Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

There's only one and it's a natural! Washington State's big "MIDDLE MARKET" — an ever-expanding market where wealth and population are booming and sales prove it. But here is the snapper . . . it's all yours — exclusively — with the one station buy of buys. It's KIMA-TV, Yakima with KEPR-TV, Paseo with the powerful, parent-satellite coverage tailored to the market like a Brooks Brothers suit. KIMA-TV YAKIMA utftk> jUto z&oMixJtir PASCO NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES: WEIO TELEVISION PACIFIC NORTHWEST: MOORE AND LUND in Montana, one in Oregon, and a considerable amount of Canadian acreage. A new empire within an empire has been sprouting in the last decade-and-a-half— the Columbia Basin irrigation project. It is expanding every year as life-giving water is fed into new fields. Spokane's businessmen cite a set of arresting facts to back up claims on behalf of their empire definitions: • It is the only point within hundreds of miles where mountains can be crossed by an easy grade, accounting for the conveniences supplied by five transcontinental railroads and several highways. • The city is the only major manufacturing and marketing center between Seattle (288 miles) and Portland (376 miles) to the west and Minneapolis-St. Paul (1,347 miles) to the east. © Nearest city to the north is Calgary, Alta. (465 miles), with Vancouver (412 miles) to the northwest and Salt Lake City (740 miles) far to the south. When the movement of money, merchandise, raw materials and finished goods is traced in all directions out of Spokane, the city's businessmen will show how economic life lines connect points as far away as Ephrata, Grand Coulee (95 miles), Wenatchee (168 miles), and Ellensburg (187 miles) to the west; Yakima, and Pasco (150 miles) to the southwest; Walla Walla (162 miles) and Lewiston (110 miles) to the south; Coeur d'Alene (33 miles) and Wallace (83 miles) to the east; Sandpoint, and Bonners Ferry (111 miles) to the northeast. Coeur d'Alene, across the border in Idaho, is the only city of 10,000 within 75 miles and there isn't a single city of 40,000 within 150 miles. Expansion in a Vastness With all the vast distances between communities, the Inland Empire is one of the nation's faster growing areas. The number of factories has increased over one-third since 1947 and factory payrolls have more than doubled. Idaho's member counties add $166 million in retail sales to the Inland Empire's annual business, with another $117 million from western Montana and $55 million from Umatilla County in Oregon. Canada adds to the retail and wholesale business in Spokane, but it's hard to reach a close estimate. Hamilton Owen, industrial director of Spokane's Chamber of Commerce, checked local banks and found that close to a halfmillion dollars in Canadian currency had been handled in a current month, indicating stores had benefited substantially though the figure did not cover checks and charge accounts. These dull statistics add up to good news for Spokane. Some of the more distant markets in the Inland Empire may contest Spokane's claims to their dollars but they'll concede it is a major metropolitan influence in their business lives. Gather round a moment for a quick lesson in geography! Spokane's area of market influence is bounded on the west by the lofty Cascades, with only three highway passes going through to the Seattle-Portland valley. To the north are the spectacular Canadian Rockies. Eastward are the Bitterroot Moun tains and Continental Divide, and the Oregon Blue Mountains provide a southern barrier. Within these natural fences are three of the world's most famous man-made achievements— Columbia Basin irrigation project, largest land reclamation job ever undertaken; Grand Coulee dam, one of a series of hydroelectric projects, backing up the water that's fed into these once-parched fields, and finally the Hanford plutonium plant, a monument to atomic energy that carried a community of 6,000 all the way to 40,000 in a decade. Spokane looks around at Yakima, Moses Lake, Lewiston and Wallace, offers the hand of economic friendship, and then starts gazing over its own city limits. Within the metropolitan area are industries by the hundreds, topped by Kaiser's Trentwood rolling mill (largest west of the Mississippi) and its Mead reduction plant (second largest in the United States). As was the case with other metal industries, as well as lumber and related resources, availability of cheap power was an important element in the decision to locate at Spokane. Kaiser was employing close to 6,000 people late in the year. Fairchild Air Force Base, Geiger Field and a naval supply depot provide a $2.5 million monthly payroll. "Why a naval supply depot so far from the Puget Sound bases?" strangers often ask, getting the strategic answer, "Because it's so far from the ocean." Spokane is fast growing, with retail sales up a third since 1950. Population went up around 13% in that time. "This is a rich market," said Richard O. Dunning of KHQAM-TV. "The economy was once built around raw material, farming and distribution. World War II brought aluminum, aeronautics and satellite industries, all with big payrolls." He added, "Remember, tell those Madison Avenue folks this is an economy they haven't discovered." Robert H. Temple of KREM-AM-TV, the Louis Wasmer stations, noted that the five railroads — Union Pacific, Northern Pacific, Milwaukee, Great Northern, and a line through primitive area to Calgary — keep raw materials and finished goods moving, with truck carriers playing an important role. "South of Spokane is the 'breadbasket of the nation,' " he said, supplying wheat and other food products. Richard E. Jones of KXLY-AM-TV told how fabricating industries are developing. He listed vast mineral resources and predicted arrival of natural gas later this year will help industry. The KXLYTV transmitter sits atop Mt. Spokane, east of the city, at an elevation of 6,018 feet. Burl C. Hagadone, KNEW, predicted "the pulp and paper industry will grow more rapidly during the next few years than any other single industry, supplying large new payrolls." A tour around Spokane's business center, with hills in several directions, shows modern structures and major new merchandising centers. Buying power of the Inland Empire is described as higher than that of 36 states, with Spokane stores getting much of the benefit. Outside capital is moving in rapidly. A new freeway extends eastward toward Coeur d'Alene. The airport is decorated with long rows of military planes. The sagebrush fields south and west of the city are giving way to crops as locally made alu Page 84 • January 9, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting