Variety (Dec 1939)

Wcdnesdaj, December 6, 1939 SHOlimANSinP SURVEY VARIETY 2S LOCAL STATION IDEAS (Program Tieups, Attention-Getters) BUILD AN IDEA FILE Various radio stations clip and paste on small cards suitable {or box files the various program, civic gesture and novelty items as carried in this department of Varietv. Point of having on idea file is that o oood possiWlitv for local adaptation is often not practical for a station at the time the item is published, but thot later on it may be iisable. Meontime Variety is always receptive to information of this char- acter, all of tuhich contributes in the aggregate to better showmanship. -f-^ : Report for 1939 .Continued from page 22. Pointed Showmanship Comment WbBt'i RIeht with U.S.A. St. Louis. Cai'tin.S. French, advertising man- aeer o( WTMV in Easl St. Louis, is issuing a weekly rnimeograph bulle- tin tagged 'Good News of the Week,' which comprises items from many parts of the U. S., based on authen- tic data, showing the upswing in hir.. Bulletin is u.<!ed by French's sales force and distributed additionally to business men in the territory re- gardless of whether they are WTMV clients. Station reports that two re- cipients have asked permission to reproduce it for distribution to their prospects. erns, represented by slip, and an- nouncement 's made that a bottle of the sponsor'i product will be dished out cufTo t» the next 50 customers who visit tu'erns. Prosram features Mary Alcolt, songbird, -^.ith 10-piece orch directed by RoUa Coughlin. Prie-Clirlslmas Toy Show Milwaukee. 'Billie the Brownie,' traditional pre-Christmas program to promote the toy department of Schuster's de- partment stores, returned to. WTMJ here Thursday (16) for Its eighth consecutive year. Program draws approximately 50,000 letters annual- ly from kids. With Larry Teich as m.c, show embraces Santa Claus, 'Billie' and Metik, the Eskimo, and traces their adventures at the North Pole and subsequent trip to Milwaukee. The six-week series on WTMJ is cli- maxed by a mammoth parade, with floats on electric flat cars, through downtown. I(<l|>hi(r Open a Store San Antonio. KTSA helped open the remodeled Karotklii Furniture Store here with four special programs plus Karot- kin's regular 'Man On the Street' broad':ast. At 8:15 a.m., opening day, progiiim director Bill Bryan con- ducted-inler'view o( the management and employees in the store. At 10:15 Jack Mitchell, production manager, handled a 'Roving Microphone' job among, customers for 30 minutes. 'Man On the Street' asked contest- ants their reasons for patronizing the store. Old Clothei f«r Admission New Orleans. Beginning Saturday, Dec. 2 and continuing until Christmas, admis- sion price to the WWL Dawn Busters* Saturday morning two hour show •will be old clothes, broken toys, or dolls. Station will have toys repaired and clothes flxed up for distribution to poor on Christmas eve. Beer-Tavern Stunt St. Louis. KWK and the Grlesedieck Bros. Brewing Co. have cooked up a pro- gram tagged 'The Barrel Roll' that has a sock merchandizing angle and is packing 'em in at local taverns. Every tavern in town is represented by a number marked on slips kept In a locked barrel. During every program, six nights weekly, the bar- rel is spun around and 10 slips are drawn. Name and address of tav- 'Sunrise' Show at 9 P.M. St.' Paul. Putting on it's early morning show at 9 o'clock in the evening is WCCO's plan to increase its 6 to 7 a.m. audi- ence. Tonight (21) WCCO aired 'The Sunrisers' at 9-9:30 p.m., telling its' listeners that starting the next morn- ing (22) at 6 to 6:45, that's the cali- bre entertainment they could expect to hear d^ily. Music Appreciation Tie-Up San Antonio. . One of the local dailies is con- ducting a music appreciation cam- paign offering for a small sum a complete album of master recordings consisting of works of several out- standing authors together with a portable phonograph which, can be attached to any radio. WOAI has tied up with campaign. Presented the flrst In the series of platters which are being offered. In a half-hour broadcast the complete program of Schubert was presented. At the Police Station Detroit. As a public servlc* program, WXYZ and its state web Is Inaugu- rdting a 13-week series of broadcasts direct from Michigan state police headquarters In Lansing, covering various phases of organization. Pro- grams will be conducted by Howard Finch, special events chief at WJIM, Lansing, and Lieut. Harold Mulbar, authority on lie detector. was also able to add to its already intensive war news broadcasts by ethering several interview."; with ar- rivals from Europe. WCAU used its mobile unit only once during the year, it does its share of filling waslebaskets with expensive bro- chures. KYW continued to show increa.s- ing liveliness and enterprise since its separation from it.