Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

Beauty Salon prospered. There was tlie time that she mentioned a Myndai.l Cain facial oil. In nothing flat, the 100 bottles that were in stock were completely sold out. Orders came in by the hundreds, from all over the northwest, and after a full day in the shop, the staff labored at night to write letters, and wrap packages. When the supply of labels ran out, they typed labels, and still the orders came piling in. People wrote to her for advice. They telephoned her. Farmers' wives, invalids, housewives from far and near responded to what Myndall Cain refers to as "the homespun me." To one and all, she was the friendly counselor. Within five years after the shop was opened, it had outgrown its shoe-box dimensions to include a staff of 64 operators. Radio did it! Radio and Myndall Cain, because she's still on the air as the friendly voice of the Myndall Cain Beauty Salon. Her schedule on WTCN is now ten years old. The broadcasts are directly from her private office in the shop, and with the exception of a set opening and closing line, for the benefit of the WTCN engineers, she ad libs her program. There's a public address system in the shop, and a minute or so before she goes on the air, she invites the customers in the shop to sit back and relax in comfort while they listen to the broadcast that is soon to go on the air. For the benefit of the radio listeners, she describes the shop, its soothing atmosphere, the service and its many conveniences. Myndall Cain believes that radio activates people, and she knows what she's talking about. In one instance, a listener was sweating it out over an ironing board on a hot summer day. After Myndall Cain had described the soothing luxury of a facial in the restful, air conditioned shop, the woman put aside her ironing, threw on some clothes and ran to the street car. Almost before the broadcast was over, the woman was in the salon for the facial that Myndall Cain had just described. luishions in Loveliness, her current jjrograni, is heard over WTCN three times weekly, M-W-F, at 3:25 p.m., following a news broadcast. The five nn'nute program is exactly what its title implies, but in addition, she tries to share a good thought each day with her listeners. The feeling that she wants to give listeners is not that they have been sold, but rather that they have gained something from listening to the prograuL It ties-in with her conviction that radio is as good as the personality behind it. Hers is an unhurried manner and she wants her audience to feel that a friend is speaking to each one of them, individually. liME itself isn't too important to her. Anytime, morning or afternoon, she has found effective, but she likes to follow an established program with a good hooperating. As a matter of fact, she deliberately changes her broadcast time every so often, on the theory that after a program has been on the air for a year or more, you can capture an entirely new audience by changing the time schedule. In practice, changing time has brought new customers into the shop, and the listeners who had previously listened to the program soon find out its new time. Likewise, she intentionally changes announcers from time to time, on the theory that people tire of the same old voices. She applies the same theory to her own part in the broadcasts. Every so often, she goes off the air so that she won't go stale. At such times, she retains her time, but fills it with music in the romantic, sentimental vein. From day to day, she applies the same theory. If it's an off-day, she doesn't go on the air, since her voice would reflect her mood. At such times, the station uses recordings which she transcribes for such emergencies. Transcriptions of interviews with Hollywood and Broadway celebrities are also used on the program. For example, when she was in Hollywood, she interviewed Mary Pickford's personal maid on how the movie star kept young. It made good listening, but it also tied-in, NOVEMBER, 1946 • 373 •