Sponsor (Jan-June 1951)

i Once, w hen Sp »0-da) con test asking listei i \unt Jen ny's new-born grandchild for a $10.000 prize, it re. >54,503 name suggestions. ' II: ram is some what different from isl daytime serials in that each ej ists from three to 10 days, thei with a new ston encompassing new characters. However, it sticks to the folks) formula in the sense that Aunt Jenny, the sage of Littletown, warns hoosier citizens against leaving town to go to nearby Metropole, a combined Sodom and Gomorrah, bristling with pitfalls. Although it might not seem apparent at first, the radio and T\ Big Town programs arc also directed to womenfolk. As one Lever executive puts it. "\\ e use onl\ good, clean gore — for fear of alienating sensitive women. rhere's nothing messy about our murders. Actually, the T\ Big Town is directed toward the whole family. Assistant account executive Burghard explains it this wa\ : "We have to appeal to both Mom and Dad on a nighttime l\ show. Otherwise, if it had too feminine a slant. Dad would want to SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA'S P«Uie&l RADIO STATION *C. E. HOOPER, Inc. Get the entire story from FREE & PETERS CBS • 5000 WATTS • 960 KC Owned and Operated by the TIMES-WORLD CORPORATION J ROANOKE, V A . tf FREE & PETERS. INC., National Representatives 1 turn the set to another, more robust type program. If Mom were sharing the set with him. she might be willins lo agree — to keep peace in the house." 1 his policy seems to have worked out well. The TV show gets a high Nielsen rating of 37 to 40. and. according to R & R. a 4(>rf female listenership. which virtually equals the Kate Smith Show. Of interest to other sponsors is the fact that Lever does not simulcast its ladio and TV Big Town. Different networks and even different casts of characters are used. On radio, Walter Y Greaza plays Steve Wilson, the managing editor, and Fran Carlton. Lorelei. On TV. Pat McVey is Wilson, and Mar) Kay Wells his Girl Friday. Interestingly. Steve Wilson was changed from an editor to a reporter on TV. in order to make his wide-ranging traveling seem more authentic. In fact, the TV version places far more stress on atmospheric validitx than the radio one: its newspaper office furniture was exhumed from the defunct New York Sun. and a '"spotter." Bill Markham, is hired just to discover New ^ ork landscape than can be filmed for the show in the documentary tradition of House on 92nd Street and Call A orlhside 777. \\ hat of the future of Rinso-Sprvs broadcast advertising? From all appearances, it would seem that Lever will stress daytime radio and nighttime T\ . "We particularly like the time slot of Aunt Jenny" says Bloomquist. "because that daytime period is most apt to withstand longest the inroads of TV" Moreover, it would seem that Lever is tending more to regard radio and TV as a fusion of advertising media, rather than complementary ones. In this connection. Bloomquist does not believe that the recent CBS rate slash will tend to hypo radio network sales. "With I\ time and talent costs rising increasingly." he says, "the recent radio rate cut does not compensate for the total amount of money that a sponsor must spend, if he wants to buv both radio and TV." It is significant that George Duram. a leader in the ANA rate-slashing project, is media director of Lever. Finally, in the long-range future, consider this straw in the wind for Rinso-Spry advertising. Savs Bloomquist. with a heavy stress on his words: "Were very much interested in the \ast possibilities of color TV" * * * 6-1 SPONSOR