Sponsor (1964)

PROBING THE CURRENTS AND UNDERCURRENTS OF BROADCAST ADVERTISING U.S. Time owns. Marketing note: Timex will next year introduce a lady's electronic watch, if it can be brought down to the right size. The company put out a man's electronic watch last year. Why Paley cherishes those old mikes You may have seen that newspaper photo of William S. Paley shaking hands with a couple Yankee officials to mark the culmination of the deal which turned into a dust storm of controversy. If you saw the photo (which was taken in Paley's office) you may have noticed a collection of ancient mikes, with such call letters as KMBC (Kansas City) and WNAC (Boston). Paley's older associates will tell you that the mike assembly reflects one of Paley's deeper streaks of unforgettable sentiment and appreciation. For it was the quality programing fed by Arthur Church's KMBC, John Shepard's WNAC, Don Lee's California stations and others that helped bulwark the CBS schedule. That was before the big raid of NBC's star roster, which brought Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Amos 'n Andy, et al, to CBS. Copywriters twitted re piggybacks Sam Frcy, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather's media chief, left himself open for some needling that his agency's tv copywriters might not relish. It seems Frcy had written Don Kearney, the Corinthian group's sales director, saying he was examining the policy of Indianapolis stations on piggybacks in conjunction with the revised NAB code. Kearney, in his replying letter, first noted that WISHTV, like all the other Corinthian stations, does not entertain the use of piggybacks, and then took occasion to press home a point that has often been a controversial one between media people and copywriters. Wrote Kearney: it seems ironical that the very same copywriters who for a long time have contended that they need a minute to tell a product's story have been revealed by the flap over piggybacks as quite capable of writing 30-second commercials. Kearney went on to say that it's time mediamen stopped letting themselves be "buffaloed" by the copy people and to press for the wider creation of commercials that could be fitted into chainbreaks. Cream of Wheat unlimbers for winter Orders have started going out of Bates for Cream of Wheat's fall and winter spot radio campaign. The spots usually are placed between 6:30 and 8 a.m. and the rate is one a day Monday through Friday. Cream of Wheat, acquired by National Biscuit Co. the year before last, also runs a warm weather campaign of limited extent in spot radio. One thing radio stations in over 100 markets have known for a considerable number of years: when Cream of Wheat starts buying, winter can't be far behind. Modest stakes by oils in net tv The giant petroleums, as a group, don't look like overwhelming spenders for network tv during the 1964-65 season. None is going in for extensive continuity in that medium. Spot tv seems to be the gainer from this relative paucity. Both Gulf and Shell are committing themselves for substantial announcement campaigns. The extent of each company's participation in network tv: Gulf: NBC election coverage, major "instant news" specials and a year-end stanza called Project '65. Humble-Esso: scattered minutes in ABC-TV and NBC-TV entertainment shows (about 12 altogether) and reruns of three actualities on NBC-TV. Mobil: an alternate minute on ABC-TV's Fugitive. Shell: 1 1 broadcasts of the Wonderful World of Golf. Sun: scattered minutes (11) in ABC-TV entertainment programs, 36 minutes in the AFL games, a weekly minute in the CBS Golf Classic. Texaco: a fourth each of NCAA football, the PGA tournament, the Senior Bowl and half of the Summer Olympics. Radio saga of Beech-Nut's Wally Drew If you were a station or commercial manager some 25 years ago, you may remember Wally Drew, who's become president of Beech-Nut's newly created cosmetic and toiletries division. He was with Penn Tobacco at the time and his job was to visit stations all over the country, look 26 SPONSOI