Broadcasting (July - Dec 1940)

City vs. City— A Battle Idea to Be Extended To Other Areas By Agency NETWORK sponsors whose programs hit Washington and Baltimore at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, or in Minneapolis and St. Paul at 6:30 Monday nights, have had special headaches. The natives of the four cities have all been dated up for months. The program that dominates the air at these times is the Quiz of Two Cities. Oct. 20, 1938, marked the airdebut of the Quiz of Two Cities over WFBR, Baltimore, and WMAL, Washington. It had been hand-tailored by Ruthrauff & Ryan to meet the specified needs of the Gunther Brewery. The bulk of the Gunther business is in the State of Maryland and District of Columbia, so a two city radio show was a "natural". Within a relatively few weeks the show was the talk of the town. It increased in popularity until, according to local surveys, it ranked very favorably with the best network shows — an ideal test-town radio program. With the agency having sole rights to the show, Raymond F. Sullivan, vice-president of the agency, saw in it a logical medium for testing radio for other clients. On Oct. 2, 1939, Ruthrauff & Ryan started the show in Minneapolis and St. Paul for Bauer & Black on WCCO. On Jan. 8, 1940, a third market was opened up for a third client— Montreal (CKAC) and Toronto (CFRB) for Noxzema. In all four of these cities the show has met with the same spontaneous success. How It Works Networks have been conscious of the untapped local source of entertainment. The trouble has been that most local shows have had no outstanding idea and that talent and production have been mediocre. The Quiz of Two Cities was built to cash in on local pride and competitive spirit. It calls for a quickwitted master of ceremonies and competent production. The show emanates simultaneously from two stations in two different cities. Four contestants from each city answer four groups of identical questions. There is a master of ceremonies in charge of each team, who works in front of the studio audiences in their respective cities. Only the air audience and judges hear both teams' answers, so from an engineering viewpoint, the show is a nightmare of quick switches: From the first city to the second city to the announcer's booth where the judges are stationed and back. Fun for All The enormous popularity of the Quiz of Two Cities can be traced not only to the pride it engenders in the old home-town but also to its natural, spontaneous comedy. The contestants frequently give unexpectedly funny answers, and a lot of the fun also comes from the masters of ceremonies, in their ad-lib ribbing of each other. For example, Eddie Gallaher, keeper of the Minneapolis question box, gave way to his rival with: "Now we hop over to St. Paul again, where Max Karl is being wheeled in his portable cage up to the microphone." Max Karl immediately parried with: "Thanks, Eddie Gallaher — your voice doesn't sound nearly so loud since they put that extra padding in your cell!" The audience loves this type of banter between the announcerquizzers — so long as it is kept on a good-natured basis. Once the audience senses that either master of ceremonies is too sharp and pointed in his joshing, letters of complaints come roaring in from the listeners. In Baltimore and Washington when a mistake was made in the scoring, the switchboard at WFBR was swamped with calls from 8 o'clock until 10:30 at night, and again in the morning from indignant home-town rooters. Likewise, studio audiences are rapid in appreciation of their contenders. In Minneapolis and St. Paul the mayors of the cities helped launch the show. Mayor Leach of Minneapolis wound up his comments by expressing his confidence in the ability of Minneapolis contenders to defend the intellectual powers of his city. Mayor Fallen of St. Paul countered with a comment that betting was not permitted in St. Paul but that he was scheduled to meet Mayor Leach at a banquet in Minneapolis. The Junior Chambers of Commerce of the two cities appeared on the first show in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Among the different organizations which competed were the Kiwanis Club, Boy and Girl Scout Leaders, Twin City Librarians, Retail Druggists, Insurance Underwriters, etc. Local Tieups During the local Community Drives, the Gunther Brewing Co., Bauer & Black and Noxzema, offered special prizes of $100 to the community fund of the city of the winning team. Prominent citizens, active in the community drive, appeared on these shows. In the contest between newspaper columnists, one of the Minneapolis contenders was a popular woman columnist who suffered acute stage fright. She was asked to fill in figures of speech with a color. She did all right on "She was (green) with jealousy," — "She was tickled (pink)" — and "He had a (dark -brown) taste in his mouth" — but when it came to "She was very and depressed," she said, "Blah!" The announcer commented, "But 'blah' isn't a color." She tried again: "very pale." "But pale isn't a color." "In the pink". "But that is not a depressed feeling!" She never did think of "blue". The following morning she received almost 2,000 of Quizzers I OKLAHOMA SPEED Merchant Acts With Celerity After An