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5:30 A.M. repeat of the program, thus considerably raising the
price we pay, we have so far hung on. As "insurance" against
losing KGO, we are on KSAY at 7:A.M., and KRAK, Sacramento, and
KFRE, Fresno. Thus, if we get put off KGO, all listeners through
the Bay area, and the two great California valleys, can still hear
the program. At WLAC, our most valuable station, Mr. Blackman has
been manager several years, and apparently is so close personally
to the owner that we feel as secure there as is possible in radio.
But I think it well for all of you to know something of just what
we are up against, in order to remain STABLE and SECURE ourselves.
Now WHY are all radio and TV people "frightened to
death"? The CBS man quoted above continued: "I'll be leaving
someday, and I'll be glad to leave."
The author continues: "Fear pervades. Will ABC defeat
us? What will FCC do? And what will please the great unknown
beast, the viewing public? For on that, on ratings, depend
executive lives. Small wonder they come to hate as well as fear
the public. Small wonder they cling to ratings. Ratings, shaky
as some consider them" --(including ME)-- "are the only solid
ground under network executives' feet."
I want you to realize the full impact of that! Not only
fear from competition. But, if some evil-motivated pressure group
organizes a campaign to have their following start mailing a
barrage of criticizing letters against a station, or a program on
it (like ours) to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission of the
government), the FCC may without warning suddenly revoke their
license. The station or network is suddenly OUT OF BUSINESS. It
is BIG BUSINESS, the CBS income for last year was 464 1/2 MILLION
dollars! Yet, staying in business depends on the whim--or
judgment, as the case may be--of a handful of men at the FCC!
That's another reason many stations are AFRAID to take our program.
They are afraid some program might get controversial, to use their
word for it. If it antagonized too many listeners, and letters
began barraging the FCC, they could find themselves out of
business!
It is a shaky business. They really don't think the
rating agencies' ratings are too accurate. Yet advertising
agencies and the big advertising sponsors subscribe to them. If a
station's ratings go down, the station finds it can't sell its
time. If, for instance, a big important 50-KW Station let us on at
7:P.M., and their rating went down suddenly from 7 to 7:30, they
reason that they could not sell the 8:P.M. slot to anybody. That's
one reason we have even considered hiring some big-name news
commentator (we have considered Paul Harvey), and, on big stations,
offering to buy a package in the prime time zone of 45 minutes--30
for The WORLD TOMORROW, and 15 for Paul Harvey with the BIG News.
If we bought, for instance, 7:15 to 8, the station would sell its
8:P.M. slot as a wonderful time, following Paul Harvey. They'd say
nothing about following that religion. No commercial sponsor wants
to "follow religion." YOU SEE WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP AGAINST? DO you
begin to wonder how this work was ever built?
The ANSWER is in the "solid ground" that's under our