Pattern for FM Profits:

Rural Radio Network

3: PROMOTION
How R.R.N. Has Set Up a Highly Effective, Well Organized,
and Continuing Campaign To Win Listeners and Influence Sponsors

Promotion used to acquaint farm and non-farm people in the rural areas of New York State has been a combination of conventional 
and original methods, planned to suit a wide range of conditions and situations. 

Rural dwellers are organization-minded. They are joiners, and take an active part in the organizations they join whether it be the 
Grange, the Home Bureau, the Farm Bureau, or the local co-op. As a result, the people RRN is set up to serve, are in the habit of 
attending the meetings of the organizations they have joined, and they read the bulletins and pamphlets prepared or distributed 
by these clubs, societies and associations. 

Since the founders of the Rural Radio Network are probably the ten leading farm organizations in the northeast, the Network had 
a fairly logical pattern to follow in getting across the story of FM and RRN. 

From the time the Network construction started, its top executives were busy making their plans known by mail and by personal 
appearances before the many and varied organizations of the area. They addressed community service clubs, Pomona Granges, 
County Agents, 4-H Clubs, P.T.A. meetings, local tureen suppers, and church socials. And if a member of the staff was unable to 
appear, the Network provided display material and text for a brief talk to be given by the chairman of the meeting. 

Then, sixty days before the Network went on the air, a series of spotlight advertisements was run in all the weekly and daily papers 
of rural New York State. The major difference between these and the spotlight announcements of the big-town radio stations was 
that the RRN advertisements were devoid of flashy artwork. Instead, big type and photos were used in simple layouts, for a flashy 
appearance tends to have a phony connotation to rural dwellers. 

As these newspaper advertisements tapered off, they were replaced by informative inserts enclosed with mailings from farm 
organizations to their members, and by articles in the house organs of these societies. Also, pamphlets and brochures prepared 
by RRN were distributed at organization meetings. 

Along with this distribution of printed material went data on FM prepared and provided by the radio manufacturers, such as Zenith’s 
FM booklet. 

All our promotion material about FM was refined to the ultimate in simplicity, concentrating on the fact that it is static-free, with 
no noise, no fading, no interference. Rural listeners know these terms from first-hand experience with their own AM receivers. 

When the Rural Radio Network started broadcasting, another series of spotlight advertisements was released. These are being 
continued in connection with special programs. As soon as scheduled broadcasting began, posters showing the RRN area were 
sent out. Next, the monthly RRN bulletin was started, containing news stories about network activities and the program schedules. 
These and other promotion pieces are illustrated here. 

A big poster has been placed in almost every radio shop, every farm supply store, and in the meeting rooms of every farm 
organization within the Rural Radio coverage area. 

In metropolitan centers, most public meetings are undercover, those held outdoors are provided with good public address systems 
for sound reinforcement. In rural communities, public address systems are few and far between, and seldom mobile. Mostly they 
are permanent installations of dilapidated equipment possibly adequate for bingo games but not for outdoor meetings. 

Into this void we put the RRN nemo truck. Where a rural gathering needs a public address system and is a public service function, 
the RRN nemo unit is available. if the occasion warrants it, we either broadcast the event or transcribe it for rebroadcast, but in any 
event the nemo truck is on hand, and identified identified as Rural Radio Network. (ED: nemo refers to remote broadcast)

This year, Rural Radio Network will have exhibits at fourteen of the bigger county fairs. “An FM Radio is a valuable farm tool."
This slogan is the sort of thing that is selling RRN and FM to the rural audience. 

But possibly the most effective promotion is that being done through the member organizations of the Network. For example:   

1.	The New York State Grange is furnishing articles on RRN to the National Grange Monthly. At least one piece each month 
          is appearing in the New York State edition of this publication. Currently, the many local Granges within RRN’s area are 
          participating in an RRN sponsored contest. The contest, with FM radios as prizes, requires the Grangers to write short 
          statements “What I expect of FM radio.” Then there are the Grange lecturers, each supplied with a kit of data about RRN 
          and the FM contest. 

2.	The Farm Bureau Federation closely connected with the Extension Service which includes the County Agents, 4-F Club Agents,
        and Home Demonstration Agents. All of these people have had letters from their own officers calling attention to what RRN 
        is doing, and asking them to display RRN posters in their offices. 

3.	GLF has its own GLF brand FM-AM radios on sale at all its consumer stores. This is a quality set of extreme stability and 
        sensitivity. In addition, at all the GLF patron meetings, which some 100,000 people will attend this summer an RRN display 
        will be set up. with banners, literature, and FM sets. 

4.	Dairymen’s League sent each of 27,000 members a Rural Radio pamphlet along with the monthly milk check. RRN posters 
        are displayed at all their plants, and RRN talks are given at the Dairymen's League county and local meetings. Then too, 
        at the League's annual meeting in October. RRN will provide the entertainment for the 2,000 people attending. 

5.     Empire Livestock Co-operative operates five livestock auctions at which farmers congregate in large numbers. Each auction 
        is equipped with an FM radio and, while the people are assembling, RRN programs are tuned in. 

Thus it is clear that sound principles of promotion are being followed to acquaint potential listeners with the services provided by 
the Network. This effort is consistent, continuous. and complete coverage, maintaining interest by the variety of methods employed.
Already we can see that our methods are producing most gratifying results. 

The development of an audience must, of course, precede the sale of broadcast time. However, work at both levels has been carried
on simultaneously, and with equal thoroughness. In scheduling RRN broadcasting to start in June, account was taken of the timing 
of annual budgets. Now, while we are developing our audience, we are at work on 1949 time sales. 

Following are the rates for the six basic RRN stations: 

               A Time	B Time
1 hr.......    $240.        $180. 
3/4 hr....    $204.        $153.
1/2 hr....    $144.        $108.
1/4 hr....    $96.          $72. 
10 min...    $76.         $57.
5 min....    $48.          $36.
1 min...*    $25.
30 sec.*    $15.
* During 9:00-10:00 A.M. and 3:30 to 4:00 P.M. on a participating basis only. 

Frequency discounts are: 26 times 5%; 52 times 7.5%; 104 times 10%; 312 times 20%. 

As a rate adjustment for what we call charter advertisers those buying time during the initial phase of RRN operation a special 
scale of graduate discounts, in addition to the usual time and frequency discounts, was established for: 

June, July, August 1948;   75%
September ‘48 through February ‘49;   50%
March, April, May 1949;   25% 

Solid, day-and-night coverage of large rural areas is, in many respects, more productive to sponsors than metropolitan circulation. 
City-dwellers spend only wages. A farmer spends several tines his net taxable income. He must buy feed, seed, machinery, 
and all the items that enter into the operation and maintenance of his farm. Today, using several kinds of engine-driven equipment, 
plus an automobile and a truck, his consumption of gas and oil is many times greater than that of city people. 

With bigger families - 39% more babies - they use more cereals, soap, flour, and household supplies. Because they work harder, 
they eat more, and get their clothes dirtier! And it is important to note that they buy more branded staple goods than city dwellers. 

There are 117,175 farms in the 42 counties covered by the six basic RRN stations. These counties, with 4,062,000 population, 
produced food products to the value of $411,534,000 in 1945, when the last agricultural census was taken. 

From these high-spot notes, it is clear that network operation with station sites chosen on the basis of geography and topography, 
and employing FM transmission, bid fair to revise the original concept of radio service to listeners and sponsors as well.

FM and Television/September 1948 Phyllis Guterman/Promotion Department, Rural Radio Network, Ithica, NY