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ewspapers Share Radio's Revenue R°be;.ts
L L Press Kadio rost
Organs Which Own Stations Profit, Says William Paley; Others Gain When Broadcasts are Advertised
By CALEB JOHNSON
TTH the numjr of newspapervned broadcastg stations leadily increas,g until now tsarly a quarter ! all of them are ther owned or ntrolled by or filiated with jwspapers, a n
creasing proportion of the money >ent by advertisers for "time "on .e air" is flowing into newspaper ■ffers. This is true not only of cal broadcasts, originating with dividual stations; but, as William aley, the energetic young presi;nl of the Columbia Broadcasting 'stem, pointed out to me, newsusers equipped to do so particiite in the earnings of the big iiains and get more and more om year to year from this source.
"Do newspaper-owned affiliates mefit to an increasing proportion revenue from chain broadcast ' Ivertising ? " I asked Mr. Paley.
"Certainly," he replied. "As ra|o advertising on the networks as increased there has been a ^responding gain in revenue for ie individual stations.
"One of our southwestern outts, owned by a newspaper, de■ved twice as much revenue from s chain affiliation in 1931 as it ■d in 1930. Another newspaper vned Columbia station, this one the Middle West, was paid last jar more than three times the nount paid the year before. Nor
e these examples the exceptions."
On Press Ownership
30W DO you feel about newsipers owning radio stations?" I irsued.
"Columbia's position in regard to jwspaper ownership of its affili:ed stations is self-evident when ie realizes that in a network of j) stations 12 are owned outright {? journalistic interests and 23 hers are more or less closely ed with the local press," said r. Paley.
"I believe that in every communy the radio station is becoming j creasingly important in the field : public service. We have received j any reports indicating that sta,on managers have assumed lead• •ship in fostei'ing worthwhile civic _ ovements.
. "It is, of course, advisable that be efforts of press and radio in lpport of these movements be ;>rrelated, and whenever the staon is owned by or closely assoated with a newspaper this coDeration is accomplished per se. "Columbia regards it as highly Mportant that its affiliates become iluable assets to the areas they ?rve, and it has found frequently tat newspaper association serves increase this value."
r
"Can you state what proportion of all radio revenue went to newspaper-owned stations?" I asked.
Like News Syndicate
"THAT question can not be answered by me because we at Columbia have no knowledge of station earnings outside of those derived from chain affiliation," he said. "We only know here that newspaper-owned stations have increased their revenues through network broadcasting. I can only assume that local advertising revenues likewise have advanced.
"Incidentally, it might be well at this time to clear up a frequent misconception. Columbia owns only five of the ninety stations affiliated with it. Although the analogy is far from perfect, the broadcasting system may be regarded roughly as a press association, serving its member clients. More than 70 per cent of our programs are unsponsored, and the individual station may take them or not, as it sees fit; just as an individual newspaper may choose between local stories and those laid down by a wire service."
"Is it your experience that your advertisers are backing up their expenditures on the air with newspaper advertisements?"
Mr. Paley's reply was emphatic. "There are many recent examples of 'spotlight' advertising to direct attention to radio programs," he said. "It should suffice to mention
only two advertisers — Liggett and Myers Company, sponsor of 'Music That Satisfies,' and H. J. Heinz Company, sponsor of 'Joe Palooka.' Both companies appropriated large amounts for newspaper space announcing the inception of the radio program and were not content to let this campaign lapse as soon as the program went on the air.
Newspaper Tie-ins
"A NEW PROGRAM, at the outset, must compete against already established features. Hence many concerns have taken newspaper advertisements in an effort to win listeners to their radio presentations. Because of the great number of features on the air quite a few advertisers use newspaper space regularly as a reminder of their program. Columbia favors such a policy."
"Is there a tendency on the part of your advertisers to cut down the proportion of sales talk, thus increasing the proportion of entertainment?"
"The most successful radio advertisers have found that their sales message must be interesting," was the reply. "When the commercial continuity becomes too wordy there is a drop in interest and good will gives place to resentment. Thus there is an economic corrective influence constantly at work that probably is more_ effective than any arbitrary limitation on sales talk."
