Evening star., 1951-03-28
Ion the Air
|GodfreyCon
|Get q Shock
Right Here
On the Air
By Harry Macarthur

search Bureau estimate of th'
Washington radio audience. HI
might think that the city III
could call home, having spent 81
many of the early years of hi
carer here. had deserted him.
The figures are clear. "Arthu
Godfrey's Talent Scouts" (WTOI
Monday, $3.50 p.mD now aver
ages 68,400 radio listeners il
Washington. His WRC competi
ton at the same hour, Voice o
Firestone." has an average radi,
audience here of 1875 400.
The figures are not only clea
but startling, so much so tina
ARB made a telephone survey t.
substantiate its diary study. Th
phone survey did just that. "Voic,
Iof Firestone" clearly has som,
$4,000 more listeners in Wash
ington than Arthur Godfrey
Talent Scouts"
When you examine the tele
vision audience estimates, how
ever, it becomes clear what ha;
happened. Godfrey hasn't lost s
customer in Washington. Both O.
these shows are simulcasts-tha
word seems to be imbedded il
the language-and on TV Godfrey
gets approximately 325. 900 viewers
with Voice" attracting only $4,000
That gives him a total of 393, 400
almost double the Voice of Fire.
stone" Washington TV-radio audi
ence Of 197,400.
y X 4
There is a portion of the new
ARB survey which might have
some significance for television's
program planners. Those who like
music can't be diverted by wres.
tling when TV doesn't give them
music. They'll stick by radio.
Musical programs. to be sure
always have rated higher in Wash
ington than in the country as
a whole and, of all radio pro-
grams they are holding up best
That Monday night block of NBC
musical shows is one of WRC's
proudest possessions. Railroad
Hour" at 8 o'clock attracts Ill.,
800 listeners, Voice of Firestone'
at $3.50. l25,400, and Telephone
Hour" at 9 gets 10000.
Radio Theater" (WTOP-Mon-
day, 9 PM, usually the top pro-
gram nationally Cts been in the
first five steadily for years., runs
second to Telephone Hour" with
l14,000 listeners.
This seems to be a direct ef.
feet of television's growth. TIL.
musical shows are not increasing
their audience in Washington. bu
holding their own while "Radit
Theater" drops. Nationally, with
only 20 per cent of the familie!
having television, it still rank.
high. but in Washington nearly
60 per cent of the families have
television.
So. if you are an old "Radit
Theater" fan with a new tele.
vision set, TV offers you Light!
Out" Robert Montgomery Pre-
sents." THE Goldbergs" and {
Hollywood movie as competition
II you are Railroad Hour" lis
tener that competition. though
some of it is among the better TN
fare. isn't the sort of thing tt
make you desert your radio.
Benzedrine. Any One?: If the
tempo of modern life is getting
to be too much for you, you car
just be glad you are not in the
broadcasting business. In this
business some people live lives al
least $50 per cent as fast as nor.
NAL. Story from CHS reports
'"The production staff of CHS
Hear 1t Now headed by pro-
ducers-writers Edward r. Murrow
and Fred w. Friendly wouldn't
have the physical time to lister
at normal speed to the hours and
hours of tape recordings sent te
the program from all over the
world. The editors listen to the
tapes at one-and-one-half times
normal speed" Cody Pfanstiehl
of WTOP wonders it., when
they go home at night. they
talk at a higher pitch ano
goalonglikethislicketysplit.
X X X x
Programs and People: Jack
Benny, Claudette Colbert and the
Benny staff are in New York
preparing for the comedians
third network TV show. This il
scheduled for Sunday at 7::3(
(WTOP-TV) and will show Benny
off in different formal, the pro-
gram being sin the form of q
story" In addition to Miss Col.
bert. making her television debut
the guests will include Basil Rath.
bone and Robert Montgomery
Next Sundays Benny radio pro.
gram already has been tape-re-
corded. The second segment
of CBS-TV's four program docu.
mentary series, "Crisis in Korea,
will be seen tomorrow night al
1890 on WTOP-TV. Betsy
Caswell, women's editor of The
Star; Barbara Holmes, women's
editor of the Times-Herald, anc
Mary Hayworth, Washington Post
columnist. will be judges of the
annual Modern Woman of the
Year" contest, which Ruth Crane
is conducting on her WMAL anc
WMAL-TV programs. This is the
last week for entries.