Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1943)

sport is bound to have a limited audience, but its sponsor can count on it for steady listening, and more important of course, he can also be assured of a good response to the commercial message if our experience is any indication. At the outset, I put my cards on the table: "Good evenin' folks: You know, it's just barely possible that there's some of you folks listenin' that aren't a bit interested in any kind of fishin' at all. Course I wouldn't go so far as to say that I think that's the case, but if it is, I'd advise you to tune me out right now, cause that's all this series of programs is going to be about; just Fishin' in Michigan." Fishing information, humorous fishing anecdotes and tall tales are the mainstay of the program, of course. At the outset of the season, I try to give the listeners tips on where to fish. "Where are we gonna fish on the openin' day of the season? It's still too far away to make any predictions about what the stream conditions are gonna be, but there's one consolation that we have here in Michigan. We've got some specially designated trout lakes, and we're pretty sure they'll be all right for the opening days. If the streams are too high, or too roily on account of all the snow water being carried away, don't forget about those trout lakes. And another thing we can be pretty sure of: if the streams are roily, we'll be a lot better off usin' bait instead of flies. Now maybe you think that's a peculiar thing to hear a fella say that's in the sportin' goods business, but much as I hate to admit it, it's a fact. 'Course I know that the real, pure dyed-in-the-wool fly fisherman won't ever stoop to use anything as lowly as a worm, but I'm here to tell you that real early in the season, if I find that flies aren't doin' too good, I'm one guy that doesn't hesitate to try the next best thing." I always try to localize the show as much as possible, using home-town names and incidents. I tell listeners where the local experts arc planning to fish, what they caught, and what equipment they used. After all, it's the listener's own program. I definitely don't pretend to be one of those wise experts who knows all there is to know about fishing. I'm just an ordinary guy who would rather fish than do almost anything else. Listeners are urged to write, or to come into the store and chew the fat if I make some crack about fish or fishin' that doesn't agree with their ideas. Radio sports fans are just aboiu as enthusiastic and appreciative as folks come, and believe you me, they respond plenty when they don't agree with my opinions! The commercials? That's easy! They aren't any more high powered than the program itself. W^hen I talk about trout fishin', I talk about equipment, too, and instead of trying to sell the most expensive rod and reel in the store, I point out that equipment for the duffer needn't be expensive. I tell him just what he needs to get the thrill of landing a few of those hunks of swimmin' dynamite. In other words, the commercials are just a part of the script and work themselves in on their own. For example, here is a commercial that followed a "tall story" and closed the program for that day: "Now I suppose that it's just barely possible that a few of the doubtin' Thomases will question at least certain parts of that story; and to be real honest about it, I don't suppose I should blame them too much. But there's one thing that you don't need to have the slightest doubt about; that Foster's Hardware and Sportin' Goods has always been away out from the high rent district so naturally we haven't had a big wallopin' overhead to add on to the prices of our merchandise. There's one boast we've always made, and we're still making it. We won't let anybody anywhere, undersell us. You won't find anything fancy about Foster's store, but what you will find is a store that's loaded right to the gills with the last word in sportin' goods and hardware." Of course it's a lot of work writing these scripts myself. It takes a lot of time to give the broadcasts. Frankly, I'm not one little bit enthusiastic about the work connected with preparing the broadcasts, but as long as this WCAR program continues to produce the results it has, I'm going to keep right on talking to folks about fishin' in Michigan in my own lazy, sort of down-toearth way. 118 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP