Radio showmanship (Sept 1940-May 1941)

u IL et's Try It For 13 Weeks" "Would You Hire a New Salesman on a 13 Week Basis?" Asks Mr. Wayne in This Story of a Notable Advertising Success Possibly this is heresy, but none the less, I wish the day might come when radio would no longer sell 13-week time units. I voice the wish not just for the good of the advertising agent or the vendor of time or talent, but rather for the very practical good of every advertiser. As it is now, too many advertisers have yet to be shown the importance of continuity of effort in their radio advertising. Too often is a promising campaign sentenced to do or die within the brief span of 13 weeks. Yet the same advertisers would hardly consider adopting a policy of hiring salesmen on a 13-week basis. Why, then, should advertising be treated differently from any other form of selling? Certainly, continuity of effort is a recognized fundamental of selling and advertising. Whatever the media, it takes time and repetition to embed an advertiser's story in the public mind. Indeed, continuity is of particular importance in radio, with its many individual characteristics. Radio embodies principles of show business as well as advertising. It deals in vast audience potentials, rather than definite circulation patterns. Its elements of good will and loyalty assume large proportions. It takes time to build the greatest audience out of the vast listener-potential. It takes time to build and nurse audience loyalty to the extent where it is profitably reflected in sales. Time for dealers to get the feel of the campaign, to recognize its value to them, and to follow through with their best front-line selling. And time for the advertiser's own selling organization to be sold on the campaign to the point where it stimulates all of their la tent selling powers. These are cumulative factors which demand a reasonable length of time to become established. They can't be accomplished overnight, and seldom in 13 weeks. I don't mean to suggest that radio can't deliver immediate results or that it can't produce handsomely in an isolated and concentrated sales drive. Both types of accomplishment are matters of frequent record. However, all too often a prospective sponsor expects too much too soon, and takes it for granted his radio show will reach its full impact in the first few series of broadcasts. This is equally as dangerous as another assumption frequently encountered— the assumption that radio can produce its best results without benefit of full merchandising support. Scan the headstones in radio's graveyard, and you'll find the highest mortality among 13-week programs. A large share of them died a-borning because they were not given a reasonable chance to establish themselves. They had to stand and deliver from scratch, "or else." Now, check the list of radio's great successes, and it is apparent that the majority are long-run features, on the air week in and week out for years. Among radio's notable successes . . . one which admirably illustrates the value of continuity of effort in radio — is one familiar to all advertising or radio men. It's The Lone Ranger. Familiar, indeed, is the amazing growth of The Lone Ranger from a local WXYZ (Detroit) sustaining feature to one of the most brilliant successes in the history of American radio. Familiar, too, is the fact that each year sees new triumphs and higher popularity By TUCKER WAYNE, Pres., Tucker Wayne & Co., Atlanta, Georgia DECEMBER, 1 940 129