<i management tie-up with WCAU. The station ex- panded its facilities for handling news and it hypoed its farm and music broadcasts, besides capitaliz- ing on Philadelphia's unusual sym- phonic music libraries and re- sources, as well as working out tie- ups with various stores and sponsors. Without any network or station affiliation, WDAS again waged an aggressive showmanship campaign, particularly in adapting its policies to local conditions. This was es- pecially notable in the case of pro- gram planning. For example, dur- ing the afternoon hours, when rival stations were carrying baseball games, WDAS concentrated on popu- (By Stations) New Sparklers Notable cases of stations perk- ing up during 1939 in one way or another: KOB, Albuquerque, N. Mex. WCPO, Cincinnati. WING, Dayton. WNOE, New Orleans. WQDM, St. Albans, Vermont. WTAG, Worcester. WNAX, Yankton, S. D. KFBK, Sacramento. WNYC, New York City. WMPS, Memphis. lar music to catch the non-basebalL overflow. Similarly, during the hours when dramatic seriaKs are heard over the networks, WDAS pushed symphonic music through recordings. Both policies drew ready sponsorship. With iU foreign lan- guage following, WDAS also cashed in on transatlantic war news. Be- cause of its limited resources, the station must depend on. resourceful- ness and opportunism. It has had an enviable record therein. WIP, which is affiliated with WMCA, New York, jumped in with the flrst local all-night every-night program and appeared to cash in di- rectly with sponsorship and in- directly through opening up a new listening audience for itself. Station also applied for a power increase and added a number of physical ex- tensions to its facilities. Continued its record of liveliness and determi- nation in keeping the station in the local eye. WPEN expanded its news coverage and went in strongly for a complete recorded library. MIMEOGRAPH-THEY CALL IT PUBUCITY Last year Vakietv in it.s Sliowmanship Re- port pointed out how amateiirisli were mos.t of the promotional brochures, booklets, leaf- lets and ntailinp pieces designed and sent out by radio stations. Not much change \vas noted this year (although fewer samples were submitted to Variety), but this year tlie low estate of tiic radio press agent in his own or- ganization seems to warrant parenthetical consideration. Not to beat about the bush the typical local radio station regards its press agent as strictly a slcncil-cuttcr. It is pretty clear that the press agent is sel- dom told to wear a clean collar the next day because he may be invited into tiie front of- fice. With crushing condescension one sta- tion in Oregon reported: 'when the publicity department is needed, the director is called into conference.'- There seems small tendency to believe that the prcs.s agent has or should.have any right to know what management is thinking about or periiaps to contribute to management thought. lie or she is primarily expected only to send out news releases as aiid when, authorized (and the wording okayed) by somebody important.^ This confirms a sus))icion that generally ijjcaking the press agent is unaware of what's going on. lie or she is apt to be withotit prestige with the station, without authority tOk^ct) without real participation in plainn'iig or decision e.xcept to the extent that the press agent is primarily sometliing else, as for ex- ample, program director, secretary to the gen- eral manager, sales director, etc. In only one reported case was the station pul)licist on the board of directors and in that case he was the son of the owner. The lack of standing of the press agent has its natural consequences in the impractical and largely thoughtless mimeograph so plen- tifully supplied the newspaper wa.-itcbaskets. Unable to get any real news cleared through the top execs and unwilling to risk individual action without okays the publicity directors turn to the trite and the unimportant in an cfl'ort to publicize the station. In some cases the i)ublicily director, in desperation, at- tempts to Create occasions for station men- lion by perpetrating more of llujsc looncy '.■itnnts' which aiccomplish litlle as a rule. In some few cases tlie job of the station press agent is not to go to town fur the sta- tion it.self or even to collaborate with adver- tising agencies but to further the |)(M-.<onal (in politics, in society, etc) side of the boss' private life. Rducalional Groups Must Meet Test 'In the past year WCCO has arrived at a new policy with regard to edu- cational programs which, though it reduced the number of broadcasts each, week, should result in an improvement in the station's service to education. Broadcasts are no longer scheduled simply becau.se they secure the partici- pation of some school or £ivic group as siich. Nor are they scheduled for a group whose appeal is purely local. 