Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1944)

G. Taylor Spink. Sljorting Xews editor, discusses wartime angles of the national pastime. AIR FAX: J. Roy Stockton, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer, and KSD sports commentator Harold Grams keep the program ball in play. First Broadcast: 193 3. Broadcast Schedule: Monday through F;iday, 6:006:15 P.M. Preceded By: Music. FolloTved By: News of the World. Sponsor: Shell Oil Co., T-Th; Wildroot Co., M-W-F. Station: KSD, St. Louis, Mo. Power: 5,000 watts. Population: 1,557,479. Agency: J. Walter Thompson (Shell); Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (Wildroot). COMMENT: Sports programs which give the listener an extra reason for tuning in have the edge over the straight sportscast. Too, devices which draw listeners into active program participation give the advertiser a chance to further develop the opportunities for personal contact with customers. Manufacturers AAF QUIZ FEST For the man in uniform who likes a little extra folding money in his jeans the AAF (hiiz Fest is made to order. Army personnel of Air Forces Weather and Communications Wrings headquartered in .\she\ ille, N. C, get a chance to compete against each other for a .|25 War Bond first prize, and a ten-smacker second prize. Quiz portion of the WWNC .HO-minute series features enlisted ])ersonnel. Sponsored by eight industrial (oiuerns whose major production is under go\ernmcnt contract, AAF (hiiz Fcsl originates at Newbridge Barracks Recreation Hall. Vocalists and vocal grouj^s from both wings j)rovide the musical portion of the show, wilh Sgl. Read Wilson lo emcee the strictly military broadcast. Plants recei\e only opening and closing credit lines, with the balance of the commercial time dcvolecl to war effort announcements and announc:emenls oi activities of interest to military personnel. Sponsors prexiouslv had used radio only for War Loan camj)aigns, ollui patriotic occasions ol ihal nature-. I*)()m()li()ti()ti()}is: WW\C announce menls, newspaper write-ups, and feature notices in newspaper radio columns. AIR FAX: First Broadcast: Ap il 28, 1944. Broadcast Schedule: Friday, 10:30-11:00 P.M. Station: WWNC, Asheville, N. C. Power: 1,000 watts. Population: 76,000. COMMENT: Advertisers have found that the institutional approach has reached a type of audience that had not responded to direct selling appeals in the pre-war days. IVurseries CABBAGES AND QUEENS While it was a well-known mnsery character who (juoth: "TJic time has cojuc,'' the Fkrrv Morse Seed Co., on behalf of its 5,000 California dealers, doesn't talk of cabbages and kings. Instead, "T//r time has come for US to talk About Begonias . . . and Beans; To solve your garden problems. For this is . . . CABBAGES AND . . . qUFENS!" Studio audiences are in\ited, and each person in attendance receives a gardenia. Prizes of vegetables, potted flowers, and garden ec|uipment are given for correct answers to garden cjuestions. Two cabbages who know their onions . when it comes to growing flowers and food, Les Layton and Roily l.angley, are ready with the answers on questions of gardening. Listener tie-in: two cjuestions sent in by the radio audience are asked of ladies in the studio audience. Ck)rrcct answers bring each a share of the over 200 pounds of exeiything from cabbages to carrots. Weekly series done in the light \ein has a serious j)urpose, nameb. to tell listeners what, how, and Avhen to j)lant \egetables and flowers. AIR FAX: First BroJdcasI: February 24, 1944. Broadcast Schedule: Thursday, J: 15-1:45 P.M. sponsor: Ferry-Morse Seed Co. Station: KGO, San Francisco, Cal., others. COMMENT: While most gardening programs ha\c been ralher hea\y on the educational side, here is evidence that enlerlaimneni cloesn'l need to go out the door when instruction makes its debut. 246 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP