Sponsor (Jan-June 1953)

a share of stock. If no one answers or if the answer is not known, the share of stock is carried over to the next program and added to the prize pot. I Employees who have no telephone are contacted personally . I Tas it been effective? You bet. The slogan is usually known on the first try. Employees are tearing down posters, taking them home and posting them over their telephones. Some PR problems are touch) and complicated, but program answers can be found for them. Take the case of the pineapple companies of Hawaii. Their labor situation is potential 1\ more explosive than is generally found on the mainland. The workers speak a Filipino dialect lllocano). They are spread out on plantations over a number of islands. Their union, the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, is very active with PR on the radio itself, has three regular programs: two daily, one weekly. The pineapple companies have two regular programs. One is Hawaii and the World Today, a 15-minute daih news and commentary broadcast over the Aloha Network, a chain of four stations on four islands. Jovce O. Roberts of the companies' industrial relations committee, in explaining the program, said: "This broadcast of ours is now in its third year and has had to cope with a number of PR considerations ranging from the establishment of credibility to handling the current local Smith Act trial in which the regional director of the ILWU is one of seven defendants. The union's claim that the trial is part of an employer plot to bust the union naturall) posed some questions for us in handling the trial. The indications are that we have so handled it as to gain increased credibilit) e\en among union members — an asset for the future. "The program has been used for a variety of purposes: general goodwill 1>\ participation in. and promotion of, community events: telling the industry story; and. on occasions, entering into direct conflict with union propaganda when such seemed necessan . The other program is more colorful, and affords a more complex case study. It is a daily half-hour program in Ilocano and has been on the air for five years. It is beamed at 10.000 plantation and cannery workers, primarily the former. The plantation audience, said Jovce, "is the largest single ele ment and the tnosl complex from the industrial relations standpoint. Language, race, illiteracy, feelings of discrimination, isolation, and sex frustration for many are all involved — and these elements have all been considered in our programing. Since field work usual!) sti>|» at 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. the program is broadcast from 5:00-5:30 p.m. when the men are at home preparing for their earl) evening meal. The show uses a man and young Filipino girl. Each day's program includes a liirlhday part) for employees. The length of time both programs have been on the air testifies to the importance of the PR problem in the islands. But many firms are coming around to the feeling that PR on the air should always be a 52-week affair, that the problems PR tries to solve are not temporary but a part of the dail) routine of operating a business. Most PR men agree that, as far as the subject of PR techniques on the air goes, the surface has just been scratched. The possibilities for imaginative use of PR on the air are considered wide open. But there is also the belief that the stations themselves could do more to attract PR sponsors. One of those railing upon stations to do a better job in selling PR is A. A. Schechter, head of A. A. Schechter Associates public relations firm and a former vice president ol both \l!< and MBS. "One reason win I'K isn I used more on radio and T\ ."" said Schechter, "is that stations have been slow to dramatize the possibilities of BR. Stations have the brains and program knowhow but the) miss main opportunities. "A 52-week campaign is fine for some sponsors but retailers for examine, could make better use of special events without necessarily trying to sell anything specificalK . Stations could sell PR spots to department stores on Mothers Day. "Advertisers with regular commercial programs could also do themselves a lot of good by inserting PR messages on occasion. Why cant a bread company advertising on TV come up with a good film showing how bread is prepared and packaged?" Schechter pointed out that such a film should entertain as well as inform. He stressed that PR sponsors must never lose sight of the fact that BR programing should be able to compete in attracting audiences. * * * 1000 WATTS Charleston's most far reaching station PAL fc root "83% of the audience in Coastal Carolina is made up either of the industrial worker or the negro. "WPAL is the only station catering to that market exclusively. "and, it's the big, buying audience. "Result — results!" of CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA Forjoe and Company S. E. Dora-Clayton Agency All this and Hoopers too! 1 JUNE 1953 65