Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1943)

(Continued jroni page 154) tional good will job. Our firm has featured its public service angle lor over 40 years, and is one of the oldest specialty stores in the intermountain country. We believe radio institutional advertising to be the most effective medium for maintaining and extending this reputation. Women at War canvasses the entire gamut of what women are doing to help the w^ar effort, and included on-the-spot interviews of all types of feminine workers, from roundhouse employees to WAVES and AVAACS. In this program, we dramatize the place of women in defense industries and all correlated war endeavors, including auxiliaries to the armed forces. On-the-job interviews with women workers, war bond plugs, and music that ties-in with the defense theme are the main ingredients. As a salute to their outstanding service to their country, the women inter\ iewed on the program are given prizes. To give the program a national slant, we also present short dramatized sketches of what women the country over are doing in the w^ar. Already this radio program has proven of great value to us, in the way of direct increases in our volume, and in the word-of-mouth publicity gained through public channels as well as through the organizations to which we give publicity. Incidentally, we give radio a large share of credit for the amazing increase in our volume, which is 100 per cent ahead of the corresponding period last year. Our experience with radio, is, on the w^hole, most pleasant; we feel that no other medium can do quite the job that it has done for us. KDYL, the station we have used exclusively, felt the pulse of our merchandising, and in my opinion, a large part of the success of our radio campaign must be attributed to this station's understanding of our merchandising problems. The principal thing, to my mind, is the judicious use of radio: to capitalize on the personal angle, the showmanship slant, that radio alone offers to advertisers. SUMMERFIELD FlRNITURE Cc, BoStOll Mass., is without doubt, the largest users of radio time in the entire state. And there's a reason for it! We have checked the drawing power of this mediimi through actual sales volume, and it was on the basis of these results that SuMMERFiELD diverted 75 per cent of its advertising budget to radio. Of course hit-or-miss radio doesn't pay out any more than other forms of advertising done in a hit-or-miss style. To achieve results, there must be a basic plan, but within that working skeleton there is plenty of room for experimentation and originality. AVe have sponsored news broadcasts, and to establish these broadcasts with our sponsorship, we have had them put on from our store windows. A\'e have also had good results with feature singers, and have bought 15-minute blocks in service periods of popular music. At present, we use 13 quarter-hour programs, and 27 spots weekly. Our most recent acquisition is a 15-minute Sunday newscast. All of them have been heard over AVLAW, Lawrence, Mass. A\'hat we are always on the look-out for are periods near network shows, and price is secondary if results are obtained for our store in Boston and oiu store in Lawrence. j Our first taste of the fruits of planned, radio was an early morning period. Atj first we were a bit sceptical, since iti seemed rather early. The program paid! out right from the start. Later we took on an early evening spot, and this alsoj bore fruit. Our recently added Sunday period has also clicked. The spot campaign is equally productive. j 156 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP!