Radio today (Sept 1935-Dec 1936)

It ON THE Great programs help the dealer sell more and finer radios * Spectacular evidence of what remarkable merchandise the radio dealer is really selling in the programs now on the air is again offered in recent program announcements from the broadcasters. Amazing supply of features continues to drift miraculously from resourceful studios, giving the dealer talking points which positively have no equal in the world of selling. Radio, flushed with 20th century supremacy, has made such an impressive and romantic bid for spectacular talent that the whole set of great artists has come over. "Art on the Air Waves" has arrived and it's all over the program lists for the benefit of those who wish for a more advanced type of entertainment than "torch singers and crooners." Symphonies, ace vocal and instrumental soloists, operatic sensations, and other musical gems from the upper levels are scattered generously through the broadcasts. A recent program list issued by the Eadio Institute of Audible Arts contained broadcast announcements for five different symphonic organizations of recognized national importance, all playing on the air in regular schedule, several with soloists extraordinary. Self -destroying critics of radio, or anyone else who is indifferent to the new merit of the broadcasts, could scarcely NAME ONE GREAT LIVING ARTIST WHO HAS NOT BEEN ON THE AIE. What few of the big names are missing are now on the way. Headliners Billings from the studios this Fall include Paderewski, Lucrezia Bori, Jeritza, Martinelli, Jascha Heifetz, Grace Moore, Nino Martini, Lily Pons, Michael Bartlett, Rosa Ponselle, Lotte Lehman, Lawrence Tibbett, Mischa Levitzki, Cyrena Van Gordon, Deems Taylor, Sigmund Romberg, Helen Jepson, Gladys Swarthout, Nelson Eddy, Walter Damrosch, and others. And the voice of Pope Pius XI was recently heard in a special broadcast from Rome. Outside this group are broadcasts with star dance orchestras and all the stage and screen folk in whom public interest is tops. Broadcasters have a perfect right to wax lyric and extravagant on such presentations, and the "poor-program" propaganda looks thin and feeble to the point of being downright fantastic. Perhaps the most extraordinarily useful aspect of the matter as far as dealers are concerned is that any type of prospect can be appealed to with Give them time — all the screen stars get around to broadcast. Here are honeymooners Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone, shown with the latter's father, Frank J. Tone. the talk of brilliant broadcasts. There are always sport highlights, international hook-ups, news flashes, educational, religious and political features, and a brand new emphasis on children's programs of a specially supervised nature. Important also is a new trend toward radio appearances of stage and screen folk. Why tune in? Some dealers have already used these broadcast features in their ads, but as a rule the sales captions have read something like "get your set tuned up for the big league ball games" rather than "don't miss the Philharmonic even if you have to buy a new set." Point is that this program appeal has to be adapted to the tastes, musical or otherwise, of the local patronage and the fact that current broadcasts offer a sufficiently wide range for it, is indisputable. For what other reason do people buy sets than to tune in on the things they prefer ? Money spent on talent for broadcast programs* sponsored by national advertisers mounts steadily as the leading manufacturers compete for stars. Dollars involved in talent traffic in July, 1935, was 175 per cent over the amount for July, 1933, and 60 per cent over July, 1934. It will be noted, any time the American Association of Advertising Agencies releases a breakdown of recent ad expenditures of national advertisers, that talent costs are obviously increasing at the expense of other items. Talent alone, 30 per cent Late surveys have shown that 30 per cent of the total cost of an average radio program is spent for talent, a substantial increase over the percents for '33 and '34. On the basis of Radio Today's estimate oi 1935-6 business for CBS and NBC, approximately $16,000,000 will be spent for network talent alone during the coming twelve months. With talent appropriations on the consistent increase, listeners may expect to hear the biggest and most expensive artists on the air as regular radio entertainers. Window poster To help dealers make a sharp appeal to street and store traffic on the basis of these costly features which go with every set sale, Radio Today offers on pages 16 and 17, a display which may be used as a window poster. 20 Radio Today