Broadcasting (July - Dec 1940)

broadcast of the World Series on Oct. 14, 1923. For the privilege of getting entertainment from New York over the lines of the telephone company, WJAR paid $60 an hour. Later, when sponsored programs were sent over the lines, the station received $50 for each hour of sponsored programs made. A rather far cry from today's prices ! First Network Sponsor The Eveready Hour was the first sponsored program to go over this WEAF-WJAR network, and the first Eveready Hour to be so broadcast was that of Feb. 12, 1924. It consisted of the first reading of "I Knew Lincoln". That broadcast, the first advertising program to go over a network, had an interesting story behind it. Our thinking on the subject of a network seems to have paralleled that of the people at WEAF. As I previously mentioned, the popularity of the Eveready Hour made it desirable to extend the listening range of the program. Not knowing that WEAF and WJAR had been experimenting with a telephonic hookup, not to mention the case of Col. Green's transmitter, I decided to discuss the matter with officials at the AT&T. Fortunately I was in a good strategic position to do this, since besides working with the National Carbon Co., I was associated with the AT&T, supervising the agency's work on that account. I first discussed the use of telephone lines to carry the Eveready Hour to several stations simultaneously with the late George McClelland, commercial manager of WEAF and later a vice-president of NBC. My discussion with Mr. McClelland led to a meeting with W. R. Harkness, in charge of radio activities of the telephone company. Later we presented the matter to Walter Gifford, at that time a vice-president. The telephone people, as I have indicated, were not unaware of the possibilities. However, the success of the Eveready Hour, in sales as well as in popularity, gave them another aspect to consider. We were an immediate prospect for facilities they had available, and the upshot was that a network was developed sooner than had been planned. Radio vs. Telephone Mr. Gifford asked me to prepare a map showing key sales areas of the country, which it would be desirable to reach through radio. This was carefully worked out and subsequently presented to him. He seemed greatly impressed with the potentialities, indeed somewhat perturbed by their scope. "If radio is going to reach this stage," he said, "maybe we'd better think of withdrawing. If we don't, we may find ourselves running a radio business instead of a telephone business." The innovation of broadcasting the Eveready Hour over the WEAF-WJAR network proved successful. Gradually the network was extended, as we added WCAP, WGR, WEEI, WCAE, WSAI, woe, WCTS, WTAF, WWJ, WCCO, WEAR, WGN and other DOUBLE STANDARD FOR TIME BUYERS By ROBERT M. SAMPSON National Sales & Promotion Manager, KWK, St. Louis HEDY LAMAR wouldn't stand a chance in an African beauty contest. Sometimes a radio station, quoting one of its station breaks iDetween two "unrated" programs, is equally mistreated. It's a question of standards in both cases; Hedy's need no defense here— but let's take that of the radio station. We do not believe the CAB ever intended to have its program "ratings" applied to individual facilities. It seems to us that the reason for this is obvious. While the CAB makes enough calls nationally or sectionally to make a reliable report on audience "trends", the calls in a single market do not represent a large enough sample i;o indicate accurately the program's popularity in that one place. It would be like making a city-wide survey and then using the results of the whole survey to apply to any neighborhood. Chance of Error Suppose a timebuyer, in studying an availability, finds that it precedes a program with a sectional CAB rating of 6. Suppose that on the basis of this rating he accepts the availability. However, by a closer analysis it may be revealed that he made a mistake. Let's say the particular section for which the rating of 6 applies consists of six markets. Just to reveal the specific possibility of error the various facilities in the six markets could have stations which brought increasing millions within listening range of the Eveready broadcasts. Each extension of our improvised network naturally represented problems for both AT&T and ourselves. On Nov. 16, 1926, NBC started operating its network for the first time, and the Eveready Hour that night was a gala occasion, given a place of honor on the air as was its just due. Ignaz Friedman, the pianist, was the guest star. Incidentally, we had a contract with NBC. I mention that simply because those early Eveready Hours were broadcast for many months without a written contract. The lawyers, it seems could not agree on the wording of a contract to cover such a strange new force as radio. -W J H P JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 250 WATTS 1290 K. C. 24-hour Associated Press News Service ... 18 newscasts per day. ^^ Only Jacksonville station with affiliated newspaper . . . shows and artists will be publicizeddaily in the JACKSONVILLE JOURNAL. ¥ WJHP's 1290 Kilocycles is a regional frequency (giving better coverage.) — and is located on the dial between the othef two Jacksonville stations. actual CAB ratings 2, 5, 6, 8 and 7. Add them up and divide by six. You will get the average CAB rating of 6. Suppose the timebuyer happened to take the station that had an actual CAB of 2! This is not a representation that CAB arrives at its sectional program ratings in the above manner. It is a fictitious set of figures merely to illustrate how an average cannot be applied to a single facility. The network timebuyer needs another standard when purchasing single facilities. In the correct sense no program is rated on any one station unless by a local survey. Ma Perkins has no "rating" by CAB in any one city. The CAB figure is an average of various cities. In this respect, if Ma Perkins has a good rating it certainly makes sense for a timebuyer to want to precede the program on the same network but not necessary on a single station. Therefore a timebuyer should have a double standard — one for network and one for national spot. Use the national surveys for the one but insist on local ones or other similar evidence when buying national spot. Stations Are Prominent In Oregon Conference WEST COAST radio stations and their representatives took a prominent part in Oregon's first public conference on radio and education, held July 18-19 in Portland. Cooperating as sponsors for the meeting, open to all persons interested in radio's application to education, were the Federal Radio Education Committee of the U. S. Office of Education, Oregon State department of higher education, Portland public schools, KOIN-KALE and KGW-KEX. Radio personages participating included Charles W. Myers, KOIN president; Donald W. fhornburgh, CBS vice-president; H. Q. Cox, KGW-KEX production manager; Luke L. Roberts, KOAC manager; Henry M. Swartwood Jr., KOINKALE educational director, and representatives of KBND, KUIN, KORE, KOAC, the Oregon Journal and Portland Oregonian. Other participants were Leonard Power, of the FREC; Paul F. Lazarsfeld, director of the office of radio research, Columbia U, along with Herta Herzog; Jane E. Monahan, radio committee chairman, New York City public schools; George Jennings, Chicago Broadcasting Council. Sponsor's Plugs for Defense SIGNAL OIL Co., Los Angeles (petroleum products), during its weekly half-hour musical variety program, Signal Carnival, on 13 NBC-Pacific Red stations, Sunday, 6:30-7 p.m. (PST), in an effort to build up public opinion in favor of national defense, has inaugurated a series of brief announcements on that subject. Announcement replaces the commercial, and is inserted midway point in the program. mJI -Si'; ' ,$** t ^ SB f II ll |l II II 8* llllll 1 ^ "iiliitll II II 11 i i! iiii nail iillil i ilMlili H NIGHT AND DAY it's WJHP r AssociATta (., NEW TONN cmr — rHILADCLI COLUAABIA South Carolina S60 kilo'cycues BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising August 1, 1940 • Page 153