Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

Drug StofBs AIRING THE NEW New radio programs worth reading about. No result figures as yet. Department Store STREAMLINE FAIRY TALES While the preschool child may be young in years and small in size, it's not without its own influence. With that in mind, Emery-BirdThayer & Co., leading quality department store in Kansas City, Mo, took on sponsorship over KCMO of Streamline Fairy Tales. Object: to reach the upcoming generation. Commercials are pitched to go past the child, reach the mother's ear, on the assumption that the mother and other adults are in the immediate background while this program is tuned for the child. Program is devoted exclusively to the Girls' Shop, the Boys' Department and the Shoe Department. All commercials are for specific items of merchandise for the small fry. AIRFAX: Transcribed series is made up of well-known fairy tales modernized by the Koralites to appeal to kidults. Programs 1 to 15 carry a ribbon which is Santa Claus talking to the listener, thus give a seasonal Christmas atmosphere to the series First Broadcast: May 14, 1945. Broadcast Schedule: M-W-F, 5:15-5:30 P.M. Preceded By: Terry & the Pirates. Followed By: Jack Armstrong. Sponsor: Emery-Bird-Thayer 8C Co. Station: KCMO, Kansas City, Mo. Power: 5,000 watts (d). Population: 602,046. Producer: H. S. Goodman. COMMENT: Programs of this type earn the gratitude of parents, also do valuable spadework of an educational nature among youngsters who will some day replace mothers and gi^andmothers as customers. MUSICAL TIME CLOCK Ikcmse the BoND Dri (; Co., Davenport, la., wanted to lake full advantage of its 8:15 A.M. time slot on VVX)C, it switched from transcribed music to live talent. Logic: since there is less personal customer contact in a self-service store. Bond wanted live talent to represent the store in a friendly manner. To put listeners in a receptive frame of mind, singer Paul Johnson and pianist George Sontag offer varied musical entertainment. Commercial copy extols the virtues of shopping for drug store items where you "serve yourself and save." Such functions as careful and expert prescription service are also stressed. AIRFAX: Quarter-hour of drug store news and music fill the time slot between the eight o'clock news and the Breakfast Club. Well-known ballads and brand new popular tunes make up the musical interlude. Broadcast Schedule: Monday through Saturday, 8:008:15 A.M. Preceded By: News. Followed By: Breakfast Club. sponsor: Bond Drug Co. Station: WOC, Davenport, la. Power: 5,000 watts. Population: 218,000. COMMENT: The importance of what precedes and follows an advertiser's program cannot be underestimated. What is broadcast fore and aft is an audience building factor, and if it's an audience the advertiser wants to reach, he can coiuit on a carry-over in interest for his own program. Laundries STORK CLUB NEWS To introduce to San Antonio, Tex., mothers a diaper service plus a children's laundry which gives special attention to hand washing and pressing of baby clothes, the Alamo Royal Baby Laundry took to KMAC with Stork Club A'eius. Five-minute series, aired thrice weekly was so successful that within three months the Alamo Royal Baby Laundry had to piu on a night shift for what is the only service concern of its kind in San Antonio. Progiam is directed to young mothers, features advice on problems of child JANUARY, 1946 • 23 •