Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr - June 1951)

There's JVo Waste at Atlas. . Paper Profits Climb l,iO%pii WDZ ACTUAL PROFITS on paper L\ sales have increased 1,500% for a Decatur, 111., waste paper collection firm which buys time on a single local radio station. The Atlas Waste Paper Co. — before it started a heavy schedule of spot announcements on WDZ Decatur last July — collected 10 tons of paper daily and employed 18 persons. With use of 14 30-second spots daily on the station, sprinkled throughout the entire broadcast schedule, and four noon-time newscasts, the firm is now collecting 150 tons of paper daily. It employs 60 persons on two shifts, and has spent $30,000 on new equipment to take care of new orders. Working at a 2,000-ton per month level now, the company owns 15 semi-trailer trucks, and ships waste paper by railroad freight car volume also. In 1948 Atlas bought its first truck. Lewis Burstein, owner of Atlas Waste Paper, says there are several business factors involved in his soaring volume, "but first and foremost is radio advertising, the single item which must be given Paper profits paid for these two semi-trailer trucks, along with 12 others bought by the Atlas Waste Paper Co. Employes are processing waste paper at the loading dock, after which it will be sold to mills. full credit." He finds the growth "remarkable," and because he advertises only on WDZ "it is obvious credit must go to the station too." li's tACTUS" they're stuck on" and "Cactus" does the Austin Hoedotvn on KTBC, Monday thru Friday, 8:30-8:55 am. "Cactus" aint a lady — but the ladies listen and buy. Sponsors, too, are stuck on "Cactus" Richard "Cactus" Pryor, PD at KTBC, has sold or is now selling: BLUING BOY'S CLOTHING BREAD BUS SERVICE CLEANERS GROCERIES HAIR TREATMENTS HOBBY SHOPS MILK PROOUCTS OIL & GAS PRODUCTS RECORDS READY TO WEAR The Strongest Voice in the Capital of the KTBC Biggest State CBS LSC 5000 Wis 590 kc Austin, Texas The O. L. Taylor Company — National Representatives Other factors he cites as contributory to higher volume are the increased need for paper because of the war in Korea and the fact that Atlas is the only downstate Illinois concern equipped to furnish mills and processors with sorted and graded paper. "The first step in the firm's expansion depended upon its source of supply, and WDZ furnished that supply," Mr. Burstein says. The company returned to radio last July after a three-year layoff. Commercials used in 1947 adjacent to baseball broadcasts on WDZ bought "excellent results, but only for a time" because paper mills were operating at 40% of capacity and people were burning their scrap paper. "Our business was shot, so we stopped advertising," Mr. Burstein explained. When paper became "short" again last summer, the radio schedule was resumed and expanded. Wide Coverage Only 25% of the paper collected now comes from Decatur proper. The remaining 1,500 tons monthly is bought from listeners in other cities and in nearby rural areas. The saturation spot campaign suggested by WDZ salesmen last summer to attract families in the entire coverage area has paid off, Mr. Burstein believes. Commercial copy stressed — and still does — that "Atlas is the only continual waste paper buyer in Decatur." Shortly after the campaign started, Mr. Burstein says, "waste paper was literally bulging from every one of our loading docks and was stacked outdoors, despite winter weather conditions, until it could be processed." Volume was so great "we had to operate on two shifts. We now plan to enclose additional space and add about onethird to the size of our present building." He surpassed his own objective of informing the thrifty housewife that she could sell something this time rather than buy it. Noontime newscasts four days weekly brought in large audiences outside Decatur. Farmers were asked to dump paper in the back of their pick-up trucks when they came to town. The continuing collection feature was repeated to get sales from scattered civic groups which conduct fund-raising campaigns periodically. Familiar Name Constant repetition of the name Atlas and the service on WDZ "has introduced us to people all over Illinois," Mr. Burstein says. Recently a man 200 miles from Decatur sold a truckload of paper to Atlas, saying he'd heard the radio advertisements. Checking sellers on what prompts them to go to Atlas, the firm found many from small towns within 150 miles decided to stop in Decatur with the waste paper on a shopping trip to St. Louis or Springfield. Profits from the paper "pay for their gas, and it doesn't cost them anything to stop." By attracting out-of-towners to the city, Atlas believes it is also building up business for local merchants. There will be a scarcity of paper, Mr. Burstein knows, "but not of waste paper. I'm not worried about the future, because all we have to do is educate people to save their waste paper. "And that's easy, because we'll just keep hammering away at them on WDZ, where we know we'll get results." Canada's New Rate Book NEW 1951 rate book of all Canadian broadcasting stations, published annually in loose leaf form by the Canadian Assn. of Broadcasters, is expected to be ready for distribution to Canadian and American advertising agencies by July 1. Rate cards from all Canadian stations, whether CAB members or not, are prepared in standard form for ease of fact finding by j sponsors and agency timebuyers The 1951 rate cards will show that about a quarter of all Canadian stations have raised their basicrates, a number have dropped certain frequency discounts and made other slight upward revisions in rates in keeping with increasing costs. Page 44 • June 4, 1951 BROADCASTING Telecasting