Radio: Oracle of the Kitchen

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A gulping, attentive reader, Wiley has a great wealth of miscellaneous information at his fingertips, hires four researchers to keep him supplied with more. His informal delivery (he uses no scripts, occasionally resorts to notes) keeps studio attendants wondering what's coming next. He stops to light a cigaret, change chairs, or take off his coat; then tells the audience, "It's getting warm in here, so I just took off my coat. You know, it's a funny thing about heat . . ." and launches into a lecture on thermodynamics in the home. Last summer he sported a handsome Vandyke beard but shaved it off when people called him a "poor man's Orson Welles"; now has a toothbrushy, Hitlerian mustache. An ardent sailor and fisherman, Wiley's life away from the mike is strictly his own.

Last week, Super-Salesman Wiley got into the national bigtime. On a long-term contract, over a 36-station CBS hookup, he began to chat five times a week for Campbell Soup, was introduced to the nation on his opening broadcast by Campbell's black-faced Amos 'n' Andy, piped in from Philadelphia. If the new backers expect windy orations on the merits of their product in return for the special sendoff, they are badly mistaken. Typical Wiley formula: "Before I get off the air, and because it's a quaint old radio custom, may I recommend Campbell's chicken soup as a really fine chicken soup. End of commercial."