Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

PROOF 0' THE PUDDING Results based on sales, mails, surveys, Ions runs and the growth of the business itself. Department Stores VALUES WE LIVE BY Eddie Guest Avas right when he said it took a heap o' Hving to make a house a home, and in Tulsa, Okla., the Brown-Dunkin Department Store reminds KVOO listeners of the Values We Live By in a quarter-hour feature aired five times weekly. AVith Lewis Meyer as the radio sage, a typical week's package may contain book reviews, humor, human interest, philosophy, movie criticism, music or a public service feature, all done with the light touch, and in an informal atmosphere. Evidence that the series strikes the right note with listeners: book stores other than his sponsor's have been known to stock up on books to which commentator Meyer has given air mention. When listeners were asked to contribute to the March of Dimes campaign, they responded not in thin dimes but in one and five dollar bills. AIRFAX: First Broadcast: November, 1943. Broadcast Schedule: Monday through Friday, 11:15 11:30 A.M. Preceded By: Aunt Mary. Followed By: Life Can Be Beautiful. Sponsor: Brown-Dunkin Department Store. Station: KVOO. Tulsa, Okla. Power: 50,000 watts. Population: 219,000. COMMENT: What may be meat for the network advertiser may well l>e poison for the local or regional sponsor. Here's one advertiser who through the years has maintained a consistent radio schedule and has made a concerted effort to program to fit the interests of its own particular commimitv. Department Stores JANE DILLON When Rkads Dipar i mini SroRK, Bridgeport, (^onn., offered CanN(>.\ towels, four to a customer, (fining its (juarter-hour commentary by Jane Dillon on WICC, it took 16 switchboard girls and 20 trunk lines to handle the inccmiing calls. Announcement was made only on the WICX^ progiam, and it pulled 1,12.1 telephone calls from five states. Listeners were told that Read's would fill phone orders only from 8: 00-9:. HO A.M. following the broadcast, and many housewives failed to get their calls through because of congested lines. COD's outranked charges three-to-one, giving the store a new list of potential charge customers. AIFAX: Program includes a daily public service picture of what's-what. interspersed with specials. Jane Dillon brings in Uncle Pete, commenting on affairs of the day as well as department store specials. First Broadcast: June, 1944. Broadcast Schedule: Daily, 7:45-8:00 A.M. Preceded By: News. Followed By: News. Sponsor: Read's Department Store. Station: WICC, Bridgeport, Conn. Power: 1,000 watts. Population: 147,121. COMMENT: W'hile offers of hard-lo-get merchandise are no real test of radio's sales-ability, they do give dramatic emphasis to the fact that the broadcast medium provides immediate restilts. Drug Products TOBIE AND SUSIE When Tobie and Susie first went on the air over WMT, Cedar Rapids-Waterloo, la., the listening audience was quick to take on as its own the humorous adventures and poignant troubles of this youthful couple. Advertisers, too, found Tobie and Susie their best introduction to the family circle. When Tobie and Susie went back on the air this spring after a two-year layoff, the question "before the house was whether the couple would recapture its pre-war popularity. And if so, how soon? Both questions were answered to the satisfaction of Wait's G-M Cough Syrup and Li.nament when \VMT made a free MAY, 1 946 • 173 •