Rogers' contract after Its expira- tion of the original 13-time period at $6,000 a time. Squibbs stalled on its last announcement over the CBS as at that time negotiations were on for renewals, but Rogers wouldn't okay the suggested cut. The CBS wai^ going to sCssume that item for the prestige alone, but fln^^ decided it was too much to handle sans a commercial spon sor. .After starting mildly, Rogers improved on the air when getting a studio audience to whom he worked and from them getting the necessary audience reaction which reflected Itself more favorable into the microphone. Casino's Wire Out Bouncing Checks Prove To Radio How Bad Biz Is Quite a number of indie stations and one chain station are now tak ing extra precautions when signing with a roadhouse to broadcast over their wire, this because of the num- ber of roadhouses which have been paying for time used in rubber checks. Accounts which were usually good became bad with roa'dhouse biz so terrible that many were unable to pay oft their bands as well as for the band's broadcasting privileges. NBC didn't fancy Sid Solomon's temperamental ideas about broad- casting Leo Relsman's music and took its wire out. NBC didn't re- move it because of any padlock threat. Whenever Solomon had an un- usually heavy crowd, he told NBC he couldn't have Reisman adhere to a formula broadcast program and wanted to call it off and NBC re- taliated by removing its wire from the C. P. Casino. Qarke, for Fox, Plans Network A la Warners Harley Clarke, president of Fox Films, is reported planning a new radio network of a par with CBS and' NBC. Clarke's plan Is to se cure about 160 indie operating sta tions throughout the country. From, reports, Clarke's plan is practically the same as that of the WarnersL. even unto the manner of broadcasting. Fox, as do Warners, plans to broadcast via the disc method so that a program may i>e heard the same hour in each city 5 Chi. Stores Hire Real Pitchmen to Spiel Foods Chicago, July 8. Five of the large department stores here, to push merchandise, are high pitching on the counters and aisles, employing from 10 to 18 spielers and demonstrators on every floor. Some of bona-flde pitch men, working on percentage, with the clerks filling in on the job. Third Hour Shy Erwln, Wasey Co., advertising agents, are defendants in a $1,000 suit by Fannio Brice, who was to have rendered services for three hours at $1,000 an hour for a com- mercial radio account belonging to Erwln-Wasey. Latter employed Miss Brlce's services twice and didn't avail themselves of the third hour. Cmfent Best SeUer Proyes Conservative Radio Phg Is the Best Dubious benefits of too many radio plugs is forcibly brought to music men's notice when comparing the list of 10 best sellers with the list of the 10 songs most plugged via the ether. It is noticed that but a minority of the 10 songs most ether plugged afe included among the lists of the 10 best sellers. . An extreme example of this Is "Springtime in the Rockies," which leads the' list of best, sellers.. That song has not once been Included amongst the 10 songs receiving the most plugs via the ozone. Since it Is well known that it was radio which, made "Springtime in the Rockies" what It is today, pub- lishers are beginning to believe that perhaps a more conservative, pliig for a song is the best thing after all. Jap Road Film (Continued from page 7) with him for personal a.ppearances. He will sail Aug. 16 with 16 prints and four portable sets. James Wong Howe, Chinese cam- eraman, directed and photographed the Japanese dramatic talker, with a Japanese, Thomas Joseph Hay- ashi. associated on direction. The film had a premiere with lights June 26 at the ^ox Brooklyn the- atre on the east 'side of Los An- geles. It will go into a house in the Japanese district on East First street for its local run. Story is modern, with Noboru Okawa and Ruth Washizu in the romantic leads, and while the end- ing has the lovers admiring a sun- set together in the good old Holly- wood tradition, the story is more sombre than the American public prefers. "The tragedy of Life" opens with a woman and her lover drinking poison for two reels. The husband, played by Matsumoto, arranges for his son's schooling and then hits the downgrade, winding up as a street-cleaner. He sees his son graduate with honors and later the son discovers his father aa the vic- tim of an auto accident. Deathbed scenes take nearly two reels at the conclusion of the picture. Some of the photography Is beau- tiful. The sound (disk) is greatly