Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1941)

JOHNNY ON THE SPOT If you use spot announcements, you'll be interested in the news, reviews, and tips in this column. Last month's Hint to Spot Buyers suggested that when you buy spot announcements, start with a quantity smaller than you had originally planned, then add announcements whether or not j^our original purchase showed results. This increase may be all that is needed to turn failure into success. If the first increase proves profitable, you may find it wise to continue adding announcements. It's a method of experimentation, and it works! Davis Cleaners in Columbia, Mo. started a small campaign on KFRU, three announcements daily. They soon found it profitable to add another spot daily, then four more. Today, they are using ten spots every day. Most important, business has speeded up considerably. The company now needs a new, larger plant; the old one, which was recently remodeled, has already been found inadequate to handle the increased volume. Giving radio complete credit for this business rise, Davis Cleaners are now using radio in other cities where they have cleaning plants. ABOUT DR. KENAGA The amazing story of an announcement changed only seven times in seven years! When baseball fans in Toledo are annoyed by an umpire's decision, they don't cry out: "Get glasses!" Their admonition is, "See Doctor Kenaga!" Dr. Kenaga, optometrist, opened his business in Toledo in 1932. During the first week, 20 patrons visited his shop. Today, an average of 100 to 150 people are fitted each week. Dr. Kenaga attributes this remarkable increase entirely to a spot announcement campaign over radio station WSPD in Toledo. 76 The most remarkable fact about Dr. Kenaga's amazing radio story is this: In his seven years of radio advertising, his original copy (which now runs 1,820 times a year) has been changed only seven times (and those were annual changes of a single word). Here's the magic spot announcement that has brought fortune and no little fame to this radio advertiser: "Dr. Kenaga, at 623 Adams Street, near Erie, is offering genuine Kryptock, invisible bifocal glasses for reading and distant vision for only $3.50. Examination free whether you buy glasses or not. These Kryptock bifocals are the well-known Kenaga quality and are the deep-curve, spherical, first-division convex type. They are complete with standard size frames, fitted to your satisfaction or your money refunded. 90 days' trial. Dr. Kenaga is a graduate optometrist with 28 (the one word that's changed each year) years' | practical experience in the examination of eyes and fitting of glasses. The address: 623 Adams Street, 2 doors off Erie." This commercial may sound a bit technical for listener consumption, but you'll find hundreds of citizens of Toledo and Northwestern Ohio who can recite that message from memory. WSPD announcers could, if necessity demanded it, broadcast Dr. Kenaga's announcement without copy. In 1932 and 1933 Dr. Kenaga's records show he advertised in two newspapers. His calls per week during that period averaged from 20 to 40. That year a chap named Jay Kelchner (now manager of WMMN, Fairmont, W. Va.) sold Dr. Kenaga on the idea of using radio. A campaign was started calling for two announcements a day. Dr. Kenaga's business began growing. His calls increased to an average of 70 a week. The next year he dropped all other media, boosted his budget for radio. His calls per week climbed to 100. He is now and has been for three years averaging between 100 and 150 examinations a week. Over 90 per cent of those examinations result in sales. When he launched his business. Dr. Kenaga fitted glasses by day and ground lenses by night. Now he employs a staff of five, operates the only complete retail surfacing and edging shop in his section of the country. Kenaga glasses are worn from coast to coast. The Kenaga commercial has been burlesqued by the Junior Bar Association in its RADIO SHO WM ANSH IP