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Now, when the boss leaves on Friday evening, or Saturday
noon, his secretary says, "Have a good weekend." WHY? Why,
because it's DONE! It's part of the suave COURTESY practiced by
all, from top executives, down through salesmen and stenographers,
in the radio-TV business. In other words, they are back-slappers.
They like to be flattered, even when they know it is insincere.
So they hand it out, lavishly and generously.
I could not help think how it is at our Headquarters
Offices. Do OUR secretaries say, "Have a good lunch," when the
boss goes out for a lunch appointment? Well, possibly yes,
possibly no. Our secretaries, I am sure, are no less courteous
--but the difference is, IF they say this, they say it because they
sincerely MEAN it, not because it's done, and a thing to be
parroted as men-pleasers.
But notice--such ritualistic "courtesies" are about the
ONLY thing that makes life bearable--about the only rewarding part
of life--for them. They live in FEAR. Some men skyrocket up to
top executive positions, but they are never secure. I have found
that the average radio station manager lasts in office about three
years.
When we went on ABC, New York, I went to New York to
establish personal contact with the manager, and present our
picture to him in a favorable light. In one or two years he was
replaced. I visited the new manager, who certainly was
unsentimental. I wasn't sure whether I had won him over. A little
later, however, while I was in England, he visited Los Angeles, and
Mr. Scott gave him the $64 tour of the Ambassador Campus. Enroute
home I called on him again, and he had warmed up--was actually
cordial, and even smiled. So, we survived TWO managers on WABC.
Then there was a new switch--this manager was moved to KABC in Los
Angeles. The new WABC manager cancelled us out. We were off, but
we went ON KABC, Sundays only, I believe. Then this man was let
out entirely--and we went off of KABC.
Glenn Snyder had been manager of WLS for many years. It
was owned by Prairie Farmer, and all top executives were older men,
and of the ultra-conservative school--not of this new Radio-TV
breed at all. I worked ten years on Glenn Snyder and his Sales
Manager before we finally got on WLS. With a good time, it was our
most valuable station. After starting, Mr. Snyder moved us up to
7:P.M.--for a short while. Results skyrocketed. But pressures
from above set us back to about 11:P.M. Mr. Scott and I kept
working on Mr. Snyder, and had some help from their Los Angeles
Representative. We got moved up to 10:30, then 10--and, finally,
I believe, to 9 or 9:30, with mail response increasing as time
became earlier. Then Mr. Snyder had to "retire"--and his last act
in office was to move us another half-hour earlier. But that
lasted only a very short time, for the farm paper and station were
sold for eight million, and the new management had a new "image" to
create--which included rock 'n roll, but not the WORLD TOMORROW.
And so it has gone. Soon after we had won over the
manager of KGO personally, he was let out. Pressure was brought on
the new manager to remove us--but, by "sweetening the pot" with a