Sponsor (Nov 1946-Oct 1947)

SM'OIVSOII SPEAKS THE Broadcast Measurement Bureau has weathered the first storm since it became a going operation. Its decision to stop suggesting "ways" of using BMB measurement figures and to stop suggesting that cost-per-thousand BMB is a valid way of selling station time, is well taken. Nobody suggested that there was anything wrong with BMB's research or its objective during the organization's recent conferences which decided that BMB should stick to research and skip research promotion. However, in a statement issued October 10th, BMB inferentially surrendered its birthright, the control of the use of its data. It stated: "BMB neither approves nor disapproves of any specific manner in which its data are used. While certain uses seem at this time to be valid and other uses obviously invalid, there is an area of disagreement with regard to many possible uses, whose validity is subject to further experimentation and testing after all reports are available." The BMB must not permit the indiscriminate use of its figures which this statement makes possible. It is the job of any research organization to make certain that the conclusions at which it arrives are not distorted, twisted, or perverted. If there are areas in which there are disagreements as to the proper use of data, then it's the responsibility of the research organization to probe the validity of the specific use and endorse or prohib;t the proposed use of the figures or their projections. The control of BMB is in the hands of representatives of all who are interested in broadcasting; the stations, the networks, the advertising agencies, and the advertisers. If they permit themselves to be rubber stamps as they were in the case of the Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting, if they permit the officers, no matter how capable, to control BMB policy, they are blank-checking the industry into another research failure. It happened once. It must not happen again. BMB is sound. It must be kept so. NOW is the time to get acquainted with all the broadcast advertising mediums. AM, still the big attraction, is no longer the whole show. FM, TV, and Fax share the billing, if not in dollars at least in attention, and no advertiser who is thinking about tomorrow's business can afford to forget it. Sorting out the four broadcast mediums is a big assignment. AM itself is problembeset. Add to this the complexities of its three contemporaries, each embryonic, dynamic, and different, and you really have something. The situation calls for straight and unprejudiced thinking. Sponsor was founded with this in mind. This issue, and the ones that follow, carry carefully-gathered facts and figures on each facet of broadcasting advertising. When necessary, the relation of one medium to the others is explained, with black-and-white mediums frequently included in the process. Sponsor will keep the sponsor abreast of the unfolding scene; often ahead of it. That's the sort of job that requires a maximum of cooperation. Reader contributions will be more than welcome. They help do it better. MO WEST 52nd The switch of Lone Journey from NBC to CBS should inspire a Sponsor report on why advertisers change networks. Award winner Sandra Michael and her brother Peter still write the show. William R. Harshe, William R. Harshe & Associates Editor's note: Network shifts are the basis for a special SPONSOR study. Editor's note: It's because of both reasons, as noted in SPONSOR review of the program on page 46. Although networks and most stations feel that it takes a long time for a show to catch on, Little Women, which is heard daily at 5:45 P. M. est over KCMO has already collected a real listening audience. Maybe it's be ' and the sensors are pro moting it. or maybe it's just because it's a worthwhile program, I-:. K II VRTENBOWER, (mi, ml Main; KA MO The problem of copyright protection of broadcast material, both for the sponsor and the writer, is growing daily. Agencies are loath to look at new material and ideas with the result that new commercial ideas are stolen and there's no way to prove them right or wrong. It's going to take the combined efforts of sponsors, advertising agencies, and networks to move congress to action on protection of unprinted material. Maybe Sponsor can do some thing about it lor the industry. Arthur Henley, Script Writer, Honeymoon in New York .VBC) Editor's note: There have been a number of drawn out court cases on radio copyright. Action will no doubt follow a detailed report on the subject. Such a report is in the "future" folder of SPONSOR. | j The thought has struck me that it might be advisable for us to send your trade paper on a yearly basis as a Christmas gift. Phil Lalonde, General Manager, CKAC Publisher's note: Naturally, we agree heartily. There's no inside story to Cavalcade. Many of us, both at the agency and in our own organization, have "sweated it out" for many hours. Also, Cavalcade is only part of our educational effort, which is so coordinated that it is impossible to give credit to any one activity. Wn i [AM A. Hart, Director oj Advi rtising, E. I. DuPont Nemours Editor's note: The Cavalcade of America and what it has contributed to the present public acceptance of DuPont is a broadcast epic. We hope eventually to tell the DuPont story. 76 SPONSOR