Transcriptions in the Twilight

"Come on out to Tessie's, on Route 7, and hear that Bing Crosby record on the jukebox."

Not many years ago, ad-hungry radio stations in U.S. small towns occasionally shut their eyes and accepted such commercials as this (a veiled ad for a local bawdy house). Today, an outfit called the Keystone Broadcasting System has brought the "coffee pots" and "light bulbs" such a haul of national advertising that they can turn down ads for Tessie's.

KBS was organized in 1940 by Adman Michael M. Sillerman, who found that "one-third of the nation, 32 million people who live in communities of 50,000 and under, are in a twilight zone that is only partly covered by the four big networks." Sillerman saw a virgin market for national advertising. He moved in to provide the small stations in these areas with a sizable schedule of transcribed shows (including sustainers). With transcriptions, KBS saved its stations the high cost of network wire lines, cut advertising rates to less than half the charges of the wire networks.

In recent months, as advertisers have slashed their radio budgets, Keystone's business has jumped into seven figures. In the past year the company has taken on 70 new affiliates; in the past month, ten. Such networkers as Burns & Allen, Lum & Abner, have gone on KBS platters to "fill the holes" in their network coverage. Come fall, Sillerman has hopes of signing Bing Crosby and Jack Benny.

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