WEBVTT - Radio Ads 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:06.760 An Now, Ladies and gentlemen, you're attentionally ephemeral as production 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:12.000 of I heeart three D audio for full exposure listen 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:17.720 with headphones. Every time humans invent a new way to 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.400 talk to each other, we reignite an age old debate. 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:27.520 There are people who predict that this communication technology will 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.480 prevent war and allow us to all communicate more effectively. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:33.680 It will be great, it will solve all of the 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:39.239 world's problems. That's the techno utopianism. And then there's the technophobia, 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:44.000 where people are concerned that this new technology will harm us, 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:50.440 it will brought our brains, it will control us, or 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:52.960 maybe it won't harm us, but it'll harm our children. 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:55.640 There's always a grain of truth in all of this, 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.840 and that a new technology does have a kind of 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:04.520 outsized impact until it becomes part of normal life. My 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.399 name is Cynthia Myers. I'm the author of a book 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.600 called A Word from Our Sponsor admin Advertising and the 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:15.160 Golden Age of Radio, and I'm Professor Emerita at the 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:19.000 College amount St. Vincent in New York City. As we'll 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.640 come to see, the history of advertising and radio is 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.920 in many ways the story of radio itself and a 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:31.280 foundational chapter in the history of American mass media. The 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:36.760 earliest experiments with sending sound wirelessly through the electromagnetic spectrum 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:41.920 took place in the eighteen nineties. The first form of 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.600 it is the wireless which is a telegraph without wires, 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:49.640 where you could send Morse code over the air. Adding 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:53.320 voice and adding actual audio doesn't really happen until the 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.400 late teens. In World War One, it's used by the 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.560 Navy for a shift to shore communication. So after World 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:04.280 War One, the US government wanted to develop this fancy 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:08.000 new technology. They decided they didn't want to take it over, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.960 just as they decided not to do that with telephony 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.680 and telegraphy, So they had to try to figure out 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:16.400 how to build it as some sort of business or industry. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.520 They've created a corporation called Radio Corporation of America. The 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:25.160 family including r C A, Victor, rd A, Radiotron, r 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:29.040 D A Communications Radio Marine, r C A Instituced, and 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:34.440 the National Broadcasting Company, which basically stole these wireless patents. 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.560 They were producing and manufacturing different kinds of radio sets 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:43.040 and receivers and transmitters, and they're trying to figure out 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.880 how to make more money from it. R C a 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:53.120 created a network called National Broadcasting Company NBC Radio. NBC 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.600 was based in New York City, but they would transmit 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:01.800 programs to stations located all over the country. Musicians would 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.839 literally just play for free on the air to get 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.320 people interested in buying radio sets. This might remind you 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.840 today of how people provide free content in order to 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.799 eventually get paid for it. But they had to figure 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.120 out a way of financing the programming and the broadcasters, 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:21.200 that is, the networks and those local stations. They were 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.360 technical people. They were running a transmitter. They didn't know 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:26.919 how to make entertainment, and they also didn't want to 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.880 spend the money. They wanted to rent air time to 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.760 charge somebody, you know, fifty dollars for fifteen minutes on 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.760 their transmitter. But the only people who really wanted to 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:44.000 reach lots of people at one time were advertisers. Up 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:48.800 until this time, the advertising industry was primarily based in 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:53.040 print newspapers and magazines. People don't stop to thank much 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.480 about printing. It's like a drink of water. You buy 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:01.720 a newspaper a magazine and use it. Advertisers those are 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.480 the people who actually make stuff like soap or cigarettes. 