The Washington times., 1925-04-03
ROmping Around
the
Radio Dial
BY Listener-In

WRC's second broadcast from the
Pan-American Building last night,
entitled a Cuban Night" proved
again the splendid qualities of the
Patio for broadcasting purposes.
The Army Band concert came in
clearer than usual though 1t seemed
that the microphone was not placed
so skillfully as at the last concert
from the same place.
The Cuban program brought
some delightful soloists.. both vocal
and instrumental We especially
| liked the recital by Harlan Randall,
baritone. His "Yo Quisiera," by
Auckermann, was one of the most
heard recently. Randall has a free
dom of range and power which
makes his offerings particularly eL.
joyable.
Accompanying Randall and the
other soloists was George H. Will
son, pianist extraordinary, who
seems to be the accepted accom-
PIANIST for all local artists whether
they are singing Cuban, Mexican,
Italian or just plain American airs.
Wilson accompanies the Washing
ton Quartet in their recitals and is
heard from both stations alike.
But rarely does he appear in a re-
cital alone, preferring to remain
in the background. Anyone who
appreciates good piano work should
forget the featured artist on some
Of these programs and listen to
Wilson's accompaniment.
Another person who deserves par
ticulac praise for his connection
with tho Cuban program is Ellis.
worth Tompkins. the announcer.
Tompkins is a regular WRC an.
nouncer, who always handles the
Fan American programs because OF
his familiarity with Spanish. He
tIAsses yer those difficult n-nes
and titles without even taking a
| long breath.
Probably the reason Tompkins is
so apt at the Spanish announce.
ments Is that he only been out of
yet had time to forget what he
learned.
Senior Don Arturo Padro, coun.
selor Of the Cuban embassy. ex
pressed his nations appreciation
for its help to CUBA when the
insular nation was in SO much
trouble in 1898. He also told just
how much sugar we all eat In com
parison to what Americans used
to eat in the early days of the
nation.
After reading our criticism Of
! WCAP in yesterdays column one
local listener has written to say
that she agrees with what we said.
She asks also why WCAP does not
broadcast more Of the New York
nf
some of the second-rate orchestras
and artists who have been heard
from that station recently"
Many stations throughout the
country, notably WOO, WCAE,
! WGR, WWJ, WEAR. WTAM.
WSAI, Voc. WCCO and WEEP
are rebroadcasting more of
| WEAF's programs than is WEAF's
brother Tor sister, station WCAP.
After noting the results of the
baseball series tbetween the Ma
| tionals and the Giants, SO far, we
| are glad that no local station took
up our suggestion of broadcastinR
| the series. 1t wasn't any picnic
as far as Washington was con-
cerned.
There has been a lot of talk
recently about whether classical
music is beginning to win more
favor with the radio audience than
| jazz. When broadcasting first be-
came general, most ballots showed
| a preference for jazz, but more re-
| Gently the votes have seemed to
favor classical music.
Much has been written about
how the radio listeners were be-
| coming more appreciative of good
music But WTAM. Cleveland
steps out to deny this and says
that when their weekly programs
are equally divided. between CLASH
cal music and jazz. the jazz pro-
grams draw about 80 per cent of
the correspondence, leaving only
about 20 per cent for the classical.
All of which goes to prove, we
believe. that stations can not ju 1ge
what the public wants very ac-
curately from the letters, because
the huge majority of listeners
never write.