Since the H.W.A. TV program began airing last July, there have been some significant trends developing. It normally takes a year or more for us to have enough data to evaluate performance of a format or program. This is reflected in the significant difference in the goals of our programs vs the networks, who will cut a series if it doesn't achieve a predetermined rating and share of the market. (There is a confusion between "ratings" and "share" because each is a percentage. Remember that rating is a percentage of the total potential audience, all of whom may not be viewing at one time. Share is the percentage of the estimated households viewing during a particular time period.) Over the years we have tended to use cost-per-new-response as a yardstick for measuring performance of our TV and radio programs on a particular station. Costs have run from as low as $1.00 per response on a good TV station to as high as $5,000 per response for a new radio station in an isolated area where there are few members.
The CPNR for Mr. Armstrong's telecast has been reduced by two and one half times since last July. This was accomplished with no promotion or print ads. If money were available, I'm certain-we could improve the response significantly over the next six months. On the other hand, the radio program has shown no improvement over the past six months, and the CPNR is now running 4.36 times that of television.
The recent budget cuts have mandated the postponement of the P.T. program pilot and the new programs scheduled for the fall. As soon as money becomes available, we will be able to continue on this project.