NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

such amendments as may be voted by the body. I believe it would not be too hasty to aim to put such new practices into general effect by the simultaneous issue of new rate cards January 1, 1934. CHAIRMAN CARPENTER: Are there any questions? MR. PHILLIPS: It is not a question that I have. There is one classification which probably you overlooked and that is the special summer rate. It seems to be increasing in popu¬ larity and I thing we should make some concerted effort to discourage the practice of that. MR. CHURCH: Several years ago, we, like some other sta¬ tions, experimented with a special summer discount. I came to the conclusion that it was psychologically all wrong, that it was something that attention should not be drawn to, and I intentionally left it out of this discussion. There is no question but that the percentage of receiving sets in operation in the summer is constantly increasing. I think I have read recently that it is estimated on fairly good authority about 90 per cent, fully 90 per cent of receiving sets are in operation in summer. Of course, it is quite different than five or six years ago. MR. PHILLIPS: I think it is something we should say as little as possible about, and at the same time in order to dis¬ courage the quotation of the rates, I am afraid we are going to have to talk a little. I wonder if something could be done in that regard MR. CAMPBELL: In answer to that, it came up in New York last week. It happened several of us were in a sitting on a schedule for some beverage advertising. He raised the question since he was an advertiser using it only in the summer or largely confined to the summer, he should have a special rate. My answer for WFAA — which is prob¬ ably the southernmost station represented here, and where there is supposed to be considerable static and that sort of thing — was “Our rates are based on summertime coverage, and any winter coverage or any other coverage is a plus coverage and not taken into account in the rates.” I am not at all willing to admit that our station or any station, as far as that is concerned, is worth less in the summer than in the winter. If the station is worth less in the summer, then it is worth less in the winter and the rates overall should be brought down. We satisfied this particular advertiser. There were several of us present and we convinced him as far as our station was concerned, there was no justification for a special summer rate. Wre do make one concession, and that is voluntary on our own part. We have only two rates — day and night. We break at seven o’clock during the period of daylight saving time in the metropolitan centers and at six o’clock at other times during the year. It is our own plan and was not suggested by anyone else. MR. CHURCH: I think that most stations are raising their rates on their primary coverage. If we stick by our standardized definition of primary coverage, that takes care of it so far as the special hub rates are concerned. MR. HETTINGER: We made a study of that question, of the summer audience in the City of Philadelphia in 1931. We went at it very carefully, with about 3000 cases spread very carefully throughout the town. We checked up on about how many people went away at different times, how many went away over any weekend, what proportion of the set owners were away during different weeks in the summer. What we found was that at no time during the summer was there more than a 20 per cent drop in audience, and that only during the last weekend in July and the last weekend in August. We found that the average for the summer was about what Mr. Church said, a 10 per cent drop at the most. If there is one thing that has to be corrected, it is this myth about the declining summer audience, which has come into our minds probably because we take vacations and can get away. Figure out the number of people who cannot, not only in the depression, but in normal times. Then let’s figure one other thing. I am thinking of when you are selling your own station in your own town. With re¬ ceiving sets improved, as they are today, it takes a fairly bad evening to cut out the local station. It may cut out the sec¬ ondary coverage of some outside station. It gives you a greater monopoly over the air than you have in the winter. As a matter of fact, if you take station popularity, at least the measure we used, you could see that in summer and win¬ ter. You could see certain stations carrying the same pro¬ grams from the outside as were carried by certain local sta¬ tions in the town go down by a certain per cent and a local station carrying the same program went up by the same iden¬ tical percentage. So that you had a very definite picture there. DR. JANSKY: I would like to emphasize what Mr. Het¬ tinger has said. There is no change in primary coverage of stations in winter and summer. There is not as much change in the secondary coverage area from winter to summer as most people believe. There is a decided change in the number of people at remote distances who get stations in summer and winter. If you look back into history, I think you will find that is why this great myth has arisen with respect to summer conditions and winter conditions. It hinges solely on the listener 1000 miles or thereabouts away. It is fortunate the primary coverage areas of the station are the same summer and winter. CHAIRMAN CARPENTER: I think possibly this may bring it to a head if I read the resolution which Arthur pre¬ pared a short time ago. RESOLVED, That it be the expression of this meeting that the problem of standardizing units of sale and associated prac¬ tices deserves a study of a committee of three to be appointed by the Commercial Committee chairman, with instructions to report at the annual N. A. B. Convention in October with specific recommendations. CHAIRMAN CARPENTER: You move the adoption of this resolution, Arthur? MR. CHURCH: I move its adoption. * * * The motion was seconded, put to a vote and car¬ ried. * * * MR. PATT: Mr. Chairman, Arthur mentioned something about four program time classifications. I would like to know what you mean by those. MR. CHURCH: Martin mentioned a few moments ago his station maintained two time classifications, day and night. I assume by that the day classification was to seven P. M. and the night classification from seven P. M. to twelve midnight or eleven P. M. MR. CAMPBELL: We quit at ten-thirty. The rate is not changed on the rate card. It is just in case an advertiser will come in between six and seven, and that is particularly day time advertising. We do not want to be on the air in the mid-afternoon. We take care of that by increasing the day¬ light time one hour and making the night rate from seven. It is not given on the rate card. MR. CHURCH : I have been criticized for complicating classifications of time by setting up a classification of four periods of the day, classes A, B, C and D. I think that that much classification is wanted in the case of many stations, possibly not all stations. There cannot be a complete stand¬ ardization of time classifications due to local conditions. We can, however, adopt classifications as to A, B and C, or A, B, C and D in standardized set-up, with recommendations that time be followed as closely as possible for those classifications. It seems to me that local eonditons will prevent complete standardization. MR. PATT : Taking a time and $100, how would you classify B, C and D, as half, third and quarter rate or some¬ thing? MR. CHURCH : In our case, we define class A time six to ten-thirty P. M. ; class B time, five to six, and, incidentally, we made our five to six time valuable by spending a lot of money on that hour and building up the artists, and now we have no difficulty selling it. At the present moment, we have three quarter-hour scripts sold between five and six P. M. We are getting practically night rates for that time. I think our rate for class B runs about two-thirds night. Class C is nine A. M. to five P. M. There again local con¬ ditions make our time before nine A. M. less valuable, which is our own fault, than it should be, and we put it on class D classification, class D being one-third of the night rate. . Page 151 .