Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1943)

and buses, to service equipment, to work in what has been declared an essential industry, were needed. Prior to the placement of the radio campaign through Kal Advertising, Inc., newspapers throughoiu the East had been used extensively. According to Radio Director Robert J. Enders, Capital Transit's radio budget was concentrated in the Washington area. One minute transcribed announcements, with a voice in an echo chamber as an attentiongetter opening effect were used. Appeal of the transcribed series to men: "Transportation is vital to the war effort." For women employees, Kal coined the phrase: "This is a woman's luar, too." Results: excellent! MANUFACTURERS In order to alleviate its current manpower shortage, the Kearny (N. J.) Works of Western Electric Co. went on the air with a regularly scheduled program for the first time in its history. When its Help Wanted program made its radio bow over WOR, it also marked the first time that a commercial want ad program series had been broadcast in the East. Appeal for this arsenal of communications equipment is heard seven times a week; Monday through Friday from 9:45 to 9:50 A.M.; Friday from 8:55 to 9:00 P.M., and Sunday from 5:25 to 5:30 P.M. Want ad lady Lorraine Sherwood offers the jobs, gives the phone number or location where applicants may call. Interviews with Western Electric employees and with heroes back from the war fronts point up the need for home front workers. Morning broadcasts are transcribed only because plant officials do not want to interrupt the work of employees scheduled for interviews. Originally a commercial button factory, Morley Co. converted to government contracts exclusively, turned to WHEB to tap the sources of manpower. The Town Crier gives news of Portsmouth, N. H., activities, averages about ten letters a day, six telephone responses to the twice-a-day, five-minute series heard seven days a week. Personnel manager Henry Graham took on the series in June, 1941, has stuck to his guns ever since! How commercials button-hole workers is illustrated by this example: "Would you like to punch Hitler in the eye? Sure, Mister! These are fighting words . . . and here's how you can fight. The Morley Company needs an eyepunch operator. Needs one bad! Every time you operate the machine, you're punching Hitler right square in the eye! This is but one of many jobs open tonight at this busy war plant. Other openings exist in the Button Finishing Department, where ten men are needed for general duty; and one man as a button painter. Girls can keep 'em rolling, too! Morley officials can place three girls in the sorting department; one girl as factory inspector. These Morley jobs pay good money. You work reasonable hours. And every time you report for work, you, too, are throwing punches at the Axis!" Like most manufacturers, the Wm. Schollhorn Co., New Haven, Conn., encountered practically all the problems of greatly expanded war production. As an established maker of pliers and small tools, Schollhorn had little difficulty in obtaining high quality workers after the depression. After Pearl Harbor it was a different story. All of Southern New England became a hive of increased activity, bursting with enormous government contracts. The labor supply vanished. All employers in the territory were competing for available workers, using newspapers, some with large display ads. Until the U. S. Employment Service took over the control of the employment of skilled labor, there were even cases where out-of-town manufacturers attempted to set up local employment offices. Pirating of labor was evident. Schollhorn placed considerable advertising in local papers with only fair results. It decided to try radio. Through account executive R. H. Heller of the Walker-Rackliff Co., advertising agency, Schollhorn placed a 13-time spot announcement over WELL This series appealed to men and women and stressed 306 RADIO SHOWM ANS H I P