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wood baint Nicholii
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FIVE CONSECUTIVE YEARS ON THE AIR
SANTA GLAUS via the WGAR airwaves is an old friend to juvenile listeners in Cleveland, O. For five consecutive years, the Coca Cola Company has presented the jolly old saint to youthful and eager listeners.
While the show went on the air November 26, Cleveland youngsters were invited to send their letters to Santa several weeks in advance of the first broadcast. Before the last broadcast, December 22, children of Northern Ohio had sent in no less than 17,753 letters to Santa, which represented a 50 per cent increase over the 1944 mail pull and a 100 per cent increase over 1943. At least 80 per cent of the children stated in their letters that they were leaving a bottle of Coca Cola for Saint Nick.
Show was produced by John Saunders, who also daily portrayed Santa Claus. WGAR's chief announcer, Reg Merridew, was emcee and announcer. Uncle Reg went through his daily routine of describing Santa's studio entry, with Santa always accompanied by his little helper, Twinkletoes, the little elf whose voice sounded very much like an electric organ. VV^GAR's organist, Grant Wilson, played the part.
TOPSAIL HOLIDAY PROGRAMS IN POPULARITY
VViiiLK A Visit With Santa Claus was csscniially a children's holiday program, five non-competitive sponsors in Missoula, Mont, had plenty of evidence that adults also listened to the quarter-hour program during its four weeks on the air. Sales curves went up for each sponsor, and the mail count of letters to the patron
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Summaries of 11 successful Christmo Santa Claus took the lead to build m traffic. One of them may he used fai
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saint w^as proof conclusive that the show made a big hit w^ith the small fry.
Out of 24,950 radio homes in the KGVO daytime coverage area, letters came from 2,360 of them to set a record as the highest mail pull program ever aired over KGVO.
All letters were acknowledged on the air, with the most interesting ones read. Children were invited to write letters to Santa, in care of KGVO, and the letters were purportedly forwarded to the North Pole, where Santa entered each name in his Good Book. Series has been aired over KGVO for several years and has consistently topped all other holiday programs in popularity not only among the small fry but also among adult listeners.
While it had previously been sponsored by a single advertiser, five advertisers shared sponsorship on the 1945 series, with each advertiser credited with sponsorship on four days staggered throughout the broadcast schedule. Program was aired Monday through Friday, at 4:30 p.m. In addition to letters read by Santa, the program featinxd Santa's chief assistant, Popinjay (speech recorded at 33 1/3 and played at 78 RPM), and children's Christmas toy band nuisical transcriptions.
RADIO SHOWMANSHIP