Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

What Retailers Should Know About Radio By L. A. HIRSCHM ANN* Director of Publicity, Lord & Taylor, New York Success of National Advertisers is Cited as an Example; New Technique, Patient Understanding are Needed WE HAVE heard so much here in the last few days of the difficult and unprofitable condition in which the retail business of America finds ;, itself today. Is it not possible that one of the contributing' causes is its failure to employ fully and intelligently more advanced methods iof distribution? Radio is an imImediate example. In Professor Elder's interesting "|report, he discloses with conclusive evidence the proportionate in■ crease of sales of specific nation7ially advertised articles in terriItories where effective radio proigrams have been consistently used iby the manufacturer. His study ileaves no doubt of good radio proigrams' efficiency and cumulative ^selling power. Reports from manufacturers, national agencies and '? radio stations attest to the increasing specific, provable results from -j radio advertising. The question • naturally arises here as to radio's j place in the retailer's scheme of i advertising. How intelligently and i intensively has the retailer employed radio since its ten years' iKing Midas development? ONE REASON for the unprofitable condition of retail business may be its failure to take advantage of "more advanced methods of distribution," of which radio is an outstanding example, suggests the writer, who directs the advertising of one of New York's leading department stores. Like Kenneth Collins, whose article we published in the preceding issue, he holds that retailers have usually gone on the air haphazardly and have failed to take radio seriously. Calls Retailers Blind IN MY OPINION, retailers have been blind to the inevitable power and growth of radio as an instrument for the expansion of their publicity, and grossly negligent in their dismissal of it if they have considered it seriously at all. With a few notable exceptions, retailers who have tried it have done so with a blunt cudgel instead of the sharp, sensitive instrument it requires. A recent survey conducted by the National Retail Dry Goods Association disclosed that of the 1,600 major department stores in the United States belonging to that association, only 77 had experimented with radio. Of these, 35 used it for less than one year, 16 from 1 to 2 years, 19 from 2 to 3 years — and but 7 for three years or more. From these facts we can see, first: That in the face of the provable and increasing results from radio advertising for national products, that the limited number of retailers active in working with radio (77 out of 1,600) indicates either a lack of interest, alertness or resourcefulness. To this conclusion must be appended this interesting fact culled from Dr. Elder's paper: "It is of interest to note that in most cases radio made heavier inroads on the popularity of local brands or brands not heavily advertised than it made at the expense of strongly nationally advertised articles." In other words, it has been merchants. No one, not even the radio enthusiasts, will deny this. It remains now for the merchant to study radio, to apply himself seriously to its peculiar but farreaching possibilities for his business. The newspaper, in my opinion, will continue to remain his best medium, but it can and should be supplemented by intelligent use of radio. For with the imminent advent of radio's baby brother, television, neither retailers nor newspapers can any longer dare ignore or fail to harness for their own profit, this revolutionary advertising and democratizing force. Mr. Hirschmann *Discussion before Conference on Retail Distribution in Boston, Sept. 20, relatively easier for advertising of national products through radio to break down local sales resistence and to crash through local advertising. Add to this the fact that each city of any respectable size has developed a favorite local radio station which can be made an effective medium for the retailers' message and you have further evidence in the case of the retailers' gross negligence in failing to embrace radio. The second thing we find: That in instances where merchants have had the courage and confidence to use radio and grow with it, the results have been impressive both from the point of view of profit to the store-owned station itself and in the direct sale of merchandise. The outstanding example of this is the Bamberger store in Newark with its powerful radio station, WOR, on which the first direct merchandise selling program (with price) was introduced some five years ago with immediate and profitable results. If one store can stay with radio and put it to work as an extra publicity arm, why have other stores failed? Patience Required THE ANSWER is that radio is a new and highly specialized instrument that requires a patient understanding of its use. Selling facts from radio's experience should by this time fairly cry out a warning to merchants that they can no longer dismiss radio as too modern or remotely profitable an instrument any more than the railroads can make light of aviation. Both are inevitable in our scheme of living and business operation. It is obvious then, that retailers by and large have failed to take radio seriously enough. In such instances where they have played with it as an experimental evil, the results find them today in the embarrassing position of having failed to employ the most priceless and powerful instrument for subtle and direct propaganda that the age has given us. My advice to this conference and to retailers, then, is to study radio and radio results. Take a successful leaf out of the national advertiser's book. Study the results in your local territory, the fact that the average listener tunes in four hours a day — then plan to use radio carefully but intelligently as the voice of your store. The Retailer's Advantage ONE POINT which appeared in Dr. Elder's paper is particularly interesting to anyone in the retail field: "* * * one of the biggest jobs we have to do; to find out what makes people buy as they do; to know, not to guess, how a dollar spent here compares in productivity with a dollar spent there." In this respect, the retailer is far advanced — not because he is any more intelligent, but by virtue of his fortuitous position. He is able to check directly on the results of his advertising right in his own store. He has the advantage of seeing the customers face to face — unlike the national advertiser, who with his large campaign must depend upon charts and statistics, frequently after it is too late to alter or eliminate a medium, a product or a plan. The one sees faces and the other sees statistics. The greatest tribute that can be paid to the newspaper has been the consistent and specific results in item-selling and store-buildingthat it has achieved for American Department Store Uses KQV Talent Station Provides Advertising; Crowds Are Turned Away THIRTY THOUSAND persons attended a radio show held by Boggs & Buhl, Pittsburgh department store, during the last week in September, and all advertising, save on the opening day, was done over KQV. Sales were satisfactory, according to Harry Lewis, buyer of the store's radio department. The radio show was held in the store, and distributors of several makes of radio sets were invited to enter exhibits. Display advertising in the newspapers was limited to a 7-column advertisement in each of the three Pittsburgh afternoon papers on the opening day. Programs were broadcast from the show three times daily over KQV: 15 minutes at 1 o'clock, 30 minutes at 4 o'clock, and 15 minutes at 8:45 p. m. Talent used was "Uncle Henry and his Radio Rascals," a feature which has been carried over KQV for more than three years. Announcements that request numbers would be broadcast were made on the first day, but the seven Boggs & Buhl switchboard operators were so swamped with telephone calls that the invitation had to be discontinued. Attendance became so great at night that admission had to be limited to adults. November 1, 1932 • BROADCASTING High Power Transmitter Of KSL Goes on the Air A 24-HOUR program dedicated the new 50,000-watt transmitter of KSL, link of CBS, at Salt Lake City on Oct. 22, an hour of the broadcast being carried over the network. The high power transmitter with its ten-acre copper network grounded to the shore-waters of Salt Lake has the strength of a 100,000-watt station, according to staff engineers, because of its ideal location. On the day of the dedication Utah officials opened a new mile highway, a link of U. S. 40, and named it in honor of KSL. Page 9