From the MCRFB news archive: 1963
RADIO EXPOSURE BIGGEST FACTOR, BLEYER SAYS
NEW YORK — “If there was any single thing that put over ‘The First Family,’ it was radio exposure,” said Archie Bleyer last week in a conversation of the Vaughn Meader album.
“In case anyone underestimates the power of radio I can tell them it is the most important medium of all in exposing not only singles, but albums.”
“I say this because we decided to go ahead with “The First Family,” we had assurances that it would get exposed on TV. In fact, we built a lot of our exposure campaign along the lines of TV programming. We didn’t think then that radio was the right medium to expose this album. We felt that TV would enable people to see Meader and the rest of the cast and that a segment of, say, a TV variety show could be built around Meader’s press conference or another aspect of the album.
“We were all wrong,” said Bleyer. “Radio not only enabled listeners to imagine Meader as President Kennedy, but to imagine all of the other people in the cast in their respective roles. We found that the onetime shots we had on TV didn’t have nearly the impact of the radio play.
“It wasn’t only the stations who normally program albums that helped put ‘First Family’ over,” said Cadence sales chief Bud Bollinger, “but the Top 40 stations as well. We were surprised and pleased to find top 40 station which never had programmed an album before playing tracks from ‘First Family’ and this got kids as well as adults interested.”
“The sales of the album indicate something else,” said Dollinger. “For a long time Archie had said that a soft record market is a misnomer. A soft market is one in which the manufacturer don’t have the product on the market the consumer wants. Give them the records they want and they’ll buy it.
“I’ve disagreed with Archie in the past about this, but I think sales of ‘First Family’ proves him right.” END.
ADDENDUM: Vaugh Meader’s short-lived, political, comedic stand-up career effectively ended November 22, 1963. Vaughn Meader passed away in 2004 at the age of 68. For more on the life and times of Vaughn Meader, go here. — MCRFB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0jMe-3_Dl0
(Information and news source: Billboard; January 26, 1963).
