U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1961)

"I'm King Mike Ruler of Midas-Land, U.S.A. I've got the Golden touch on nearly 15 million subjects in my kingdom, who just can't help spending over 38 billion dollars a year. You'll see more and more of me in months to come. I'll be appearing on all mailings, ads, and awards of WNTA The Golden Sound of Radio. There's hidden treasure in Midas-Land, too' — Ask about our pinpointed coverage of Northern Jersey, Connecticut, and Brooklyn. For a Golden Opportunity write: WNTA RADIO 32 Green St., Newark 1. N.J. 970 AM 94.7 FM RADIO FOCUS/ideas members of a rescue part) and people who were I rappee! in an elevator for three hours. ... A telephone tip from a local merchanl alerted WEIM Fitchburg to a huge fire raging in nearby Ayer. Within 15 minutes, the station's mobile unit was on the scene. The unit fed four separate broadcasts to the Yankee network and lour other radio stations in the area. Aftet WEIM went off the air, the mobile unit remained at the fire gathering material for early morning broadcasts. The station capped its coverage with a report from a helicopter hovering overhead. A radical new approach to programing— an all-news station broadcasting 24 hours a day — is being attempted by a new station in Hollywood, X-TRA. To gel itself off the ground, the station launched an extensive advertising campaign in newspapers, trade publications, television stations, on billboards and with direct mailings to agencies and advertisers. It's still too early to gauge (he results ol the campaign. . . . Muzak celebrated its 25th anniversar) this month. Radio broadcasters, who double as dispensers of background music to restaurants and supermarkets, flocked to New York for the company's three-da) convention. Business The recent speech by FCC Chairman Newton Minow urging broadcasters to assume more responsibility in programing and other areas has prompted the Kansas Assn. of Radio Broad casters to issue six checkpoints for station operators. The group recommends that broadcasters: 1) check their latest license renewal to make sure today's operations conform to yesterday's renewal application; 2) schedule educational and cultural programing; 3) editorialize (The association says that it's clear the FCC wants stations to assume civic responsibilities and this includes editorials); 4) schedule programs about local issues — controversial and otherwise; 5) keep a file of letters to and from community leaders and organizations, indicating what the station has done to support local projects (This is especially helpful at license renewal time); 6) check technical and logging procedures closely, going over specific FCC rules with the entire staff. An unusual method of selling drains on a (oiisumei advertising program has been developed l>\ the R. M. Hollingshead Corp. foi its Whiz Automotive Chemical products. Whiz is bringing the sales pitch to the dealers via a mobile sales demonstrator in which the dealeis listen to samples ol the company's radio advertising and see product demonstrations. For the first time, Whiz is using local radio on a saturation basis with dealer tie-ins. A total of 12 markets, most l\ in eastern and central Pennsylvania, is being used by the company. Additional markets are scheduled for the fall and winter. Recent success stories: Moore's Furniture Store in Topeka swun^ a poit ion ol its advertising budget to WIBW with the result that the store equalled in 10 days the same sales it had made in 30 days at similar time last year. Moore is using two 30s and two ids per day with a total cost of $217. The results have prompted the client to cut his newspaper budget in half. . . . Within hours following the review of a new book on WSB Atlanta, all the book stores in the city reported they were sold out. The book reviewed was The Tractenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics. . . . KDKA has issued a promotional booklet, describing a success story for every letter of the alphabet. . . . The Georgia Assn. of Broadcasters enrolled its 100th radio station — WKIG Glennville — to become the fourth largest state broadcasting association in the country. . . . Charles C. Hoffman, a leading sales and business consultant in Canada, was named president of the newly formed Radio Sales Bureau. The Bureau was created to develop new sales techniques for Canadian stations. The first step in effort to make this fall "the biggest fall ever" for radio was taken by the Radio Advertising Bureau when it released plans for a massive direct mail campaign aimed at local advertisers. The RAB has prepared a direct mail package for stations that includes: fact sheets, sample letters, a mailing format and suggestions for successful selling drives. 38 U. S. RADIO/August 1961