Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

toward a busy defense future. Ship repair and Boeing's big backlog of orders for giant planes provide basis for this optimism. The three defense units employ 8% of all workers in the state and another 17,000 civilian personnel work at 19 armed forces installations. Food processing industries were hit in 1955 by unfavorable weather that affected such leaders as peas and strawberries, but larger crops in the late season brightened the picture. Washington industry's growth has been fostered by low-cost hydroelectric power in addition to the forest resources and availability of water. Like the rest of the Pacific Northwest, Washington is waiting for more power before enticing too many industries. The state offices at Olympia supply only meagre information about Washington's economy, and promotional facilities are confined mostly to tourist advertising. Kenneth Gilbert, assistant to Secretary of State Earl Coe, ascribed the paucity of state economic data to political shenanigans and failure of his office to receive funds appropriated for this function. The state's current economic situation is professionally analyzed, however, by Seattle-First National Bank and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Washington industry, while waiting to take advantage of the new supply of natural gas, still sees long-range hope in atomic energy development (see "Power" chapter) and possible use of the state's low-grade coal for the more expensive steam energy. A sobering factor in Washington's fisheries is the continued decline of the Alaskan and Puget Sound salmon catch, but with other seafood such as halibut (world's largest supply), cod and many types of shellfish, the industry is doing well. SEATTLE-TACOMA THERE are two main types of businessmen in the economy that starts a good 15 miles north of Seattle's Bon Marche department store and extends southward 50 miles to the far suburbs of Tacoma. The types are: 1. Those who consider the area a single market. 2. The rest — or, those who call Seattle and its municipal twin, Tacoma, the separate No. 1 and No. 3 markets of Washington State. Between the actual boundaries of the two cities, along Highway 99, lies a developed area dominated by one of the world's larger industries, the Boeing airplane plant. A little to the south is the Seattle-Tacoma airport. To the west are Puget Sound and the Olympics; to the east the Cascades, dominated by the brilliant whiteness of Mt. Rainier (14,408 feet and third highest in U. S.). When businessmen of type No. 1 start talking up their market, and they do it with abandon and enthusiasm, they add the metropolitan population of the two counties in the area — King (Seattle) and Pierce (Tacoma)— and come up with a million-plus figure, 1,086,000 high-income people. That total is 60% above 1940. Los Angeles excepted, what major market can match this growth, they ask. Then they use this for a topper — 40% of the people in the state of Washington live in this area, and most of them like both the geography and the economy. The No. 2 type of Puget Sound businessmen, whose interests are generally confined to either one of the two cities, can put up a convincing case on behalf of economic segregation. Seattle has an early1956 metropolitan area (King County) population estimated at 780,000 (504,000 in 1940) and figures to hit 800,000 within the year. Tacoma (Pierce County) has an estimated 306,000 (182,000 in 1940). The type No. 1 average businessman, as a believer in market integration, is pleased to divulge over a Trader Vic fog-cutter (beverage) in the Benjamin Franklin Hotel's Outrigger Room that combined SeattleTacoma retail sales totaled an estimated $1,363 million in 1955 compared to $1,271 million in 1954, a jump of around 8%. Factory wages in the combined cities totaled about $460 million in 1955. But type No. 2 will, as a market segregationist, interrupt a eulogy of Puget Sound's natural and marketing lures long enough to explain that Metropolitan Seattle's 1955 retail sales passed the billion-dollar mark, reaching an estimated $1,046 million compared to $989 million in 1954, a jump of about 6%. Factory wages in Seattle totaled around $375 million last year. Tacoma's retail story is impressive, too — an estimated jump of 12% in 1955, or $317 million compared to $282 million in 1954. Factory wages in Tacoma totaled $85 million last year. These are the basic elements of the Seattle-Tacoma market and/or markets. Broadcasters in the Puget Sound trough belong to Leads all other Western Washington radio stations almost 2 to 1 in share of audience! o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Diversified rate structure— announcement service from $5.40 to $50.00! 71 0 KC • 50.000 WATTS %xti<»t<a "RtputtHtaUvt* FREE & PETERS, INC. NEW YORK ■ CHICAGO ■ DfTROIT • FORT WORTH • ATLANTA ■ HOUYWOOD ■ SAN FRANCISCO O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 8 o o o o o 8 o o o 8 o o o o o o o o o Page 80 • January 9, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting