There was a time when American Airlines was one of the most respected passenger carriers in the United States.  I'm talking about a time when fares were regulated and the number of direct flights was far less than today.

            In the 1950s, American Airlines advertising and marketing consultants came up with a brilliant idea.  The company would broadcast a nightly program on the biggest radio station in each market the carrier served.  Dallas, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C. 

            The list goes on.

            It would be called "American Airlines' Music ‘til Dawn," and it would be hosted by a mellow-voiced announcer with a romantic fullness.  He would intersperse dreamy classical and popular orchestrations with poetry readings and thoughts about the places American Airlines served.

            So the advertising and marketing consultants bought time on the stations, provided the concept to the management of each station and let them run with it.  What occurred was the host of the program at each station produced their individual interpretation of what "Music ‘til Dawn" should be...what it should sound like. 

            Consequently, there was no continuity among stations, and the listener surveys that followed showed the program was failing miserably in almost every market.

            However, before they pulled the program nationwide, the advertising and marketing consultants thought they should revisit their idea.  So they sent representatives to each market, and the representative checked into a hotel, turned on the radio, and secretly recorded that city's station's interpretation of "Music ‘til Dawn" on a reel-to-reel recorder.

            They brought their tapes back, and they holed up in the conference room and listened to all of them.  But it really didn't take but a few hours to realize the problem.  There was no continuity.  What each guy was doing didn't sound anything like what any of the others were doing.

            So, the marketing people went to each station and auditioned announcers in that market until they found a voice that fit their concept.  They all sounded fairly much alike.  They were then contracted by AA and paid a talent fee.

            Next, the marketing team scripted and provided the play list for each night.  So at anytime during the evening, within a few seconds one way or the other, all of the programs would be playing the same song and the announcer would be reading the same script.

            And a theme song, an orchestration of "That's All," introduced and ended each evening's program, and also ran under the announcer's voice at anytime the mike was open.

            This time it was a huge success.  It ran for a number of years.

            And today, there are blog sites that devote page after page of recollections about "Music ‘til Dawn."  Dallas' Hugh Lampman, as far as I'm concerned, was the very best of the hosts.  I have always believed he was American Airlines' model.

 <<===Hugh Lampman, KRLD

           I had the good fortune of hosting "Music ‘til Dawn" in New Orleans while I was a student at Tulane University in the late 1950s.  I'm not sure why I was chosen. Bill's Music til Dawn I am positive I did not begin to match Hugh Lampman's presentation on Dallas' KRLD.

            Nevertheless, there is a very important lesson here for real estate sales people and brokerage companies.  Your greatest chance of success comes with the continuity of your presentation and marketing.  Your greatest chance of failure comes when you choose to "do it your own way" instead -- "I want to do it in my own words."  That doesn't cut it.

          It's the lesson American Airlines spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn.  And by reading their story here, you got a business model at no charge.

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