Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1947)

>ALLE k Koch provides the meeting place, llomemakers' Center has a completely L(|uipped kitchen, electric stove, disposal >ink, electric refrigerator, the newest kitchen cabinets, and just about every convenience both large and small that has come since faggots filled the kitchen stove and ice came by the pound. All these ultra-modern facilities are at the heck and call of the visiting homemakers, i IK hiding maid service to "do" the dishes in a brand new dishwasher provided by this store that takes its motto, "Mor^' tJiau 'I store, a Comtnunity Institution/' seriously. As a matter of fact, the ladies even Ivdxe the W^TOL radio program . . . just lor entertainment purposes, not only to hsten to but in which to participate. Every morning, Monday through Fridav, 11:40 a.m. until noon, WTOL's Rtiss Perry and Dorothy join forces in the Center. Russ interviews the visiting hidies and their children. Dorothy puts out tips that make housekeeping easier and cooking more tasty. The format is as simple as that, except for one little switch that takes a final step toward leveling off that all-important point-of-sale resistance. Dorothy takes a moment now and then during the program to introduce to the physical audience visually, and to the \VTOL radio audience verbally, some particular item from Lasalle Xj Koch's stock. This is best illustrated b\ an example. One day during some extremely cold weather, Dorothy introduced a bellows to the Homemakers' Center audience. She held it in her hand, operated it, and described it over the air along wdth a suggestion that friend husband would enjoy a crackling wood fne when he arrived home that evening, bellows or not. Actually, this sort of continuity begins the sale on the air, and as far as the visual audience is concerned the sale is actual1\ imderway. ^i ing homemakers make the Homemakers' 'e er headquarters for club meetings and sola gatherings. The WTOL series is also for ^* entertainment. Here, Dorothy Coon (left f ishwasher) demonstrates this modern cone; -nee to an interested customer. As proof, take the case of the lawnchair episode last summer. Steel lawn chairs weren't in particularly short supply locally, and Dorothy and Russ talked al)oiU them at some length on the progiani. One of the chairs was on disphiy in the Cx'nter, and Russ described his reaction to being seated in the chair. By the time the program was off the air for an hour or so, all the chairs were gone, including the one which was sold out from under Russ. There's nothing work-a-day about the manner in w^hich the Homemakers' Center goes about the accomplishment of its ends and purposes. From the gay wallpaper to the living room atmosphere of the reception desks, the Center is glamourized in a friendly, colorful way that lends itself equally well to an explanation of a fireless cooker or the virtues of fifteen dollar an ounce perfume. Let's call it ''utility-glamour." Lasalle & Koch's have been successful in conveying this precise impression and that's why the ladies in both the "live" and radio audiences are in the right frame of mind to accept cosmetician or pattern experts, for example, who explain or introduce some particular line that Lasalle & Koch's handles. This is also a most acceptable arrangement for the various houses from which the store buys. There's another somewhat singular characteristic about Dorothy Coon's radio show from Lasalle & Koch's Homemakers' Center. The program is recorded and played back a day late to give the ladies w4io participated in its production a chance to hear themselves and their children. Among other things that WTOL has learned from this production, is that nothing is quite as important to mother and her friends as w^hat Junior said over the radio. If Junior made a joke . . . hold the front page and stop the presses. The spirit of this WTOL program produced in part by the ordinary customer makes her react in an extraordinary w^ay. She buys things. She buys things because the store seems to be a most friendly place, interested in what the customer has to say, interested enough to broadcast it to all her neighbors. JUNE, 1947 • 189 •