Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

* * ' «~r CINE RECREO Among high-rated local tv shows In Puerto Rico Is "Cine Recreo," moppet-appeal melange of cartoons and games hosted by Pacheco and seen on Screen Gems-owned WAPA-TV. It has stateside sponsors. New trend: English-language UHF stations in Puerto Rico. Here, Clement L. Littauer (Ij of Antilles Broadcasting is welcomed during New York visit by NBC-TV station relations vice president Thomas E. Knode. commonwealth government, like that of Mexico, spends about a third of its annual budget on education). iMany Puerto Rican households .which are, by U.S. standards, illitjerate, own radios or tv sets. In the {magazine field, the story is similar, jalthough there are several maga,zines (such as the refugee edition ■of Bohemia) aimed at the Puerto Jlican market. Ad rates are comipetitive to air media. j Other media: Movie screen adivertising pre-dates tv in Puerto Rico as a major ad medium. Since (there is no color tv to speak of and outdoor billboards are prohibited, it continues to be a popular lad medium with advertisers seeking jcolor impact. Public transportation is widely used on the island, and car cards and posters are active in the ad plans of many advertisers. That's the media picture in brief. I Radio programing is generally jsimilar to that of Spanish-language independents operating in mainland imarkets, although some of the smaller stations literally "load" their music segments with commercials (at rates of nearly one spot every other minute). Formats are basically music-and-news, plus the novelas,. or soap-opera-type dramas, so popular with Latin listeners. Tv programing more closely resembles the tv of the United States, with some interesting exceptions. What would be interpreted as "clutter" is common practice even November 16, 1964 on the top tv stations, which drop two minutes worth of commercials between one-hour shows at the break point. Many U.S. network film shows are current in Puerto Rico (this season's Munsters, for instance, is day-and-date on the island and on the mainland). Interesting sidelight: most export U.S. film shows are dubbed in Mexico City, to be voiced in a brand of Spanish that is generally considered "universal" in Latin American markets. However, few if any Mexican-produced tv shows are aired in Puerto Rico, nor is there any exchange or syndication of Puerto Rican shows to Mexico. Features are popular on tv in Puerto Rico, as they are in the U.S. proper. WAPA-TV, for example, schedules about 15 feature films a week, using English-language prints with Spanish titles. About a third of the programing on the key Puerto Rican tv stations is live and locally produced; the rest is film, basically from the United States. Live shows include the usual service and informational shows (news, weather, sports, etc.) but also a number of Puerto Rican musical variety shows featuring island artists. There is less participation buying, more full-program or co-sponsorship buying than on the U.S. mainland. Puerto Rican tv is growing rapidly to enjoy much the same kind of popularity with major advertis ers as it has on the mainland. A San Juan agencyman who handles the Corn Products account in Puerto Rico told Sponsor: "We're one of the largest tv advertisers on the island, with more than half of the ad budget for Puerto Rico going to tv. It's been a very effective medium, and has been very instrumental in forcing distribution for brands like Bosco and Skippy and in establishing them with Spanish-speaking consumers." Puerto Rican air media are not without their problems, despite their booming growth. One of the chief headaches was voiced thusly to Sponsor by a New York broadcast executive whose firm controls an important air outlet in San Juan: "As far as most produce usage is concerned, Puerto Rico is part of the United States. But unless a client's agency has a branch in Puerto Rico, he has a headache. Too many Madison Avenue agencies consider Puerto Rico part of the 'export market,' and do not handle timebuying through regular U.S. buying channels but through the international department. They don't want to bother with the business, or give it to a rival agency's branch down here. Fortunately, this attitude is changing." It's a change for the better in the opinion of many marketing experts. ♦ 45