KMA Proposal to Shift to WGN Channel Denied
SUSTAINING Examiner Pratt, the Radio Commission May 6 denied the application of KMA, Shenandoah, la., for authority to change frequency from 930 to 710 kc. and to change hours of operation from sharing with KGBZ, York, Neb., to daytime. The 710 channel is the clear wave assigned to WGN, Chicago, which contended at the hearing before Examiner Pratt last fall that WGN's daytime service throughout Iowa would be seriously interfered with if the application were granted.
The Commission found that the ■proposed daytime operation of KMA would not result in a greater service than now rendered. It held too that cross-talk would result to WGN's service in a specified area. Finally, it stated that granting of the application would increase the quota of an already overquota state in an overquota zone.
Buys Into WHK
ALTHOUGH Cleveland newspapers have long had an agreement not to engage directly or indirectly in broadcasting, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, as exclusively predicted in the May 1 issue of Broadcasting, on May 4 purchased an interest in WHK, Cleveland. Control remains with the Howlett brothers and their associates and the management remains the same. The amount involved was not made public.
* Reprinted from the April Ameri-N Press, monthly newspaper trade gan, with permission.
3-Station Net
SPECIALIZING in foreign language broadcasts, WFAB, New York, formerly WHAP, but recently leased to the Fifth Avenue Broadcasting Corp., is now key station of a small network that embraces WPEN, Philadelphia, and WOAX, Trenton, operated by the same interests. Studios of WFAB are in Carnegie Hall, New York.
Radio-News Combine
KPJM, Prescott, Ariz., owned by A. P. Miller, has been combined with the Prescott Journal-Miner, published by A. J. Doud, and this month is moving its studio facilities to the newspaper plant. Though retaining ownership of the station, Mr. Miller is reorganizing its staff to coordinate with the newspaper. The station has long had a news affiliation with the paper.
LINUS TRAVERS, recently appointed commercial production director of the Yankee Network, will speak on "The Regional Network, Its Management and Its Place in the Advertising Campaign" at the annual convention of the American Federation of Advertisers to be held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York the week of June 19.
St. Louis Publisher Raps Split
In Membership of A.N.P.A.
APPARENTLY disgusted with the apathetic attitude of the average member of the American Newspaper Publishers Association toward his anti-radio crusades, Elzy Roberts, publisher of the St. Louis Star and a leader in several of the campaigns against radio in the A. N. P. A. organization, has declined reappointment as chairman of the A. N. P. A. radio committee His primary reason for refusing to serve further is that his views differ from those of the average A. N. P. A. member.
To Editor & Publisher, antiradio trade organ of the newspaper profession, Mr. Roberts explained in a letter that "the A. N. P. A. seems to be divided into two groups, newspapers having radio station interests on the side and newspapers independent of radio connections, and the dominant policy of the association is that of the newspaper-radio combination, not owing to numbers but to activity."
Why Report Withheld
"UNTIL these two camps admit the dissimilarity of their interests," he continued in his letter, "and desire to go their separate ways, I see no hope of protective action on radio by the A. N. P. A. The decision not to publish the report of the radio committee was made with my approval because it was represented that the report of the previous year had been used to the detriment of newspapers by salesmen of radio time who quoted parts of it in a manner derogatory to newspapers.
"This approval perhaps would not have been given so readily had I known that the report of the radio committee was to be made so early in the proceedings with only a small proportion of the membership present, and that it was to be immediately followed by an address, virtually a counter-report, by the A. N. P. A.'s Washington attorney [Elisha Hanson] who said that he* also represented broadcasting stations and who presented a word picture of declining radio advertising, of already adequate laws to check discriminations against newspapers, and who likened radio in its effect on newspapers to the miniature golf courses which sprang up all over the United States and have now disappeared."
Merchandising Service Is Successful at WLW
THE FIRST successful merchandising service established for clients of a broadcasting station is claimed by J. L. Clark, general manager of WLW, Cincinnati. The service is provided through J. Ralph Corbett, Inc., Cincinnati, which has field men in Indianapolis, Columbus and Wheeling. The service is provided both national and local sponsors within the primary zone of WLW. It includes the contacting of jobbers and dealers and merchandising the radio programs. Dealers are encouraged to identify themselves with the broadcasts.
lay 15, 1932 • BROADCASTING
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