Sponsor (Jan-June 1956)

Radio program services Many commercial and programing aids are offered at Convention I he radio programing services, which provide a wealth of programing, commercial aids and syndicated shows, will have a wide selection of new material available at the Convention. A noticeable upbeat in interest in dramatic shows has been reported and, while music remains strong, this year could mark a revival in interest in nonmusical programing. Here are some examples of what the programing services will push at the Convention: • RCA's Thesaurus introduces four programing aids, two tailored for disk jockey use. • Ziv's World Broadcasting System unveils a telephone quiz game — "Radio's Voice of Fortune," designed for all-day radio use. • Lang-Worth spotlights new Featurettes, five-minute programs of varied types. • Harrv S. Goodman features a station jingle package which grew out of a custom promotion job. • Charles Michelson presents new sound effect and music packages and is also featuring three recently-introduced half-hour shows. • Sesac. which celebrates its 25th anniversary, introduces its latest transcribed library series. A number of radio programing firms reported new interest in dramatic shows. Some of this interest was linked to radio network developments. Zivs radio syndication branch said changes in network scheduling was perking up interest in dramatic strips at night. RCA Recorded Program Services noted a definite trend toward non-musical programing going back to more than a year ago. An example of the nighttime situation was cited by Harry S. Goodman Productions, which sold dramatic shows to WBBM, Chicago; WCAU, Philadelphia, and WTOP, Washington, as replacements for the Amos ,n Andy strip on CBS. The long-running CBS personalities have been moved to 7:00 p.m., the period in which they gained fame. Another radio programing executive attributed the interest in drama shows by stations to lack of programing support by the networks. The new World telephone quiz game is built around mystery voices and. as set up bv the World programmers, calls for sponsor and point-of-sale tieins, progressive clues, entry blanks and other paraphernalia. lhe World service is also bolstered by a 23% hike in the 1956 talent budget. New stars include Doris Day, Victor Young, Russel Armes, Bobbie Hackett and Mimi Martel. Ziv's syndicated show business added Dorothy and Dick to its program roster since the last convention. The four new RCA Thesaurus features include (1) "show stoppers," a recorded series of 60 different characters speaking 17 different dialects designed to add humor and variety to d.j. shows; (2) "sell tunes," a group of 100 music introductions for commercials; (3) Great American Women. a five-minute show narrated by Basil Rathbone; (4) Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic, a package of recordings of well-known jazz musicians together with voice tracks of Granz and a bundle of program notes. I angWorth's Featurettes are designed to be sold as strips, include weather, mystery and western shows as well as one called What's the Word? The firm is also pushing a new service called "Hucksters," containing more than 400 commercial announcement*. A third service, called "Shorties." are instrumental versions of standard and current hits 1:45 minutes long. * * * Programing being pushed at Convention: left RCA's short show narrated by Basil Rathbone; right, World's "Radio Voice of Fortune" CONVENTION SPECIAL SPONSOR