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.320 They would hire ad agencies to go to the newspaper 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.720 and say we want to buy a page. The newspaper 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.240 would say, okay, well that'll be a thousand dollars. The 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:17.080 ad agency then would be the broker. They go back 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.840 to the advertiser and say, look, you know, don't you 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.760 want to buy this page in this newspaper to advertiser, 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.400 soap s only a thousand dollars. The advertiser would pay 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.120 the agency a thousand dollars and then the agency would 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.240 keep a hundred and fifty of it commission and then 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:37.120 forward fifty of it to the newspaper. And then the 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:41.200 ad agency, as a courtesy, would make the ad for 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.800 the advertiser. So they would write the words copywriting, and 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:50.839 they would make the illustrations our direction. Two major strategies 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:55.320 evolved from print advertising, the hard sell and the soft 0:04:55.360 --> 0:05:02.160 Sellin hard sell advertising, it was all about the product 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:07.080 and product information craft caramels in bags, pocket sized bars, 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.440 and at candy cotters everywhere, and tended to be very 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:15.400 repetitive and hypopolou to crack carmos, two cracked calmos, two 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:17.520 crack camos. To crack garmel, you had to give lots 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.680 of reasons why to a consumer to buy the product 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:23.760 true caramel flavor you get only from pure sugar, with 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:26.400 all of the minerals, all of the protein of good 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:32.839 fresh milk. You would say, look, here's your problem. You 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:39.600 have dirty laundry. Here's a solution. It's rinse so laundry so. Well, 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:41.440 why do you want to buy rinso instead of another 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.680 laundry stuff? Well, because Rinso lifts the dirt up. Rinso 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.240 doesn't red in your hands, Rinso doesn't damage your clothing. 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.599 Rinso produces lots of SuDS. Rinso is priced really well, 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.800 it's an amazing so. Print advertising in the nineteen twenties 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.440 is full of a lot of words, pair a graphs, 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.680 and paragraphs. The idea was that if you provided enough 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.640 reasons why to buy one of them would convince the consumer. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.720 Mighty Putty is not a glue, but a superpower to 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:14.359 POxy pulled to any shape and apply directly to most 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.320 any surface for an everlasting box. Rills, holds and screws 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.640 can ruin your projects. With mighty putty. You just cut, 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.960 activate and apply. Here's something you can't do with glue. 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:30.200 Mighty putty seals leaks instantly. It has the strength to 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:35.279 pull this fully loaded eighty thousand pound tractor trailer. Now 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:40.440 that's the power of mighty putty. A counter strategy was 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.480 what we now call the soft sell. Instead of talking 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:55.640 about the product, they've appealed to people's emotions. Go the 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.719 hard sell soft cell distinction. I think is really easy 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.200 to see once you know what it is. Is the 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.520 ad about the product or is the ad about how 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.480 we feel? Most ads today are about how we feel. 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:14.520 There's very little information about how McDonald's hamburger tastes, but 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.000 there's often a lot of imagery about people being with 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:22.000 their friends and their family and enjoying deal. And I 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.400 don't just rot to de beat, but the hard cell 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:31.240 was the dominant ad strategy up through the nineties, with 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:35.400 the print industry as their model. Advertising proponents were eager 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.720 to start selling on radio, but there was deep seated 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:43.600 anxiety that this could poison the well the industry and 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.000 regulators are worried that it would kill this brand new 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:51.800 industry if advertising was direct. They were afraid that people 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.920 would turn off the radio, tossed the radio set into 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:59.840 the trash. There's a land of sector people like Herbert 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:01.840 who Over, who was Secretary of State in the ninet 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:06.800 twenties suggested that radio only be an indirect advertising medium, 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:11.640 sort of like a public relations effort. So an advertiser 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.640 word by half an hour of time, and the only 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.200 advertising was in the name of the show. So you 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:22.520 have the ever Ready Hour Battery Latom get right Dated, 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:28.200 ever Ready Battery Floor Lilflife, or the Clicko Club Eskimos. 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.920 The idea was that a listener would hear the musical 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:38.240 show and feel very positively towards this company for providing 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:43.520 them with free entertainment. The music that these advertisers chose 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.920 to put on the air had to fit in with 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:50.440 their brand. Clicko Club was a ginger Ale company. They 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:55.120 put together a band called the Clicko Club Eskimos, which 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.559 is supposed to make you think of coolness, right, something 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.240 cool and icy, And then they played music that was 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:07.000 very bubbly and my favorite part are the sled dogs 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.760 that are barking a tune. I mean they're not really 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:15.160 sled dogs. This was all designed to create a brand 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:20.679 association and what we call sponsor identification that the audience 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.720 is listening to this perkeep music and they're like, oh, 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.760 this is Clicko Club, and they're the sponsor. They're putting 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.680 this on from me and my enjoyment. Well, next time 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:33.280 I go to the store, instead of buying Canada drygein Dreo, 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:38.320 I'll be sure to buy Clico Club. The program was 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:42.959 the ad The program was the brand image. There weren't 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.800 commercials in the sense that we understand them today. But 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:50.760 by the beginning of the depression it became clear that 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.120 advertisers wanted to do more than that, and so the 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.800 rules kind of changed. The success of our whole national 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.600 program depends of close on the cooperation of the public. 