U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1959)

EDITORIAL • • • profile of radio WHAT DO ADVERTISERS THINK? With advertisers devoting grc.iicr attention to the spending of their advertising dolhirs, u. s. RADIO has attemjned to ascertain what the man who loots the bill thinks ol radio (see p. 41). In a survey of 25 advertisers, who range from I jig radio users to non-users, the results were most revealing. These results offer a guidepost for future action by radio and the advertising industry that cannot go unnoticed. Briefly, the resuhs show ihai advertisers overwhelmingly believe radio is an effective advertising medium. liut underlying this faith is the fact that these companies also feel that radio programming coidd be improved. In addition, many believe much radio fare has a sameness in sound. ROAD AHEAD What these firms are looking lor in radio is difficult to say. But the fact remains that many advertisers believe radio "sounds the same" and this will have to be reckoned with. It could be that advertisers have not been made aware of the changes in radio that competition has forced. In another vein, many advertisers state the belief that advertising agencies are underselling radio. Assuming this is no less factual than the radio programming issue, it confirms what radio executives have felt for some time. Radio salesmen, for example, have been spending more time at the advertiser level than ever before in the history of the medium. Advertising agencies are urged to open their doors and their thinking to today's radio story. There is no medium that has spent the time and creative effort to establish itself with the Amer ican puijlic in the local marketplace. Its story is an exciting one. FM LAUNCHING 1 he newly-established National Association of Fin Broadcasters has Ijrought together at last a unified fm front. (See Report on FM, p. 85.) It is a movement that is sorely needed and one that took a long time to evolve — from the former Fm Development Association and then the Fm Association of Broadcasters. What fm needs — and has never had — is an intensified, uniform sales campaign directed at agencies on every city's Ad Row. But before the selling effort begins, the association has wisely decided to create a war chest of about $250,000, much of it to be earmarked for a special research project that will evaluate tlie fm medium and its audience. The enthusiasm the fm operators displayed at the organizational convention is strong testimony that the fm medium may finally receive the attention it has lacked. PUBLIC SERVICE In its third annual public service programming conference, the ^V'^estinghouse Broadcasting Co. has in itself performed a public service — for the industry (see Legal Necessity or Boost for Business? p. 56) . Radio can take encouragement in the fact that its attendance at this year's meeting was 50 percent greater than last year's. 92 U. S. RADIO • October 1959