Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-26

Radio listeners are becoming toe
blase' it seems and this may. result in
the loss of some Of the popular enter
tainment advertising programs. Natu
rally these big national advertisers
who sponsor weekly programs Of high
class and high cost over some 1C
to 20 chain stations, are not going tC
continue If it doesn't pay to thus ad
vertise 1t Is not claimed that every
fan must rush out and buy certain
brand of radio battery, radio set
tooth paste or groceries, but it means
that courtesy cards or letters OF
thanks should be sent to the artists
stations or the sponsors Of these fea
lures, most Of which are excellent. II
means that fans must send in APP
plause If they want these programs
continued. The advertisers will not
play to empty houses or silent set
owners. They do not advertise In
papers or magazine which do not
bring some responses. How would they
know the ads were read? How do they
know their offerings via the ether are
heard or liked? They don't. The lis
teners must thank them, even II Ii
does cost 2 cents a week.
A pertinent example of the apathy
Of fans occurred recently in Washing
gram was taken away from WRC
due solely to lack Of reports or appre
ciative letters from fans to WRC or
from the section served by it. The
company said broadcasting from the
Washington station apparently was
not desired or appreciated. whereas
actually IL was very popular. After
all, it is little enough for the listeners,
who pay no radio tax, to write the sta,
ton or performers when they do en-
Joy special feature or program.
There are always two sides to ques'
ton: and there are to fan mail.
Supt. Of Broadcasting Burton of
WEEP gives his ideas in an article
appearing In the January issue of a
radio magazine. He says, in part:
when WEEP broadcast the famous
Boston Symphony Orchestra for the first
time the novelty of the thing proved at
tractive to about 100000 people.
This number was estimated from tn"
number Of sales Of tubes and batteries
and by another way. We are conytnes
ed that only person in every 500
tuned.in on q program will write
letter to- the station about 1t. Three
thousand letters followed the initial
Symphony Orchestra broadcast.
Most stations and program sponsors
exaggerate the importance OF ian
mail. It cannot reflect the attitude
of the audience in general; 1t rarely
offers any intelligent criticism. and
it's requests, if complied with. add to
the deadly sinilitude of programs.
Many program sponsors, in order to
stimulate letter writing, are offering
samples, radio logs and other articles
as an inducement. OF what value to
RADIO, or their campaign, Is this? 1t
merely indicates that people like to
get something for nothing. 1t doesn't
show whether the program has a
popular appeal. Indeed. have seen
letters something like this: Your tenor
ought to have his throat cut, and OBJ
viously your orchestra was organized 10
minutes before the program opened,
Please send me one of your handy
bottle openers A great many KIND
listeners do write fine letters to WEEI,
however, and we love them for IT..
We hope their numbers will increase.
But we do not hold with the old trad
ton that fan mail is the very ire
blood of the broadcasting industry.
So there you are!