Sponsor (Jan-June 1953)

a fairly "heavy" all-night show of classics called Music Through the Night. It had been, and still is, a very successful venture, with a client list of participating sponsors ranging from Bulova to Ronzoni. Listeners all over the country — and as far away as New Zealand— dial the show, and write effusive letters of praise. Another signpost that CBS and AA were on the right track was afforded by the sale of recorded music. With the advent of the LP records less than five years ago, the nationwide business in classical and semi-classical took a tremendous leap upward, and now amounts to more than $30,000,000 annually. The chief after-effect of the LP's has been to make the public more music-conscious, and to spur interest in radio musical shows of a concrete nature on the part of listeners. And, the boom in classical music has been nationwide. One of the country's leading record retailers, Sam Goody, whose New York store does a $3,000,000 retail-and-mail-order business in long-play records, told SPONSOR in a recent interview: "The public's taste in classical and semi-classical music is surprisingly uniform throughout the whole country. There seems to be very little in the way of 'sectional tastes,' unless you say that big-city music lovers are somewhat more sophisticated in their tastes than our small-town customers. People don't seem to tire of the old favorites either. Popular tunes come and go, but every day we get new orders for the classical standards like Nutcracker Suite and Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto.^ The result of all of the checkups was a musical format which AA is now using in all six of its markets. Here's how Ernest Hartman, who produces the "blueprint" all-night show for AA on New York's WCBS, explains it: "We're taking a real middle-of-the road approach in music. You might even call it the lowest common denominator. Its music almost everybody likes. I'm sure we're building a loyal audience among stay-up-laters, while stealing audiences from the existing jazz, long-hair, and personality shows after midnight." As the box on page 33 explains, AA's shows now feature a smooth blend of concert favorites, show tunes, operatic excerpts and popular movements of symphonic works. Trade surveys, record distributors and retailers, and audience mail are regularly checked to find out I a I what the public wants to hear, and I b I what the public pays its money for in record stores. Since this is no easy task, and because of the uniformitj of public taste for this type of music. WCBS carries the burden of music planning for all six shows. Selections are planned by Hartman and his staff in New York, and are made up in hour-long "concerts" in which there is a sort of sampling of all major types of music — ballet, movie music, light classics, etc. These lists are then mimeo'd, and copies are sent to the program chiefs of the other stations. They are not duty-bound to play every selection on the list in the order in which they appear. But if they stick pretty close to WCBS' music lists, they are at least assured of a musical program that has a high musical batting average. Talent policy: With the same care with which the musical format was selected, American Airlines chose carefully when it came to the announcers I Please turn to page 86) WDAY (FARGO, N. D.) IS ONE OF THE NATION'S MOST POPULAR STATIONS! An independent survey made by students at North Dakota Agricultural College among 3,969 farm families in 22-county area around Fargo proved is: WDAY is a 17-to-l favorite over e next station — is a 3!/2-to-l favorite er all other stations combined! NBC • 5000 WATTS 970 KILOCYCLES FREE & PETERS, INC. Exclusive National Representatives 4 MAY 1953 77