Broadcast Advertising, April 1929 (Vol. 1, No. 1)
The first issue of Broadcast Advertising, a Chicago monthly for advertisers and agencies moving into radio.
What it is
The first issue of Broadcast Advertising, a Chicago monthly for advertisers and agencies moving into radio. R. S. Kinkead argues that newspaper copy fails on air and names three kinds that work: a sponsored program tied to a product name, announcements with news value, and press-agent talks, citing Hair-A-Gain shampoo, which Walgreen stocked after one week of broadcasts. M. O. Hastings says agencies stall clients on radio because they earn 15 percent on airtime only, not on talent. The Federal Radio Commission's chief engineer explains why channels are limited, and audience tables claim 40 million listeners. The National Association of Broadcasters prints its new code of ethics and recommends no commercial announcements from 7 to 11 p.m. The longest piece, by L. Ames Brown of Lord & Thomas and Logan, draws on Daniel Starch's survey of 17,099 homes and on mail-response tests.
Why read it now
This is a record of a new medium being sold to a doubtful trade, and its arguments map onto podcasts, streaming audio and creator channels today. What holds: copy written for print fails when read aloud; a program people want earns more goodwill than inserted sales talk; and channel choice bends to how agencies are paid, which Hastings shows with a 50,000 dollar budget. Brown's test results make the strongest case. A photograph offer drew 500 requests as a plain announcement; staging the taking of the photograph on air drew 11,000, and a sampling offer failed from a character but worked from the announcer. Execution moved response more than the medium did, which fits Nielsen's 2017 finding that creative drives about half of an ad's sales effect. What has dated: the mail counts and the four-in-five preference figure come from sellers of airtime, and talks that mention the brand only in passing now need clear sponsorship labels, as the issue's own code already asked. Use: before placing an ad in a new format, write it for that format and test two presentations of the same offer.
Passages worth keeping
The abuse of announcements with sponsored programs lies in the advertisers' eagerness to inject sales talk, thus both destroying the dignity and nullifying the public's good will.
حشو البرنامج المموّل بكلام البيع يفسد قيمته عند المستمع، ويضيّع الرضا الذي كان الراعي سيكسبه.
Although advertisers in the radio audience will tune out colorless announcements of other companies, they will affirm that their own similar sales talks are accorded grateful acceptance.
المعلن يغلق الراديو حين يسمع إعلانات الآخرين المملة، ثم يظن أن إعلانه المماثل مرحب به، فالمعلن أسوأ حكم على إعلانه.
Agencies cannot be blamed for choosing to place advertising in media that is most profitable to them, but by withholding facts they often renounce the standards of their profession.
طريقة حصول الوكالة على عمولتها قد تدفعها إلى تفضيل وسيلة على أخرى، والخطأ أن تخفي عن العميل ما يحتاج إلى معرفته.
No longer will rubber boots be advertised to an audience composed largely of stenographers, nor lingerie to college professors.
تخصص المحطات في جمهور محدد يقلل الهدر، فيصل الإعلان إلى من يحتاج المنتج لا إلى جمهور عام لا يعنيه.
Showmanship is just as essential to success on the air as in the theatre.
العرض نفسه قد ينجح أو يفشل بحسب طريقة تقديمه، فالإخراج جزء من الرسالة وليس زينة لها.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original worldradiohistory.com
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