U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1960)

NIGHTTIME (Cont'd from p. 55) though it seems difficult to get national agency acceptance for this con cept, local advertisers know its value and use it. "All-night listeners represent an intimate and loyal audience. For them, radio fulfills its true role of being a real companion. For example, we find there are men listening at work while their wives are listening at home. From an advertising point of view, we have found an added advantage to all-night radio. Personnel who are busy during the day and never get a chance to hear their company's campaign can tune in and listen to the connnercial. This proved particularly important \\ith a bread company sponsor ol outn." Last October, following a year of the all-night show, called Music 'Til Dawn, the station decided to conduct a survey of its own. A telephone call-in study was conducted between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. There were as many as seven people answering the phones at one lime as the station held many games and giveaways. The surveyors accepted cose to 1,000 telephone calls during this time. In addition to the people at home, WISH compiled a list of 29 business and civic establishments which had personnel calling in. These included police headcpiartcrs in five different communities, the Elv I.illv Co., (hain food stores such as A&P and Kroger, and International Harvester and Chrysler plants, among others. Mr. Ohleyer states that we have found that all-night radio should not be essentially different from the rest of the broadcast day. "We feature steady broadcasts of news, weather and sports, along with good music and a heavy sprinkling of quizzes and games to keep the listeners on their toes. After all, these listeners are no different than the people who listen to radio during the day." And underscoring the importance of nighttime radio, Mr. Ohleyer declares, "Here is an opportunity to reach an audience that is unavailable at any other time of the day." • • • report from Bright Picture of Radio's Future Painted by Petry's Holmes Radio's role in the next 10 years, as an advertising, entertainment and service medium, is painted in vivid colors by Ben H. Holmes, vice president in charge of radio for Edward Retry &; Co., Inc. "In 10 years," Mr. Holmes predicts, "radio will reach more people, more often and in more places than any means of comnuMiicaiion that might be devised. .No kind of technological progress by any medium will top the ubic]uity of tiie wrist watch or lapel radio. Radio will become a practical nenccessity." Speaking before the Omaha .\dvertising Chd), Mr. Holmes said that there are now about ir)0 million radio sets in use, with 16 million neAV sets sold each year. "In 1970 there will probably be alK)ut 250 million radio sets, and 25 million more sold each year. Leisure Prosperity "In the next 10 years, fewer people will be woiking less hoins to produce more and better goods. This spells a leisure prosperity, and means that advertising will occupy an increasingly important role in maintenance of the vigorous economy predicted," Mr. Holmes states. He believes that radio is "singularly designed to accompany and augment" this economy which will be based on higher productivity and shorter working hours. As an example of this, he points out that 70 percent of the seven million boats that were in use last year had radios on board either as built-in sets or portables. Radio programming in the next decade, according to Mr. Holmes, will improve but not undergo a great deal of change. "In major metropolitan centers, there will probably be even more specialization than today. But there will still be general interest stations. These will most likely be the same stations that operate with high standards of cjuality today." Turning to audience measurement techniques, the Petry executive believes that improvements will be made. "The preseiuly growing emphasis on cjualitative rather than entirely cjuantitative research will probably see a healthy fruition iir the next decade. "One of the agonies that afllicts ladio today is the complexity of rati cards and billings. I think that elecI ionic means are part of the answer to this. Stations are daily trying to simplify rate struc tures, and perhaps large central billing agencies will be jointly supported by media and advertising agencies." Focusing on still another portion of the radio picture, he offers the opinion that in the past few years many agencies have "ended their neglect" of radio copy. "The trend has just begun, and in the next 10 years one can expect revolutionary new copy approaches. "The demand for drive time will be diminished, and more nighttime radio will be purchased. The only reason that the nighttime radio audience is not more often sought by today's advertiser," Mr. Holmes suggests, "is that he doesn't believe the same research that guides his daytime purchasing. "Research done has already demonstrated that the optimum exposure for the advertiser seeking to reach the middle income male is not a spot at 7 a.m. and another at 7:45 a.m., but one at 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., usually at great economy to the advertisers. The housewife is there all day long. There are virtually no youngsters between 8:.S0 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. An advertiser can aim his message with deadly accuracy, and that spells economy as well as efficiency." • • • 56 U. S. RADIO March I960.