Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

The program is \'ery carefully planned. It features two one-minute announcements during a 25-minute period and credits at the beginning and end, plus occasional side references to the sponsor. An effort is made to keep the announcements in tune with the homespun character of the show. The tie-up of Stott Briquets with the actual personality of Whoopee John is vitally important. Whoopee John and his band appear seven nights a week at old-time dances in towns throughout the Middle West. His audience averages over 500. At every one of these affairs, a large card advertises the product and the program and invites listeners to the show. Once a week, an announcer from the station goes along with the orchestra to a town (a different town every week, naturally), contacts dealers and other local figures during the day and emcees the show at night. The show is also, of course, consistently promoted. Stott Briquet leans heavily upon news and weather reports for the balance of its radio effort and chooses the location of spot announcements very carefully to insure their being in or near programs that appeal to the right listeners. The results of the over-all program are indicated by the fact that surveys of dealers have shown a four-to-one preference for radio over other media. Ten years of radio has left Stoit Briquet with the conviction that it is the most effective of all advertising, providing you know what people you want to reach and what to give them. If you don't, it's nobody's fault but your own! lennessee Jed Hits larget Children's Radio Hero Sells Enriched Tip-Top Bread in 25 Areas by ANNE BALLENT/NE, J. Walter Thompson Company, Nciu York SOMETHING new was added to daytime radio the day the bakers of Enriched Tip-Top Bread went on the air with the 5-time-a-week juvenile Western, Tennessee Jed. The children, glued to their loudspeakers, were surprised to hear the hard-riding, straight-shooting hero of the program burst into song to help tell the story of adventurous days of the Old West. Some of them recognized the voice; it was that of the Western singer and yodeler, Elton Britl, whose recordings they knew. Ihat was April 2, 1945. Just three months hiter, Tennessee Jed rode second in popularity among all children's shows in New York. As early as last fall it had helped to jump Tip-1 Op Bread sales to record-breaking new highs. And this February on a lariat puzzle give-away, it lassoed for WENR, Chicago, 111., the heaviest mail pull the station has ever had on this type of offer. Tennessee Jed was made a Western show because of the great proved appeal Western stories have with all ages and particidarly with the yoinigsters. And it was set in a certain period, that of the building of the first continental railroad • 344 • RADIO SHOWMANSHIP