Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1944)

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JOHNNY ON THE SPOT News, reviews and tips on spot announcements in this column. STRANGER THAN FICTION W^hen newspapermen first watched radio rear what was to them its ugly head a battle royal w^as a-brewing. Progress was made when the opponents found there was a place in the sun for both. Publishers w^ho took unto themselves radio stations were the first to wave the white flag of peace. One such media-wise representative of the third estate was the Evejiing Star, owner and operator of WMAL, Washington, D. C. But even hard-shelled newspapermen blinked, sat up and took notice when the Star took up a radio campaign that embraced not only WMAL biu every D. C. radio station! 7 he Star did not want to increase its circulation. The combination of stringent curtailment of newsprint and its claim to the largest circulation of any morning or evening newspaper in Washington ruled out circulation increases. \or chd it want increased advertising lineage. W'hen the Star set out on its radio campaign through the Kai. Auvfrtisinc; Ac;i:nc;v, it went oiu on the liml) with just one objective. With transcribed anuouiHcments and station breaks it lauiulied what is prol)ai)lv the largest aj^proj^riation ever spent in a j)i('stigc (ampaigii. Its jjui pose was to help orieiu the tens of tliousands of newcomers to Washington (iisloms and habits. The one la(t impressed on listeners all thiough the day and night: "/f v^" read it in tlu^ Star, it's True!" ONE GOOD TURN One good return led to another in Davenport, la. What put the ball in play was one spot announcement over woe for the Grocerteria. Signal was called to advertise peach lugs of which the Grocerteria had a plentiful stock on hand. W'hen time was called, WOC put this poser to its advertisers: how many peach lugs did that one announcement sell? While the guesses ranged from no gain to a touchdown, those who placed their bets under-estimated the power of a woman. AV^inner who submitted the nearest guess as to the nmnber of peach lugs sold was Mrs. Henry Lischer, able assistant to her husband in the operation of the 12 Schlegel Drug Stores in the quad-cities. Her guess: 200 lugs sold. But even merchandiser Lischer under-estimated the power of radio by more than 50 per cent. Actual niunber of lugs sold was 560! Reward for her pains: 26 free announcements for Schlegel Drug Stores. KOPY KAT In Washington, D. C., as in other parts of the country, transcribed, oneminute messages are apt to consist of identifying fanfares, supplemented by annoiuicers bursting with passionate enthusiasm. Kal Adverhsinc; lor the Kopy Kat account put a stop to that sterotype. In May, 1912, W^ashington radio was jolted out of its sterotyped calm with "It's Kopy Kat . . . it's Kopy Kat." Those words, vocalized by a smart girl trio, presaged the first tailor-made, nuisical transcription for a local client. Kopy Kap, a diain of e\(lusi\e women's wear specialty shops, with a spot aiuiomuemeiu schedule making use of WOL, the other five Washington, D. C., i;i(li() stations, doubled its retail business within four months! At the close of I he \ear. i\()l•^ Kai's adxcrtising apjjiopriation, ex(lusi\el) in radio, was three times greater than the live-copy, pretransdiption sdiedule it had ]3re\'if)uslv used. 68 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP