Sponsor (July-Dec 1951)

S< ts I a l se 1 1 end kjter l/i. Inigkt In Ch \cugo I inn A eti in use Midnight-12 :15 a .m. 5.4 12:15-12:30 a.m. 5.6 12:30-12:45 a.m. 4.2 12:45-1 a.m. 3.6 1-1 :15 a.m. 2.2 1:15-1:30 a.m. 1.8 1:30-1:45 a.m. 1.6 1 :45-2 a.m. 1.4 Note: Multiply by 1.5 mi llion ra dio homes to get Hudiince projection. In Denver recently, all-night station KFEL surveyed 1.000 regular listeners to its Kilocycle Club, and showed up with the same trend. The regular audience— about 63.8% male and 36.2' , female — listened mostly from 11 to 12 p.m. < 86.1' < ). Then the curve went down. From midnight to 1 :00 a.m.. 75.9% of the regular fans tuned in. From 1 to 2 a.m., 47.6%; 2 to 3 a.m., 19.2%; 3 to 4 a.m., 12.0% ; and 4 to 5 a.m., 9.8%. Other station check-ups merely serve to confirm this fact: The biggest portion of after-midnight listening occurs up to about 2:00 a.m. After that (with some exceptions, of course) sets-in-use drops heavily. How does all this add up for the radio advertiser — particularly those who aren't users of after-midnight radio? It means that you can often get real results at low cost in post-midnight radio. Sealy Mattresses, for instance, were selling slowly in New York City, and opening new dealer outlets was a problem. The company turned to after-midnight radio, and WMCA's Barry Gray Show last year. Barry began to air a rotating (between midnight and 3 a.m.) series of announcements for Sealy, reaching the basicallyhome audience at a time when sleeping comfort was on its mind. Although the sponsor hasn't revealed how big a sales increase was achieved, its known IN DANVILLE, VA. BUY THE OLD ESTABLISHED ESTABLISHED 1930 HIGHLY RATED 52.8 AVERAGE WINTER 1951 ABC STATION WBTM HOLLINGBERRY that Sealy's business took a sizable leap upward, and real gains were made in opening new retail outlets. Schaeffer Brewing, to fill in between summertime baseball radio seasons, took the first half-hour of WOV's Ralph Cooper Show, aired from a Harlem cafe, last winter. Rates are some 20% lower than the lowest shown on the open WOV card rates, discounts are even more attractive and the show did so well for Schaeffer Beer that it now ranks number one in Harlem sales, while it is only number two or three for all of New York City. Other results, and other station rates are equally attractive. On WCKY, Cincinnati, for instance, the day-night minute announcement rates range from $50 in Class "A" to $25 in Class "C." On WCKY's popular Night Hawks (15 a.m.), minute announcements cost only $15 a piece. The program has 50,000 "members" with cards and it once pulled 17,752 orders in four weeks for a P.I. deal. Los Angeles' KNX, where the Jim Hawthorne Show entertains late-dialers from 12:05 to 1 a.m.. charges anything from $45 for a minute announcement in Class "E" time to $150 in Class "A." On the Hawthorne stanza. the minute rate is only $22.50 apiece. In Chicago, WBBM will usually charge you around $2,800 for seven quarterhour segments in Class "A" time on down to $700 or so in Class "E" time. WBBM's rates for the Matinee At Midnight show, which is changing its name to the Bill Wells Show soon, are only $250 for seven quarter-hours. WNOE, in New Orleans, has minute rates that vary from $20 apiece in Class "A" to $5.70 in Class "C." On WNOE's popular post-midnight show, Johnny Wright, the minute rate is $5.70 — but the audience is larger during most of the midnight-to-dawn than in the pre-midnight segments, such rabid fans does Wright attract. In Miami, Florida, WGBS— which airs the Alan Courtney Show each night from 11:20 p.m. to 2 a.m. — charges a descending one-minute rate that starts at $30 in Class "A." Minute announcements on the Courtney program, one of which packed a ladies apparel shop and sold 301 air-advertised dresses the next day. sell for $16. Shops like New York's Lewis & Conger have built a $900,000-annuallv business out of selling insomniacs evervthing from snore balls to 30 JULY 1951 ARTHUR PRYOR, JR. V.P. In Charge of Radio and TV Batten, liarton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc. LIKE MOST "Newsworthy" TV & RADIO EXECUTIVES Mr. PRYORS LATEST PUBLICITY PORTRAIT IS BY Photographer to the Business Executne 565 Fifth Ave., New York 17— PL 3-1882 75