Sponsor (Nov 1946-Oct 1947)

FORJOE METROPOLITAN MARKET STATIONS WKAP Ulentown KVET Austin *W0RL Boston WFAK Charleston, S. C. WTIP Charleston, W. Va. WSBC Chicago **WJBK Detroit KNUZ Houston KWKW Los Angeles WNEX Macon WHHM Memphis KARV Mesa -Phoenix WMIN Minn. -St. Paul WBNX New York WLOW Norfolk WDAS Philadelphia WWSW Pittsburgh KXLW St. Louis KONO San Antonio KUSN San Diego KEEN San Jose WWDC Wash., D. C. WHWL W ilkes-Barre WTUX Wilmington • except in New t York ** except in Chicago For joe Offices New York • Chicago • Philadelphia Pittsburgh • Washington* Baltimore Los Ange es • San Francisco wmmm ■ RING 1HE BELL Radio Station KTUL. Tulsa, Oklahoma, Monday through Friday, 2-2:25 p.m. est PROGRAM: This is a small-time version of the network program Beat the Band. which was last heard with Hildegarde. It's effective and moves with the impact of a coast-to-coaster. While the network program played to the studio audience, this program has members of the home audience use a postcard on which to list the tunes which they feel the cast in the studio can't either sing or play. The success or failure of this formula depends basically on the ability of the mc and the musical "brains" to ad lib without sounding hammy. Jack Alexander handles the mc chores well and the entire cast backs him up. The program never stops to take its breath and it's not only good entertainment but fine home audience participation as well. If a dialer comes up with a song the cast can't play they ring the bell in the studio and send him $5.00. COMMERCIAL: Sponsors of this program are a cooperative group of merchants in a new Tulsa suburban district. Commercials revolve so that all the retailers are plugged during the week. Since the very spirit of the program is communal (everybody gets into the act) the sponsorship is ideal. TIME: The hour (2 p.m.) is practically perfect for this type of program although the competition is fairly stiff. Station KVOO has Pepper Young's Family and Right to Happiness, both top-rating soap operas. KOME has Dance Time and Jackie Hill, KFMJ has Along Broadway, and KAKC, Tip Top Tunes. PROMOTION: KTUL has given this program the promotional works, with taxi posters, billboards, lobby displays, direct mail, and throw-aways. Since the suburban section whose merchants sponsor the program is without a name they had a contest for a name with $100 in merchandise as the first prize. CREDITS: John B. Wheeler is responsible for handling this ad-lib production and deserves plenty of credit since ad-lib programs are the most difficult to do. Wally Imes and Marjcan Fox are the vocalizers and usually they sound rehearsed on their numbers, which they aren't. Credit also should be given the instrumentalists, Glenn Hardman, Robert Wortley, Denny Cole, Ruban Cohen, and Cy Toomis, who get right into the spirit of Ring the Bell. The idea was only passable on the networks: it's top entertainment in Tulsa. mm i 38 FAVORITE STORY A Ziv transcribed production Radii) Station W'MAQ, Chicago, Saturday, 10 10:30 p.m. cit PROGRAM: Frankenstein was picked by Fred Allen as his "favorite story" and Ronald Colman naturally decided that he'd better narrate rather than play the noted Dr. Frankenstein himself. Edmund MacDonald was selected to bring to air life the man who conceived a monster and he did a grand job on this airing. The production is definitely literate, not over-sensationalized, and yet it gets the most out of Mary Shelley's spine-quivering tale. One-shots (broadcasts complete in themselves) are generally poor vehicles with which to build a listening habit. The framework of Favorite Story, however, with Colman setting the stage for each broadcast and some notable picking his or her favorite tale for the occasion, permits of a continuity of listening which overcomes (as Lux Radio Theatre and Screen Guild Players do so effectively) the negative of broadcasting a series of unrelated plays. The production is smooth (this is the 14th of the series) and everybody concerned, especially Dorothy Scott, who plays the beloved of Frankenstein, does a top-drawer miking job. Although there has been some feeling that the Colman series is highbrow, this program (and others heard by this reviewer) are just good radio drama. COMMERCIAL: Peter Hand Brewery Company handles its commercials in the same mood as the program — no hardhitting Meister Brau selling— just simple direct messages on the quality brew. The effect is as though the program were a live show presented by Peter Hand alone. That means it's a good transcribed presentation. TIME: The program shifted on July 30 to WGN at 9:30-10 p.m. on Wednesdaj s, the agency, B.B.D.&O., and the sponsor feeling it's a type of program that will gel a better audience earlier in the evening, PROMOTION: Peter Hand has permitted the program to carry this one. CREDITS. Tlie Ziv organization deserves a bow for not putting any razzle-dazzle in the show. It's presented just as good entertainment and that it is. The music is adequate, the technical handling of the best. Favorite Story won't startle the world with any record-breaking Hooperatings to start with but it's almost certain to create a top listening habit. It's that kind of a program. SPONSOR