Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1947)

Changes lime bchedules to Exploit Various Audiences Varied audience appeal keeps mail pull up, creates store traffic, is so productive that Moskin Stores, Inc, Huntmgton, W. Va„ signs a 52-week contract, the first for any one of the 104 stores in the hAoskin chain RADIO needn't be out of rcacli for the advertiser who wants to exploit more than one audience potential but whose advertising budget restricts him to a single show. One show has often been all that was required for a satisfactory increase in store traffic and sales, but it's understood that the time at which a program is broadcast determines to a large extent the type of listener tuned to even what is basically a mass appeal program. In Huntington, W.Va., Moskin Stores, Inc. had such a mass appeal broadcast series in You Asked For It. Mail pull was good. So were listener ratings. And the WSAZ series produced a completely satisfactory amount of store traffic. It was the confidence in the medium of local store manager, Arnold Waxman, that had put the show on the air March 1 I, 1946, and he had enough confidence in the medium to experiment with it. He wanted to appeal to the mass audience, and he wanted to reach as many of this audiciKc potential as possible. He had an idea that lie could use the same program, but broadcast it at \ari()us times of the day. By changing the time schedule from time to time, different listener groups would be reached. What was good theory proved to be ecjually sound fact. Mail pull holds up When the series fnsi weni on (he air it was heard at 8:30 a.m., and (hiring the year it was aired at this time, it pulled an average of better than forty pieces of mail daily. On March 4, by switching to 7:30 a.m., the same show pulled an average of 160 postcards and letters a week from what was predominantly a rural audience. When that audience had been fully exploited, another time change was made. This time the show was slanted at an urban feminine audience, and the time selection for the quarter-hour program was 4:30 p.m. What consistently pidls mail and creates store traffic is a 15-minute transcribed and recorded musical request program with a strong merchandising hook. Each listener who sends in a musical request receives a $1.50 gift certificate, thus increasing the attractiveness of the mail pull gimmick by offering the listener something other than name mention on the air. Gimmick creates store traffic From the point of view of the sponsor, it's an effective gimmick since the gift certificate in\ariably brings the recipient into the store. In addition, it buikls mailing lists, and Moskin's compiled a complete customer mailing list from the names of people to whom You Asked For It gift certificates had been sent. A special feature of the show is the Moskin's Mystery Tune. Listeners send in their guesses as to the correct identification of the son", and the three cards' 308 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP