Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1947)

Favorite records of the various clubs are played on each broadcast, and each Friday a live audience gathers at the KMPC stvidios to meet a guest star of radio, stage or screen fame. While there's plenty of entertainment, the scope of Teeji and Twenty Time doesn't stop there. Representatives of the various clubs participate in many civic drives. Example: listeners to the series contributed over 13,000 wooden spools and used toothbrushes to the Veterans Administration, Sawtelle Hospital, when disc jockey, Mauri differ, requested that these items be forwarded to him for use in the veterans' Hobby Shops. AIRFAX: First Broadcast: November 13, 1944. Broadcast Schedule: Monday through Friday, 5:05 5:45 p.m. Preceded By: News. Followed By: Top Tunes. Sponsor: Southern California Telephone Company. Station: KMPC, Los Angeles, Calif. Power: 10,000 watts. Population: 1,805,687. Agency: The Mayers Company. COMMENT: Success of the series here illustrates the value of careful planning in connection with results from radio. It also points up the fact that broadcast advertising can represent something more than a public relations tool for public service enterprises. Women's Wear HOLLY HAPPY BIRTHDAY It's on a first come, first served basis, but the first girl submitting her name for a specified date has a Holly Happy Birthday in connection with the broadcast series aired over WMAN, Mansfield, O., for the Holly Shop. Each day a program of transcribed music is dedicated to a girl between the ages of 13 and 19, and the girl to whom the program is dedicated has her choice of music aired on the quarter-hour program. Should there be more than one request for tliat day, the others who submit names are guests of the girl to whom the program is dedicated, and their names are mentioned on the program. A strictly -for -teen -age -girl program, the mail response indicates that there is as much interest in the series in the sur rounding area as there is in Mansfield itself. Listeners who submit their names for program dedications in connection with birthday celebrations list their name, age, address and their seven favorite musical selections. All requests are acknowledged with "Happy Birthday " cards which specify the date on which the musical selection will be dedicated. Since the first broadcast, there have been from one to three birthdays to honor each day. As one in a chain of stores, it is interesting to note that the Mansfield Holly Shop is the only one using a consistent schedule of advertising, and popular demand has kept this program on the air, with the sponsor's entire advertising budget concentrated on this one broadcast series. In all other cases, the chain limits its advertising to special store openings and occasional sales. Opening and closing commercials, clocked at 60 seconds each, are a combination of sales and the institutional approach. A mid-point commercial, ad-libbed, features a description of a "special" for the coming day. Commercials stress the store as headquarters for all-occasion teen-age clothes, with one particular type of merchandise emphasized each day. What the sponsor had to report a few months after the program went on the air: increased sale of teen-age items. AIRFAX: First Broadcast: June, 1946. Broadcast Schedule: Monday through Friday, 4:45 5:00 p.m. Sponsor: Holly Shop. Station: WMAN, Mansfield, O. Power: 250 watts. Population: 37,154. COMMENT: Here is a relatively simple format that is almost certain to create a broad, general interest among a specific listener group. For advertisers wishing to capitalize on the close personal relationship inherent in broadcast advertising, this format has much to recommend it. To its credit is the fact that it will stimulate store traffic and develop a valuable mailing list. For another variant on the birthday club, see 'Birthday Club," p. 133. • 134 • RADIO S HOWMA NSH I P