improved over White's previous pic-, ture, and would rate as average in independent recording. The lan- guage appeared acceptable to the Japanese audience at the Brooklyn Heights showing, with more lines drawing laughs than the plot out- line would indicate. RADIO RAMBLES By Abel Green Monday night disclosed two ether comedians of potential personal appearance possibilities. One is Phil Cook, the Quaker Man, whom the Quaker Oats' company lavishly supports with daily display adver- tising calling attention to his 15 minutes of twice dally optimism. Cook is an early radio bird coming on with his cheerio stuff at 8 a. m. for a breakfast session, and nightly at 7:30 p. m. to hit the entire family with his breakfast food propaganda. He's a versatile comedian, doing topical uke stuff on up-to-the-min ute subjects and also doing charac ter stories in impressive style. With time, and if his rep. builds, he'll be a cinch for the stage. The other comic Is Henry Burblg who has been dialecticianing from WABC and the Columbia system for no little time. Burblg features the Milt Gross style of dialectic per versions'Of history, dramaturgy and mythology. He opened a new series of 'Syncopated History" Monday night, starting with Romeo and Juliet and Interrupted hy contemporaneous themie songs which punctuate his dialectic discourse. That' was a bright idea air othierwise 30 minutes of • it' might have been too much: The orchestral back-up is excellent in Itself, playing everything cleanly and neatly. A hot Jew's-harp solo was a novelty in one of th^ instru- mental renditions and will probably start a vogue along that line. Fortune Tellers The sistrologers are still bullish on the air. Evangeline Day from WPCH and Evangeline Adams only one wave-length i^w&y (on WABC) were also only five minutes apart from starting oft simultaneously but they overlapped each, other therejifter. Evangeline seemingly is also a bullish monicker for the for- tune-: tellers. Miss Day Is apparently still un attached commercially and Just spouting her stuff In hopea of be ing commercially 'underwritten, whereas Miss Adams,, under For- han's toothpaste auspices only, goes into, a radio huddle with the planetsi and etheral bodies thrice weekly, She also-gets a break on the show- manship, being ushered in and out with an ImpressiVo rolling of the tympanl in ominously mysterloso fashion., : V Miss Adams said she.rea^ 18 solar horoscopes for onie eihploy'er's staff of clerks—not for their amusement, mind ydu, but for his own informa- tion as to what type of people his 18 clerks were. So she said. Winchell't Tklk Walter Wlnchell's 15 minutes from W \BC on the Saks 34th -St, time (at $300 4 crack to the column- ist) was punctuated by the Winchell style. ..of Journalism,: reading bis Broadway chatter in the same phraseology In which he writes it, Ethel Merman and Al Slegel were the guest artists and- Walter paid 'em off In superlatives although the piano duo clicked neatly. Miss Mer<- man's " hot song, with a typical Siegelesque arrangement and pres- entation of •''breaks" and broken rhythms, transmitted well through the "mike." If she fulfills all the heavy touting a couple of her "dis- coverers" have been doing for her. Miss Merman will also be valuable, via microphonic route, which takes in everything from the sound-screen to phonograph records. Her "Sing You Sinners" in original presenta- tion was a pip. Walter's own spiel was replete with one or two "so help me Win- chells" and personal plugging; also a rehash of previously released gags and chatter, but this quite natural considering everything. As a talk interlude, he probably com- mands a sizable circulation. Opposition Winchell was once caught in the act of scanning the Monday night programs to see who his ether com- Fadlocked Club Beopens Galveston, July 8. Hollywood, premier gulf coa.<3t night cliib, reopened July 2, after having been dark more than a year due to antl- gambling injunction. Floor show includes Sally Ose- mon, mistress of ceremonies; Blanche and Elliott, Doris Becker, Adele Jeanne and Isham Jones or- chestra. Club owned and managed by Sam Maceo. Brunswick's New York Move Chicago, July 8. The offices of the Brunswick Radio Company, owned by Warner BroH., have moved to new (juarters In the Wurlitztr building, New York. petition was during his own 15 min« utes and—at that time, from re- ports—he dismissed everything .else on the air. However, Winchell h{is R. L. Ripley (the "Believe It, or Not" man) on the Colonial Beacon- lights (WEAF) as one competition; 10 