Sponsor (Nov 1946-Oct 1947)

LOSS LEADER ducks in 1940, and the shew expired quietly. But Cellei didn't forget Stem's neat job, and bought him again when Nedick's wanted a sportscaster. Nedick's also < ai i ies tin. vitamin gospel to listeners on WCAU's Headlines ai Home, and with a transcribed sports show on WTTM Trenton. One newscast is used on a Washington, D. C, station, but Nedick's is said to be shopping for sports in that market. Nedick's has consistently spent the biggest chunk ol its advertising dollar in radio, and with business having trebled in the last fiv< years lias nuwr had to revise its advertising budget, which is figured on I ' •_> per cent of next year's sales expectancj . Geller has things pretty much his way. There's no ad-manager at Nedick's. Having tried to tell two agencies how to run things and flopped on sales, the boss trio now believes it best to let the agenc handle the radio end. Geller's advertising approach undersells for Nedick's. On the WHN basketball series, commercial copy is merely out' lined for Connie Desmond and Marty Glickman, who ad-lib mentions of B-l. the Ten-Cent Breakfast, and the all-beef frankfurter. Result is a brand of sales talk keyed to surrounding action, differing from the usual line of sports-show copy which is written in the air-conditioned sanctity of an ad-agency . . . and sounds it. Nedick's isn't particularly worried today about its competition, most of which comes from wildcat stands, smallchain operations, and the "Chock Full o' Nuts" chain in New York. Nedick's sells its service in Philadelphia, Jersey Cit) . Newark, Baltimore. Boston, Brooklyn, Washington, D. C, and through 43 stores in New York City. Radiowise, the competition is even less. Radio has made Nedick's synonymous with drink stands in New York. There was even a Nedick's stand on stage during the recent Broadway production of On the Town, and stock movie shots often have the sign somewhere in the background. Yet another trick is up the GellerNedick sleeve. A promotion campaign is in the making for a new soft drink, a carbonated version of the Nedick orange drink. N'edick's hopes to tap the millions ol consumers who listen to Nedick programs in areas where there are no Nedick's stands. Nedick's. not content with being the orange drink vender to the New York walk-in trade, is out to follow tlie Coca-Cola tradition "bottle it." K\OW Till: PRODI FCEB He Lives With His Program T TF'.S a one-show producer. He follows the theory that a ■* * producer should live with a show from idea to airing. Frank Telford flutters over the Molle Mystery Theatre like a mother hen, selecting scripts, conferring with writers, handpicking casts (mainly from newcomers . . . and sweating it out on coffee-and-benzedrine. The pay-off is indicated in both rating and sponsor identification figures. The audience is now deliveied to Molle and Double Danderine at a cost of less than $200 per point. Despite the success of his show, now running 5.1 points over the average of his opposition, he puffs twic? as much when reminded that in 1933 he was All-City halfback at Detroit's Northwestern High. Telford got his first break in radio after kicking around for several years in theater stock companies. He did everything from acting, writing, and sound effects to polishing microphones on several WXYZ shows, including The Lone Ranger. He tried to sell Uncle Sam the idea of airing an anti-Hitler series in 1940. No dice. December 8, 1941, saw him back in Washington, this time with a better reception. His documentaries You Can't Do Business with Hitler and This Is Our Enemy did a top-notch wartime job selling anti-fascism. Young & Rubicam bought him early in FM4 to do production on We the People but he was shifted to Mystery Theatre soon after. His CBS show The Fighting Senator was a flop commercially last summer — he didn't really care so long as he was panning intolerance and civic corruption. Duffy's Tavern is his favorite listening. For months Telford knocked himself out trying to hear it because Duffy's was aired the same night as Mystery Theatre. Duffy's moved finally to another night, and peace, as far as it can be found by an ad-agency executive, descended on the Telford menage. He's the perfect example of what can happen when an agency picks the right man. gives him one job . . and a free rein in doing it. Seen with Ann Rutherford 42 SPONSOR