Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1944)

Trio has carried good merchandising, that is, good advertising, right along with it. They've really sold merchandise for Sm's. They talk about it. They sing about it. The listeners love it. We think that one reason The Fartii and Home Hour has been such a highly successful advertising medium for us is that with the simple, homey melodies sung by the Burroughs Trio, and the Looking as straight at you as he does at a customer is Sid Ardman, proprietor of Sid's Furniture Mart, Parkersburg, W. Va. With him are, (left) George H. Clinton, WPAR manager, and (right) Sid's adman, "Dick" Fowler. Welcome to chicken dinner on many a West Virginia homestead is friend-to-man Sid Ardman, sole owner and manager of Sid's Furniture Mart, Parkersburg, W. Va. Still a young man with a tremendous zest for life, he manages time for a few holes of golf, can always stop to chat with his countless friends. It's the homey touch that has endeared Sid and his store to the community , and shrewd merchandiser Sid is smart enough to capitalize on it. Store front and display windows are kept unpretentious with deliberate intent. It's the salt-of-the-earth person who shies away from radical change who is Sid's best friend! favorable time this half-hour has on \VPAR's morning schedule, we reach right into the homes of the people we either already have as customers, or want to have. For Sid has always built his business on the basis of the customer being the "right guy," no matter how unpretentious he may be; he builds his friendships on his business, and not his business on his friendships. Sid's Furniture Mart is like the famous Banyan tree: its roots spread out in all directions, and its growth goes farther and farther into the Ohio and \\^est Virginia hills. Perhaps another reason for this ex pansion of our business in the new and used furniture field is that Sid, like Abe Lincoln, loves everybody. You'll always find Sid on the floor of our store taking (are of the customers, or directing one of the sales people to go and do likewise. Sid has spent ten years on the floors of his store, the largest of its kind in our territory. He meets every customer he can, and takes care of their wants personally. Sid knows literally thousands of VV^est Virginia and Ohio families and these families like the Banyan tree, keep gTowing. They know Sid and his furniture. Day after day Sid keeps in touch with these friends of his, by telling them over the air about our store, our bargains, or our new shipments. This daily appearance on the air is like a daily visit of Sid, himself, into many of these homes where our furniture has already gone, or will go this year or next. When this radio-success-store began in 1937, Sid had 2,000 square feet of selling space. Today, we have 10,000 square feet in which to display and sell our merchandise, and 8,000 additional square feet of storage space and warehouse. Until the w^ar made a change in our delivery service, we had three vans rolling over a territory extending 200 miles 'round and about West Virginia and Ohio river hills. AVe still operate three huge \'ans and employ two buyers at all times to evaluate and buy used furniture. Sid takes care of the buying of new furniture at the metropolitan centers. Consistency of well planned radio advertising has proved itself in the success story of Sid's Furniture Mart. The present record: 312 weeks, or 1,560 times on the air. Sid figures that radio, and honest selling have put his store in the top position in this part of AVest Virginia because his customers come into our store from a radius of 80 miles around Parkersburg, and that's exactly the radius in territory which the radio station here covers. It's more than just a coincidence, Sid knows. That's why he has just signed a new contract to sponsor the Farm and Home Hour for his seventh year on the air. JANUARY, 1 944 13