Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1961)

the fabulous success enjoyed by many local advertisers who have found that the addition of nighttime rings the cash register. For example: Costello Kunze Ford in St. Louis grew from insignificance to the leading Ford dealer in metropolitan St. Louis through the use of 24 hour saturation on WIL." Says Cuff, "it must be more than sheer coincidence that a year or so after Costello Kunze had registered their tremendous sales gains, Texaco bought a schedule, including heavy use of nighttime, on the same radio station." Many top agencies and key advertisers, says Eastman's national sales manager, have come to appreciate the [fact that not only does the inclusion of nighttime commercials expand overall reach and penetration, but that the audience gained thereby can he had for an extremely low cost. "The local successes, the list of ,.users, RAB, NSI, Pulse, etc. combine Ljto offer proof positive that nighttime radio is a tangible sales stimulant," he declares. The Katz Agency also discloses that whey have experienced increases in lighttime sales. Slight, perhaps, but levertheless an increase. According o Katz' v.p. and radio sales manager, VI. S. Kellner, this increase has been felt mostly by stations which have reatively programed for nighttime adio. "When stations offer an unique omething-to-sell, nighttime radio can, md is being sold," he says. As an exmple he points to KLZ, Denver khose Denver At Night, a program package featuring personalities, lots f news ( with emphasis on local ■Jews) had attracted heavy sponsorhip. In New York City, WINS, the I >atz repped station, is also experirncing outstanding success with ighttime sponsors. Station manager I ed Steele credits the surge in busi| ,ess (since January) to "strong perIpnalities and creative selling." Says l.jteele, "Murray Kaufman, from 7|.|0:30 p.m., Barry Farber with WINS Yfpen Mike from 10:30 to 11 p.m., Ijnd Jack Lazare with the all-night I lows, are the strong personalities I jiat have brought the nighttime ratings on WINS to figures better than j ]ie daytime ratings of some other NCS '61 on nighttime 'bandwagon1 radio stations in New York." According to the August Pulse ratings, the average quarter-hour rating of the 7-11 p.m. segment is a strong 2.3. This is the highest rating for that time segment among all New York radio stations, the nearest competitor having a 1.9. Many sponsors, says Steele, buy only nighttime schedules. Among them: St. George Pool, Paul Sargent, Ltd., R and G Clothing, Tie City, Male Travel Agency, Al Norman's Mens Shop, Cover Girl Cosmetics, Propa P. H. Heavy placement on nighttime are bought by Budweiser, Schaefer Beer, Champale, Barney's Aqueduct, Tom McAn, Castro Convertibles, Beacon Wax, Coca Cola, National Shoes and Contadina Foods. Says Kellner," the potential of nighttime radio hasn't been realized — the audience doesn't disappear when the sun sets, and everybody doesn't switch over to television." He adds, "we've been successful in selling nighttime as part of the overall concept of the additional reach radio can add to schedules in other media. This is especially true in the case of stations offering Total Audience Plans, where advertisers can buy a combination of day and night at attractive rates." NBC Spot Radio Sales also reports success with its Total Audience Plans. H-R'S RADIO RESEARCH Manager, Mary Ann Richardson, says, "NCS 1961 figures that H-R has received to date show that Nielsen has jumped on the nighttime radio bandwagon. Nighttime circulation in many markets is running very close to daytime circulation figures." Says its director, Fred Lyons "since the beginning of the year, we've experienced a definite rise in the number of advertisers purchasing what we may refer to as Total Audience Plans — that is, schedules that more or less encompass the entire broadcast day." Lyons cites two of "many logical reasons for this approach to spot radio buying." 1 ) "There is reason to believe that there is relatively little duplication of audience between daytime and nighttime listeners — even on one station. Many nighttime listeners are, for one reason or another, simply not available to radio (as well as other media) during the daytime hours. And, as a whole, nighttime listeners can usually be purchased more economically because of the extremely advantageous nighttime rates." 2) "The continuing extension of retail hours well into the night has added increased impact to nighttime radio advertising. All across the country a steadily mounting number of shopping centers, supermarkets, suburban retail outlets of all tvpes, as well as downtown department stores, are keeping their doors open until nine or ten o'clock at night. This affords the nighttime radio advertiser a golden opportunity to get across the 'last word' to prospective customers and do it within an hour of the time the actual purchase is made." (Please turn to page 48) iPONSOR 16 OCTOBER 1961 29