NBC Transmitter (Jan-Nov 1942)

6 NBC TRANSMITTER TOPPERS AND STOPPERS By Ken R. Dyke . f f:/ fi'rc/ff /ff< • Listener surveys and popularity polls have so consistently shown NBC— RED jjrograins to be up in front, that it no longer seems like news. However, anyone in advertising—particularly the radio side of the business— knows that it is just as tough a hurdle to maintain leadership as it is to establish it. In checking the results of various newspaper and trade paper polls, door-todoor and telephone surveys, it is always the same story — “N BC — RED leads!” Nine out of eleven top places to N B C R E D ! ” “Fourteen out of fourteen top places to NBC-RED!” Regardless of how the polls are phrased— provided, of course, that the tabulations refer to “best” and “most popular” radio shows— the answer has proved inevitable. It’s easy for any sales executive to blare the trumpets for any product he’s selling. But when other sources— fair and impartial— do it for him. he has a far more effective and powerful sales weapon. As this issue of the NBC Transmitter goes to press, the latest CAB ratings reveal that NBC— RED programs win eight out of ten top positions. It is important and impressive to note that in every year since the CAB survey was launched, NBC— RED has carried more of the “first ten” than all other networks combined. And, as is already w idely-known, the highest rated program on the air has always been on NBCRED. Cood going! Currently, the aggregate CAB ratings for evening shows run 32.1 j>er cent ahead of the next network. This is partly due to the fact that NBC— RED has less unsold time than any other network. On the basis of average nighttime program ratings, NBC— RED is far and away the leader with an average of 16.S— a remarkable 3.S.2 per cent higher than the second network. Statisticians find many ways of listing popularity figures. But whether it’s by income brackets, telephone ownership, automobile ownership— or what have you— the answer in popularity ratings is always the same— “NBC— RED !” I’ve been sold on the story so long that I’m used to it. But, it’s refreshing to continually find the new surveys and polls confirming past ones. For example, the latest CAB memo on my desk gives NBC— RED the following; “The four top programs averaging 37.8, and fourteen out of the first fifteen half-hour programs— averaging 28.0. This means that now, more than ever, the Red still is the network that ‘most people listen to most.’ ” The CAB survey tells only part of the story. Let’s take a peek at what the newspaper and trade paper polls reveal. The noted ScrippsHoward Radio Boll gave NBC— RED personalities and programs nine out of sixteen places on its roster of the industry’s “1942 Champions.” The Annual “Radio Daily” poll put NBCRED on top with ten out of eighteen first places. And look at this topical breakdown of “Radio Daily” tabulations: NBC— RED won eight out of twelve favorite commercial jjrograms, ten out of thirteen favorite radio entertainers, ten out of twelve favorite comedians, five out of the first eight quiz shows, two out of the first three favorite male vocalists ( popular and classical I five out of the first seven favorite dance hands I sweet and swing). [Continued on page 15) RED FOODS ARE HOT! According to neic CAB figures, the four most popular food-sponsored programs on the air are on 1\BC~RED, icith an average ratingof 55.8— higher I han any single show on any other netuork. Incidentally, the first eleven toprated half-hour shows are P^BCRED also, icith an average rating of 30.2! WALTER DAMROSCH {Story on opposite page) Bouquets and Brickbats in NBC Nail # A total of 8,568 pieces of listener mail passed through the NBC Information Division in March. And the lads and lassies who answer these epistles have given the Transmitter a few gleanings from network correspondence. # Too much flag-waving on the air? Do listeners approve of American pep talks, songs, plays and announcements? This is what they write: “More of the same is none too much; but it must be good!” 9 One listener, hearing of the new Army Hour, forwarded five dollars “to cover the cost” of relaying a message to her son in Iceland. 9 There has been a deluge of requests for Kaltenborn scripts; one correspondent even included a ten-dollar donation “to keep him on the air.” Congress was prominently represented among the Kaltenborn letter-writers. 9 “Gripping!” “Inspiring!” “Brilliant!” Such adjectives sound like a Hollywood exploitation man at his dictaphone. Actually, the words are listeners’ comment on Arch Oboler plays. 9 Arid and frigid was the reception given by dry ice manufacturers to a script in which a character was asphyxiated by dry ice fumes. 9 A farmer from the hinterlands who wrote that he “heard of your company over the air” asked if he could come to New York at NBC expense and answer questions via the mike. KEN R. DYKE