------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 440
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
TUNE IN magazine [ "Gordon Gregersen" <gsgreg@pacifier ]
I Was the Duke [ Serialous@[removed] ]
Re: Radio Taxes [ Shenbarger@[removed] ]
Advertising splits [ "Ed Ellers" <ed_ellers@[removed]; ]
Today in radio history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Assessed value of (a) radio [ leemunsick@[removed] ]
Twilight Zone on AFRTS? [ Shaun Hayes <babyletsplayhouse@yaho ]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 16:10:53 -0500
From: "Gordon Gregersen" <gsgreg@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: TUNE IN magazine
About ten days ago, poster Bob Keldgord asked about the radio magazine, TUNE
IN.
"The National Radio Magazine", as it was subtitled, began with issue no. 1 in
March
of 1943. It was issued monthly for at least 44 months, maybe longer. The
latest
issue I've seen is October 1946.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 17:54:16 -0500
From: Serialous@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: I Was the Duke
I was listening to this program, from CBS Radio Workshop, yesterday and was
amazed that this show made it on the air with all of "Duke"'s colorful
language. Anybody know how this program got by the censors and if it raised
any eyebrows by listeners, who wrote about it to CBS?
Michael Nella
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 17:54:31 -0500
From: Shenbarger@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Radio Taxes
In a message dated 11/14/2002 3:12:34 PM Central Standard Time, Bill Jaker
writes:
She said that when she was a little girl growing up in Indiana in
the 1930s she remembers the County Assessor coming around to estimate
the value of the house and property for tax purposes. If he saw a radio
in the house, the valuation went up a notch.
Has anyone ever heard of such a practice?
Some states had, and some still have, personal property taxes. We have one
county left in Illinois that assesses personal property taxes only on
industrial machinery. Personal property taxes for individuals was abolished
in Illinois about 25 years ago and replaced with a replacement tax on income,
which is easier to administer.
The Zenith Model 12-S-265 sold in 1938 is a common 12-tube console, original
price $140. The popular 7-tube 7S-363 console made in 1939 sold for $70.
Lesser table top tombstone radios started at $40 or so. So a good console
would probably bump the taxes a little bit. My mother recalls her Dad
bringing home a $50 radio about 1930 on trial so her Mom could hear it. Her
Mom was dead set against spending that much money on something like a radio.
The radio stayed.
Don Shenbarger
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 19:45:11 -0500
From: "Ed Ellers" <ed_ellers@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Advertising splits
rcg <revrcg@[removed]; wrote:
I know that some products, although nationally sold, were unavailable in
certain areas and I can understand why, in those cases, the sponsor had no
desire to pay to advertise in a city where the product wasn't sold. But, I'm
wondering, if anyone can tell me why sponsors would not buy cities where
their product was available and, why the networks permitted this to occur.
The networks allowed it to occur because, to a very great extent, the
sponsors called the shots. As to why a sponsor wouldn't want to pay for a
given station, remember that there was a lot of overlap between affiliates
of each network in many places -- much more than happened later in TV. As
just one example WHAS in Louisville, which was a CBS affiliate during nearly
all of the OTR era, put a good signal into the Lexington, Kentucky and
Columbus, Ohio areas (and still does today), so many sponsors may not have
wanted to pay for air time on stations in those smaller cities when
listeners there would get the show on WHAS anyway. (In many such cases the
show was not heard on those "missing" stations at all -- instead they got a
sustaining program in some cases or in others would have to fill
themselves.)
This practice went on well into the early days of TV. WKLO-TV, a UHF
station in Louisville, operated from October 1953-April 1954, and although
it was an ABC affiliate some sponsors wouldn't pay to have their shows
broadcast on UHF (because of its limited reach at the time), so ABC had to
either clear those shows on VHF stations or keep them out of Louisville
entirely. As TV moved away from full sponsorship and toward spot
advertising, the networks were finally able to present a unified national
schedule in a way they never could in the OTR era, though there was still a
need to substitute spots in some cases -- sometimes the same sponsor would
have to run different spots in different regions, as was the case with
Humble Oil when it could run Esso commercials only in the Northeast and had
to substitute Enco commercials for the rest of the country. (That
particular split, not just on TV but in general, was the reason that Humble
changed its name to Exxon in the 1970s.)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 12:15:06 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history
>From Those Were The Days --
1926 - Network radio was born. 24 stations carried the first broadcast
from (bong-bing-bong) NBC, the National Broadcasting Company. The
program was a gala 4½-hour broadcast from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in
New York City. Two remote pickups were also on the program. Opera star
Mary Garden sang from Chicago and Will Rogers presented a humorous
monologue from Independence, Kansas. Charles Lindbergh was among the
luminaries who attended the broadcast.
Joe
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 12:15:10 -0500
From: leemunsick@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Assessed value of (a) radio
Bill Jaker brought up the question of assessments in 1930s Indiana, taxing
a property owner on the presence of radio sets in the home.
A number of states have taxes on "Personal Property". There may be such in
individual counties or incorporated municipalities as well. Such taxes are
in place here in Virginia. I understand it's largely ignored except for
automobiles, the controversial tax on which has plunged the Commonwealth of
Virginia into political turmoil.
It contributed to Virginia's present huge budget shortfall. Virginia like
many other states went on spending and commitment sprees during the 1990s,
instead of paying down their debts and banking some surplus. Sound like
any national government we all know and love? I know that Florida also is
very serious about its version of this onerous tax. I assume there are
numerous others. Don't be surprised if the current fiscal problems cause
other states to institute (or reinstall) these taxes. With most homes
owning a handful of radios, one could understand their lure to the
assessors. Indiana redux!
These days, this type of assessment includes things like refrigerators,
freezers, automobiles, boats, perhaps jewelry, cameras and the like, and
probably television sets. I imagine assessors in coming years will be
especially interested in the huge wall TV sets, the more expensive HDTVs,
and so on. Whether they bother with radios now is questionable, but they
may be included in some jurisdictions. But as noted [removed] out!
Let's recall that in the 1930s, many radios especially in the homes of the
more affluent, were very large and deliberately impressive, just like
today's "home entertainment centers". While obvious targets for the
snooping assessors, I doubt they were the only category to seize their
attention. But to the extent they did, there is another tip of the hat to
the importance of radio in the middle third of "our century".
From Lee Munsick
For the record: I own no boat, wall TV, HDTV, nor jewelry. I swear!
We do have two cars, and in our state and county, it hurts!
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:34:19 -0500
From: Shaun Hayes <babyletsplayhouse@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Twilight Zone on AFRTS?
RE: Twilight Zone radio series
Carl Amari writes:
It's also airing regularly on The American Forces
Radio & Television Service, so if
you have a short-wave radio you can pick it.
'Fraid not. AFRTS shut down their shortwave operation
and switched to satellite distribution years ago.
Carl, I emailed you (from a more private address)
about a possible SW outlet and had no response
from you. If you're now interested let me know.
Shaun Hayes
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #440
*********************************************
Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
including republication in any form.
If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
[removed]
For Help: [removed]@[removed]
To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]
To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
or see [removed]
For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]
To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]
To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]