NAB reports (Mar-Dec 1933)

Those new programs and new ideas — ninety percent of them at least, would be adaptable to other stations, were there some means of getting information about the tested and suc¬ cessful programs to the other stations. Aye, there’s the rub, for to get the story about the successful program to a maxi¬ mum number of stations. On our station, we have sold a department store a half hour a day, to be broadcast from its own studio. That’s not new, but our idea of presenting our sustainings from the studio, to attract persons into the studio auditorium, arranged as a huge rest room, and thus into the store, is new. And our idea of hooking displays of goods advertised into the auditorium, with national advertisers footing the bill, has not been used on many stations. But, I dare say, it could be adapted by half a hundred managers. Few grocers can afford extensive radio advertising. But, we worked out a natural, tieing in a half dozen grocers each day. It’s a script show, and could be passed along. The same thing is true of our “Beauty Club” script, sponsored by beauticians, ladies ready-to-wear, foot stores, and all the establishments that go to make milady even more beautiful. Most stations are either rural or metropolitan, definitely one or the other. A local farm and home hour can be built around the chain farm-and-home periods, and gain a rural audience for a metropolitan station which will net a good many otherwise-unobtainable shekels. Such a program on our sta¬ tion gets both local and national accounts. We have a WorldFair amusement park — remote control — tickets for patronage idea that is earning money during the summer. * * * It’s hard to get anything for banks. * * * Our five-minute script act not only has satisfied a local bank, but a number of other sta¬ tions, noting a story in one of the magazines, asked for it. It did the work for them, I presume. * * * We couldn’t get a big clothing store until we worked out a string and chimes music set-up, with the family “listening” to the music, and talking clothing to each other. The program sold itself on audition. Script on that could be adapted to any clothing store account. * * * And so on and so on and so on. * * * The other afternoon I counted twenty-three new kinds of programs on KOIL, put there since the first of the year. But, what 1 want to emphasize is this: Everyone of these programs, or ideas, which have kept us in the black ink, could be adapted to use by other stations. Had we but some reasonable way spreading the gospel. I suggest a four-fold program exchange activity for NAB. Part of it can be put into operation at this time, perhaps. Other parts of it logically should wait. First: The gathering of information from the stations about their successful commercial idea programs; the sum¬ marizing of this information, and its publication, probably in NAB Weekly Reports, with a note where script or complete information on the idea or program is available. This activity, it seems to me, might well be put into opera¬ tion soon, and probably could be handled by the present staff of our managing director. Other parts of my suggestions likely would have to be postponed until a full-time man were devoted to the program exchange. Second : A script exchange which would be, in effect, a syndicate, furnishing script to members of the NAB. Cost to members would be less than that now paid to such syndi¬ cates as there are, because NAB could charge only actual cost. NAB, with its large membership, should attract the best writers, so members would have writing for their sta¬ tions at a low price, the best authors in the business. Third: A reservoir for outline of ideas. Even if our copyright law for script is changed, it would be hard under the circumstances to establish property rights in an idea. However, if a summary of that idea were written, sealed, sent to NAB headquarters, there not opened marked with swornto note of the date, and placed in a vault, that summary should prove very valuable to any author trying to protest a theft of his brain-child. This reservoir, in itself, should attract the best writers to the service of NAB, and NAB members. Fourth: Research activity. Anything that would gain and furnish to station managers data on program handling that would make or save them dollars and cents. What rate for talent1? What kind of theater hook-up? New time for kids’ programs? What use of coupons? Existing arrangements for artists bureaus? What are some naturals for Saturday adver¬ tising? What unusual music set-ups, keeping in mind that an orchestra is just an orchestra, but a different set-up is distinctive? Activities here are almost limitless. As I say, the first of these might well be put into operation soon. The others should await the development of the first. But, to me, as I’ve seen what new programs can do during this so-called depression, the exchange of program ideas and script promises more gold than nearly anything else we could do right now. CHAIRMAN CARPENTER: Are there any questions? MR. HARLOW : Mr. Chairman, the only difficulty about the suggestion is that it won’t work. We are, after all, in the theatrical business or semi-theatrical business with probably a smattering of literary genius here and there. It is no more possible to exchange the brain child of an enthusiastic and hard working and conscientious executive or an under execu¬ tive who through his efforts has produced a production which has seemed to go over and bring results, proper results — I say it is no more possible to exchange that script with another station than it is for a successful producer of a theatrical production to be willing, after he gets through with his scripts, to suggest that some other theatrical producer might like to follow along similar lines. It just cant be done. The rest! of the suggestions, I think, are extremely valuable and any exchange along practical lines or ideas is extremely valuable. CHAIRMAN CARPENTER: If I may be permitted to in¬ ject a word here, I disagree with you, as a result of prac¬ tical experience. Possibly we are not tallcing about the same thing, but I am particularly interested in this phase of the work because it doesn’t fall within the scope of some of the larger stations, or shall I say stations in larger centers of population? It is a very valuable help to small stations or stations in smaller centers of population. Our experience over the past three months has been quite the same as his in Council Bluffs, and of the program ideas we have had, I should say fifteen or twenty program ideas that we gathered up from this, that and the other place, we have three of them in use. Those three are going very suc¬ cessfully. We haven’t taken the idea as a whole and simply transplanted it. We have worked it over into something that we could use particularly, but it is the same basis idea. So to a certain extent, I believe there is a possibility of exchange there, provided intelligence is used in adapting the idea to your particular needs. Many times it isn’t a script complete; many times it is a program plan and the script can be worked out at the station. MR. PATT: Offhand, I think most of us might agree that an exchange of ideas with some sort of a wholesale basis where it wouldn’t cost us a lot of money, merely the expense of duplicating the scripts and sending them out wholesale and pell-mell throughout the country to all of our fellow broad¬ casters would be a fine idea. But I see, from what Mr. Harlow has said and from some experience I have had in broadcasting, some disadvantages there. I favor your first suggestion, Mr. Henry, which is to de¬ scribe in one corner of the weekly bulletin those programs which broadcasters voluntarily want to describe and offer for sale to other stations. I don’t believe that we should take from our writers or our producers their brain children, as they have been called, and offer them without charge to the rest of the broadcasting industry throughout the country. I think if we can leave it up to the individual station’s option or writer’s option as to whether they want to offer for sale, at whatever price they want to offer them, scripts or a detailed plan of a particular program through the NAB reports, a particular corner of which could be utilized each week for that very purpose, that is a splendid idea. I agree with Mr. Harlow that to wholesale these ideas throughout the country and to wholesale continuities means just a lot of detail at the home office and only about one out of fifteen, rather than three out of fifteen, is going to be tlie usual percentage. MR. TRAVERS: May I make one suggestion? We have had a great deal of experience with scripts. We have 220 clients a week right now. I think those of you who would like to exchange ideas ought to do it, as you did, personally. I can’t conceive of the National Association of Broadcasters putting out a script and having five stations in Boston run up . Page 144 .