Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1947)

Radio can successfully sell any one of these items. How it sells records, to take one example, is illustrated by the Super Cut Rate Drug Store, Washington, D. C When it bought $50 worth of time on WWDC in 1940, its record department consisted of 200 platters. Radio was so successful that today it uses seven hours a week of broadcast time, and its record department has grown to over 250,000 records. (See Radio Showmanship, June, 1947, p. 192). Where can radio be successfully used? (1) Size of City The size of the community has little bearing on the use or non-use of radio, although the use of radio is most popular in smaller-sized cities. While 34% of the air-advertising I dealers are in cities between 25,000 and I 100,000 and another one-fourth are in I cities of 10,000 to 25,000, the use of radio I is also extensive in larger cities. 19% of the stores are in cities between 100,000 , and 500,000 and 8% are in cities of 500,000 and over. (1% are in towns of less than 2,500 and 13% are in towns between 2,500 and 10,000). (2) Geographic Area Radio is widely used all over the country, although its most extensive use is reported in the South Atlantic states (19% of the total) and in the East North Central (17%). The Pacific states. Middle Atlantic and West North Central each come out with 11%. The percentages for the East South Central and Mountain states are 9%, .with 8% of the total from the ^\'est South Central and 5% from New England. (3) Size of Station The size of the station that the dealer can profitably use depends in large measure on the area that he wants to reach and sell. Most dealers, theoretically, are primarily interested in coverage of their immediate community. The survey bears out this theory, since about three-fourths of the dealers use stations whose daytime power is 1000-watts or less, with the 250-watt station the most popular single size of station. The remaining dealers, for the most part department stores and well established large radio-appliance dealers, use stations whose power ranges from 5000 to 50,000watts in larger markets. How to use radio Dealers use spot announcements and programs almost in equal proportion. 64.5% of the dealers buy time of five minutes duration or IcHiger, while 62% use spot announcements. (Totals add up to more than 100% because some users of spot announcements also use longer programs). The Shoemaker Appliance Company, Shenandoah, la., is an example of a dealer who successfully uses spot announcements. It used one daily spot announcement on KFNF to introduce the new firm in a community where there were already over a dozen appliance stores, and results were so successful that two spot announcements daily were added to the schedule. In the opinion of the dealer, the use or non-use of radio was the difference between success and failure. (See Radio Showmanship, August, 1947, p. 274). Concrete evidence of the value of spot announcements comes from the Servant's Appliance Store, Oakland, Calif., in connection with a spot announcement schedule on KROW. Just before air time, it telephoned copy about a new stock of refrigerators. As the result of that one, exclusive announcement, 40 refrigerators were sold before night-fall. (See Radio Showmanship, July, 1943, p. 250). Results from this campaign were so successful that Servant's later took on sponsorship of a half-hour, Monday through Saturday broadcast of cowboy music over KRO\V. (See Radio Showmanship, June, 1946, p. 210). When dealers use spot announcements, they use them frequently. A^ Question: How frequently do you use spot announcements? The answer to this question indicates that dealers appreciate the cumulative impact of repetition: Schedule Per Cent 4 to 6 times a week 34% 7 to 10 times a week 26 1 1 times or more a week 17 Only 17% run spot announcements three times or less, weekly. OCTOBER, 1 947 • 349 •