Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1959)

SPONSOR ASKS (Continued from pa^e 51) Henry Hilton, general manager and owner, KSOI\ Salt Lake City Specialized programing is great but I don't know whether I'd have said this five years ago or not. When KSOP went on the air five years ago, it had always been my dream to start an "All Western Music Station." Many reasons had given By taking full advantage of its audience's loyalty me the idea but first and foremost, the results from western shows on stations I had worked for, two in Salt Lake City and one in Ogden. I had found that the western shows always brought the results to the advertisers and kept them on the stations. There was much less servicing, too, because a sponsor you produce for is a happy sponsor. I just didn't have the "guts" to go all the way at first. I talked to many people; some said yes and some said no. KSOP went on the air on 1 February but with both pop and western programing, about half and half at this point. After about four months of priming our sponsors for the change, feeling them out to see if they would stay with us on 30 May, 1955, KSOP became the "First Specialized Station" in the Intermountain West with 100% programing of "Country and Western Music." At the time reports came in from our competitors giving us six months to be in business with this ridiculous programing, but the tables turned and we found a tremendous audience for our type of programing. With some 19 stations in Utah at this time, we were the only "Country and Western." We found that we were covering 79% of the total population of the state. Then came the big question, how to sell the agencies. We dressed all of our staff western, made mail pull coverage maps, got success stories from advertisers. We started booking in the personal appearances of all the "Grand Ole Opry" stars as a station promotion, with our staff acting as M.C. and ushers getting acquainted with this vast new audience. We invited sponsors to the show. A tremendous, enthusiastic audience responded with applause and cheering from the start. This helped sell our station to both the public and the sponsors. One by one, we got the agencies to see the show. We have business now from most of the agencies in Salt Lake, and are working on a few that refuse to admit we have listeners for their clients' products. Here are just a few of our success stories: Conoco with a 15-minute live broadcast with Bashful Bobby Wooten's Band daily, reports sales up 7% since the show started two months ago. 7-Up, more than happy, tested our station with a recipe book, "Give Away." All lines into the company tied up for hours requesting the book. One of the finest restaurants in the Salt Lake Area, the Hillside, advertises exclusively on KSOP. Results on Mother's Day and Easter, folks were lined up all day to get in. We re sold and would recommend more stations specializing. ^ / 9 4 9 anniversary WOC-TV Ch. 6 Davenport, Iowa— Rock Island— Moline, Illinois The Nation's Forty-Seventh TV Market On October 31, 1949, WOC-TV went on the air. FIRST in the Quint-Cities — FIRST in Iowa. This was in keeping with the foresight and courage of Colonel B. J. Palmer, who had pioneered the first radio station west of the Mississippi in 1922. In 1949, there were less than 400 TV sets available to receive WOCTV's first broadcast. On this 10th anniversary date, there are more than 438,000 sets in a 42county area. WOC-TV land today is rated as the 47th TV market in the nation. WOC-TV continues to maintain its leadership and success in serving its viewers and its advertisers. Your PGW Colonel has all the facts. See him today! PKIMOENT Col. B. J. Palmer VK E-PRES. & TREASURER D D Palmu exec: vice-president Ralph E>an) SECRETARY VCm O Vmgna RESIDENT MANAGER Erne>t C. Sandcn SALES MANAGER Pa> Shaftrr DAVENPORT BETTENDORF ROCK ISLAND MOllNE EAST MOLINE PETERS. GRIFFIN. WOOnWARD. INC FXCIUSIVE NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES WOC-TV DAVENPORT, IOWA IS PART OF CENTRAL BROADCASTINO CO., WHICH ALSO OWNS AND OPERATES WHO-TV AND WHO RADIO, DES MOINES, IOWA. SPONSOR 12 DECEMBER 1959 67