Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1941)

Versatile Stella Unge.r Brings Local Businessmen An Dn-the-Spot Program of "Hollywood Headliners" AIR ANALYSIS Ask the average American youngster today, "What is the biggest star in the heav ens Ch ances are, he'll answer "Mickey Rooney." The clothes we wear, the way we comb our hair, even the soap we use to wash our faces is influenced to some degree by Hollywood. Eighty-five million people spend at least two hours in some theater each week, and most of them spend even more time outside talking about the pictures they have seen. The movies and their glamorous stars are news! Is it any wonder that radio programs featuring these stars are among the most successful on the air? In the past, local businessmen have sponsored many radio programs about screenland's pictures and personalities, but more often than not, the material used was newspaper re-hash, Hollywood publicity releases, or press book clippings. The only place to get the actual, inside stories was from Hollywood itself. Few, if any, businessmen were able to afford a full-time, on-the-spot Hollywood radio reporter. The logical, economical solution was syndication, transcribed movie news written, produced right in Hollywood and sponsored in each market throughout the country by local radio advertisers. Among the first, and still the most successful of these Hollywood newscasters, is versatile Stella Unger. Author, director, actress — Stella Unger is well-equipped for her present radio work. From the theater, where she wrote special material for Ed Wynn, the Shuberts, and Earl Carroll, she stepped into radio, conducted many successful shows including the Borden Dairy Company's Special Edition, a popular half-hour afternoon variety program. As one-time head of the radio writinj^; department of the advertising agency, Erwin Wasey & Co., she created commercial copy for such varied products as cigars, cold remedy, tooth paste, and many others. She also developed the Springtime in Paris promotion for New York department store, Saks 34th Street. Her present radio program, Hollywood Headliners, is a fast-moving, five-minute, behind-the-scene picture of Hollywood. The material she uses is informative and completely up-to-date. Personalities, success stories, bits of human interest, sentiment, and drama are all included in the series, with petty gossip or keyhole technique omitted. Made available to radio advertisers a very short time ago, the program is now on more than forty stations from coast to coast. 156 programs are ready, 3 a week for 52 weeks. Sponsors include: New Method Laundry — WCOL — Columbus, Ohio; Broobener's Fur Shop— WBRK— Pittsfield, Mass.; Herman's Apparel Shop — WMFF — Plattsburg, N. Y.; BiLTMORE Dairy Farms— WSOC— Charlotte, N. C. ; Tampa Gas Co.— WFLA — Tampa, Fla. ; Todd's Bakery — CFCF — Montreal, Canada; Ray Moore's Drug Store — WGTM — Wilson, N. C. ; Hudson Dealer — WBOW — Terre Haute, Indiana; Farmer's Cooperative Dairy — WSJS — Winston Salem, N. C. ; Girard's Salad Dressing — KGO — San Francisco, Calif. Most lavish in his praise of the program is Nlw Method Laundry's general manager, H. M. Siebold. He writes: "We have been delighted with the results this program has accomplished for us for the period of time we have been on the air with it. We feel sure that, combined with our other forms of advertising, it fits, very nicely into the scheme of promotive business. We are really very much sold on it as an advertising feature." Regardless of product, Stella Unger's Hollywood Headliners claims attention! HOW TO USE IT! No program subject is better adapted to intensive merchandising than the movies. Promotions are practically unlimited. At the present time, Stella Unger syndicates a newsypaper column. Camera Closeups, which should tie in 56 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP