Sponsor (July-Dec 1953)

MEN. MONEY i Continued from poge I ti > der-shrugging doctors who require al>■olute proof, \»n w as pointedl) -.n • castic. 1 1 there was, said he, as much ■•\ idem e ti> link Bpinach w iili stomach cancel .1 there was evidence to link. intemperate cigarette smoking with lung cancer, t h«-n the < 1 \ would 1 ing through the land, "Spinach must go!" But, sneered Norr, the tobacco industry enjoj i'iI I his phrase I addi< ts, apologists and sycophants. In short, in Norr alone, the tobacco industry has a formidable foe capable of mobilizing plent) of organized antagonism. The whole morbid maniacal fear of cancer plays into the hands of the temperance movement. Millions of church members are alread) conditioned to an attitude of disapproval. The dramatic issue of lung cancer, the dramatic diar) which 50,000 members of the American Cancer Societv arc keeping now — and for the nexl several years tracing individual deaths to smoking habits, all add up to a problem for the tobacco industr) in the immediate future. Is the tobacco industr) being too complacent about the threat? This columnist had an interesting discussion on tobacco's public relations problem with the PR officer of a big whisk) combine. He had been the neighbor at a banquet of a cigarette company vice president. Said the PR officer about the cigarette v. p.: "I tried to tell him that the same forces which promoted prohibition are being stirred up against cigarettes, but he only smiled. He said opposition to cigarettes was Epworth League, 1905, and had no real public support. 'You cannot convict a community, everybod) smokes!" was his attitude." The whisk\ man shook his head, considered this a case of none so blind as the\ who will not see. Not accidental, chums, not accidental at all have been the two recent attempts to get tobacco declared a "drug" by legal definition and thus subject to a whole new series of curbs upon its advertising claims! Watch this whole subject. It is a burning — pardon the pun — one. * * * SPONSOR ASKS ( ontinued 11 om pagt is nil soi lealei books eithei as a pur hasei oi set vice 1 lient. Howevei . in mosl ' ases, w ith the aura ill ■ onfusion thai exists, there are usuall) 1. nl\ a less leadei w ho are self-stai ihil' ami the others must be stimulated into making an extra Belling effort. Further, depending upon the speed with which it i desirable t" convert the market, the dealers' capacit) I numbei oi to hnicians emplo) ed and 1 1 u< k operated I for making conversions musl be Btudieil and possibl) temporaril) augmented. I he local dealers, in anticipation nt the advent oi a new I III station, should also acquaint their bankers with the unusual requirements of the situation m> that adequate financing ma) be arranged. The foregoing just about tells the -tor\ except for one other important conxersion factor the multiple-housing units. Buch as apartment buildings, lintels and housing projects. In the majorit) of instance the landlords prohibit tenants from using outside antennas because of the fire hazard and possible roof damage. The solution to this i the master antenna system and that calls for another educational job with the landlords. However, with the master antenna, the converting is done at the antenna and the apartment dweller with a \ I IF set has nothing to do, or buy. a* hi* set will receive the I HF signal on one of the unused \ Illchannels. Fred N. Dodge Director of Merchandising NBC, Sew Yorl a\rr ^ WIN I. Channel VLjv 54, located in Belleville, III., just six and a half miles frmn downtow n St. B ^^k Louis. grant It ~W^k ed it construc ■ /tfl L ,l"n permit on M mtk B November 2 0 . Mr. Hyatt 1952 and hit the air with commercial programing on Vugust 10. Due to delavs and deliver) of equipment we find, in looking back, that we have had over eight months during which time we have publicized and promoted I HF in this area in a very intense manner. hittinH the air with some where around 100,000 I III • 'hi round work a< tu ill) stai ted with the dealers and distributors Starting almost simultaneous!) with mil grant, tin exe< utives of \\ I \ I ii tended ever) dealei and distributoi meeting in tin area night aftei i We pointed out that ovei ': ,000 \ III Beta in use in the ' rreatei St I ouis area needed -nun type oi conversion. W e -iir n-d up .1 t remendous an nt nt enthusiasm w ith the dealei and distributors since oui market hid a high i urn entration of saturation, Bomew here around 82' i . m hi< h meant that the dealers and distributors were almost out of business Bhooting al an Hi' market. Now with the advent of I III the) wen back in business in a big way. \nd the) could look forward to conversion of existing sets and trade-ins of -even. 10 and 12-inch Bets (of which there were some 125,000 in use, all four or fi\ e j ear old ' for larger-screen I HF-YIIF sets. Also, that man) homes would now want a second set with the advent of a second station. Public enthusiasm was whipped up through a promotion campaign that started immediatel) after the Christmas holidays. We spent somewhere amund (100,000 in promotion of I HF through the use of almost ever) type of advertising media — newspaper ads, tens of thousands of Scotch-glow bumper tags, saturation radio campaigns, bus cards, department store promotions, such as a special I'HF Fair at the May Co. store in St. Louis, also a later promotion in the same store where we put all of our studio equipment on display, closed circuit telecasts in department store-, special se< tions in local daily paper and weekl) communit) newspapers on I'HF and W INI. window streamers and decals for taverns, dealers and service companies promoting I'HF and our programing—particularly sports and the fact that we were carrying a full -<hedule nf Major League baseball. We now have learned that amund 90^3 <>f all new television sets sold in St. I. oui since January 1 have I'HF built in. which gave US a fixing start of -ome 30,000 tn 10,000 Sets now in use with I'HF built in. in addition to the tremendous amount of strips, plugs and all-channel converters sold in the area that put us up around 100.000 I HF units in the St. Louis area. John I. Hy\tt General Sales Manager WTVL St. Louis 7 SEPTEMBER 1953 85