Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1943)

Department Stores CIVILIAN DEFENSE REPORTER Winning first honors for sponsoring the first Civilian Defense program in Washington, D. C, in connection with the recent OWI ruling allowing commercial sponsorship of government broadcasts, is the Hecht Co. Department Store. Once a week, Hecht goes on the WOL airwaves with a quarter-hour of news beamed at Civilian Defense Volunteers. Items about meetings, new uniforms, sector activities and achievements, and human interest items about individual volunteers provide the copy for the Wednesday evening show. Showrnanstunt: d. different sector is picked at random on each broadcast, awarded a 25 dollar cash prize with which to purchase needed equipment. Promotions: following the first broadcast, sponsor took two full columns in the Washington Post's society pages to reproduce in column-format the entire first script. A double-column banner at bottom of page called attention to The Hecht Co., The Store of Nationally Famous Merchandise, and its 6:45 P.M. show on WOL. All defense areas received mailing pieces advising them of the broadcast. AIR FAX: Show set to run for 13 weeks features Civilian Defense Reporter, Martha Smith, in patter about defense activities in the capitol city. Idea originated with OCD, with chief of the radio section. Information Division, Tom Stone scripting the quarter-hour. First Broadcast: December, 1942. Broadcast Schedule: Wednesday, 6:45-7:00 P.M. Preceded By: Music. Followed By: Fulton Lewis, Jr. Sponsor: Hecht Co., Department Store. Station: WOL, Washington, D. C. Power: 1,000 watts. Population: 521,886. Agency: Koster Advertising Agency, COMMENT: Significant point made by Alasdair Mac Kenzie in 1,000 Facts about Radio and Department Stores: that 80 to 90 per cent of an average department store's daily business comes from the hustle and bustle in the aisles, i.e., traffic. 1 he balance of ten per cent is all that is attributable to advertising. Ergo: a department store's main advertising problem is how to reach people, how to motivate them, how to make advertising more productive. Institutional advertising is one of the most effective methods of creating a buying habit; it builds reputation outside the store, esprit de corps within, and influences the trade. Insurance Agencies CITY TRAFFIC COURT Hazard to public life and property and bad risks for insurance underwriters are traffic violators of all kinds. Chief handicap for most campaigns designed to promote traffic safety is that crime and punishment are kept at arm's length by most drivers until a traffic violation brings them into court. Citizens of Fort Wayne, Ind., however, get a weekly reminder of the folly of speeding, jumping the stop sign, other traffic violations. Weekly, WGL listeners are hailed into City Traffic Court via remote broadcasts sponsored by Lupke & O'Brien, dealers in general insurance. Cooperative measure on the part of the city administration: only traffic violations are docketed for hearing during the Wednesday halfhour remote. AIR FAX: Program is a unrehearsed, catch-as-catch-can pickup. First Broadcast: May 23, 1939. Broadcast Schedule: Wednesday, 8:30-9:00 A.M. Preceded By: Breakfast Club. Follcrwed By: Sue Gibson's Notebook. sponsor: Lupke 8C O'Brien. Station: WGL, Fort Wayne, Ind. Power: 250 watts. Population: 117,246. COMMENT: Here is a show with all the elements for a successful broadcast. Local news, the O spectacle of a man being forced to think out loud into a microphone, and the human desire to help the underdog will build up for a show of this kind a tremendous amount of public interest, riie public service feature will earn the well-wishes of civic-minded persons throughout the community. 94 RAD 10 SH OWM ANSH I P