We decided to carefully evaluate the effectiveness of paid prime TV and radio as a possible element of the recruiting program. We are making the service way of life better and young men and women must know about that if they are to make meaningful, volunteer choices.

We have the most comprehensive training and educational system in the country, and young men and women must know about the opportunities we offer for advancing their education. The challenging work, pay, and benefits available to young men and women who may be in the job market must be understood.

Our paid TV/radio test is an experiment in using an important communication medium to improve our communications with young men and their families so that young men are better able to consider the armed services as an occupational choice.

I should like to firmly emphasize at this point that the Department of Defense has not made any decisions whatsoever about the future use of paid TV and radio advertising for recruiting. As I just mentioned, in the Project Volunteer budget for fiscal year 1972, we have allocated $10 million for such advertising by the Army. Whether the Department of Defense would support an increase in the amount for the Army or would decrease or eliminate it, or whether it would support any money for paid advertising for the other services cannot and will not be determined until the evaluation of the Army's test is completed.

The Army's test started on March 2 and will run for 13 weeks. It involves expenditure of $4 million for television time, $5.1 million for radio, a total of $9.1 million. Production costs will run $1.2 million, a telephone answering service to handle calls generated by the ads, $200,000, and research, $100,000.

The specific purposes of the test are

To test and determine what messages and media will increase inquiries at the recruiting stations and subsequently increase the number of enlistments.

To provide current data to assist in designing the most effective advertising plan.

To test and determine what broadcast medium or combination thereof will most effectively reach the primary target audience of 17- to 21-year-olds and the secondary audience of parents, counselors, teachers, and other adult advisers.

To increase the awareness and knowledge of the primary audience of those opportunities available in the Army.

Attached is a fact sheet on the test which was submitted to the committee last week. (See p. 31.)

The idea for paid radio and TV advertising, to supplement public service advertising, to increase the number of recruits for the military services was first mentioned to me in July of 1969. There have been many discussions of it in meetings of the Project Volunteer Committee, in other meetings with the Army and with the other services since that time. There has never been any suggestion or any thought, to my knowledge, that the campaign would have any purpose other than to recruit volunteers for the Armed Forces. And it does not; nor will it.

The military services have received a large amount of public service time from television and radio stations. We deeply hope that the stations will continue to make time available without charge to each of the services to help in their recruiting, which is so vital to our national defense. The problem was and remains that less than 10 percent of the TV public service time comes in prime time-those hours when young men who are prospects for recruitment are most likely to be watching. A further problem is that the service with the greatest need to increase volunteers-the Army-is faring relatively less well than the other services in getting public service time. We estimate that in 1970 the Army benefited from only $6 million worth of public service time on TV and radio, compared with $11.8 million for the Air Force, $9.5 million for the Navy, and $5.0 million for the Marine Corps.

This committee will understand that achievement of an all-volunteer force will depend, in large part, on our ability to inform the youth of the Nation and their parents of the facts and opportunities of military service. We hope to continue to receive a substantial amount of public service time on the air and public service space in the printed media for recruiting. But if the results of the Army's test of paid TV and radio time show that it is effective in helping us toward volunteerism and a zero draft, we believe the military departments should have the opportunity to use paid time to supplement the public service time as part of the total national effort to reduce and ultimately to end reliance on the draft. (The fact sheet referred to follows:)

TEST OF PAID TV/RADIO RECRUITING ADVERTISING FACT SHEET

The Army is conducting a 3-month paid recruiting advertising campaign during the period March through May 1971 to test the effectiveness of prime time paid TV/Radio advertising as a means of increasing enlistments in the Army and assisting the Armed Forces in achieving their goal of a zero draft call by June 30, 1973.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense will closely monitor and will make an independent evaluation of the Army's 13-week test. A decision will then be made by the Office of the Secretary of Defense as to the future use of paid TV/Radio advertising for recruiting. Further new obligations for paid TV/Radio advertising by the services are not authorized.

The advertising agency handling the campaign is N. W. Ayer and Son of Philadelphia.

