Sponsor (Nov 1947-Oct 1948)

/ While Cole handled the commercials Mary Lee stirred noisily in a mixing bowl and told housewives at great length how to make a plum pudding with Pet Milk, naturally. It wasn't inspired radio but the distaff side of the house liked it, sent for Mary Lee Taylor recipes and bought Pet Milk. As the years rolled by, Mary Lee Taylor became the oldest continuously-sponsored show on CBS and Susan Cost was learning things. She discovered, for example, that a good recipe wasn't enough. It had to use ingredients that were plentiful — • seasonable crops. She had to suggest alternatives, for not everything is available in all sections of the country at the same time — except Pet Milk, of course. She had to get away from straight exposition and she did develop a warm, chatty style as she and the announcer kicked around an idea. Although Betty Crocker has been no one person, the program's development has been much the same as Pet Milk's. Betty Crocker was first a local operation, then a network show, then off the air, and now it's a two-web presentation (NBC and ABC). Today, Betty Crocker runs as two shows, five minutes on NBC in the middle of a block of General Mills daytime serials, and a Monday-throughFriday half-hour "magazine" on ABC. Crocker is still a drop in the bucket of Sponsors Plan Code of Own as Stations Vote Although the effective date for the Standards of Practice for broadcasting has not been set due to the fact that they have been referred to the membership of the National Association of Broadcasters for approval, stations generally are putting their houses in order in the expectation that the Standards will be passed. The Code, as the Standards are generally referred to, is tighter than present practices on commercial time but more liberal than the restrictions originally proposed. Maximum commercial time is set as follows: Commercial Time Program Period Day NIglit (Minutes) (Minutes) (Minutes) 5 1:15 1:00 10 2:10 2:00 15 3:00 2:30 25 4:00 2:45 30 4:15 3:00 45 5:45 4:30 60 7:00 6:00 Participating programs which in the past have been exempt from commercial time regulations will be bound by the above schedules. Station breaks (periods between programs) will not be figured as part of the program time and are exempt from these regulations. Also exempt will be one hour a day which stations can use for shopping guides, market information, and other informative programs, since the NAB has come to the conclusion that such programs do perform a public service. News programs of 10 minutes or less are restricted to two commercials and other news programs are subject to the regular commercial limitations. Double spotting (two commercials between programs) is prohibited except that time signals of 10 seconds in length are not to be construed as spot announcements. Attempts by the networks to get together and formulate a network code of their own have broken up. This is because there is definite feeling among some of the webs that they should not set themselves up as a super-tribunal more important than the NAB. In other words, the networks are part of broadcasting, and although not active members of the industry association (they're associate members) they want the public and the advertising profession to know that they're part of radio and don't consider themselves radio itself. There is a growing sentiment among sponsors that the advertising profession might well establish for itself a code of broadcast practices and thus increase the effectiveness of air advertising. To this end a survey of advertising practices is currently being conducted for a number of key sponsors. When the report (highly confidential) is submitted and digested, the sponsors who are underwriting the survey will suggest to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) that these two organizations set up their own broadcast Standards of Practices. This would be an inspiration for the stations and take the pressure off the NAB. However, no such self-imposed code will be submitted to the associations involved before June 1. At present most agencies are adapting their operations to what they call the "interim code"— the time limitations imposed in the Standards now being voted upon by the NAB membership. GM advertising, which is currently $1 1 ,000,000 a year of which 72 per cent is spent in radio. Mary Lee Taylor carries half the advertising burden for Pet Milk. Instead of a dozen programs, like General Mills, Pet has two, Taylor and Saturday Night Sere' nade, the latter in its 11th year. Last year Taylor received its latest alteration. To give it that "new look" half the program is given over to a complete dramatic 15 minutes, with a Claudia-like heroine (the series is adapted from the novel Young Wife). This program formula change was insisted upon by CBS which felt that a straight home economics show in a sequence that included Let's Pretend, Adventurers' Club, Theater of Today, Stars Over Hollywood, etc., would lose its audience. Both agency and client bridled at the network's insistence but Columbia was proved right. Mary Lee Taylor has kept its kitchen faithfuls and practically doubled its rating. Before the face-lifting it was gathering a 1.5 to 2.0 Hooper. Now it ranges from 2.5 to 4. The drama and the information are well integrated. Betty Crocker has also recently undergone rejuvenating alterations. The NBC spot is just five minutes in length in the midst of an hour of General Mills entertainment— Today's Children, Woman in White, The Story of Holly Sloan, and Light of the World. The ABC Crocker is really a 30-minute women's variety program with news, fashion information, guest stars, a quiz with prizes, and finally the kitchen session. The new Crocker show (ABC) made its bow March 1947. What Mary Lee Taylor has accomplished, in conjunction with Pet Milk's Saturday Night Serenade, is tangible and checkable. In the past decade Pet Milk sales have gone up 131 per cent while the entire canned milk market has expanded only 40 per cent (excluding government sales in both cases). House names with solid consumer followings are invaluable. Betty Crocker and Mary Lee Taylor have proved that. They've also proved that there's nothing wrong with the home-service type of programing as long as it keeps up with the times. The only thing wrong with test kitchens is that they tend to become dated. The primary thing that the American housewife wants new is her kitchen — ask any builder. What goes for the listener's home goes for her listening also. Her cooking instructor must be as up-to-the-minute as tomorrow's headlines. If the kitchen mentor is, she can, as Mary Lee Taylor does, deliver sales f)er can or package at less than one cent per dollar of sales. SPONSOR