Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-25
"Grahafn
\ sGraham
/ n McNamee
: y Speaking
EMEMBER the night Marie No.

II EME MEM the night Marie No.
the Coca Cola program? A
Il y fool error of mine that night. II
turns out, was responsible for
getting a couple of school-day friends
| in touch with each other again.
1t happened this way: The program
was running behind schedule, and II
was necessary to cut out a number in
order to make it At into its allotted
| time. picked a place in the program
where thought from the length of the
numbers we could best make the cut
| Walking over to the window of the
| control booth, I held my copy of the
| continuity in front of the window and
J placed my finger on the number tc
which thought We ought to jump to
make the program come out all right
Keith Mcleod, our general musical
supervisor, was In the booth with the
engineer and production man, and ]
looked at him questioningly, for want
ed an experts Judgment on whether
the cut had pointed out would dc
| the trick.
The number to which I pointed was
Beside an Open Fireplace" Keith
NODDED an OK, and went back to the
miercphone to announce 1t. I suppose
1t Vas because had just seen him, but
when announced the number I credit.
Cd Mcleod with Its composition.
Now Comes the Sequel.
Now, although he has written quite
a number of songs that are we'll known
on the air. particularly "Slumber On,
the signature of the nightly slumbel
music program, Mcleod didn't happier
| to write Beside an Open Fireplace.
Its composer is really Will Osborne
But Mcleod thought it a great joke
| and before the evening was over he re.
| ceived all kinds Of fake congratulations
| The slip had sequel, though, for 6
| few days later Mcleod had a lettel
from a girl in California, who was Sc
amused by the incident that she wa.
prompted to write him. They had beer
schoolmates in Colorado, and Mcleod
had lost track of her for years.
I'm glad made that slip. after all
| It adds another to the list of reunions
for which broadcasting Is responsible.
One Of the most interesting of these
occurred several months ago as the re.
suit Of an afternoon talk on fashions
The name Of the speaker was an
nounced, and a few days later she hae
, a letter from woman in Alabama
i asking IL, by chance, she was the sistel
| she hadn't seen in nearly Is years. The
/ guess was correct; the two had los
/ track of each other soon after theil
| respective marriages, when both hae
! moved about the country great deal
| The most remarkable part, however
| was that the speaker had been booked
on such short notice that there wa!
| no previous announcement, and shs
| spoke but that one time. It certainly
was long stretch for the arm Of CO.
! incidence.
It wasn't so long ago that I wal
| boasting about the fact that there art
only few famous persons in the
United States who haven't appeared
before microphone. Well, it's true. Of
course. but this afternoon was shown
several albums Of photographs taker
of people who had broadcast from WIZ
| on the top Of the Westinghouse fac
tory in Newark, N. j.. and, little later
when it had its studios In the old Aeo-
liam Hall.
Army and Navy Represented.
Besides q bunch Of major generals
and rear admiralS, who seemed to be
pretty consistent broadcasters in those
days, found pictures of Frieda Hem
Pile, Gamma Walska, Ruth st. Denis,
Marie Sundelius, Doug and Mary, Mrs
August Belmont, Percy Granger, John
Charles Thomas. Norman Hapgood
Mrs. Oliver Hartman, Cornelius Van
derbilt, jr.: Joseph Tumulty, Oscar
Straus.. Julian Street, President Angel
Of Yale, Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip
George Arliss, Hamilton Holt. Jane
Cowl and dozens Of others. Vaughn de
Leath, the Revelers, and Jones anc
Hare were there, too, and most OF then
! were posed before the old tomato can
mike-the very oldest type.
1t was novelty to broadcast Their
and all kinds of folks were glad te
travel all the way over to Newark just
for the thrill. The station had only SOC
| watts of power, but 1t and KDKA, ir
Pittsburgh, had the air pretty much tt
themselves. A reception chart made
| up at that time shows the station was
being heard regularly all the way te
the Pacific Coast.
A little later the novelty wore on and
the station had to bring Its studio te
New York-first to q tower OF the Ole
Waldorf-Astoria and later to Aeoliar
! Hall-in order to persuade speakers
! and entertainers to 60 on the air. Al
first stage and concert stars were de.
| lighted to broadcast just for the pub
| Lefty they received, but some Of those
| same stars won't 60 near nicrophont
today unless the fees run into foul
/ figures.
Veterans Get Big Pay Checks.
The veteran broadcasters mentioned
Miss de Leath, Jones and Hare a1t
| the Revelers-have been receiving large
sums for broadcasting for several years
and hesitate even to imagine the sun
Doug and Mary would probably ask be.
fore they would broadcast today. NJ
one in radio Is complaining very bit.
/ terly about today's fees, though, ant
that Is especially true among the vet
Grams Of the business. Most OF them
think, are rather proud that IN II
! years broadcasting has progressed x
the point where 1t can pay such big
sums without blinking.
One of our announcers-I think u
| was Charlie Tramont, but he won't
admit it definitely-came out with al
the other day. We had scheduled ar
outside program of q semipatriotic
nature, and 1t hadn't run according
| to schedule,-in fact, 1t ended more
than 20 minutes ahead Of time. The
orchestra standing by in the studios
for just such emergencies Immediately
took the air and played two short
numbers.
There was still long time to I'LL
| and the conductor signaled his men
to begin 1.-THE Stars and Stripes For
ever" At the same time he called
for help, pointing out that 1t was the
last bit of music his men had, and he
must have some more numbers pronto
A page was sent scurrying of to the
library to dig UP more music but he