Broadcasting (Jan - Mar 1949)

P.I.-ICIDE Radio Silencer Among Offers the requisite amount of orders called for." A little reciprocity might be a good idea in P. I., judging by correspondence between Octa-Gane, 2425 E. 57th St., Los Angeles 11, and WCNH Quincy, Fla. OctaGane enclosed a packet of unstamped post cards promoting its Gane Air Flow Needles for carburetors, suggesting, "These cards are for a few car owners in your organization. Will you please extend us the courtesy of handing these cards to them?" The cards disclosed that Gane needles are advertised in the Saturday Evening. Post but do not specify whether the Post advertising is on a P. I. basis. The reply of A. B. Letson, general manager of WCNH, to Alexander Hursh, of Octa-Gane, says: Dear Mr. Hursh: I have received your packet of postal cards describing your Gano Air Flow Needles, and have distributed them as per your request. Your thoughtfulness in offering to reciprocate this favor is appreciated, and I am happy to accept the offer. I am therefore enclosing the rate card together with a supply of contract forms. Will you please contact some of the national advertisers in the Los Angeles area and try to line up a few accounts for this station? Many thanks for your help in this PER INQUIRY deal to end all per inquiry deals, and gently snuff the life out of the broadcasting business at the same time, features a new and bumper crop of P. I. propositions. The deal includes "RADI-OFF, The Automatic Radio Silencer." This pi-oposal for stations to peddle a gadget that would help sign their own death warrants is built around a series of scripts titled The Magic Arm Program. It is the first project within recollection of NAB officials that asks stations to use the sales power of their facilities to promote a device that would prevent listening. The epochal proposition is offered broadcasters by Robert F. Kilb Productions Inc., "The Good Will Program," 210 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1102, New York, N. Y. RADI-OFF "will be unconditionally guaranteed." This reassuring promise is made in a letter mailed over Mr. Kilb's signature from Wellington Hotel, 136 State St., Albany, N. Y. Like other "timesaving and work-saving gadgets" offered by the Kilb firm, RADIOFF is "nationally advertised" and sold through the company as distributors. According to Mr. Kilb, RADIOFF and other gadgets vidll be promoted through The Magic Arm Program. This program, he states, "can save you the time, trouble, expense and personnel necessary to viTite from 75 to 90 minutes of script. Your audience will enjoy the program, and you will profit by it . . . . you keep 33^/&% of collections and send the balance to us." Other gadgets include Safety Cooking Spoons; non-run nylons guaranteed for 90 days against runs and snags, and The Lingerie Dryer. Surprise Entry Surprise entry in the P. I. field. Parents Institute Inc., drew a reply from NAB asking if its Parerit's magazine sells advertising on a per inquiry basis. NAB suggested that if the magazine would examine the calibre of merchandise advertised on a P. I. basis it would hastily withdraw its offer from such company. Parents' P. I. deal offers seven issues of the magazine for $1, with the station keeping half, according to Edward A. Sand, circulation director. Ra-Ad Associates, Box 1013 Redwood City, Calif., quotes Broadcasting figures on number of stations and CPs in a letter offering a series of P. I. items. R. E. Barringer, who signs the Ra-Ad letter, warns that "rates for straight time have doubled and in some cases tripled as against the fact that the listening audience potential has been divided by three since 1940 — Hooper and Conlan ratings, notwithstanding." Ra-Ad offers to pay 30 cents to the station for each dollar of business. Furthermore, the money will be paid in advance by a check which "is absolutely not to be cashed until the station receives matter, and I trust this will be the beginning of a profitable mutual assistance agreement. A number of stations have written NAB and Broadcasting protesting against an offer received from Pat Patrjck Co., Glendale, Calif. The firm's proposal was received, they said, in envelopes carrying insufficient postage. The shock sales approach is used in the letter signed by L. E. Patrick on behalf of the Pat Patrick Co., the letter opening with this sentence, "Would you consider selling us all of your available time starting tomorrow?" This unusual offer apparently is forgotten as the company explains that it is giving away $8.95 twinlens cameras to each listener who buys 12 rolls of film at 40 cents a roll. The station gets 75 cents per inquiry. Smith, Bull & McCreery, 6642 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, informs stations that it is now handling the Colgate Co. account for its product Trim-Z, reducing tablets. The new