'Instead we are demanding that educational and welfare groups shall demonstrate their ability to produce a worthwhile program and that the idea they present shall have a regiorial rather than local appeal. In con- sequence such incidents as the state Parent-Teachers Association prepar- ing to audition a program for WCCO's production department are how the order in educational atTairs.' —Enrl Gaiiiiitoiis. WCCO, Miitneapolis. « • * They Applaud Silently 'We foel that mail should no longer- be considered a criterion of station or program popularity. When programs are good, listeners applaud si- lently, v/heii poor or uninteresting they dial elsewhere.' —John T. Vorpe, WHK-WCLE, Clcueland. * • - • Usine the Skull 'We built a light musical half-hour at 5:30 p.m. on KRNT each night to serve adult.j as both KSO and KRNT were carrying juvenile script shows during that period.' —Wavne Welch, KRT, Des Moines. * * e Stunla Slopped Drawing Crowds 'About the time I entered radio, screwy special events as an indication of showmanship were deflnitely on the wane in this part of The Bush. Stations quit putting them on the air for the same reason the oil com- panies in the early days Anally stopped blowing the town Are siren every time they brought in a gusher. It just naturally stopped drawing a crowd.' —Milton F. Allison, KM8C, Kansas City. * 4 * 'We do not have a national sales representative. Our own sales director makes regular calls two or thriee times monthly on time buyers and' executives of agencies in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago. And during 1939 four dilTereht programs were devised for various agencies and' out of the four, three were sold.' —A. K. Redmond, WHP, Hurrisburg, Pa. * * « Geltlnr Into the Lah-de-dah Homes 'Hartford has a large long-hair population among the wealthier bracket* . . , 'hard to get into' homes go for our concert hour . . , hundreds of re- quests for schedule of repertory . , , the sponsor, an interior decorator, is tickled.' —C. G. DeLoney, WTHT, Hartford. * * 41 Must Please Mythical Mrs. Gluts 'We have adoptied a deflnite policy of, strange as it seem.s, considering first and always the listener, as exemplified by 'Mrs. Glutz,' a fictional character, whose reactions are always considered by our staff In discuss- ing new programs and features. Tliis policy amounts, to putting, on the air whatever makes good listening, rather than shows about which we can talk. We ace of the Opinion that talk is cheap but that listeners can be proved and, therefore, by such proof, completely outweigh all other data any station can ever accumulate.' — Kenyon Douglass, KTOK, Olclahonui CitV- * * « 'Why Should It Be «n the Air' 'Instead of designing programs just to fill time KSTP tried to produce programs that would have both significance and timeliness. For instance^ during the heat of the WPA strikes, which crowded all else off the front pages of the local papers, KSTP put a staff to work to preseht all sides ot the case. . . . That this procedure brought KSTP recognition is evidenced by the fact that during the WPA trials, the local federal district court ruled that KSTP was a legal source of public information, that the WPA's directors notice over the station to striliers of the terms ot the new relief bill constituted sufficient legal notice. ... In creating special events .<;how.<i wa ask ourselves one question, 'Why should it go on the air?'. If it's timely, informative and of human interest, it's carried. It it's just a stunt for the sake of fleeting publicity, it's dropped.' —K. M. Hance, KSTP, St. Paul. * * • Creating Special Attention ' 'Adopted policy of advising either by postcard or telephone interested groups when leaders in their fields spoke.. .atl members of St. Louis Stock Exchange,were telephoned when president of New York Stock Exchange spoke." Rav Dady, KWK, St. Louis. * * * Must Dramatize Local 'Cause*' 'We eliminated air speeches by local 'cause' leaders Insisting.. .that all be dramatized by local actors after careful preparation, rehearsal and audition.' James C. Hanrahan, WMPS, Me^nphis, * ♦ » ' Out the Hotel Window 'KANS is. always present for a broadcast in connection with any public gathering that occurs in its service area. To further expand the remote facilities, a second relay broadcast station was added. This is a rather unique unit, iii that it is a complete 10-watt transmitter with its own cue- ing receiver built up in a form and size comparable to the usual remote line amplifier. With this transmitter, we can go into a hotel room and interview a dignitary on five minutes' notice, simply by tossing an antenna out of the window and picking the signal up at KANS for rebroadcast. It is also useful in cueing the main mobile unit transmitter.' Herb Hollister, KANS, Wichita. Pause For Station Identification (Some Giggles From The Survey) 'Our coverage of the tragedy drew more cominent than any other single broadcast. We sent a man to the scene and he reported on the radio before the true story ot the affair was reported in the dailies.' 'Our publicity director (new) is a young college graduate who majored in Speech, Salesmanship, Journalism and Drama.' 'Saturday morning dances were scheduled until recently, when they were stopped by the police.' 'Thousands gathered in the street each day. eager to hear the European news via our special loudspeaker—greatly disrupting traffic conditions— and occasional news flashes attracted people to their office windows within a block-and-a-half's. hearing distance.'