NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1945)

14 NBC Transmitter KTSM Gathers and Repairs Old Radios for Veterans EL PASO, TEX.— During a recent tour made by the KTSM entertainment troupe through the wards of William Beaumont General Hospital, the group noticed that a great many of the patients w'ere without radios or were struggling to hear their favorite programs over receiving sets badly in need of repair. Some of the sets had been all the way from the bitter campaigns in Europe to the dusty trails of the Burma Road. Some had no cabinets, others lacked aerials, many seemed to have cases of “severe static” while many of the patients had no radios at all. Perplexed over the situation, the troupe decided upon a plan to help these war casualties while away the long hours in the hospital. They began their campaign for radios by means of spot announcements which included the offer of free pick-up service and repair. In less than a week, patriotic El Pasoans had contributed 20 radios, all types and in all conditions. Willard Kline, commercial department head, and Virgil Hicks, program manager of the station, set about to do the repairing. The station furnished all necessary equipment from radio tubes to new cabinets. First Lieutenant Reuben Adler, special service and educational director at William Beaumont, has since informed KTSM that the patients are genuinely pleased with their “new” radios and they hope that El Pasoans continue to contribute discarded radios in order that their days in the hospital will be shortened and brightened. A FRIEND INDEED-tnilard Kline, commercial department chief at KTSM, repairs old radios contributed by El Pasoans to be given to war veterans at W'illiam Beaumont General Hospital. (Story above.) OKLAHOMA MADE WARING-CONSCIOUS BY BRILLIANT PROMOTIONS AND TIE-INS ORIGINATED AT KVOO TULSA, OKLA.— Oklahomans may not know whether “Oklahoma!” still is playing on Broadway, but New Yorkers— and Pennsylvanians — may rest assured that Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians are playing to lots of good houses in the Sooner State, thanks perhaps to promotional innovations on the part of KVOO. Of course, the fact that Gordon Berger, baritone soloist with Waring, formerly was a professor of music at the University of Oklahoma, was adequately emphasized in localized news stories preceding the formal airing of Waring’s new morning show', but by now some folks think Fred is an Oklahoman, and lives in Tulsa now. KVOO’s promotion department, headed by William McClarin, resorted to almost everything from radio to rodeo. It probably just happened that the Tower Grill in the Philtower skyscraper, home of KVOO, decided to reopen Monday, June 4. at 10 a.m., as proclaimed in a notice posted on the entrance during a renovation shutdown. But coincidence or otherwise, KVOO’s promotion department happened to see an opportunity for a tie-up and posted a companion placard announcing that Fred Waring’s new morning show' also would open at that same date and hour. Meanwhile, scores of taxicabs were flitting about Tulsa bearing mobile posters on their spare tires, reminding would-be fares, and other pedestrians, that— well, even the taxi drivers were featuring advance Fred Waring music plugs on their dash radios as they dashed about town. Newspapers, trade journals and even the official program of Oklahoma’s famous indoor rodeo, the seventh annual Johnny Lee Wills’ Tulsa Stampede, contained advertisements, news stories and complimentary plugs for the then-coming Waring show. Wills, rodeo impresario and maestro, whose own orchestra has been a daily feature on KVOO for more than 10 years, went all out to welcome “another good band.” As a result, 50,000 spectators packing the Tulsa fairgrounds pavillion for the six performances of the Stampede, were greeted by a 20-foot banner devoted to Fred Waring’s new show. It was displayed across the front of the stand where Wills’ own orchestra played for the smash-hit local rodeo. Thousands of diners at Tulsa luncheon club meetings found little red, white and blue folders on the plates where they used to find a piece of steak or other meat. The front cover shouted, “Don’t you know there’s a WAR ON?” Opening of the overlapping cover completed the message: “Don’t you know' there’s a Fred WARing show ON KVOO.” A week later, and a week in advance of the Waring show' opening, luncheon club diners again found no meat, but a “meaty” folder reading: “For Freedom’s Sake, Buy More WAR BONDS,” magically changing to “For FRED WARING tune in KVOO” when opened. After 5,000 of the “trick” folders had been distributed to make Tulsans War Bond and Fred Waring conscious, one of them was incorporated into a motion picture advertising trailer, opening and closing with the “flash”: “For Freedom’s Sake Buy More War Bonds,” but dissolving into the message “For Fred Waring and his 69 Pennsylvanians, Tune in KVOO Monday Thru Friday, 10 a.m., to 10:30 a.m.” The trailer, embracing Waring’s picture and “voice,” flash of the band and theme song, was shown in 11 Tulsa theaters and a score of other Southwest movie houses. PROMOTING PROMOTION The NBC Transmitter is launching a special department devoted to news and photographs relating to outstanding promotional activities by NBC affiliates. The Fred Waring layout on the opposite page and the KVOO story above are typical of the splendid program promotions originated and carried out by NBC network stations. Affiliates are requested to forward details and photographs of their promotional efforts relating to both network and local shows as well as to War Bond Drives, other aids to the United Nations victory effort, and various community projects.