of his 15 minutes are opposed by Roxy's Gang (WJZ), although the Kremlin Art Quartet, Russian vocalists, from WOR, along with the others could be more airily dis- missed for lack of mass appeal. WABC's Ce Co Couriers having canceled a long standing contract because of alleged financial dilll- culties, the CBS substituted, the first of a summer series of U. S. Navy Band summer concerts from Washington, D. C. Jack Reid was a none too hot announcer for "Accordion Bob" who, stated M»r. Reid, plays the accotdibh. Sounds like some of the ether m. c.'s better stick to printed continuity and play safe on the extemporane- ous spieling. Police Band of New York .wAe . okay from ,WNYC among the b^ass band division. James G. McDbhald's 82d of the Series, "The .WbMd To- day," discussing Japanese poUilcs, and announced by' John S. YoUhg, didn't ^lave the' ethet-eal s. sL of the veteran H. "V;. Kaltehborh's Cur- rent Events, almost'simultaneously on the air. The editor-speaker has as definite an audible personality as Floyd Gibbons for that- sort of thing. The Delivery Boys pop: plug- ged twice from WC)R'and WPCH. George S))ackley's FootHght Echoes (WOR) was a charming re- view . of past. operetta successes,, . with thie cholces(4 portions of' the scores soloed and dueted. This type of hour, along' with the Phil^, Cities' Service and kindred pro- grams, evidences hbw? radio' in a, short spell has been: draining ihust- cal libraries pf many yeare' com- pilation In an ever-hungry need of. musical material. Publishers' Plaint It is oh thii; point that music^ publlshera. like iXari^ns and Wltmiark - .priedicate tl>eir e^tuawks that' It ;|b this fund o;f tl^eir'standard copy- rights which serves as .the backlbbnie of miahy a commercial program anill ■ yet radio sometimes Is not ^Ueged^ .fair in reciprocating by-exp1blt.ln'|tf their contemporary pop publlca* tlonS. , ' :.; • Harry Archer, one of the charmed . Inner circle of .the_NBC famlly,v^i>^ . sides being a Radio Music Co. aieJt composer, also heads his own ot^ chestra over 'WJZ.. The Original Memphis-Flvb, an IiitegitiLuhit yrtQk Archer, ibtarted 90 Hsitxlintfty ■ Mvol "Barnyard" Blues'f aiid Aiiih'^^'ti^'fiytti ensuing stuff was equally rhytbhtlo If lesd torrid. On IS^ABC, Cab Callow:^y's, coK ored 'orchestra .iWu.ccessQtfi'.^ta ;DuI»- Elimfcton^s band Mrhlch id nlbw banf. storming coast-Avard where, com- mencing Aug.^ "1, they ■ commence . shooting in the R-K-O "Amois 'n' Andy" .talker, were heard -from the Cotton Club. Calloway hsis a torrid :' Indigo style all his bwh, technically possessing more color and charac- ter than even Ellington, and Intro- . ducing some of the meanest indigo Warbling het^-d. 'Whoever ^hat gtit was who was moanlh' tUem blu^, she's an Indigo artiste In a class all . her own. They g^ve out some of . the meanest,' sweetest and dirtiest blues heard for a- long while, Ann Leaf's substitute on the mid- night prgdn reverlba; Fred Felbel, was an equally ..wjorUiy. technician. WOR's 9:30 hour of gypsy music Friday night Introduced one of the most effective magyar string orr chestras'heard anywheres. With tt • was blended an intelligent thread of . continuity introducing the various motifs and lending it todch of realism by explaining which was a love serenade, cafe air, etc. Independence Day.-of course,evi- denced the same fallacy of the aver-. . age holiday observance broadcas:^ So fauhgry^ apparently is radio: for some excuse to ^olor its Drograms,. that none , seems (to-realize every other hour will tpe replete, with fit- ting patriotic stuff.' a.'fesult, the whole day was a dticcesslon of pa^ . trlotic musical Americana and a flock of speeches, amongst which latter 'Vice-President Curtis prob- . ably received the most of a nbne too close radio attention. Dance Band Early ) A bright early morning (very I early, 9:30 a. m.) dance - band fea- / ture is The Manhatters who dish upc melodious syncopation In keeping \ with the early hour. Michaels Bros, plugging their, neighborhood furniture stores re-, peat their firm name over WGBl^ more often than Swaffer dupllcatei his "I's." With several competitlv< furniture Michaels in t^e field, the^ repetitions are necessary in a inea^ sure but the spieler sure overdid 11 Michaels is working a Radio Opl portunity contest for radio ama-i teurs, a stunt to secure free taleni for the variety program. Th< warblers weren't half bad. Ernie "Vallee is on WOR from th< Montclair hotel, Newark, whik Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann h'onr^ had Belle Baker as guest ai'tlst.