Sponsor (Apr-June 1964)

System is experimenting with radio ski reports. "The station installs special phone equipment to record the latest report and then makes it available on a 24-hour telephone basis. Since the area requires extra charges to reach it by telephone, the company has already deduced from test situations that the additional telephone traffic to the special number is sufficient to pay for sponsorship of the entire radio effort! SALES TOOLS Even marvelously creative ideas that work are not quite enough, Brownstein warns. You also have to let key people know what has been done. Reports of ideas and merchandising activity must be reported to the advertiser. The form is less important than the fact; a neat typewritten page will turn the trick. The idea is to state what was done, how and when, with as much proof as possible that it actually was accomplished. Rating points, totalhomes delivered, color photography, letters of commendation are all optional inclosures. The final part of the report, never optional, is a summary of your station's basic story. Send copies of this promotion report to the local wholesaler or distributor, the agency buyer, the account executive, and the advertising or sales manager of the client company. Send your rep copies. too, so he can distribute — and file — some. While it may seem excessive to produce so many copies, wide distribution is assurance that mi breakdown in the chain will prevent your story's getting through to all those who can influence buying. Other, equally useful, sales tools include: Coverage maps: It should get across the basic facts of the station and its market without crowding, cluttering or distracting. The problem isn't so often that there's too little — or too much — information; rather, too frequently, it's not the right information. It should show clearlj the accurate physical coverage, the most important facts relating to the value of the station, and the character of the station. 50 Rate cards: Because the traditional rate format is, in fact, outdated, rate cards frequently lose out as sales tools. "Certainly, no li S. radio station can now defend listing different minute rates for one, thirteen and twenty-six time use within a year," Brownstein holds. "Radio is simply not bought that way anymore!" Standard Rate & Data Service: While few stations subscribe, it would be virtually impossible for a rep or agency media department to function without it. Discover the opportunities for additional free listings: participating programs, specialized programming (some of it under individual headings) and other information is printed free of charge. Brochures or sales presentation covers: Even the strictest budget can allow the ingenuity and mimeograph format that, used with imagination, provide inspired data sheets that mean a sales plus. Paid advertising: If you can afford it, be absolutely certain you use it properlv. "All too often, paid advertising of radio stations is downright poor." Brownstein states. Analyze your own problems and roals, then use the advertising to help achieve them. If you can't afford solo advertising, one of the most promising new promotional methods is the combination ad or presentation by all stations in a single area in order to sell their market. As with any advertising, these concepts can be worked into smart sales ideas, low cost enough to fit virtually any budget. However, a one-time effort is rarely sufficient, so a full campaign should be planned before anything is undertaken. Putting all these suggestions together will not. certainly, change the size of your market. Sam Brownstein admits. But it will, he insists, change the way it stands in the eves of buyers and media heads, the customers that you, as an advertiser, wants to reach. ■ 54 Michigan stations on-air editorializing Three more stations in Michigan have begun editorializing since the first of the year, bringing to 54 the number of the state's radio and TV stations engaging in the expression \ of views. This is the finding of Prof. Ben Yablonky of the Michigan U. journalism department who, assisted by graduate student Jack Mitchell, doing a study on the state of editorializing among the state's 132 commercial stations. Twenty-seven stations did not respond to the survey. The total revealed by the research shows a dramatic jump from 1949. when one Michigan station editorialized. It appears that 1961 was a turning point. In that year alone, ten stations presented their first editorial; six more began in 1962; 20 in 1963. All but two of the stations that editorialized comment on local affairs; 32 also discuss state issues; and 21 deal with national and international problems. One confines itself to sports. Independently owned and operated stations seem more likely to editorialize. Thirty-one of them said they do. 25 do not, and 19 didn't reply. The corresponding figures for chain-operated stations are 23 yes. 26 no, and nine no answer. Not surprisingly, of the 14 Michigan cities where a single firm owns both a newspaper and broadcast station, only four of the stations editorialize. The survey was made to supply basic data for a continuing study of broadcast editorials which will ultimately cover the content of editorials and station policies regarding them. Ohleyer to manage WIBC Indianapolis Robert F. Ohleyer has been appointed station manager for \\ IBC" Indianapolis. Having joined WISH in 1944, Ohleyer was an integral member o( that station's staff until the fall o\' 1963, serving in the mid-50's as sales manager for both radio and TV, and tor the past lew years as station manager for the radio station. He retained this position when the station was sold in 1963 and became WIFE. SPONSOR Ohlc