, 1925-02-08
Roxy Lingo
Wins Defense
OfDoughboys
Disciplining of WEAF
Announcer Fails of
Support
BY ROBERT T. SMALL

Copyright. 1925. Casper Tribune)
WASHINGTON. Feb. There
has been so much talk in Washing
ton the past few days about the pro-
posed "discipiining'' of army and
navy officers who have been engag-
ed in the aerial warfare raging in
that the attempted "discip-
lining of Roxy" Rothafel by sta
ton wEAF of the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph company was
almost overlooked.
= It ought to be stated. however.
that ongress was on the verge, the
very verge In fact. of ordering a
congressional investigation of the
incident.
"Roxy" is regarded as almost a
Washingtonian for 1t was through
him that all of the war veterans
hospitals about the national capital
were equipped with radio receiving
apparatus and unquestionably his
most popular audience each Sunday
evening is composed of the disabled
doughboys who did their bit in
France or who met with enduring
ailments in the war cantonments
maintained In this country.
The boys in the hospitals were
ready to quit cots and crutches and
20 to war again in defense of Roxy.
Each one was planning to take the
matter up with ''his' congressman.
The soldiers were outraged that
Roxy should be prevented from in
dulging in the banter and patter
that have made his performances
49,. .ho ,tr AZ d~futipctfya in THAR
informally.
Many of Roxy's remarks were ad.
dressed to his veteran friends in
Washington in other hospitals with
in the range of the broadcasting sta
tons putting out his stuff:
The thought that Roxy" was to
be compelled to adopt the highbrow
and near-learned tone and
OF the average radio and
be prevented from projecting his
own personality into the Sunday
concerts was too much for the
doughboys. One Of them sent word
in to a radio editor that he was Dor
ed to tears with the announcers
who talk like a floor-walker walks"
The stilted manner OF the great
run OIL NEW lolh aiAAiooi%tAo ~
broad "a" and their would-be cor
rect pronunciation of all foreign
phrases. places and names are all
very well in their place, but the
swagger manner could not be ap-
piled to the Roxy concerts with
out breaking the spell and spelling
the whole works.
Only a complete surrender by
WEAF in the face of an overyhelm-
ing bombardment kept congress
from acting or attempting to act.
As heretofore stated in these dis
patches there has been a dearth of
congressional Investigations this
year. The aircraft row is being
worked up into a famous casus belli
Just because Of lack of competition
or q. proper counter irritant.
The attempt to discipline Roxy for
being too facetious on the air is
really an important step In the de-
velopment of broadcasting, nonthe-
less. 1t is a development n the line
of certain stations specializing in
certain progress and in a certain
manner of presenting them. Certain
of the New York stations. WEAF
in particular. are DESTROYS of being
highbrow. They like to clothe their
studios with the atmosphere of Car
neg'e Hall. They would invade the
Metropolitan Opera House II they
could. Therefore, 1t was concluded
Roxy was entirely too breezy for
such an atmosphere. He would
have to tone down or walk out. But
these highbrows reckoned without
their invisible hosts. The fans pro-
tested too vigorously.
WEAF backed down. Neverthe-
less, the future soon will see SYM
phony stations and Jazz stations and
various varieties OF stations in be-
tween. Radio r~estaurants." the
'.hired hand at station WBAP,
down In Fort Worth. Texas. calls
them.
Virtually all of the midle western
stations have their breezy an
nouncers and their community
forms Of entertainment and they ma
turaily smiled broadly at the at
tempts OF the "effete east to dis
cipl'ne so mild a person as Roxy.
Today. the uutrammeled spirit. of
the radio is marching on.