Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1947)

huge broadside being assembled by the Holsum Baking Company. Bus cards add to the promotion and parking meter tickets (a special KRKO promotion) bolster audience reaction. AIRFAX: First Broadcast: April 19, 1947. Preceded By: Salute ta the Hits. Followed By: Barry Gray Show. Sponsor: Holsum Baking Company. Station: KRKO, Everett, Wash. Power: 250 watts. COMMENT: Two requisites for successful coordinated promotion are consistency and persistency. What makes such a schedule successful from the sales point of view is the fact that it widens the area of advertising influence and delivers a stronger impact on the total customer potential. Women's Wear WINDOW SHOPPING TIME In a new twist to the man-on-the-street format, window shoppers in downtown Johnstown, Pa. give their reaction to merchandise featured in the windows of Taylor's Apparel Store. Series is presented over WARD every Thursday evening, 6:45-7:00 p.m. Persons interviewed point out a merchandise item from the Taylor window. In return for their complete description of the item, along with the reasons for its appeal, participants receive a gift certificate which entitles them to the designated items in their size and color. Participants are selected at random from among the large number of people who jam the store foyer each week. On each broadcast, one woman is the recipient of Taylor's Surprise-Prize, usually a coat or some other high-value item. Designed as a selling vehicle, the program performs a two-fold purpose for Taylor's: (1) specifically, Window Shopping Time was intended as a Thursday evening stimulant to acquaint the public with the advantages of evening shopping, since the sponsor was the only large Johntown store closing late on a week-night (9:00 p.m.); (2) it gives the advertiser a chance to feature special merchandise, since display windows are stocked with apparel items which it wishes to push. That the program has achieved its ob jective is indicated by the fact that 1 hursday night sales increased 60% over prebroadcast totals. As a novelty twist, during a summer broadcast, an expensive bathing suit was offered to any feminine Window Shopper who volunteered to model it while the WARD show was on the air. A willing volunteer was interviewed in the bathing suit. Since Taylor's sells wearing apparel for women and children, at least one mother is interviewed on each broadcast, and children are frequently questioned. Ad-lib patter covers current events, items »of local interest, gags and merchandise plugs. Other than opening and closing acknowledgements, there are no planned commercials. In addition to the merchandise which participants select and describe, the master of ceremonies refers on occasion to attractive items on display, with price mention, as a part of the adlib interviews with program participants. Promotion for the series includes store and window display posters, outdoor display cards, signs on all store cash registers, newspaper blocks inserted in regular store advertising copy and radio plugs on Taylor's Tune Time, a nightly record show also aired over WARD. Long an advocate of radio advertising •is S. Sydney Blume, Taylor's manager. Prior to Taylor's opening in March, it employed an extensive spot announcement campaign. Its current schedule, in addition to Taylor's Tune Time and Window Shopping Time includes sponsorship of a news broadcast. Current plans call for permanent scheduling of Window Shopping Time on a 52-week basis. AIRFAX: Emcee of the show is Bob Nelson, WARD's con:inuity director and special events man. First Broadcast: June 5, 1947. Broadcast Schedule: Thursday, 6:45-7:00 p.m. Preceded By: Moondreams. Followed By: Little Show (CBS). Sponsor: Taylor's Apparel Store. Station: WARD, Johnstown, Pa. Power: 250 watts. Population: 105,265. COMMENT: For the retailer interested in an out-and-out sales approach to the broadcast medium, here's an easy-to-produce format that entertains as it sells. OCTOBER, 1 947 • 357 •