Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Friday. October 7, 1949 RADIO DAILY: Thornburgh. At REC, Sees Business Good (Continued from Page 1) peak volume of spot business this year. Turning to television, Thornburgh said TV is in the •proving stage. He forecast that the continued growth of the television audience and the extension of the coaxial cables would put some TV stations in the profit column within the next year. The speaker, surveying the tele THORNBURGH vision outlook in Hollywood, spoke of the reluctance of some of the radio and movie names to get into video at this time. He cited Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen and Bing Crosby as three important radio names who have been showing some hesitancy about getting into TV. Phillip Willkie, son of the late Wendell Willkie, was also heard at the luncheon. Willkie, a representative in the Indiana state legislature, gave the REC membership an insight into his political thinking. John Karol, president of REC, announced that the next luncheon meeting on October 20 would be a television session with Richard Hubbell, TV consultant, presiding. BMI's Kaye Will Talk At N. J. Radio Institute (Continued from Page 1) cheon on Saturday. Members of the Program Clinic panel are J. McCulley, WSNJ, Bridgeton; Stephen van Gluck, WNJR, Newark, and Edwin Tucker, WKDN, Camden. Donald Meaney, WNJR, and Arnold Synderman, WKDN, will participate in the News Clinic panel. WDHN and WCTC, both New Brunswick stations, will act as hosts at a reception preceding the meetings. On Saturday, Harry D. Goodwin, of WNJR, will serve as chairman of a research clinic at which presentations will be made by Dr. Sydney Roslow, of the Pulse, Inc., and Seymour Smith, of Advertest. This will be followed by a Sales Clinic panel, with Gene Milner, WCAP, Asbury Park; Fred Bernstein, WTTM, Trenton, and Robert Bell, of WCTC, participating. P. I. Deals Poor Business, Headley Tells Station Reps HEADLEY Lou Holtz Disc Series Sold To Twelve Stations (Continued from Page 1) KEIO, Pocatello, la.; WIMS, Michigan City, Ind.; WHRV, Ann Arbor, Mich.; KLAS, Las Vegas, Nev.; WSRS, Cleveland Heights, O.; WCHA, Chambersburg, Pa.; KPRC, Houston, Tex.; WSSV, Petersburg, Va.; KREM, Spokane, Wash. (Continued f president of the National Assn. of Radio Station Representatives, said in a speech prepared for delivery today before a meeting here of the Alabama Broadcasters Assn. In pointing out that broadcasting is nearly 30 years old and that it is time, therefore, "to put away childish things," Headley declared that "there is nothing to be afraid of." He cited the need for better salesmanship on the grounds that radio as a medium is to a large extent still untried. Headley decried the practices of some broadcasters to, haggle over rates with advertisers, to accept P.I. business and free time deals or to offer lower local rates than those for national spot or network. "Grasping for business at less than card rates is juvenile, not the sign of a mature business," Headley asserted, adding that what the advertiser looks for first in a station is "character." The NARSR president explained: "The advertiser is a big man. He operates his business on the highest principles or it wouldn't endure, and he expects to do business with you on the highest business principles. He will not do business with you if you cut rates; once maybe, and then only the small advertiser and his advertising agency. But if you are subject to haggling, if you bill at rates and on terms that are not fully published, if you give one advertiser a rate or terms you do not give to all advertisers, you automatically cut yourself off from the high principled, large-size advertiser. Nothing is more important than the price. Everything that you have for sale should have its ticket, known to all, violated for none." Calls P. I. An 'Epidemic' Headley described the per-inquiry business as an "epidemic" and charged that "Slick operators are taking advantage of the fears you fostered for a few months of an approaching depression, and are organizing the P.I. business. If you have a legitimate broadcasting station, put on legitimate programs, perform a legitimate service, there is no reason why you should indulge in speculation for your sales volume. P.I. business is speculative. It is speculative in the quality of merchandise, the price charged, and the result that you get out of it. The worst effect is, of course, the undermining of your rate card. If you are willing to do business on a speculative basis with one advertiser, then all advertisers have a right to figure out some kind of a specula rom Page 1) tive deal. A P.I. deal may bring you in a fast dollar, but it is unlikely to contribute to a sound business. "Can't we send out word now to the advertisers and agencies that we are grown up, and will no longer fall for their free time propositions. I was amazed when one of the big New York agencies recently mailed out a commercial script, asking you to put it on the air free of charge because they thought it was interesting, and because the advertiser spent some money on some stations for his other products." Stresses Need For Research In discussing the need for continued research, Headley said: "We all recognize how unfortunate it is that some of our largest advertisers repeatedly tell us that they have no way of tracing their sales results to specific advertising media. They can't tell whether their sales are coming from magazine, newspaper, or radio advertising. So, they have to go on faith, and you can see how difficult it is to move the spending of millions from media that have produced, into the new broadcast medium, even though we have a great mass of evidence Would Abolish Fees On Canada Receivers (Continued from Page 1) quarter and one-third of radio owners in Canada do not buy the $2.50 license. The result was that the remaining two-thirds or three-quarters were paying for the upkeep of the national network. Brown's idea was that the license fees be abolished 'and that the money to run the CBC be taken from federal revenue. Wedding Bells Bill Lipton, regular member of the CBS "Let's Pretend" cast for the past 11 years, will be married to Joan Abbrancati, writer at Young & Rubicam, on Oct. 15. on our side. It is interesting to note that the products which are bought most often per week, which rely upon mass consumer advertising almost solely for their sales results, have allocated large appropriations for broadcast advertising. For example, cigarettes, soap and bread. So, we need every bit of evidence, of research material that we can get to trace cause and effect between broadcast advertising and producing sales." BUSHELS OF FUN Jack Lacy is a specialist in selling grocery products. Everyday on BUSHELS OF FUN (12:30 to 1:00 P.M.) Lacy reaches and sells a large housewife audience at home, where the budget money is kept. Call your WINS-CROSLEY sales office for participation availabilities . . . and while you're on the phone ask about the merchandising plus offered on BUSHELS OF FUN. WINS 50KW NEW YORK CROSLEV BROADCASTING CORPORATION