Sponsor (July-Dec 1951)

SPONSOR SPEAKS Hold on tight, boys ["here's a whirling, twirling, mile-aminute, watch-where-you're-going year ahead foi I \ adv ei tisers. It's a 5 ear <>f standout pioneer opportunities. But ii also .1 year of standout pratfall?. "> ou'll have to look shai p. II \ "ii'n < ounting on a year of 10<"> television stations in 62 major markets start revising your estimate upward now. The FCC, and particularly 1 hairman \\ a) ne Co) . is in no mood to let grass grow under its feel with t l<> lifting the freeze and. once that dune, granting construction permits. Wayne Coy's target date for freeze lifting i earl) February. Don't !■■■ surprised to sec T\ stations on the air in such now non-TV arras as Denver. Portland, El Paso, Spokane, Des Moines b) late summer. Manx a station manager has told us that his equipment is alread) bought, his buildad) and waiting, and that he'll 1"' on the air b) the grace of the FCC within 30 or nil days after getting lii~ grant. first of the l(r>2 crop of new stations will be in the TV-less sectors, for the FCC is giving these top priority. You'll be surprised at the heavy volume of TV sets already installed as the first station takes the air in Portland or Denver. Aided by citizen groups and the manufacturing companies. T\ applicant firms have been bard at work conditioning their markets to a high pitch of TV excitement. \\ hat should the advertiser interested in new TV markets do about all this? First, work closely with your advertising agency in following developments once the freeze is off. Check the stations and markets granted. Make contact with key station personnel. If you're investing a substantia] sum in air advertising, we can suggest nothing better than adding a radio and TV specialist to your staff who can coordinate with the agenc) and tour the stations of the nation on your behalf. There has been a marked though quiet trend in tins direction in the past few years — and the reports indicate that station managers, and commercial managers I being human I display a normal response to the personal touch of your own representative. The cost of television, both time and programing, will be a continuing and increasing dilemma to many an advertiser. How the cost structure will develop as more and more stations move into the medium is conjectural, and will be the subject of top research and analysis during the year. Yet. like all other media, television will find its proper level in the c nurse of time. On the radio front there will be much confusion as additional TV stain ms enter many a market. The '"survival ol the fittest era" will then have begun in earnest. Right now stations who intend to be around when the smoke of battle clears are clearing their decks for the competitive radio station struggle. One astute station manager tells sponsor, just as we write this, that he is building a news gathering operation that will compete with the daily newspaper in his local community, and he expects to beat them at their own game. He's dropping all of bis network programing in the p.m. emphasizing music. In the evening he highlights sports. Is radio really coming back in TV homes? That's a question that is being answered every day as additional analyses come to light. In the lead story of this issue, eight such studies, all recently completed, point to the marked increase in listening in TV homes. It is well to note that the average TV home has more secondary radio sets than the radio home; that according to the joint CBS-NBC Study 77% of all listening in TV homes is on secondary sets. Whether you, as an advertiser, are willing to accept the concept that there is a valid evening radio opportunity in a TV market depends in large measure on (1) the degree to which you accept the research now being done on this subject (2) your individual impression of how much listening constitutes a valid radio opportunity. In the case of FM. which by now has gone into 25% or more homes in some markets, barely a national advertiser yet accepts the medium as a valid advertising opportunity. This may change as more FM facts come to light in 1952. Merchandising, especially by the networks, will expand during the newyear. Programing seems due for a rejuvenation. 1952 will be a great year for air advertisers. The opportunities are main. But be careful. Applause The rep steps out Vlmosl overnight, ii seems, the -i i tion representative field • I >< > 1 1 ■ radio ■ nd I \ has expanded it horizons. Motivated parti) b) the evolution of die business, bul also b\ a rapidl) blossoming matui it) . the men who not long Bgo limited their activities to selling national spol time for lie statio is the) represent have branched out in a hundred different wa) s. \n<l even b is designed to make the time they sell more productive for the sponsor. Many representatives, such as Weed, Katz. CBS Spot Sales. Adam Young. Free Si Peters, are turning out research projects thai agencies and advertisers use as important tools. Blair helps its stations with program guidance that interprets the sales needs of advertisers in New ^ nik. Chicago, Detroit. San I rancisco and elsewhere. Pearson puts out a weekly newsletter. H-R Representatives. NBC Spot Sales, Harrington-Righter-Parsons, Forjoe, Petry. Walker. Branham, Avery-knodel. ABC Spot Sales, Raymer, Meeker, Hollingbery, Rambeau, National Time Sales. Headley-Reed, Capper. Radio Representatives, Cooke. Boiling, and others each have more projects working to assist station and sponsor than we can recount. 76 SPONSOR