U. S. Radio (Oct 1957-Dec 1958)

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RANKS 11th IN THE NATION in per family income ($7,339.00) Source: 1957 Survey of Buying Power COLUMBUS GEORGIA 3 county metropolitan area USES THE LOCAL & NATIONAL FAVORITE WRBL TELEVISION: COMPLETE DOMINANCE • MORNING • AFTERNOON • NIGHT FIRST IN RADIO: 97.3% Arci Pulse — May, 1957 LEADS IN HOMES DELIVERED BY OF ALL QUARTER HOURS 55% Day or night monthly. Best buy day or night, weekly or daily, is WRBL— NCS No 2. WRBL AM — FM — TV COLUMBUS, GEORGIA CALL HOLLINGBERY CO. port from agencies A f^ood .jsccniul radio spot loiild \vi\ well be the happy answer to some ol the problems toiilroiiting advertisers with a wide-coverage problem — is what William I.. Wernicke, vice presidetit and radio-lx (lirectDr for .Mort"\. Humin and Warwick, thinks and lie's in a good |>ositi(>ii to know. \\iiiii(k( is one of the mastermiiuls htliiiul the Sinclair Safety Spot Cam|).iiL;ii. heftiest saturation buy in radio hisiorx, estimated at Ijctween SI..') and S'J million. The experience of his stafl in trying to line up some 10. 000 ;')-second availaljilities each week, to the end of 1957, left him wanting to give bouciueis for the fine cooperation tendered by most stations and their representatives. As might be expected, there were tliorns among tin roses. Occasionally Thwarted The Sinclaii canip.iign iiiili/es some !i(M) radio stations in 150 cities across tiie coiintrx to air ii.s spot announcements, none ol which is longer than 15 words huost are only 12 words) — an ideal 5second length. Despite this fact, the agency found its efforts to Ijuy time occasionally thwarted by a long-standing condition: radio's somewhat scrambled rate structure, on one hand, and instances of l)roadcastcr resistance on the other. 11k lack ol uiiilormitv in rate cards is. in Wernicke's mind, a hurdle that the iiidiistrv should overcome. Primarily, Ixi.iLisc' it would .illow liie agency to present a more accurate estimate to the advertiser. In the ijooming economy of todav's spot radio, spir;illing or even indeterminate costs can terminate a campaign long belore its iiniiii.ii c\|)cc tancy. \])art frcmi the many stations which don't even publish rates for the 5-secoiid spot, a casuid glance at liic rate-book |)()ints up liu' confusion ol c hissificatioiis .iinoug the stations that do. Such varving designations ;is "lime signals," "pul) lie service announcements," "weather checks," "headlines," "sliorts." "cpiickies. " "flashes." "briefs." et: .. leave the ad\er liser "not knowing where he i^. " Wernicke argues. Where the brcikdown is eoiinned to length, some si.uions list 5 seconds, some 8. some 10: others coni|)Ute costs bv vcrbi.ige. with c l:issi(ie ,1lions lor Ml woids. I '_' wciieK. 15 wolds. ei< . In m:in\ m.ukeis there appe.u obvious ineejuiiies in sl.ition r,Ues lor the s,ime' short segment. .Mthough the campaign icle;i was to 'iry to saturate every station in town," the agency executive reports instances where, with much reluctance, a station was bypassed, even though it published a "ciuickie" rate, because "it was so obviouslv out of line with the others in the same area. " In this connection, he points out that he "ignores ratings entirely. " basing his concept of a fair price on such factors as the number of years a station has been in business in a market, its wattage, general prejgrammiiig structure, its local reputation, "a certain loy;dtv lac lor." and "other in\isii)les." 1 he agency wasn't the only one being selective, however. The turndowns received from broadcasters make interesting reading. .Although he makes it clear that lie has no e|u.irrel with anv station's right to maintiiin policv. he does cpiestion the thinking behind some of the I ejections. "To be absolutely fair," says Wernicke, "there were comparatively lew of these — much to our relief, since these chaps really chewed up our time when every minute coinited toward our t;irget date time-table." The commercial w;is short (12 words). v\ith fully half the spot geared to a publie -service plea for careful driving: "Driving today? Remember to drive with care — and buy Sinclair — Power-X gasoline." Despite tlie copy and the week-in. week-out schedule, there were such resjjonses as "We couldn't do justice to any commere ial in 5 seconds." and "\\'e can't i)e botiiered with such a sm.ill account." Completely Sold on Radio Ik's completely sold on radio: "I feel th.it Sincliiir's expression of confidence ill radio is reflected in tliis tremendous triijute — in 1957 the largest single slice of tile Sinclair ad i)uclget went into spot liiciio." .\s to the elfectiveness of the e,im|).iign itself, he indicates that there i. "everv expectation it will he e\ieiideel throughout 1958." On the subject of a standardi/ed rate strueiiire for the "cpiickie" announcement, lie |>leads for tlie acceptance bv liie industrv of a simple. str;nght-for w;ird formula. ".\fter screening :uuf signing some 900 e<)ntr;iels. our peo|)le at Morev, lliimni ;iiid W,irwick li.ive ;i birdseve view of wh;U seems acce|>table to most of the radio stations, (ienerally speaking, a 5-second, (»r "quickie" spot hovers in the are;i of one-third of the losi of the e.irned one minute rate. " ••• 51 U.S. i{ inio O.inher 1957