Advertising and the Rise of Radio

Indirect Advertising on Radio

Worried that listeners would tune out, advertisers on early radio simply bought airtime and sponsored a music program, hoping listeners would feel grateful enough to buy the product.

In this example, the Clicquot Club Eskimos, sponsored by a ginger ale company, provides poppy bubbly music, complete with sled dogs, to help audiences associate coolness with ginger ale.

 

National radio networks

Hoping to create a national advertising medium out of local radio, networks like NBC and CBS promised advertisers almost magical powers to reach listeners.

CBS showed advertisers the magic of the air

 

However, networks worried that audiences might be offended by some program content. Advertisers, ad agencies, and networks struggled over program control: Who owned the time? In this ad, NBC assures us that it is preventing “red radio ears” or embarrassment by overseeing the programming that was controlled by advertisers.

Networks were worried about advertisements that might embarrass listeners

Advertising Agencies

Meanwhile, advertising agencies struggled to figure out how to translate print advertising strategies into the aural medium of radio. This helpful article recommended that admen think of announcers, who delivered most of the commercials, as like typefaces. Like print design, the quality of the voice shaped  the perception of the ad.

Announcers were the typefaces (fonts) of radio