Admen and the shaping of American commercial broadcasting, 1926-50
Abstract
The
advertising
industry
made
significant
contributions
to
the development
of
American
commercial
broadcasting
during
the
“Golden
Age”
of radio,
roughly
the
late
1920s
through
the
1940s.
“Admen”
not
only
helped
develop
broadcasting
as
an
advertisin g
medium,
they
also
produced
the
majority
of
prime‑time
network
programs,
such
as
Show
Boat,
Town
Hall
Tonight,
and
The
Jack
Benny
Program ,
and
day time
serials,
such
as
Stella
Dallas,
Ma
Perkins,
and
Just Plain
Bill.
This
dissertation,
based
on
an
extensive
review
of
surviving
network
and
agency
materials,
describes
the
complicated,
often
conflicted,
activities
of admen
as
they
sought
to
develop
radio
as
an
entertainment
and
advertising
medium
while
balancing
the
competing
demands
of
advertisers,
networks, performers,
and
audiences.
The
Depression
forced
broadcasters
to
seek
program
financing
from
advertisers,
who
turned
to
advertising
agencies
to
over see
the complexities
of
integrating
their
advertising
into
entertainment.
Relationships
between
networks
and
agencies
evolved
to
manage
the
ongoing
conflicts
over program
control
and
advertising
standards.
Meanwhile,
admen
struggled
to
develop
new
techniques
fo r
radio ,
focusing
on
“showmanship”
as
a
set
of strategies
to
be
applied
to
both
entertainment
and
advertising.
Some
advertising
agencies,
such
as
Blackett‑Sample‑Hummert,
employed
the
“hard
sell,” emphasizing
product
claims
and
“reasons
why”
to
buy,
while
other
agencies, such
as
Young
&
Rubicam,
relied
on
humorous
and
indirect
appeals,
or
the
“soft sell.”
These
advertising
strategies
carried
over
into
the
agencies ’
programming. At
the
height
of
the
radio
era,
advertising
agencies
expanded
into
Hollywood
to
oversee
star‑studded
radio
entertainment
programs,
including
Lux
Radio
Theatre, Kraft
Music
Hall,
and
Hollywood
Playhouse.
Radio
revenues
and
audiences
peaked
in
1948,
the
same
year
of
the
first
network
television
broadcasts.
By
the end
of
the
1950s,
because
of
increased
production
costs,
the
networks
had
taken
over
most
of
the
programming
functions
handled
by
advertising
agencies
during the
radio
era.
However,
this
dissertation
argues
that
the
influence
of
admen
and
the
advertising
industry
in
shaping
broadcasting
institutions
such
as
networks and
cultural
forms
such
as
program
genres
has
left
a
deep
and
significant
legacy.