From the MCRFB radio scrapbook: 1947
Detroit’s WJBK Dropping All Religious Commercial Shows
DETROIT (November 8) — An almost complete turn-about of programming at WJBK, which has been in the works since the station was taken over in July by Fort Industries Corporation, becomes a reality November 16. Latest decision is to drop all religious commercial shows (which have accounted for about 15 hours a week on the station) except from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays.
Heaviest hit will be the Temple Baptist Church, which as carried eight half-hours on the station under the the direction of the Reverend J. Frank Norris, who recently had an audience with the pope. Nearly a dozen other groups, including Protestant denomination and Catholic churches, are affected.
Other Stations Sought
Stanley Altschuler, now head of the Stanley Advertising Agency here, and formerly foreign and religious director at WJBK, is attempting to find time for some of the groups on some other Detroit stations.
WJBK will continue to find sustaining time for some other religious shows, including a program for the Detroit Ministerial Association and the Ave Marie Hour.
In addition, WJBK becomes completely English in programming this week with the Polish Variety Hour, a two-hour show which has been running six days a week with one hour on Sunday afternoon, being taken off the air. The station formerly carried some 15 foreign language groups but has been steadily dropping them with one hour on Sunday afternoon, being taken off the air. The station formerly carried some 15 foreign language groups but has been steadily dropping them since the present management took over. The current Polish show is the last to go.
Most of these shows have been switched to WJLB, another 250-watter, which has taken over the Czech, Lith, Hungarian, Serb, Croat and Syrian shows, which were formerly on WJBK. On Monday (November 8) the Italian American Hour, formerly on WJBK five days a week at 8 p.m., and half an hour Sunday at 3 p.m., is starting over inside WJLB for half an hour at 9:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
The switch has made WJLB practically the only foreign language outlet of the Detroit area, a rating they once shared with WJBK. Altschuler is supervising several of the WJLB programs, but now has no official connection with the station. His agency, however, is selling time on several of the programs, inasmuch as all these foreign language shows are handled on a participating basis.
At least one religious group which got airtime from WJBK is understood to be planning an appeal to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). However a local committee which appealed to the FCC on the foreign language issue a few weeks ago was turned down and it is not expected that the religious group will have a different outcome to the effect just the same. WJBK’s position is that the change will be for better programming in the interest of the majority listener audience. END
(Information and news source: Billboard; November 15, 1947).
