Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1943)

ong 0' Sixpence War Songs Conquer Army of Buyers Maintains George H. Hurst, President of Hurst's Furniture & Radio Stores, Hamilton, Dnt. Hi^ ^Hf As radio time buyers go, the Hurst Furniture & Radio Stores' I (Hamilton, Ont.), advertising budget is a modest one which couldn't compete against business establishments using a half dozen or more radio programs. But domination of a market and the size of an advertising budget is only one criteria for success. There are many small advertisers in our category, and it is our contention that their success stories have more general applicability than the experiences of large scale operators. To those who ask if a single half-hour weekly radio program can perform valuable service for its underwriter, the Hurst Furniture & Radio Stores gives a loud affirmative answer, and we base it on our own experience. We took radio on at its inception, and sponsored our first radio program in 1927; an all-request record program which ran for three years. In the early part of 1939, we took on a Sunday halfhour program on CKOC, The Blighty Program, a 2:00 P.M. offering with a strong English accent. When war came in the fall, we felt that it called for a new type of radio program. And right here is lesson number one. The successful advertiser selects a program that attracts the largest number of people, and as times and conditions change, the sponsor must trim his program sails to the wind. There are programs that go on year after year doing a selling job for the advertiser, but those programs are more the exception than the rule. At the time that we considered a new program idea, there was a CKOC sustaining program dedicated "To the boys on active service and their loved ones at home." Back in 1939 there weren't many service features on the air, and few advertisers had as yet backed them, but it took us only one week to decide on Songs Our Soldiers Sing. British to the core is George Heary Hurst, owner and founder of Hurst's Furniture and Radio Stores. Being English and proud of it, it is natural that his radio offerings lean toward the English type program presentation. When furniture man Hurst returned to Canada in 1919 after overseas service in the last war, he broke into the business world in a humble way; the agency for Victor phonographs and records, a few instruments, and a small stock of sheet music. The advent of radio added a new string to his bow. Washers, stoves and refrigerators in turn, took up floor space. In 1936, owner Hurst went the whole way, opened up the furniture department. Not by a long shot is enterprising Hurst a radio newcomer. Back in 1927 he had his first fling at the ether waves to promote his radio department, has stuck by his guns ever since. 196 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP