Sponsor (Nov 1948-June 1949)

at the I niversit\ of Illinois which has just published results of this stud\ in a bulletin called Qualitative Analysis of Radio Listening in Two Illinois Counties. Something about owning a show, or being responsible for keeping it sold, seems to inspire a producer to something slight!) more than paternal interest in what a writer does with the story. Ed Wolf of Wolf Associate-, a successful package producer for man) \ears, once conceived an idea for a serial about young twin orphans. He hired Addie Richton and I Aim Stone in 1936 to work out the idea in detail, and the\ "founded" a home for children, Hilltop House, at Glendale. U.S.A.. and built a stor) around the people in it. Wolf, who is no one to hang onto an idea just because it's his own. promptly abandoned his twins, adopted Hilltop House with Selena Royle as matron, and eventually sold the show to Benton X Bowles for Palmolive soap. Miss Royle had auditioned the show, which won out in competition with two others in final audience tests. But Palmolive had alreadv bought Bess Johnson I the voice that built four plants for l.ad\ bsthei i. Mi- Johnson took, over the kiddies at a salar\ of $1,500 a week. She ran Hilltop with an unshaken touch even through an amazing sequence, cooked up and seasoned b) Wolf, about a baby heiress foundling kidnapped b\ gypsies. He continuoiish admonished the writers to "keep it down in the cellar, girls." But Wolf, being a man of integrity, did insist that the cellar be clean and the people in it decent. One da\ at an agency meeting it w as decided that Hilltop could easily top the David Haruin give-away of a horse a week. Hilltop, for three soap bands and a prize letter, could give a baby a week! Everybody was enthusiastic — everybody, that is. but the writers. The) were horrified. They were commanded to interview a child-care organization in Manhattan, which represented ageneies in nearl) ever) state. The organization threatened to fight the project state by state. The agency and Wolf settled for an imitation jade pin. The program went off the air in 1941 when the Palmolive account moved to the Ward Wheelock agency. I he) demanded a cut in the budget I around $2,400 a week, minus Bess Johnson I which Woll wouldn't make. Ward Wheelock hired Miss Johnson lor another show, and Hilltop House couldn't be sold soon thereafter because it was identified too closel) with her. It was off the air until May, 1948. Miles Laboratories began sponsoring it in September of that year for Alka-Seltzer, and has held the program since then. \ qualitative test of the show b\ the Schwerin Research Corporation has revealed that listeners have a positive likina for the leading male character. Mike Paterno. Mike is a lawver who is in love with Julie Ericksen, the angel of Hilltop House. But Mike is no ordinary soapland lawyer Addie Richton and Lynn Stone are developing him as a man with a personalit) of his own. a man not onl) capable but also willing to make decisions on his own and stick by them. This, being contrary to the traditional treatment of men in soap opera, is an indication that not every stor) must necessarily make an appeal through the device of spineless males. The same Scherwin tests revealed that As always, the new Charlotte Hooper* shows WBT is the biggest attraction in town. With ratings soaring as high as 20.6 by day and 31.1 by night! No freak peaks these. Day mid night, all through the week, H BT gets the lion's share of the listeners. A 311.7' ( bigger average audience than mi. other stations combined. Way bigger than the next station by a rip-roaring 152.9' , ! (Outside Charlotte, in 91 other high-income Carolina counties, 50,000-watt W BT has \ irtually \<> competition from other Charlotte stations!) Want to make your product the center of attraction in the Carolinas? Sign up with u or Radio Sales. */)./. 1948 Ftb 1949 Jefferson Standard WBT Broadcasting Company .}(>.()()() wall • Charlotte. N. C. • Kepre-eiilcd by Radio Sales