Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1947)

grocers who are supplied by the Huron plant. The Indian boy trademark was the brainchild of E. H. Swander, the deceased brother of Charles A. Swander, the company's present manager. He first sketched the idea on paper and had Frank Dier, local cartoonist and artist, piU the finishing touches on it. The little chieftan has never become articulate, but whenever the word "Longboy" is used on the air, his smiling, healthy countenance appears in the mind's eye of everyone. 25% of ad-budget to radio Savander's use newspaper, billboard, novelty and radio ad\ertising, and spend about 820,000 a year for advertising. Radio comes in for about a quarter of this amount. The company plans on spending 2 14 per cent of their volume on advertising. None of the $5,000 spent at the Huron branch is charged to radio advertising. Noonday News is a 15-minute newscast, three-quarters of which is made up of news of international, national and statewide level, with the other quarter de\oted to local news. This local news is scattered through the other bulletins. News from Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota is used, in addition to news of our own state. This is because KOTA's latest audience study shows wide listener appeal in all of these states and Swandfr's sell bread in nearly all of them. Two men handle the newscast; one reads the conunercial credits and the other, the news. We use only two credits in the quarter-hour. One of these is given immediately after the "headlines" portion of the news, and the other comes at a logical break in the news, between the national and local items. Each day a "recap" of weather, temperature, and road conditions is given as the last item. The final announcement simply invites listeners to be with us the next day at the same time. The newscast is followed immediately by the llNrni) Pri.ss leatuic, I'ndcr the Cdfjifol Dome, which is sponsored by the Fair MOM' (Jri-.ami-.rn.s. 1 hese two noonday news services seem to please "a whale of a lot of people" in the KO'I'A area of listening coverage! 154 fl OGNIZANT OF TELEVISION aS a mOSt ^^^ promising salesman because of the added wonder of sight in the home as well as the already accepted sound, retail stores and allied industries interested in women's fashions have turned hopefully to this new means of communication. Like radio, it has the same intimate quality of reaching into the homes of potential buyers, but unlike radio the eye is served as well as the ear. In an industry such as fashions, w^hich is largely dependent upon eye appeal for its success, it is difficult to stimulate the desire to bu)^ when so much is left to the listener's imagination. A well-turned phrase may tempt the appetite, or a catchy jingle may be remembered w^hen buying wash-day powder, but the dress or hat that sells is usually the one that catches the eye. Since the war's end, stations and advertisers alike have undertaken to experiment fashion-wise in this new mediiun. Shows range anywhere from brief commercials as a part of a show, to programs built upon the subject of fashions and running anywhere from five miniUes to fifteen. Des})ite the unecjuallcd opportunity for the displa)' and demonstration of merchandise, at present entertainment must be the keynote. Since at the moment, telecasting, with the exception of sports and sj)ecial e\ents, is mainly confined to the exening hoius and therefore viewed by the family as a whole, a program on women's fashions is going to need lunnor and \ariety to compete with shows of more general interest and shows designed sole1\ to entertain. When the daytime hours come iiuo general tise for planned progranuning, the show of pure fashion interest will undotibtedly find its level here. Viewed by a predominantly feminine audience, the entertainment value will be able to gi\e way somewhat to a more factual program on trends in the fasliion world, shopping suggestions and guidance in the basic principles of good costtnning. Short, daily shopping ser\ ice shows, ideally suited to retail stores, will probably be popular RADIO SHOWMANSHIP