Sponsor (Nov 1946-Oct 1947)

In I lie Cilics (In the Farms The voice of KMBC covers a vast 78-county area, divided into two almost equal parts and termed the "Heart of America". 51% of the population is urban and 49% rural. Both the industrial capital of the Midwest and the nation's agricultural center are located within its boundaries. It includes Greater Kansas City's booming factories and distributing organizations — plus some 47,000 square miles of busy and prosperous farm country. In its radio coverage of this area KMBC supplies custombuilt programs for both the rural and urban halves, thus providing a complete broadcast service. Make sure your selling effort in the "Heart of America" reaches both those in the cities and those on the farms. You need both halves for a wholeHearted selling job. AVAILABILITY KMBC Mid-afternoon News with ERLE SMITH Monday thru Saturday — 3:25 P. M. WRITE FOR DETAILS KMBC of Kansas City Free & Peten, Inc. S.ici 1921-Tki lisle CSS Stitloi lor Kjisjs ■•< Miutirl BLOCK PROGRAMING Continued from / ..,< 4 \ A fundamental factor in horizontal block programing i^ the (act that the listener can find what he wants tolheai on tin same frequency at the same time every day. He knows that he'll Thave the news on the hour, or on the half hour. "i live minutes before the hour, from mom to midnight Since most blockprogramed stations feature music and news it's possible to adjust schedules to the needs of their audiences quickly. During the war when most factories were working round the clock these stations geared their music to wartime living, not a nine-to-five peacetime regime. That meant that their daytime music was not 100 per cent programed for the housewife but for men who worked the four-to-midnight or the midnight-toeight shift. Today these block-programed stations may have "rise and shine," "clean the house," "lunchtime," "women's club time," "teen-age time," "dinner," and "slumber hour" sessions. Such programing means, of course, that the station controls its programing 100 per cent and the advertiser buys advertising with the knowledge that he can obtain only a limited identification with any program. This is almost the exact reverse of network advertising, where the aim is to link the sponsor and his program in the minds of the listener. Programs such as Cavalcade of America, Lux Radio Theater, Bob Hope, BergenMcCarthy, and Fibber McGee and Molly do as much selling for du Pont, Lever Brothers, Pepsodent, Chase and Sanbom, and Johnson Wax as the commercial continuity on each airing. Advertising copy on block-programed stations has to carry the complete selling burden. The programs deliver the audience, the commercials deliver the sales. Agencies frequently question the mail pulls of block-programed stations. The best relevant case history available is that of WCKY which shifted on April 15, 1946, from a network affiliation to a completely independent block operation. Mail increased 70 per cent in the first year of block operation. By June 1946 the monthly mail count had reached 33,894; for Januar> 1°47 the mail count was 113.S09. From June through November 1946) WCKY secured more than 130,000 new subscriptions for the Southern Fanner, which according to the editor of the publication, Aubrev Williams, is " the most wonderful storv in radio.'' WCKY'S Nelson King on his eight(Pkase tut ~ to page 59) FORJOE METROPOLITAN MARKET STATIONS I WKAP Allentown KVET Austin WORL Boston WFAK Charleston, S. C. WTIP Charleston, W. Va WSBC Chicago WJBK Detroit KNUZ Houston KWKW Los Angeles WNEX Macon WHHM Memphis KARV Mesa -Phoenix WMIN Minn. -St. Paul WBNX New York WLOW Norfolk WDAS Philadelphia WWSW Pittsburgh KXLW St. Louis KONO San Antonio KUSN San Diego KEEN San Jose WWDC Wash., D. C. WHWL \\ ilkes-Barre WTUX Wilmington • except in New York ** except in Chicago Forjoe Offices New York • Chicago • Philadelphia Pittsburgh • Washington* Baltimore Los Angeles • San Francisco 48 SPONSOR