Broadcasting (Oct - Dec 1945)

Represented by Edword Petry Co., Inc. My Impression of Europe By ROBERT D. SWEZEY Vice-President and General Manager, Mutual Broadcasting System (Tenth of a series by members of the U. S. Mission to ETO) IT WAS a great trip, but — We were dined all over Europe. We had interesting meetings with Eisenhower, Patton, Clay and our other able generals. We saw the BBC in operation and Radio Diffusion. We had a most cordial audience with the Pope. We did and saw countless other things. Sure, it was a great trip ! But ■ Sol Taishoff has asked me to write about that which interested me most on the trip. It wasn't a person; it wasn't a place; nor anything that happened. It was a state of mind — my own state of mind. It all began in Greenland. Greenland— isolated, cold, gaunt and gray with heavy fog settling down over the ice-pack. I thought to myself "Good God! what a place to be stationed." Yet our boys were there — every last one of them hating it and wanting to go home. The war — the bloody war! There my depression began and with practically everything we saw it deepened. The bomb-devastated slum district of London with its crude, cold temporary housing added a layer. MR. SWEZEY V. J. night with everybody's celebrating. No room for depression there. But the little English kid across the table had tears in her eyes. Her brother couldn't make the party — he'd had a previous engagement a couple of years ago a (Continued on page 90) Sellers of Sales WHEN you're a sales manager of a California radio station you don't just sell time, you sell California, its weather, its geography and its people. So when Frank Coumond, sales manager of KCRA Sacramento, dropped in on NBC central division officials in Chicago he brought with him the latest statist i c a 1 information about "the most wonderful town in the most wonderful state in the union" as well as aerial photographs of California's Capitol and data on KCRA's role in serving the community. Frank says before KCRA went on the air as an NBC affiliate last April, Sacramento was the only city of over 100,000 population to have only two radio stations. Since pp then Sacramento stations have increased to four, with all networks represented, and the City has really become radio conscious. Today KCRA, owned and operated by Central Valley Broadcasting Co., with 250 w on 1340 kc, boasts of 65% of its commercial business sponsored locally, with many advertisers on the air that est statis . spending had never used radio before. Some, Frank says, had never even been approached. One sponsor told him he was the first radio salesman to call on him in 16 years. As for national business, Frank throws a heavy barrage of facts and figures such as: Sacramento leads the nation in per capita pending with $746 as compared to the U. S. average of $319. This is due largely, Frank points out, to the great fruit and vegetable markets within KCRA's 60-mile primary area. In case you don't know it, and this is Frank still speaking, 52% of all processed fruits and vegetables in California are canned within 100 miles of Sacramento. The largest canneries in the U. S. are in or near SacSK ramento. And 82% Ox Sacrament's people own their own homes. There are no war plants in Sacramento but several army installations have swelled both popular and local cash registers. Frank believes KCRA's popularity depends on its public service as much as any one feature. He cites frequent remotes from near(Continued on page 90) IN WILMINGTON DELAWARE NBC Basic Station 5000 day and night Represented by SAYMEB It FOR GORDON GRAY, General Mqr HBLVIN DRAKE. Station Mqr BASIC AMERICAN; MUTUAL NETWDRK5 Page 10 • November 19, 1945 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertisi