Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1949)

MISTAKES PAY OFF (Continued from page 7) Additional Winston-Salem sponsors of the show are Blue Bird Tire Company; Reznick's Jewelry and Music Company; Ecker's Jewelry Store; and Eckerd's Drug Store. RCA Victor also advertises via "The Platter Shop." Typical dialogue in "Catch Your Announcer's Mistake" gimmik goes like this: "Hutchins' Drug Store, 826 West Fourth Street in Winston-Salem is now offering a special sale price on Helena Rubenstein Face Powder. For a limited time only, they are authorized to sell two boxes for the price of one. Ladies, don't miss this grand opportunity to double your supply of Helena Rubenstein Face Powder for the price of one box. Remember, it's Hutchins' Drug Store, 827 West Fourth Street for better values ..." At this point the phone jumps off the hook with listeners anxious to be the first to "Catch Your Announcer's Mistake." The phone is answered on the air with the announcer correcting his mistake, taking the listener's name, request for selection, and then going back to the music. Another error slanted for listeners might sound like this: "Look, ladies, it's new! It's the new look for Bell, the freshest, most delicious bread in town. Yes, Bell's in a new wrapper of red, white and blue — buy it — try it! You'll be delighted too . . . when you visit your grocer, buy Bell in that bright new wrapper of red, white and black." It isn't only the recently-innovated gimmick that makes the Russ Reardon show so popular with local audiences and with the sponsors, in particular. The Reardon personality and plan for easy listening keeps dials turned to WTOB. Once within two hours after Reardon mentioned his liking the work the Benny Goodman band did on "Undercurrent Blues," a retail record outlet in Winston-Salem reported selling 115 copies. The firm was one of the participating sponsors, Reznick's Jewelry and Music Company. The Reardon format is unique. Most local disc jockey shows offer little else besides spots, ad libs, time signals and music. "The Platter Shop," on the other hand, attracts large audiences on its entertainment value alone. Russ Reardon incorporates a "stream-of-musical-consciousness" type programming. Here is a sample of music montage by the WTOB platter spinner: Establish "Tony's Place" (Artie Wayne of Capitol) and let run for one chorus, fade rapidly out and into "Two Silhouettes" (Dinah Shore on Columbia) for one line of that song, fading then into "At the Candlelight Cafe" (Dinah Shore on Columbia) for half a chorus, then return to the final chorus of "Tony's Place," climaxing this mood with a full spinning of "Romance in the Dark" (Mary Ann McCall on Columbia). Listeners get their kicks too from a stream-ofmusical -consciousness -programming of "Wabash Cannonball" (Kay Starr on Capitol) into "Mountain Dew" (Grandpaw Jones on King). Here, the instrumentation and rhythm is similar, but the cap is cueing into the last half-time chorus of "Wabash Cannonball" for that knocked out steam whistle ending. Here, Reardon whips into an enthusiastic commercial reading and then piles into Tony Pastor's "Chowder Social." Russ Reardon's sign-on summarizes his whole plan of musical action. He starts off with, "The ear is pleased and the heart replies to fashions in melody — music in the most popular mood on record, "The Platter Shop." First broadcast of this show was back in June, 1947. Russ Reardon took over in January, 1948, to build this into a toprated program in the region. Reardon initiated his stream-of-consciousness idea when he first started working at WTOB. During his service as an announcer, he received national publicity in Metronome magazine for his work as a 30 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP