Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

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I he C^ase of the Uirect bale Murder \X^I I HAVE never known a radio station to advertise, "We are a Kit her mediocre outlet and our staff is a little incompetent. . . ." Nor have I heard of an advertiser say, "Confidentially, the claims we make for our product are not entirely true. . . ." Nor do advertising agencies say, "In our opinion, Mr. Client, you're going to lose money on the campaign we've just outlined for you. Hoxvever. . . ." It isn't in the picttne. But it it's true that every human being has a speck ol larceny somewhere in his heart, then it follows that we have stations and advertisers and agencies with (on men at the controls and I don't mean lonsi ienc e men. In the beginning, the handwriting was on the air. I remember working at a station in Buffalo in the early thirties wheri' the boss had four or five numerologists, graphologists and astrologists on the air within two years; sometimes two at a time. I remember one of them opening 700 or 800 letters a day, replete with sj3ecimens of handwriting and I'.S. currency, usually a dollar bill. The handwriting harvest lasted on the air until the FCC started cutting teeth. Then it became the typewriting on the siipidation, and it said cease and desist. iVhi:n tile editor asked ine to do a j)iecc[()Y Rai^io Showmanshii' dealing witli tlic direct sale advertiser's j^lace in broad casting I asked if the opinions expressed were to be candid or candied. By ail means candid, said the cdiioi . Fine. We can try for a little construe e can live criticism without whitewash. \V step on people'? while thev look ing and stop stepping on their faces when they're not. And 1 hope yoti're not one of the advertisers or stations or agencies referred to in this article. If you are, if the shoe does pinch, then you'd bettei' get with it, or you'll wake up t:)arefooted. I know (and so do you) a national advertiser whose business proved to be ideally suited to radio merchandising. He went on the air several years ago with a special direct sales offer. It worked like a charm and he used as many as 300 stations for cpiite a spell. On one station alone his billing ran over a $1,000 a week. This one station consistently produced more than 10,000 orders a week for him. Good? It was perfect! Fhe station and the agency made monev; the client made money and the consumer got a gcjod value. At first. Then. . . . lins achertiser figured, '7'/// making this much money on every package. Why not (Ut a few corners? Slip in a Utile third rate stuff here and there, and make so much more?" He did, and naturally his net profits increased. So, natiualh, did the complaints. He ignored them and continued cutting corners. Foday he's off the ail'. No cjuality station will touch his business at any price. He wasn't satisfied with a nice legitimate profit; he had a chance to cheat and coiddn't pass it up. He forgot the rules of good poker. If you get ( aught blulhng you lose. When \()u make a direct sale oxer the air and tile consumer is dissatisfied, he doesn't scjuawk to you, the advertiser. He doesn't write to the agency or the station )('p. I le writes directly to the ladio station and sa\s in j^lain English that he's been I () bbed. 232 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP