Radio showmanship (Sept 1940-May 1941)

In ten short opening seconds you must say something mighty important or intriguing to capture and hold the attention of your audience long enough to get your message across and clinch it! Theme songs and introductory arrangements for leading programs are not accidents. They have been carefully developed on the premise that it is better not to start a program with a "bald" commercial. A little music or news, or something equally sure to get the audience started with the program, assures you of listeners when you work in the plug later. Today, sales language must not only be direct and to the point; it must also be subtle. Most people are sales conscious these days. They resent being sold, they prefer to buy. So give them crisp facts in proper sequence, mold their opinions gently as you go along, and let your salesmanship be as invisible as it is effective. If you let your listener become definitely conscious that he is being sold, he may tune you out or ignore you until the entertainment begins again. Use simple words. Big words, fancy phrases and bombastic tones are too obvious. They attract attention to the speaker, not to what he is selling. A listener who can understand quickly and readily what you are saying without having to wrinkle his brows in thought, is absorbing your story painlessly and completely. Someone once said, "The first ten words are more important than the next ten thousand." It's certainly true in radio. For example, "How much money have you spent for gas this week?" will catch the interest of every car owner within hearing distance of your voice. But start off, "Buy one of our Super-Super cars — they're grand, economical, gorgeous!" and who will listen or care? Good opening sentences I have heard recently include: "Did your baby keep you awake last night?" "Was your husband grouchy this morning? Maybe he didn't get the right breakfast!" "How would you like to cut your shaving time in half?" "Is Sunday a holiday or a day of drudgery for you?" Once you have been successful in crashing the prospect's "ho hum" with a "sizzle" leadoff, you have a little more time to get your message into his mind — his blood — his system. I said, "A little." Too much — and his mind will wander away, saturated. Case histories show that the average listener fatigues when you talk too long. At first, he is simply bored, but as you continue to talk longer and longer, he finally becomes absolutely resentful. Then, you've lost him. Take a lesson from the stage: Every actor knows the time to stop is while the audience still wants more! Here's another important point to consider: Most people today have developed a strange third sense: They can read or talk or play cards while they are half-listening to the radio. They don't "get" everything on the program under such circumstances, but they do catch the highlights. For your program to register with such listeners, you must say or do something out of the ordinary. You must furnish them with "highlights." Tricky? Not at all. In fact, people have an innate feeling for consistency. They are likely to resent anything that even smacks of trickery. Something like this, for instance: You have just listened to a beautiful program on "The Romance of the Old South," and the announcer comes out bluntly with "Are you bothered with bird cage mouth ?" Or, "Do your husband's whiskers annoy you?" The whole illusion is lost. Or you hear the click, click, click of telegraph keys and the excited word "Flash!" You expect important news. You get a commonplace plug. Net result— let-down. No need to pile up examples of this sort of thing. You can remember the times when, as a listener, you've been fooled, and you know that the let-down builds ill will instead of good. Let your commercials be founded on honest-to-goodness situations or real life experiences, keep them in step with your listeners, in harmony with your program, and they will repay you handsomely. Watch for the third in ELMER WHEELER'S interesting series, in next month's issue of Radio Showmanship. V NOVEMBER, 1 940 95