Sponsor (Jan-Apr 1958)

A LOOK AT TOMORROW'S RADIO it the meeting of the Ohio Association of Broadcasters in Cleveland last ueek. Gerald Kartell of the liarlell Family Radio made some interesting predictions about the future of radio. Here is an excerpt from Hart ell's talk. Gerald Bartell Tomorrow's radio will be marked bv a happier union of interests between ownership and its people, with considerably more generous rewards for effective effort. We are heading, in short, for the era of professionalism in our industry on a local level. The day of "accommodation programing" for an advertiser or agency is passe, although a sponsor who is willing to pay for a daily half hour of curling, cribbage, and whist scores from around the city will somehciw find stations to take his money and program ideas. Refinement of program materials based upon audience sampling and testing will become the not-so-secret weapons of the avant garde. The era of talent selection based upon chance remarks is not in the books for tomorrow's leaders. Have \on heard, ""Dear, 1 think your newsman is much too intense — especially Foi breakfast." Aside from facilities variations, ever) Btation in every market will have essentially the Bame opportunity for program and sales success. I nless the course of history is revere i. there'll be n<. programing leg-up by network alliliation. ()nl\ imagination, study, production, salesmanship — all on a local level, with a sensitive finger on the pulse of the people to indicate the next move. I'm not disposed to criticize research that leads to a successful conclusion. But I'm confidently looking toward a perfected method of program previewing by which management is given an indication of audience preference. I suppose it's somewhat like the Broadway producer trying his show in Boston or Philadelphia before it opens in New York. For a half dozen years, Bartell Family Radio has conducted response samplings of this kind, and I expect we get closer to a valid method with every session. But procedures are at best undisciplined, and responses quite random. Yet how much more valid than a programing predicted exclusively upon a tabulation of the records purchased by youngsters in their early teens! This does not necessarily preclude the enjoyment of this music by adults. But the unweighted extension of the teenage taste to include all age groups — and then to program those records exclusively— is an erroneous conclusion based upon a specious premise. Leaders of tomorrow's radio will not be formula operators as we know them today. The emergence of a dynamic programing based upon the ebb and flow of audience response factors is inevitable. And this is a much harder way of operating a radio station, but it's a lot more rewarding from many viewpoints: (1) It builds manpower by making radio people react quickly and intelligently to a changed set of circumstances. Since this reaction must be motivated by understanding, each of the elements in the personnel structure of the radio station must be convinced. In that process are molded the patterns of creative thinking as well as the sinews of company loyalty. (2) It forces constant analysis of the audience and audience potentials. Instead of looking at his audience from the Olympus of his office window, management will mingle and jostle and rub shoulders and knock knees and analyze. (3) It makes more money because a sales organization alert to change understands dollars and cents and how to make more of them. ^ Plymoutl ■ ^lymouth. caught in a sales slump with other automobile makers, made a dramatic off-season entry into spot radio last week. Beginning Monday, 7 April, it launched a campaign to run for eight weeks on 55 stations in 20 major markets. The campaign represents a significant expenditure. The company will not disclose the spot budget, but sponsor estimates it to be in excess of $190,000. Plymouth is no stranger to spot radio; no auto manufacturer is. But traditionally automakers concentrate their spot activity at introduction time, that is when their new models come out each fall. The company will not confirm that this is the largest spot buy (outside of introduction time) in Plymouth's history, but it does admit that there's been nothing as consequential in the past three to four years. In the past, when auto manufacturers used spot radio, they tended to stick to traditional sales points — style, performance or economy in buying and operating. About the only variation came toward the end of the model year, when the inducement of a high trade-in value for a present car toward a new one was stressed. Timely theme This new campaign is based on a different theme: "Today's Best Buy — Tomorrow's Best Trade." L. T. (Lou) Hagopian, Plymouth director of advertising and sales promotion, believes the theme has a timely value in view of the current tight market in new auto sales. He explains the idea this way: "Auto buyers today are more interested than ever in value. For that reason we are confident that this campaign will re-emphasize that Plymouth offers more for the money to buy and trade than competitive automobiles." SPONSOR • 19 APRIL 1958