Audition "THE shortest decision in history" is what officials of WKY, Oklahoma City, are terming the acceptance by Kerr Dry Goods Co. of a new program idea. The decision was made by H^nry Wyzanski, former merchandising director of Mandel Brothers, Chicago. Mr. Wyzanski, now president of the Kerr Co. of Oklahoma City, walked into WKY audition studio steeled against customary sales pressure. Into Studio A went Julie Bennell, NBC dramatic star, now a WKY staff member. Before the microphone she conjured a picture of the interior of the Kerr store, described articles as they appeared on tables before her, talked in the friendly tone Oklahoma women understand. Wyzanski listened attentatively, smiled, and admitted the program had possibilities. Forty-five minutes later he left the studios after contracting for five programs per week direct from his store. Miss Bennell is now "Karen Kerr". telephone calls and letters complimenting or sympathizing with her on her radio appearance. Public Storms Studios Each week both the St. Paul and Minneapolis studios are packed. Loyalty to the home town, whether winning or losing, is amazing. Audiences cheer with such gusto that engineers frantically signal for silence. The Baltimore-Washington show completed its first year in October, 1939, with a score of 25 for Baltimore and 25 for Washington, and one tie show. WFBR's and WMAL's newest and biggest studios would not accommodate the crowds. Gunther Brewing Co., in an attempt to catch up on ticket requests, were forced to use the huge auditorium in Baltimore belonging to the Maryland Casualty Co. In Washington, they had to use the Wardman Park Auditorium. In the same fashion there was much competition among the contestants, wanting to appear on the program. There is a long waiting list of individuals and groups desiring to appear on the show. To increase interest in the show, two men and two women are normally used on each team. It has been found advisable to start the women off first because they have greater poise and help to put the male contenders at their ease. Commercially Sound The Quiz of Two Cities is perfect from the advertiser's point of view, since the commercials can be inserted between rounds, thus insuring the listeners' attention. The first commercial comes after the first round, the second commercial after the third round, and the third commercial just before the final scores for the evening are announced. The show is also foolproof from a product identification viewpoint, since the name of the product is included in the name of the show, and in most cases the product can be sampled. A mention of the product is also given throughout the show. Mr. Sullivan's contention is that if the show is staged properly it can be built up very quickly in popularity. This was confirmed in Minneapolis and St. Paul where, according to a Hooper coincidental survey, the show went up to a 17 rating within six weeks, and in four months had a rating of 26, ranking with many of the highest network shows. In Montreal and Toronto the show went up to 17.5 in eight weeks. Extension of Show This fall the show will be extended. The Bauer & Black test was very successful. The show will be renewed in Minneapolis and St. Paul and other combinations of cities are being scheduled. Noxzema Chemical Co. is planning to add other cities. San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Dallas and Ft. Worth, natui'al rivals, are being scheduled. Other cities, like Boston and Providence, Hartford and New Haven are also planned. In a major market like New York, an adaptation of the Quiz is planned — an Interborough Quiz. It looks as if the Quiz of Two Cities has awakened advertisers to the great possibility for a highranking local show. Undoubtedly others will follow. Broadcasts Help Victims of Storm ALTHOUGH a disastrous hurricane on Aug. 11 laid waste a large part of Charleston, S. C, and the surrounding community, killing more than a score and injuring many other persons, the two Charleston stations — WSCS and WTMA — were able to perform yeoman service in setting up emergency communications service for the stranded community. With power and telephone lines dovsoi, emergency radio operations were the only means of communication within the territory and with the outside world. Forced off the air at 9:34 a.m., Aug. 11, when the hurricane crippled the power supply, WTMA resumed operation at 7 a.m., Aug. 12, when the power line was restored. At 11:45 that morning the station started using a ham relay set to transmit emergency messages and news flashes from studio to transmitter, since transmission lines also were out of order. No WTMA equipment was damaged. WCSC went off the air at 9:44 a.m., Aug. 11, but resumed service almost immediately, using a relay transmitter on its regular frequency. Staying on the air continuously through the hurricane, the station broadcast weather reports and directed safety measures. Although considerable damage was done to the WCSC antenna tower and connecting walk, the station used its standby tower. WCSC resumed regular service 12 hours after WTMA, discontinuing relay broadcasts when power lines were restored to WTMA. BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising August 15, 1940 • Page 99