Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

Publislier's neport The Amazing Mr. Doherty V ' 1E» 3!, 0 The amazing Mr. Doherty is now hard at work on his predictions of broadcast advertising billings for 1965. He is also double-checking the accuracy of his estimates for 1964 published one year ago in Sponsor. Each year since 1958 Dick Doherty, economist supreme of the broadcasting industry, has laid his reputation on the line with his broadcast advertising billing pyrotechnics one year in advance of the fact. A chart published a year ago, when he gave us his prognostications for 1964, showed his record of accuracy for the first five years. Year after year he's registered within 1.5 percent. It's hard to figure out how Dick does it, since he breaks down the industry into its components, giving estimates for tv and radio network, spot and local separately. In order to do this he must first establish estimates for gross national product (GNP), all media advertising, all tv advertising, all radio advertising. He must have a keen nose for economic storms thai can upset all business. In 1958 and 1959 he encountered a recession and came through with flying colors. He must assess the weight of tax reductions, higher interest rates, possible strikes, fluctuations in cost of living, and the international economy on the number of spot, network and local dollars that will be forthcoming in the year ahead. It's a good trick if you can do it. I twisted Dick's arm for some preliminary estimates. Here's what he told me. Tv generally will account for 16 percent of all media advertising in 1965. This will be the 18th successive year in which tv advertising, now well over two billion dollars, will improve its share of the total media pie as well as increase its dollars. So, 1965 will be a good year for tv and radio. But not quite as good as 1964. Spot radio will show the least growth of all segments of air media in 1964 with about a 3 percent increase. In 1965, as in 1964, there will be a tendency to put larger and larger shares of national spot budgets in the "better-established" stations in the top 50 to 75 markets. The GNP in 1965 will hit $655 billion. All media advertising will exceed $14.5 billion dollars and will show an increase of 5 to 5.5 percent over 1964. National tv (spot and network) will again be the strongest gainers in all media. These and many more calculations and predictions will appear in the next issue of Sponsor, when the amazing Mr. Doherty gives his 1964 tallies and again puts his reputation on the line. >7-^M/ December 28, 1964 \ THE GREAT UNWASHED MASSES. ♦ S There is fairly general agreement that * radio delivers huge audiences and they I obviously don't v^'ashl In fact, there I are many entire categories of othert wise advertised produc's that use vir\ tually no radio. As a result, we at I WPTR have developed a new game. I Simply stated, we try to make lis s S of things our audience obviously does not do (for certainly if they did, advertisers in these fields would insist upon being represented before our audience). For example, radio audiences do not wash or brush their teeth; or protect against underarm odor; or set their hair; or powder their faces; or polish their shoes; or play musical instruments; or clothe themselves; or clean their homes; or wax their floors; or ride in trains or buses; or eat cheese, pies, mayonaise, canned vegetables, salt, cookies, and ... oh well! Get the idea of the game? CONTEST: Send us your list. We will award the contestant submitting the longest valid list, beautifully giftwrapped matched crying towels monogrammed: "Theirs" and "Theirs," to fit the occasion. REWARD: And for the client or agency who may feel that his product is in fact used by many among WPTR's vast I Northeast audience and, therefore, buys t a WPTR schedule, the reward of greatly I increased, radio stimulated sales. J i Perry S. Samuels « Vice President and General Manager -WPTR Ask your Eastman about . . . PTR Represented by the Robert E. Eastman Company fifteen forty PTR 50,000 Watts 1540 KC ALBANY TROY SCHENECTADY 11 dl