TAMPA BAY RADIO STATION WTAN TALK 1340 WANTS THEIR LISTENERS TO BE SAFE WHILE DRIVING

You will soon be able to retrieve any advertised phone number on radio or TV by dialing an impossible to forget vanity toll-free number 1-800-AS-SEEN-ON-TV. This advertisers' directory service was tested succesfully in the Tampaby area.

"When someone drives a car and hears an advertisement, trying to write down the phone number can be life threatening for the driver and others" said Ron Macko, TAN TALK's General Sales Manager. "It is why we are now offering this almost impossible-to-forget toll-free number 1-800-AS-SEEN-ON-TV, that people can dial at anytime 24/7 to get that phone number," he added.

Two weeks ago, TAN TALK started to simulcast public announcements on their 3 stations covering the entire Tampa Bay area reaching a population of 3,000,000 to inform their listeners of the availability of their new service. A surprisingly large number of listeners dialed 1-800-AS-SEEN-ON-TV the very first time the announcement was aired as a free service. "Usually, it takes 7 to 10 days to send a message across and start to get results when launching a new idea" said Tom Delor, president of Delor and Associates in Clearwater, a consulting firm specialized in vanity toll-free numbers. "I was happily surprised to see the phone lines lighting up the minute the first spot aired. I always believed this would be seen as a needed service, but never could I have imagined that it would be accepted so fast," he added. When asked why "as seen on TV" instead of "as heard on radio"? Tom explained: "Everyone is familiar with the popular expression "as seen on TV", so the listener remembers it and that's what I want. When I approached Ron Macko, he liked 1-800-AS-SEEN-ON-TV immediately because, he said; "If you don't see pictures when we say words, we are not doing our job at the radio station. "

As an added value offered at no additional cost, TAN TALKs advertisers benefit directly from the station's concern to make driving safer while listening to the radio. "My phone number is like my front door," said advertiser Jim Marshal, president of Sandler Sales Institute in Pinellas County. "If potential customers have an easy way to get my phone number, they will always know how to reach my business. If not, they don't and my phone number vanishes from their memory forever after my spots aired. I believe 1-800-AS-SEEN-ON-TV is an easy number to remember and to dial to get that numerical number they forgot," added Jim.