Radio and Television Today (Jan-Nov 1941)

Combinations in a customerstopping island at Geo. Innes Co., Wichita. Kan. E. V. Reynolds "stands behind" them. RECORDS PLUS COMBINATIONS Courtesy Wichita Beacoa SALES IDEAS FOR PAIRING THESE TWO There are dozens of steps that a dealer can take, to get a closer relation between the selling of records and the merchandising of combinations. The link between these two products is a strong and natural one. Many retailers make a practice of placing a number of albums or single discs around the floor of a window display, whenever combinations are featured. Or they spot a combination at the end on the record counter, and let it go at that. These are the easiest and the most common, things to do. But there are other methods, more resourceful, more spectacular, more profitable. They apply to the table model record players, of course, as well as to the combinations, but the real emphasis these days is on the bigger models. IT PAYS OFF These ideas are based on the fact that the buyers of records are interested in the new combinations, and that the combo shoppers may be interested in a new set of records. Dealers who have a large and varied stock of combinations like to line them up in record demonstration booths. This is possible only when the booths have a good size, but by using the chairsides and the smaller consoles, you can get more of a dis play than you thought. But if you don't have the room, you can still leave circulars and pictures of your combinations alongside the recordplayers and on the walls in the booths. When you display the units near the record department, you can get a special effect by spotlighting one of the new models. The blondes are good bets for this purpose. Bleached woods sometimes don't get enough publicity, anyway. Novelties in chairsides are okay, too. Some retailers like to have a combination continuously playing a good record in, or near, the record department. You have to select the "quiet" music and of course use a unit with an automatic record changer. Thus the disc traffic gets a good sample of good tone, as well as convenience offered in new combo models. MAIL 'EM BOTH For those who can figure an inexpensive way to get actual photos of the new radio-phonos, these can effectively be attached to mailing pieces sent to record customers. This device has dignity and style, and won't be too costly if you limit them to the "upper crust" prospects. Otherwise the regular printed circulars on combinations and records can be clipped together and mailed. Records handsomely set among '42 combinations at Sherman Clay Co., San Francisco When you sell a unit that has plenty of room for a collection of records, be sure to suggest discs to fill up the storage space. A good many of such buyers of combinations will already have a batch of records at home, but yet the idea of new discs with a new instrument has some appeal. Make out a list of records to fit the customer's taste, and if he isn't willing to shell out that much money at one time, then suggest that he buy them a few at a time. A lot of record customers belong to musical clubs or associations. For their meetings they often need good instruments that will give them the finest reproduction of classical records. Thus, your new models can be loaned, rented, or sold on time payments to the organization. As for the two types of merchandise being featured in window displays, the idea of "action" is a key one. When you put your combos in motion in your window, either the record changers or the roll-away devices, you sell records, too. BEST-SELLING RECORDS Listed for Radio Today in order of importance by Alex A. Gettlin, publisher of Recordaid. PIANO CONCERTO— Freddy Martin on Bluebird 11211. CHATTANOOGA CH00-CH00— Glenn Miller on Bluebird 11230. I DON'T WANT TO SET THE WORLD ON FIRE— Horace Heidt on Columbia 36295 and Tommy Tucker on Okeh 6320. YOU AND I — Bing Crosbv on Decca 3840 and Glenn Miller on Bluebird 11215. BLUE CHAMPAGNE— Jimmy Dorsey on Decca 3775. JIM — Jimmy Dorsey on Decca 3963 and Dinah Shore on Bluebird 11204. GREEN EYES — Jimmy Dorsey on Decca 3698. TILL REVEILLE— Bing Crosby on Decca 3886. YES INDEED — Tommy Dorsey on Victor 27421. TIME WAS — Jimmy Dorsey on Decca 3859. 21