Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

Good Will With Interest Seroice to Rural and Urban Listeners Keynote to Six Year Old Radio Campaign for Spokane g Eastern Dioision Bank, Spokane by W. M. MARSHALL, executive vice president "C OMMMME and gett itttt," accompanied by the traditional dinnerbell, has become a welcome and familiar sound to KGA, Spokane, Wash., listeners at 12:15-12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. It means that the Spokane and Eastern Farm A^eivs Reporter is on the air with his friendly, chatty hints and news about farming and farmers. The two primary ideas underlying this program are: (1) to promote in every way })ossible, a sounder agricultural industry from the long-range point of view, and (2) to serve the farmer now. GRASS ROOT PHILOSOPHY In its more than 60 years of successful operation, the Spokane and Eastern Division of the Seattle-First National Bank has played an important part in the develo})ment ol this great agricidtural area. Our operations continue to be guided by the principle that no matter how big or complex our society becomes, its foundation is still rooted in the soil. Every human engaged in productive effort, no matter how far removed from actual tilling of the soil, is working, in the last analysis, on the land. Ihe Spokane and Eastern Division serves the eastern half of Washington in the Seattle-First National Bank's state-wide operations. With three branches in Spokane and 15 branches in the major towns and cities of eastern Washington, Spokane AND Eas'iern thoioughly (overs the territory. We first entered radio advertising six years ago o\er KFPV. The trend of our program selection has been toward service, and for the past two or three years, we have sponsored newscasts. Right now, we have three 10:00 p.m. newscasts a week on KFPY. Two commercials of approximately 45 seconds are used on each of these shows; the first aboiu five minutes into the program, and the second about 10. These commercials ar^ written by omadvertising agency, and deal mainly with small loans and banking facilities of interest mainly to urban listeners. The response has been good. However, this was too selective an audience to completely cover our territory. FARMER'S FRIEND Until we had a talk last winter with Louis Wasmer, owner and operator of KGA, we didn't know quite what to do about it. In his 21 years of radio station operation in Spokane, Mr. A\^asmer has been keenly aware of the importance of agriculture and has pioneered many farm j)rograms and services. Due to readjustments made during the war, the KGA farm A^ews was sustaining at that time, and he suggested that it would be a good program for the Spokane and Eastern Bank. A check of the record revealed that considerably more than 50 per cent of our business comes directly from farmers, and the more I thought about this servicetype program, the more it appealed to me. Last March 1 we signed a year's contract with KGA. We figure that if a program is worth buying, it is worth some real support. We • 302 • RADIO SHOWMANSHIP