Radio "Stars"

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 9, 11 September 1931, Page 30

Radio "Stars"

Huge Salaries PROGRAMME sponsors in the United States seem to be as lavish as film companies once were in the salaries they pay to star artists. As there exists no -basis of estimating actigpal monetary worth, entertainers of fayne are reaping a rich harvest. Salaries have been pushed up to record heights and, aS a consequence, broadcast advertising is costing far too much. To combat this situation, thirty prominent advertisers met recently in New York. Among other things, they objected to the fact that commercial sponsors have to pay a 15 per cent. commission on talent to advertising agencies. They wish to deal directly with the broadcasting organisation or the artists, and save this expense. Oné artist, who sings for fifteen minutes a day from a New York station to advertise a brand of cigarettes, is paid 6000 dollars (about £1200) per week for this service, and, in addition, receives the same sum for theatrical engagements over the next three months. Another popular entertainer receives a huge weekly salary, but perhaps the highest-paid radio artists in the world are "Amos’n’ Andy." ‘They have extolled the merits of a tooth paste twice nightly for months by means of sketches of negro life. But these popular entertainers are the exception. There is a dearth of high-class talent ‘on the air," so that programme sponsors have. found that a national "drawing card," original enough to hold thousands of listeners, is worth his weight in gold. The broadcasting companies are using every means to find and develop new "stars." a