Radio showmanship (Sept 1940-May 1941)

PROOF 0' THE PUDDING Results from radio programs, based on sales, mails, surveys, long runs, the growth of the business itself. Beverages QUIZ OF TWO CITIES Since October, 1938, the Gunther Brewing Co. has been keeping residents of Baltimore, Md. and Washington D. C. in a civic hubbub. They pit the rival cities against each other in a quiz contest aired on local stations WFBR in Baltimore and WMAL in Washington D. C. Program popularity evidence: Each year, Gunther's is forced to hire a mammoth auditorium for several broadcasts to take care of back requests for tickets, which have pyramided into the thousands. Earnings: Just for appearing before the mike, contestant gets two silver dollars. For the right answer to the special bonus question, ten more silver dollars are added; if all four questions are answered correctly, three more dollars are awarded — a total of 15 dollars for each participant, 120 dollars in all. Sole show promotion is the air offer of a five-dollar cash award for every bonus question sent in and used on the program. Merchandising tie-in is a mass display of the brewery products, artfully arranged in the corridor outside the studio where the broadcast originates. AIR FAX: With the two competing teams located in separate cities, quizzers can use the same sets of questions, truly test contestants' superiority. For the listening audience, it's a match that calls for keeping score and rooting for the home team in the mann.r of an athletic contest. Emcees Henry Hickman 'Baltimore) and Bryson Rash (Washington) deftly play on town riv.ilr\. /;,w Broadcast: October, 1938. Broadcast Schedule: Thursday, 7:30-8:00 P.M. I'rvcdid By: John W. Vandercook (NBC News). followed /<>. Good New. (NBC). ( oiitpetitmti: Vox Pop (CBS); Confidentially Yours (Ml'.' SpOtUOr t (iunther Brewing Co., Baltimore. Md. \lal„,m WII1H. IS.illmiorr. Md. fowtri 5,000 watts. Population: 854,144 (1940). Axrticy: Rutin .uilT, Kv.in, I m. I'.iti-iitt-il l>\ Allxrt M. BulliiiKton. station WFBR. SAMP1 B S( RIFT AVAILABLE. COMMENT: Primary function of most quiz shows is to promote rivalry between individuals. Quiz of Two Cities is one of the outstanding examples where team competition has been successfully substituted. Other natural rivalries: Between big industries, schools, organizations, professions. Beverages HYDE PARK SPORTS QUIZ A local application of network Information, Please in the sports field is this popular St. Louis program broadcast directly from the KMOX Playhouse studio before a studio audience. Now in its second year, the show pulls a heavy mail response running into several hundred weekly questions and requests for studio tickets. A strong believer in merchandising tie-ins, sponsor Hyde Park promotes its sports quiz with outdoor posters, window displays, car cards, newspaper space, announcements on KMOX. AIR FAX: Recognized sports authority France Laux puts the questions to his "board of sports experts," consisting of Jim Gould and C. Roy Stockton of the ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH sports staff and former All American half-back Cy Casper, now a St. Louis radio sportscaster. A fourth member is invariably an outstanding figure in the sports world. Two dollars is awarded for each question used on the program. If the experts can't answer the question, sender gets four dollars, and the question is open to anyone in the studio audience who volunteers to answer in hopes of winning a cash award. First Broadcast: January 23, 1940. Broadcast Schedule: Friday, 6:30-7:00 P.M. Sponsor: Hyde Park Breweries Assn., Inc. Station: KMOX, St. Louis, Mo. Power: 50,000 watts. Population: 1,141,593. Agency: Ruthrautf 8C Ryan. COMMENT: Capitalizing on the tremendous American interest in sports, this type of program, when properly presented, can be adapted to almost any type of business appealing to men anywhere. Chiropractic THE GOOD HEALTH PROGRAM Some twelve years ago in Yakima (Wash.), a nucleus of chiropractors organized under the supervision ot Dr. 0 I' . M. Begg, became k m>\\ n as T II B C ii [ROPRACTIC Ci [NIC Three years later (1932) the organization took K IT air time with an ambitious program ot three halt hours weekly, became 112 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP