U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1961)

WHAT RATINGS CAN do They provide a measure of how effective a station is, programing in various time periods and whether a personality is doing the intended job. They can provide a barometer for the rise and fall of certain program types by indicating trends of acceptance. They can set up warning signs for sales problems. WHAT RATINGS CAN'T do Numbers are not a substitute for programing or selling. They will not help establish community identification. They will not establish listener and advertiser loyalty. They will not help create the necessary station sound image that influences and produces sales at the retail counter. They are not a substitute for imagebuilding promotion. The first and most important consists of creating excitement and strong interest for the medium through the development of an idea. The second half concerns itself with the justification of that original idea by analyzing cost, reach, frequency and other chiefly numerical evaluations. What radio must do — because its major media competitors are doing it or having it done for them by agencies — is to create dramatic interest for a campaign through "sound" selling copy, a marketing plan taking into consideration radio's ability to sell a specific product and a media plan designed to reach the advertiser's prime purchasers. Radio for too long has been selling itself solely on the basis of numbers. Alone among major media, radio has substituted the system for the purpose. Much like the science fiction stories of the runaway automatic brain that suddenly exercises suzerainty (sovereignty) over its operators, radio is all too often in the position where the numbers or ratings system — originally intended as a management tool and guide— has become more important than what the medium stands for and conveys. The rating services themselves are cognizant of this. Leaders of these services would be the first to agree — the use of ratings has been misdirected. It is interesting to observe that in its numbers dilemma, radio bears one of its very few similarities to tv. Let's set up a compact balance sheet: The assets and liabilities of numbers. Numbers have a most important place in radio management. And by this we mean both sales and programing. Numbers provide a measure of how effectively a station is programing in various time periods and or whether a particular personality is doing the intended job. Numbers can provide an important barometer for the rise and fall of certain types of programing by indicating trends of acceptance. This type of program forecasting is an invaluable tool in any alert operation. Numbers can also set up warning signs for sales problems ahead in certain time periods and segments. However, numbers are not a substitute for programing or selling. Numbers do not communicate information, entertainment, service, music, or commercials to listeners. Numbers are also not a substitute for image-building promotion. Numbers will not help establish communit) identification and they will not help create the necessary station sound image that influences and produces sales at the retail counter. Numbers will not establish listener and advertiser loyalty, that great intangible that creates awareness and moves people to buy. The true value of national spot radio advertising lies in its consideration as a medium of communication— its ability to reach people, its ability to influence and to produce impressions. The future of radio is unlimited. The movement of spot billings beyond its present level of $190 million —to S300 million or $500 millioncan be achieved. But only by putting the horse in front of the cart. Research or numbers should be used in support of the basic sales argument, but it should not be substituted for imaginative, aggressive selling of radio values. What can be done to bring about these changes as the medium digs in for the challenge of the future? For one thing, our Canadian broadcast brothers have a much more precise definition of spot radio. They call it selective radio. National spot radio should be looked upon as a dynamic, local force that can be selectively purchased by national clients according to desired 26 U. S. RADIO/August 1961