The cost of the advertising campaign is $10.6 million, which includes:

Purchase of TV/radio time..

Production_.

LISTFAX 1

Research__

1 Telephone answering service.

Millions

The funds for the Army's advertising test were made available by reprograming funds within the Army's FY 1971 Operation and Maintenance Appropriation. There were two separate reprograming actions.

(a) In November 1970 $5 million was provided to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command for increased advertising. It was an adjustment of funds between sub-programs of Program 8 (Training, Medical and Other General Personnel Activities) within the Operation and Maintenance, Army appropriation.

(b) In February 1971, an additional $10 million was provided for recruiting advertising. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees were notified of this reprograming action by letters dated February 9, 1971. The $10 million item was included in a line item of $23.1 million for "expanded recruiting activities and special programs to enhance service attractiveness." The Committees were informed that the $10 million included funds for a paid TV/Radio advertisement test and for magazine, outdoor ads, films, brochures and direct mail campaigns.

Of the total $15 million granted to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, $10.6 million will be used for the paid TV/Radio test and the remainder for other types of advertising.

The House Appropriations Committee held hearings on the reprograming action discussed in paragraph (b) above. The Senate has not scheduled hearings at this time.

Mr. MACDONALD. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

You point out on page 6 the cost of $4 million for TV and $5.1 million for radio. How many hours or how much time can you buy on radio for $5 million?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. Mr. Kester, can you answer?

Mr. KESTER. Mr. Chairman, you mean the total number of minutes? Mr. MACDONALD. Yes.

Mr. KESTER. We can supply it for the record. There are 2,070 stations involved.

Mr. MACDONALD. Right. I will be happy to have it for the record, and request that it be supplied.

(The following information was received for the record:)

HOURS OF RADIO TIME PURCHASED BY ARMY

Before attempting an estimate of the actual number of hours and minutes $5 million has purchased for the U.S. Army campaign, it is necessary to point out certain facts about time buying.

Costs for radio times vary tremendously depending on what is being purchased. The most expensive radio time in the current Army campaign falls during morning drive time (6-10 a.m.) on radio station WOR New York where 1-minute spots are costing $250. On the other hand, the cost of 1-minute commercials on over 1,000 radio stations in markets below the rank of 200 is averaging $3.15. Obviously some 1-minute commercials in very small markets are costing $1 or less apiece. The costs also vary considerably depending on what day parts are being purchased; as an example, a morning drive time spot on radio station WJR, Detroit, can cost as much as $200 while the same amount of time during evening hours can cost less than $70.

With the above facts in mind we can make the following estimate of the amount of actual time being purchased for approximately $5 million during the current Army campaign: In the top 100 markets an average of 144 spots per week are being purchased.

In the second 100 markets an average of 36 spots per week are being purchased.

In approximately 1,070 markets below the rank of 200 an average of 24 spots per week are being purchased.

On 35 50,000-watt clear channel stations an average of 20 spots per week are being purchased.

Over a 13-week period the schedule described above delivers a total of 576,940 commercials on individual radio stations. Approximately 2 of the commercials are 60 seconds in length while the remaining 1⁄2 are 30 seconds in length. The above totals equate to 7,211 hours of actual air time.

Mr. MACDONALD. Do you have any idea, and that is what you are up here testifying about.

Mr. KESTER. Sir, we have not added up the total number of minutes.

Mr. MACDONALD. It just seems to me you can get an awful lot of radio time for $5 million.

Mr. KESTER. Well, perhaps this would be responsive to your question. We have been running an average number of 72 spots per week on stations in the top 100 markets-in the second 200 markets, this number has been about 36 spots per week.

Mr. MACDONALD. Repeat that. You get 72

Mr. KESTER. Seventy-two spots per week in the top 100 radio markets. If you drop from the range of 100 to 200, we are running about 36 spots per week, in the markets smaller than the top 100 then it is about 24 per week. Then on clear channel radio stations, mostly in the evening hours, the number is about 20 per week.

Perhaps that is a meaningful way of looking at it. The concentration is on the age group 17 to 21 years old, and the stations and times. at which they will be listening.

