Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

MONDAY MEMO from VICTOR SEYDEL, vice president, director of radio-tv, Anderson & Cairns Don't queer your long-range chances by abusing today's radio prosperity No one in our business needs to be told that radio is enjoying excellent health and I cannot think of anyone who is not overjoyed to see radio once again take its rightful place as a dynamic and competitive advertising medium. There are many things that have contributed to radio's present healthy condition. A few of them are: Realization on the part of station and network management that "all is not lost" because of television. New programming concepts that are geared to the living and listening habits of the people. Realistic pricing. Aggressive, and perhaps more important, creative selling. For all of these things which lead to success and give us, as media users, more working tools, I say "Hoorah!" However, I would like to inject a note of caution, for which I may be called "stuffy." I feel privileged to speak because I have never lost faith in the medium of radio (and proved it with our clients' radio buys) even in its most trying and desperate times. What I am about to say does not apply to the great majority of stations and their representatives. It does, however, apply to a few. It is simply that by attitude and inference some stations and their representatives today are saying: "We're real fat — we've never had it so good. If you want to do business with us, Buster, get in line!" Granted, a lot of media people and their clients have gone hog-wild wanting to buy only early morning or early evening during the traffic hours, and near or in news, weather and sports. On many stations, for this type of a buy, one does have to stand in line. And if this be the situation of a particular station, this is the time for the station to bend over backwards rather than play Big Wheel. My work often takes me on the road in behalf of our clients. In contacts around the country I have found that the vast majority of stations have an attitude of willingness to aid as much as possible in seeing that a client's campaign produces results. However, there are a few examples on the negative side, like these: Not too long ago, by appointment and with a schedule firmed up, I visited an important radio station in a large midwestern city. My client was in the soft goods field. The station manager's opening remarks to me were as follows: "I wish you had a drug or a food product; we could do a swell merchandising job for you, but we do not have any contacts in the department store and specialty store field." SWAMPED BY THE FLOOD Another station in the Northeast had agreed to do a simple but important kind of local merchandising. All it involved was a personal call to be made on five local retailers. The object of the call was to inform the retailer of the schedule that our client had purchased and further explain to the retailer what this would mean in audience and impact for his benefit. Therefore, the station was to urge him to tie-in with point of purchase material. Upon arriving for my meeting with the station manager, one week after the start of the campaign, he apologized for not having followed through on the five merchandising calls because there was so much business on the station and orders were coming in faster than he could take care of them and he had to spend all of his time figuring how he could get the commercials in so as not to lose business. This same complacent attitude was brought into sharp focus recently when a radio representative called and said, "Hey! I see in the trade press you're planning a radio schedule in a couple of my markets. How much dough are you going to spend?" Isolated instances such as the above would not concern me relative to the industry's general health except that they, and a half-dozen others in the last six months, occurred in connection with major stations in major markets. I sincerely believe that the signs are unhealthy. Therefore, I would like to remind a very small but important group that they have forgotten how tough it was in radio just a few short years ago. All of us who are concerned with the strategy of planning and buying welcome creative selling and are appreciative of the problems involved when a station is overloaded and orders are waiting in line, but an attitude of smugness and, in some cases, downright cockiness will not make for a healthy radio economy in the overall media battle. If the pendulum swings back, fellows, you'll have no one to blame but yourselves. Victor Seydel, b. March 9, 1913, Grand Rapids, Mich. Graduate, Hill School, Pottstown, Pa.; enrolled U. of Michigan but decided on show business career instead. 1929-33: Chicago and points east as vaudevillian and "act doctor" for old Radio-Keith-Orpheum circuit. From 1933-40 was with Jerome H. Car gill producing organization working on Junior League shows; in 1940 joined Blue Network (now ABN) as producer. In 1943 joined Walker & Downing as radio director and manager of N.Y. office. In 1949 moved to Anderson, Davis & Platte (now Anderson & Cairns), N. Y., as radio-tv head. Became v. p. in 1954, board member in 1956. Broadcasting April 7, 1958 • Page 113