allowance is $1 per $3 bottle commissionable to the agency at the usual 15%, leaving a net of 85 cents for the station. The agency will provide tailor-made transcriptions, according to C. B. Ganz, account executive. Babe-Eez Co., 11 Beacon St., Boston, has a 10-cent project for Babe-Eez which "is being enthusiastically received by doctors, nurses, and mothers in Massachusetts, and a large number of hospitals are recommending it. There is nothiny else like it on the market." The Babe-Eez Co. letter carries a Parents' magazine seal of commendation. The deal is based on an offer of sample tins of Babe-Eez for 10 cents. If the station produces 1,500 dimes, a total of $150, it gets $75. Leecraft Offers Leecraft, 405 Lexington Ave., New York, is offering Banclok, "The World's Greatest Bank." It will pay $1 "clear profit to you for every coin bank sold by your station." Attached to the firm's letter is a coupon, which says, "Please Ship — ^ Banclok Dateand -Amount Banks at $25.20 per dozen, less 2% 10 days, net 30, f.o.b. N.Y., packed four dozen to carton in assorted colors .... include mats." An advertisement in the New York Times is depicted, showing the bank advertised at $3.49 by Macy's. James S. Beattie, 1909 Eye St. NW, Washington, D. C, submits an offer for a client, Worthington Products Co., maker of a drivers' safety kit. Mr. Beattie reminds stations, "Radio time costs you nothing, and all you need to do is to have this script read occasionally between programs. Nothing for you to do except run the spot announcement, help your listeners, and make some real money for (Continued on page 54) BILLINGS CONCLUSION of the fall political campaign, which included only two days of November, dropped net work political billings from an October peak of $829,978 to $140,000 in November. Total gross billing of the four nationwide networks for the month fell nearly $1 million below the October total. November network gross was Post-Election Drop for Nets $17,393,875. In October the gross had been $18,325,006. Figures were compiled by Publishers Information Bureau and released last week to Broadcasting. As in previous months, food advertising headed the list of network business categories by a wide margin, roughly $1 million and some 60% ahead of toiletries, which NETWORK GROSS BY PRODUCT GROUP Jan. -Nov. 1948 Class Nov. Jan.-Nov. Gross Value Gross Value 1. Agriculture & farming $128,539 $1,384,170 2. Apparel, footwear & accessories 132,246 1,314,728 3. Automotive, automotive accessories & equipment— 1,036,459 6,924,347 4. Aviation, aviation accessories & equipment 5. Beer, wine & liquor 70,068 1,029,922 6. Building materials, equipment & fixtures 101,430 882,874 7. Confectionery & soft drinks 667,845 7,025,800 8. Consumer Services 274,449 2,383,822 9. Drugs & remedies 1,829,668 20,675,976 10. Entertainment & amusements 5,215 11. Food & food products 4,004,984 42,889,782 12. Gasoline, lubricants & other fuels 510,994 5,356,142 13. Horticulture 98,946 14. Household equiEment & supplies 734,029 7,901,041 15. Household furnishings 109,654 1,222,052 16. Industrial materials 195,975 1,567,710 17. Insurance 322,075 3,886,207 18. Jewelry, optical goods & cameras 174,431 1,007,807 19. Office equipment, stationery & writing supplies 131,250 2,169,421 20. PoUtical 140,000 1,213,282 21. Publishing & media . 99,594 1,419,850 22. Radios, phonographs, musical instruments & accessories 124,611 1,395,453 23. Retail stores & shops ■ 24. Smoking materials 1,684,138 18,356,831 25. Soaps, cleansers & polishers 1,935,681 18,813,131 26. Sporting goods and toys 59,089 27. Toiletries 2,586,232 29,275,985 28. Transportation, travel & resorts 128,976 227,504 29. Miscellaneous 270,547 2,558,023 TOTAL $17,393,875 $181,045,110 ranked second. Soaps, drugs and tobaccos ranked third, fourth and fifth, in that order. For the 11 months of 1948 the same five product groups were also the leaders, and in the same sequence except that the cumulative totals place drugs third and soaps fourth. A comparison of the November totals with those for October [Broadcasting, Dec. 27] will show some other noteworthy differences, although none of the magnitude of the fall-off in political billings. Automotive advertising for November rose to $1,036,459, a gain of $377,198 and nearly 60% above the October figures for this type of network advertising. Toiletries Drop Toiletries advertising, on the other hand, in November dropped about a quarter of a million dollars from its October total network billings, and advertising for cigarettes, cigars, pipes and lighters was down some $50,000. On the plus side, travel and resort advertising jumped from $98,528 in October to $128,976 in November, a gain of about 30%. Glass-by-class report of the gross dollar volume of network advertising appears in the accompanying table. Page 26 • January 24, 1949 BROADCASTING • Telecasting