U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1960)

Personal 'Promotionship' Scores High for Radio W'LOL* Minneapolis-St. Paul believes in combining good business sense and community service. WLOL recently ran a threemonth promotion with the cooperation ot 100 Fuller Brush Company dealers in the twin cities metropolitan area. The Fuller Brush men made their calls armed with a total of 200,000 emergency WLOL telephone tabs and 1 00,000 brush catalogues bearing a \VLOL flyer (which they distributed in 300,000 homes) . On entering a prospective customer's home, the dealer tuned her radio to WLOL. He then explained she could win $13.30 in merchandise if she called the station after hearing a Fuller Brush chime on the air, if he was in her home at the time ot the call. He then inserted the WLOL tab on her telephone, made his sales presentation and handed out the catalogue. WLOL reports it awarded S4, 179.60 in Fuller Brush merchandise to 972 listeners. In addition to tuning in 200,000 home radios, the dealers delivered 500,000 printed home impressions. Fuller Biaish reported sales up $15 per man during the promotion's first two weeks. Customers often bought products to keep a dealer in the house, hoping to win merchandise \\hen the Fuller chimes were on WLOL. The promotion did its job, the station says, by accomplishing these objectives: 1) increased WLOL audience, 2) increased total radio audience, 3) community good will, 4) public service and 5) higher Fuller Brush sales. Listeners Strike Luck With Station Matchbooks Without trying to corner the local match market, ^V^WDC* Washing;ton, D. C, claims that its "Lucky Matches" are the only ones in town that can "strike" twice. The second "strike" is for cash, and depends on the number printed inside the station's matchbooks. If the numbers announced by WWDC personalities "match" those in the book, the holder may win from $5 to $500. Available at local stores, the matches bear the call letters and the slogan, "The station that keeps people in mind." Disc Jockeys Paddle Way To Official Canoe Record What started as a gag among disc jockeys ended as an unusual promotion for WTRX Flint, Mich., and distinction for the announcers in the record books of the Michigan Canoe Racine Association. WTRX reports that hundreds of its listeners went to the banks of the Flint and Saginaw Rivers to cheer a canoe-racing contest between two teams of staff members. The match came about after disc jockeys Mike Gaylord and Johnny Nogaj boasted of their canoeing abilities on the air. A quick challenge by two other staff members led to a 100 mile race from Flint to Bay City. To listeners who came closest in guessing the winners' time went various prizes. The deejays' winning time — 20 hours, 13 minutes, 30 seconds — was recognized as official by the association. Listeners Vote to Send Disc Jockey on Mars Junket Deejays who might want to be members of the "First U.S. Expedition to Mars" can get first-hand information on just what it's like from nighttime personality Gene Loving at WLEE Richmond. He was selected by listeners as the WLEE radio personality they wotild like to send to Mars. The station picked R. C. Williamson, president of the Natural Gas Co. of Virginia, to accompany him. Mr. Williamson decided to take feminine company along and invited his wife. Dave Lyman. \\'LEE program director, rounded out the "first" expedition to the neighboring "planet." To their siuprise, listeners later discovered that the trip led to Mars, Pa., near Pittsbiugh. A motorcade met the party at the airport and gave a formal reception, sightseeing tour and bancjuet. The group attended a Broad^vay show in New York to wind up the expedition. Drivers Picked Up Bearing Station Bumper Strip WISN* Milwaukee is thinking of its "WIS'Ner's" these days by giving them five dollars if they are picked up by a roving station representative who spots the WISN bumper strip. Strips are issued to "WIS'Ner's" who send in postal card requests. Station Lowers the Crane To Give Away Apartment W^INS New York recently wound up its "Keys to Happiness" contest with the selection of a grand winner from over 20,000 entrants. Listeners sent in old keys in hopes of winning the prize, a rent-free lease in a luxury, terraced apartment in Manhattan's new Park West Village. The winning key was picked by a blind-folded model who was lowered to the pile of keys by a 20-foot crane. Station "Grocery Boy" Show Gets Everybody into the Act A promotion that b)Oosts sponsor goodwill and increases audience at the same time is not always easy to find. WING Dayton believes it has a "double play" in its Kroger Grocery Boy show. WING selects a Kroger store manager as the program's "Manager of the Day"; his name is mentioned on the air twice during one morning. Listeners who have sent in entry blanks are called by the WING "Grocery Boy" Lou Swanson, who asks the identity of the day's manager. A $25 merchandise certificates goes to the winner. Each time a listener gives an incorrect answer, the prize goes up five dollars. So far, reports WING, the prize money has climbed no higher than $40.00, and 10,000 listeners have entered the contest. *Deno+es stations who are members of BPA (Broadcasters' Promotion Association) U. S. RADIO September 1960 49