Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

Station Promotion: Key to Success in Radio By JOHN F. PATT Vice President and Manager, WGAR, Cleveland Chairman of NAB Station Promotion Committee Use of Trade Papers, Mail, Newspapers, Billboards Urged; How Institutional Publicity Increases Popularity Mr. Patt THIS COMMITTEE was asked to deal with the subject of station promotion, a far broader topic and one much more interesting than that of sales promotion, which limits the perspective of the advanced student in broadcasting considerably. The chairman of this committee has had the assistance not only of members of the committee, but of hundreds of other station executives, agencies, special representatives, the two networks and broadcast trade papers. After full consideration of the many elements of promotion, it is an inevitable conclusion that the broadcaster who does not project, encourage, elevate, advance or contribute to the growth and development of his station will meet with eventual extinction, as has already been the case with some 200 stations in the last five years. It is conversely true that promotional efforts have brought progressive stations financial success, better assignments of power and frequency, increasing listener attention, and higher standards of public service. Promotion is the beginning of a perpetual cycle of advancement toward the finer achievement we all seek. Defining Terms WE HAVE already defined station promotion in its Websterian form. Specifically, it works in two — I may even say, three — separate and distinct fields of broadcast operation. We can once more draw upon our contemporary, the press, in naming these three departments: advertising, circulation and editorial. These are all familiar phases of newspaper operation, and they are analogous in radio to commercial activities, audience building, and to the purely entertaining or educational parts of the radio day, both commercial and sustaining. Of this editorial department I shall not speak, other than to mention in passing the comment made by a former president of this association when I asked for his opinion of station promotion. His contribution was, "All I can say is, to promote an audience the best thing a station can do is to render a true and conscientious service, presenting the best possible programs within the station's power. It seems to me that it is just too bad if a station must go out and use other advertising media to advertise itself." Of course, this is an extreme statement, and one which our former president cannot mean literal HERE'S an article that should be clipped and placed in the files of every broadcasting executive. It is the first of two parts of the thorough report of the NAB station promotion committee which was filed undelivered at the St. Louis convention for lack of time. Mr. Patt digests the experiences of leading stations with various forms of institutional advertising and offers some pertinent observations as to their relative merits. Watch for the concluding article in an early issue of BROADCASTING. ly, because I have seen some excellent promotional material which his station has employed. However, I believe that he has advanced a most important, and yet the least considered part of the station's job in promoting itself. All too often our progressive policies go after and secure a volume of business and a multitude of listeners, (the advertising and circulation side of broadcasting), and then fall down in quality or presentation of material (the editorial side). Station Promotion Divisions BUT WHILE we leave a word of caution here to promote the editorial phase of our business, this report deals in detail only with the more commonly understood functions of station promotion. These are activities of the broadcaster which increase the size of the audience and those which increase the sale of advertising. Usually, these functions are entirely separate, but occasionally they overlap. We shall attempt to deal with them collectively. Many forms of display advertising have been employed by the broadcaster to develop the listener and advertiser-consciousness of his station. It would be safe to estimate that between two and three millions of dollars are invested annually in radio station advertising in direct mail, trade papers, newspapers, magazines, billboards, car cards and novelties. Mail Holds Lead NO DOUBT the greatest expenditure is for direct mail, since a survey shows that there is hardly a commercial broadcaster who occasionally, if not regularly, does not send out mailings to selected lists of local and national advertisers and agencies. Through them advertising agencies are enabled to maintain an ever-growing file of information about stations and marketing areas. These pieces vary from ordinary individuallytyped or processed letters to elabo rate brochures such as: "The Yankee Network of New England" (WNAC), "The Nation's Station" (WLW), "Where They Listen to Columbia" (CBS), "NBC Markets" (NBC), "Only The Leader Can Be First" (WJR), "Adding New Towers For Old" (CBS), "The Blue Book" (KMBC), "Fifty Thousand Watts in New England" (WTIC), "NBC Series of Case Histories in Broadcasting." Careful Planning THESE ARE but a few attractive mailings from radio stations, and it is significant to note that advertising agencies have been the recipients of several thousand letters, pamphlets, broadsides, folders, bulletins and other publications in the last twelve months. This is doing much to impress the spender of advertising dollars not only with the individual station's pre eminence but with the growing importance and indispensability of radio as an advertising medium. As John Howie Wright points out in the October (1932) issue of Postage and the Mail Bag: "Every item of every direct mail advertising campaign should be carefully worked out if it is not to be a hit-and-miss affair." Testifying to the accuracy of this statement is WGY's campaign of six mailings, where every detail was planned in advance. This campaign was displayed at the Detroit NAB convention. Each of the six mailings was made to a full list of 2,000 at a total cost of $1,430.88, and the station reports several new contracts signed as a result. This, of course, is only one of many station mailings which have been notably well done. Without attempting to get a complete list of stations who have done direct mail advertising effectively, the following may be enumerated as having forwarded attractive pieces for this committee's inspection: WJAR, WKY, WPTF, WRVA, WSMB, WWJ, WOL, WJR, KQV, WBT, KHJ, WOR, WJAG. Approximately one hundred stations have made use of the broadcast trade papers, and these journals report that space orders are increasing annually. In 1927, Standard Rate and Data Service brought out a radio station supplement for rate information, and offered broadcasters an opportunity to use display space for information not included in regular listings. Full pages, third pages at the bottom of the page, and cover positions were at once utilized by dozens of broadcasters. It is only proper that broadcasters should support these publications which have been waging a united battle against radio's enemies, and have likewise served as a forum for the best thought on problems relating to the industry. All of these publications have furnished me with testimonials from station executives declaring that they have had immediate results from many of their advertisements in these publications, although frankness compels me to say that it is generally difficult to trace immediate or direct response to the type of generality copy which ordinarily is preferred by advertisers. Unquestionably, however, this advertising is profitable if properly and continually done. While this report is not intended as a testimonial for trade publications, it can readily be seen that increased patronage of these publications will result in a larger and improved service to the industry through the employment of more specialized personnel to cover news of the industry. Press Displays OCCASIONALLY, space has been taken by radio stations in their daily newspapers to advertise important events. Few stations have made consistent use of this form of advertising because the cost would bankrupt the average station. A few stations have taken small space daily to advertise feature programs for a short period of time, but in most cases this has been dropped. Station WXYZ, Detroit, has periodically devoted five or six inches in the Detroit newspapers calling attention to a half dozen of the station's local features for the day. This has had beneficial results, but it is largely agreed among broadcasters I have talked with that the volume of local and spot advertising still is not great enough to maintain a daily schedule of newspaper space for the sole purpose of getting listeners. Broadcasting stations for many years have almost unanimously encouraged the use of newspaper space in conjunction with radio programs of advertisers calling attention to the advertiser's programs. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are now employed by national advertisers in running spot(Continned on page Si) December 1, 1932 • BROADCASTING Page 11