Radio Advertising

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 19, 22 November 1929, Page 8

Radio Advertising

Freely Used in Election Fight " "NEWSPAPER NEWS," an -Australian technical journal, says of the recent political campaign there :- "Broadcast stations came into their own as advertising mediums during the Federal election campaign. Never in Australian history . have they been hired to such an extent by the political parties. . "The ‘A’ class stations (which. do not accept advertising) broadcast one speech by each of the party leaders, and left it at that. But with the knowledge that hundreds of thousands of persons can now listen in, the politicians were eager to get their propaganda on to the air every night; and so the ‘B’ class stations, which may be leased for advertising purposes, reaped a rich harvest, "On the last night of the campaign, 2GB, Sydney, staged 16 Nationalist. speakers, in addition to’ the Premier and Prime Minister, and Mr. Hughes. The Queensland station, 4QG, oceupied the night broadcasting a rowdy meeting at which the Treasurer, Dr. Page, was star speaker. In fact, it was almost impossible to get anything but political speeches on October 11. 2GB did not finish until close on 1 a.m. "Mr. Hughes, especially, made great use of broadeast stations. The last week of the campjagn listeners-in heard him every night. The Trades Hall station, 2KY, held an election S@ssion every day, and staged the novelty of the only speeches by a ecandidate’s wife -two addresses by Mrs. Theodore, "At previous elections there was very little private broadcasting done, most of it being confined to the official broadcasts and relays of the three party leaders. The interest taken in the recent campaign made the ether a-valu-able medium for getting right into the homes. "Gramophone records were also exploited for publicity purposes for the first time in an election campaign-but not by the politicians. Their voices were used for advertising purposes by (Concluded at foot of next column.)

Columbia records, who produced records of the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and Mr. Hughes. Matrices of these are being sent by Columbia to the Federal Museum to take their places beside records of Hinkler, Kingsford Smith, and Ulm,