Mr. MACDONALD. Mr. Secretary, what does the military think of the prime time to attract somebody in the age brackets that you are aiming at? What is your prime time?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. The early evening hours we look upon as prime time.

Mr. MACDONALD. In other words, your prime time idea is the same as the regular commercial advertisers' idea of prime time?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. Yes, it is.

Mr. MACDONALD. What age group are you after?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. We are looking really at the fellow who is a junior and senior in high school.

Mr. MACDONALD. You think he is watching TV early in the evening?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. I think he does, sir, yes. But we will know more when the test is completed.

Mr. MACDONALD. Did anybody take a survey before you went into this thing?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. A survey of the listening habits of young people. Mr. KESTER. Yes, indeed, Mr. Chairman. We have extensive survey evidence of this.

Mr. MACDONALD. Who did it?

Mr. KESTER. Broadcasting Advertising Research, Inc., which was one company, and this is information that is fairly well known in the industry, the viewing habits of the 18- to 24-year-old audience. The prime time for television they determined was in the evening from about 7:30 on to 11 o'clock. For radio prime time, it is quite different. People tend to listen to radio in their cars, the commuting hours these tend to be the prime time for radio. We have tried to focus the buying of time on this particular age group to run messages on the sources of programs that they are likely to watch at times they will be available to see them.

Mr. MACDONALD. You say this was a well thought out thing and surveyed and you stand by the allocation of money as you have just outlined; is that right, Mr. Secretary?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. That is correct.

Mr. MACDONALD. That brings me to the next thing.

Mr. WOLLSTADT. Subject, of course, to our making careful evaluation of it.

Mr. MACDONALD. Subject to change?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. After completion of the evaluation.

Mr. MACDONALD. That brings me to the next item I think speaks for itself. You say the production cost will run $1.2 million. Then you say: A telephone answering service to handle calls generated by the ads is $200,000. Whose idea was that?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. Would you care to answer that?
Mr. KESTER. The telephone answering service?

Mr. MACDONALD. Yes, and the $200,000 worth of answering service.
Mr. KESTER. We think it is money well spent.

Mr. MACDONALD. It would be well spent if anybody answers your ad.

Mr. KESTER. We have had 55,000 calls so far.

Mr. MACDONALD. In the country?

Mr. KESTER. Yes, in the country.

Mr. MACDONALD. That is in response to how many minutes of advertising?

Mr. KESTER. I would have to give you the figure.

Well, that is as of April 11 and how many minutes we ran up until that time we will have to add up and tell you.

Mr. MACDONALD. I am not going to pursue it, but I will give the subcommittee odds that there will be no overrun on that answering service money.

On page 8 you make reference to the other services, the Marines. and the Air Force and Navy. How do they feel about this prime time buying of spots?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. The other services were not enthusiastic about the Army's going ahead with a test program of this magnitude, but they did accept it and they recognize that they are going to share in all of the results of the research so that they can determine whether use of paid radio and TV time might possibly help in their own recruiting. But, very frankly, they were not enthusiastic about the idea and they are less likely to want to proceed with it than is the Army. Mr. MACDONALD. They are less likely to do what?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. Less likely to want to proceed with paid TV and radio following the tests than is the Army.

Mr. MACDONALD. In other words, they don't believe in it as much as the Army does?

Mr. WOLLSTADT. That is correct, that is a simple way of stating it; yes, sir. We have the other services here and I think I have fairly stated their position.

Mr. MACDONALD. I can undersand their position, too.

Just to refresh my recollection, how long a period does this cover, this so-called test?

Mr. WOLLSTadt. 13 weeks.

Mr. MACDONALD. How much is it going to cost, again?
Mr. WOLLSTADT. It is going to cost $10.6 million.

Mr. MACDONALD. Say it is a success or somebody determined it was a success, and if it is successful, I suppose you would like to continue it, right? And on the basis of my rather bad mathematics, you would be coming to the Congress, I take it, and asking for about $40 million for the next fiscal year for recruitment purposes on spot advertising?