Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1951)

YOUR HELP IS WANTED (Continued from page 29) sponsor and network want you to love their program. You know that. They've got the best actors and directors and writers their money can buy. But the fact is that neither expert nor genius decides whether a program is good. The only person who can flick that switch on and off is you. My job is to find out what you don't like, and why. Our organization is called the Schwerin Research Corporation, but in no way resembles the research conducted by Hooper or Nielsen. Hooper's people phone homes through the country and ask, "Do you have your radio or television set on?" And if you do, they ask, "What program are you tuned to?" Nielsen goes after the same answers by installing a mechanism in your set that records the programs you tune in. Simply, their reports show how many people have their sets on and the percentage of people tuned in to each station. What my group of workers wants to know is not what programs you listen to or look at, but how you like them. And only the public knows what is good or bad radio. That's why afternoons and evenings some three to four hundred people gather in Radio City studios and Manhattan theaters at our reviews. Since the war, over six-hundred-thousand people have attended these sessions. We have screened eighteen-hundred programs and thirty-six-hundred commercials. Our clients include NBC, Mutual, Colgate, Alka Seltzer, Toni, Campbell, Quaker Oats, Prudential, Admiral, Van Camp and others. When you come to our reviews, you may see a TV or radio show. Through a planned, coordinated system, your reaction is checked every forty-five seconds without interrupting the program. Then we analyze the program with five principles. The first letter of each point spells the word famed: F for familiarity, A for approach, M for mood, E for emphasis, D for direction. Familiarity means what we, as listeners, expect from a star or story that we already know considerable about. For example, One Man's Family is a show that has been on radio for many years. But when the same popular program appeared on TV, there was a certain amount of audience resistance. Through our reviews, we discovered that regular listeners to One Man's Family had very definite mental images of the environment and characters on the radio program. The TV show conflicted with these images. So instead of running both programs concurrently, the TV show was pushed back a few years in time and setting, and turned out very successfully. Approach, the second point, means finding the right beginning for a show. In musicals, you and I prefer to begin with one or two familiar numbers. That just happens to be the way we are. An example of wrong music occurred on the program of a well-known comedian. He got his audience relaxed, then destroyed the mood with brassy swing. "Kill the victim earlier." was the way our report read to the producers of Crime Photographer — although I'm not a bloodthirsty man. We had an interesting reaction to Casey, ace news photographer and amateur detective. It seems that liseners like to play detective, too. With the crime and clues at the beginning of the show, whodunit fans were more attentive. Mood, or the atmosphere created, into which all the elements and commercials must dovetail, is the third yardstick. Would yon like to attend one of the famous Sehwerin tests? Fill Out This Coupon And Mail It To: SCHWERIN— 2 West 46th St., New York 19 1. Please send tickets for An Afternoon Q An Evening [j Any Day [_~] Mon. □ Tues. □ Wed. □ Thurs. fj Fri. □ (Please Check Your Choice) 2. My Occupation is If you are a Housewife, check here Q and give your Husband's Occupation on the line above 3. My Age is: Under 16 Q" 16-25 fj 26-35 \J 36-50 □ Over 50 \J Please Send Tickets To: Name Address Phone No A FREE GIFT TO EVERYONE ATTENDING! On a program where the setting change ' each week from one foreign city to an other, the announcer said, "We are now in Cairo," but the audience replied, "I don! believe it." The program failed to supply foreign color in description and sound effects. When this was corrected, the audience responded enthusiastically. Emphasis means finding the subject material you prefer to hear covered on a particular program. Sometimes this is a tricky thing to get at. When the makers of Alka Seltzer came to us, we pre-tested fifteen daytime serials before they decided on Hilltop House. But even then there was a mystery. For no obvious reason, interest in the show had fallen off. Research revealed the writers had tired of emphasizing orphans and switched to other characters. When the children were brought back, the audience came back. You may not be surprised at this, but women prefer their heroines in daytime serials to be one hundred percent good. And when a program centers about one character or locality, the writers had better keep that particular situation in focus or listeners feel cheated. Direction, the final test, has nothing to do with the director's job, but rather concerns the selection of audience. If there's an adventure program that turns out to have great appeal for children, it will do neither the children nor the sponsor much good to sell cigarettes. A program designed for women only shouldn't be scheduled at night when there is a mixed audience. The most difficult commercials to put across are those that break into a dramatic program. The audience resents an interruption of the story. The commercial must not break the mood, yet to hold our attention (something the sponsor insists on), the intermission must come at a high dramatic point. If the hero is really hanging onto the cliff at this point, most of us stick with the commercial and the rest of the drama. Advertisers think they know what the public wants, but actually only the public knows. I would particularly iike to have readers of Radio Television Mirror come to our review sessions, because of your special interest. And you can "kill two birds with one stone." You'll have a good time and, also, know you're helping to build better programs. Bring your family and your friends — there is a free gift for everyone. You can fill out the coupon or, if you don't live within commuting distance of Manhattan, jot down this number. Circle 7-8300, Ext. 8485, and call us next time you visit New York. You will receive tickets promptly. Programs can be made better. Together, you and I can do it. 104" Horace Schwerin, president of the Schwerin Research Corporation, is a man of many accomplishments that should endear him to everyone. He modestly omits in his article that the research he conducted as a private during World War 11 saved taxpayers $110,000,000 each year. The system he set up is still in effect. As a radio consultant, he has been waging a merciless war on obnoxious commercials and dull programming.