Broadcasting (Oct 1931-Dec 1932)

A NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY NETWORK STATION 670 Kilocycles 100% Modulation WMAQ NEWS FULL TIME Cleared Channel October 1, 1932 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Vol. I. No. 1 WMAQ'S PLACE ON THE DIAL A PIONEER IN CHICAGO A LEADER IN THE NATION SERVES A GREAT MARKET If all advertisers knew, as well as we of WMAQ, the standing and position of this station, there would not be enough hours in the day to accomodate them. WMAQ has brought, bit by bit, its story to the readers of Broadcasting. The combination of a good program and sound merchandising have produced most gratifying results for WMAQ advertisers. The station, one of the pioneers in Chicago, is now in its eleventh year. Ever since the original allocation of frequencies was made designating broadcast channels ten kilocycles apart, WMAQ has occupied the same frequency. Thus, for nine and one-half years WMAQ has had a permanent location upon the dials — a point of vantage which is not enjoyed by any other Chicago station. WMAQ has been consistently one of the nation's leading stations. It is the originator of Amos 'n' Andy, which has been the most popular program in every national survey. Using WMAQ as the sole means of advertising, Carson Pirie Scott & Company (wholesale) sold one million pairs of hose in three months time — a sales story so phenomenal that it was given conspicuous mention in the magazine Fortune. WMAQ serves a market second only to the New York market. An exhaustive analysis of mail received during a period of three years, shows that the primary market served by WMAQ includes a population of 10,810,770 people, of whom 6,248,147 are radio listeners. In the metropolitan market (within a fifty mile radius of WMAQ's transmitter) there is a total population of 4,927,307, of whom 3,157,513 are radio listeners. This vast audience represents a tremendous buying power. The sales message of an advertiser supported by good programs can reach a great percentage of the radio audience in WMAQ's primary market. WMAQ is Chicago's preferred medium, because it sets and observes the highest standards in broadcasting — because it considers its first duty as service to the public— because it is equipped to produce programs of a superior type with popular appeal. WMAQ MAN SELECTED FOR WORLD SERIES "HAL" TOTTEN WILL GIVE A PLAY-BY-PLAY REPORT FROM PARKS Hal Totten, who has been broadcasting sports for Station WMAQ since 1922, has been selected to assist in the presentation of the World Series games for the National Broadcasting Company. Graham McNamee, one of the best known "mike" men in the world, opens the broadcast with a vivid description of the scene as a whole, telling of the crowds and the incidents relative to the Series. The play-by-play description is given by Hal Totten and Tom Manning, baseball announcer of WTAM, Cleveland, Ohio. When Totten is giving the play-by-play report, Manning is acting as his observer and while Manning is at the "mike," Totten is resting his vocal cords and observing for Manning. Second Series for Hal This will be the second World Series that Hal has broadcast1the first of which was the Series of 1929, when the Cubs met the Athletics in the world championship contest. That broadcast, however, was for WMAQ alone, while this year Hal's play-by-play descriptions will be fed to the entire NBC network. Hal has been broadcasting baseball direct from the park ever since 1925, which makes the 1932 season his eighth of baseball reporting. Each spring Totten has visited the training camps in order to get better acquainted with the rookies and the regulars of each team. General Foods Sponsor The broadcast of the 1932 games was sponsored over WMAQ by General Foods for their cereals division. The new p r o d u c t — Grape Nuts Flakes — was especially featured and so gratifying was the acceptance of Chicago radio listeners of this new cereal that the General Foods Corporation in appreciation arranged for Totten to accompany the Cubs on their last eastern invasion, when the pennant fight was at its greatest heat. Hal broadcast the playby-play account of the games direct from the parks in Cincinnati, Boston, Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia by special lines to WMAQ. Chicago Full of Fans There is no city in America that was more interested in the progress being made by their ball club than was Chicago. Everywhere throughout the city and in a territory two hundred and fifty Rail President Finds Fellow Alumnus On WMAQ Staff One of the alumni of Purdue University, who has achieved conspicuous success as a captain of industry, is L. A. Downs, President of the Illinois Central Railroad. Mr. Downs is a radio fan, as is revealed in the following letter, which he addressed to Dan Sigworth of the famous team "Dan and Sylvia," whose broadcasts five nights each week are sponsored by the P. Beiersdorf Company, makers of Nivea Creme. President Down's letter to Dan is as follows: "There is on.e thing my family and I particularly enjoy every evening, and that is listening to Dan and Sylvia. We have listened to you for years. And much to my surprise I learned from the new directory of Purdue Alumni in Chicago that you are a Purdue man. "I am taking this opportunity to greet you as a brother alumnus and to tell you that your work on the radio is appreciated. I hope sometime to have the pleasure of meeting you." miles from Chicago loud speakers were pouring forth Hal Totten's description of the games. Hundreds of letters came to WMAQ expressing the hope of fans that they would hear their favorite announcer handling the World Series. WMAQ is proud of the choice made in selecting Totten as one of the experts to report the baseball games direct from the Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field for the National Broadcasting Company. Radio Advertised Bank Pays Big Dividends The Northern Trust Company of Illinois, one of Chicago's leading banks, has been a steady and consistent user of broadcast advertising over WMAQ ever since March, 1931. No better indication of the strength of the bank and the value of broadcast advertising can be found than in the fact that on October 1 the regular quarterly dividend of $4.50 per share on capital stock will be paid, maintaining a dividend rate of $18.00 annually. Banks, too, can profit in the use of radio advertising. KRESGE'S "VARIETIES" PROGRAM TO WMAQ The S. S. Kresge Company, whose twenty-five cent to a dollar stores dot the nation, has launched an extensive radio program using electrical transcriptions. The Kresge Company and their agency, N. W. Ayer & Sons, selected WMAQ as the station to serve the great metropolitan market of the middlewest. The program, known as "Kresge Varieties," features Billy Hillpot and Scrappy Lambert who render several of their peppy songs. Perry Charles and Sonia Sturgis comedians in the sketch are real laugh makers. All of this fitted in with fast moving music by the Kresge orchestra, makes the program one of the brightest spots in the daytime schedule of WMAQ. The program is broadcast at 9:00 o'clock each Friday morning. NEW PROGRAM DRAWS BIG MAIL RESPONSE A new program called "Today's Children," built around the foibles, fancies and the real fundamental soundness of modern youth, was broadcast for the first time on June 20, 1932. The program was put on the air five times a week at 10:45 A. M. After the program had been on the air for six weeks, a test was made to determine the popularity of the show. It was announced that a picture of the cast would be sent to radio listeners who wrote requesting it. Five such announcements were made during the week of August 1. Within seven days a total of 10,609 letters were received, asking for the picture. The letters came from every part of WMAQ's major market. STATION ACCOUNTS Among the commercial programs heard regularly over WMAQ are the following: A. & P., Kremola Face Cream, Princess Pat Cosmetics, Wheatena, Blue Ribbon Malt, Best Foods, G. Washington Coffee, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Listerine, Pepsodent, Nivea Creme, Household Finance Co., Texaco Gasoline, General Foods (baseball), Chase and Sanborn, Barbasol, Daily News Travel Bureau, Bulova Watch Company, Maryland Pharmaceutical Co., Kresge Stores, Cliquot Club Ginger Ale, Armour & Co., Northern Trust Company, Fleischmann's Yeast, Nahigian Brothers (Oriental Rugs), Hinckley & Schmitt (Corinnis Spring Water). October J, 1932 • BROA DCASTING Page 19