Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

SHOWMANTIPS New program ideas briefly noted. Amusements IT'S A STRIKE Slanted to the audience of amateur bowlers. It's a Strike presents popular music by transcription, with news and comment about the week's bowling activities. Each broadcast features an on-the-spot pick-up with a CKWX special events announcer stationed at a local bowling alley during tournament play. Program is cooperatively sponsored by managements of eight Vancouver, B.C., bowling alleys to stimulate interest in the sport during a normally slack season. Broadcast each Friday, 8:00-8:30 p.m., the CKWX series began May 31, concluding August 23. Drug Products STORK CORNER REPORTER For KWLM listeners, Willmar, Minn., 2:30 p.m. is must listening for those who would follow the weekly trips of the bird with the long bill and legs. Listeners send in the names of new bom babies, with 12 names read on each of the weekly broadcasts. Sponsored by the NORTHWEST DRUG CO., in behalf of its dealer outlets, the program includes such information as parents' names, date and place of birth, and the birth weight of the infant. Each parent receives a gift from the nearest "One of the 1,000 Druggists" whose name is mentioned on the air. Parents must call at the drug stores for prizes. To the largest baby each week goes an engraved sterling silver cup. A recording of an infant's cry opens and closes the show. Music Stores SATURDAY SWING SHOW In Vancouver, B.C., the Saturday Swing Show is nothing new to the hep cats, but its sponsor is. Sponsor and the CKWX show got together when the J. W. KELLY PIANO COMPANY expanded its Record Centre to include a large selection of jazz records, many of them collectors items. A full-hour program featuring the non-commercial type of popular music, the show goes on the air at 1:30 p.m. While the series has been a CKWX feature for six years, KELLY PIANO took on sponsorship July 13. Current added attraction: a Swing Band Poll, with jazz fans eligible to win one of 25 prizes offered by the sponsor. Contestants list their most popular bands, and the entries which most nearly follow the general concensus of opinion cop the prizes. Announcer Reo Thompson produces and emcees the show. with KGY's commercial manager, J. Harris Dorr, as emcee. Four staflf members handle incoming telephone calls. Participating RADIO MARKET BASKET There's plenty in KGY's Radio Market Basket to keep the housewife on her toes. Listener reward for correct identification of mystery tunes consists of such hard-to-get items as butter, nylons, syrup, marshmallows, canned pineapple, etc. A half-hour show aired Friday and Saturday mornings, the program is built around KGY pianist, Lou Crandall, who plays request music as well as a Mystery Tune on each broadcast. Listeners are asked to telephone the name of the mystery tune. Hard-to-get merchandise is the pay-off for correct identification. Each broadcast pulls hundreds of telephone calls. Quiz Questions are also a part of the format. Twelve to 15 commercials are carried on each show, Participating VETS UNLIMITED Every community today is faced with the problem of creating or providing employment for its returned service men and women. What makes Vancouver, Wash., different is that 13 business firms set out to see what they could do about it. What was evolved was a KVAN radio series designed to find work for unemployed veterans. Of the veterans who have told their stories, presented their credentials to KVAN listeners, over one-third have been placed in positions for which their training had qualified them. Vets Unlimited is recorded by wire for rebroadcast at 6:45 p.m., M-W-F. Participating ALL REQUEST HOUR When KXOX, Sweetwater, Tex., first went on the air in 1940, one of the first programs on its schedule was the All Request Hour, 4:005:00 p.m. It's still a top favorite with listeners, with mail response excellent. During the vacation season, it pulls about 100 letters, with 60 its daily batting average the balance of the year. Each request tune is acknowledged on the air and every letter is read in its entirety on this strictly ad lib series. With Zeb Williams as emcee, the program is heard six times weekly. One commercial between each musical number carries the sales messages of local and national advertisers. IT'S A FACT Habit is an important factor in the type of program to which the radio audience listens, according to a survey made in Minneapolis, Minn. Out of 20 persons who listened continuously throughout the 8:30-9:30 a.m. period, 19 listened to the same station the entire hour. Variety programs got top billing from listeners, with soap operas also popular. Among non-listeners, which represented close to 50 per cent of the group included in the survey, reasons for not listening were varied. Sleeping babies, guests, telephone class and dislike of soap operas were among the explanations given by the sampling. Sampling included all income levels, with the Census Tract as the primary sampling unit, arranged in order of the average estimated rental values of the housing units within the tract. After ranking the tracts according to rental values, every third tract was seleced as the primary sampling units, with 40 tracts from which to select the sample. Personal interview roster method was used, with one interview in each of the 40 tracts. All interviews were made between 10:00-12:00 (noon). Survey was made under the direction of H. P. Longstaff, professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, by Ruth Elaine Lundquist. TO SELL YOUR TRANSCRIPTION SHOWS IN WASHINGTON, OREGON, IDAHO, BRITISH COLUMBIA, ALASKA write or wire MILTON HURWITZ c/o 215 Douglas Building Seoftle 1, Wash. REFERENCE: ANY ADVERTISING AGENCY OR RADIO STATION IN THIS TERRITORY N. B. For quick action — rush an audition disc, contracts, and particulars SEPTEMBER, 1946 • 321 •