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:07.120 Advertisers were in a panic about the collapse of consumer demand, 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.480 and they saw radio as a way of stimulating it. 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:15.320 So what happens in the nineties is that the broadcasters 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.240 are not in charge of programs at all. They simply 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.760 rent the time, and then the advertisers have to figure 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.920 out how to fill that time. First, they would hire 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.800 people from the vaudeville industry, or the theater industry, or 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:30.920 the music industry. But advertisers were dissatisfied with that because 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.320 they were concerned that those people cared more about the 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.360 show than about their advertising. So they turned to their 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:41.080 advertising agencies. Now their agencies were the people who used 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.920 to buy them pages in print media. A lot of 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.280 agencies or I'm not sure that radio should be an 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.800 ad medium. They were concerned about people being turned off 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.760 by advertising and how it was invading the home, and 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.400 it was pervasive, it was just in the air, but 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.640 some add agencies jumped on it. A lot of print media, 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.160 we're going out of business in the depression, A lot 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.960 of newspapers and magazines shut down, and ad agencies earned 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:13.440 their money from charging commissions to those print magazines and newspapers. 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.520 So with the radio they had a whole new revenue stream. 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.280 The ad agencies essentially said, Okay, we're going to turn 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:23.800 this ad agency into an entertainment production company. They would 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:28.520 hire writers to write the scripts. Sorry, they would hire 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.079 the actors to read the scripts and play the characters. 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:39.240 First line product integration. They would hire music directors, producers, directors, 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:42.960 and many of those people were employed directly at the 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:48.160 ad agency. Some agencies got into this because they were young, 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.000 upstart agencies and anxious to break into this new technology. 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:58.840 Well they are all. DAR wasn't an agency like Pentenham Bowls. 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.920 Most of their business was producing radio shows like Maxwell 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.760 House Showboat for companies like General Foods. No matter what 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.599 your favorite entertainment is, you will always find it on 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:15.120 the Maxwell House Killbot. Who you are? Maxwell House, Cope 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.360 a cooling bank of ice, Macbell Health copy with It, 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.120 Fendily stimulation, it wos you up and never let you down. 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.880 Other agencies like J Walter Thompson and B B d 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.920 O which is short for BT and bartin Jerson and Osbourne. 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.040 How do you sell er b A T T e 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:35.959 n V A R t O N d u r 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:37.880 s t I n e O s b O r 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:42.880 n what. They were well established agencies. They were very 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:46.720 successful in nineteen twenties. In the nineteen thirties they started 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:51.880 their own radio departments and were soon producing dozens of 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:56.400 radio shows for their clients and ad agencies promised their 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.760 clients that the shows that they would produce would for 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.120 elect the needs of that brand image. So all of 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:10.560 a sudden, companies that make toothpaste were involved in entertainment gate. 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.680 Camel games. Read this week te that right when you 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.240 brush the morn and night we go gate dandel Grade 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:26.120 we do wasn't necessarily the first time that advertisers were 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:30.520 involved in entertainment. In the nineteenth century. There were these 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.800 things called medicine shows. They get to a town out 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:39.080 become a banjo player or tap dancer or commune, and 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.120 they gather the crowd around and they put on show 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:50.880 for free betters. Show coming better around, So shut up 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.800 your shoes and cout out your dope. Let come all 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:59.199 down through the show. Then they pull out the product. 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.920 In a product, it's usually a patent medicine, usually mostly alcohol. 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.840 But they were sold and promoted as curatives, claiming to 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:14.600 cure the food, cure constipation, cure lethargy, you know, everything 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.640 you can imagine under the sun. These are all fraudulent, 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:22.880 of course, but patent medicines were the top advertisers in 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.840 print media, and there were the top advertisers in terms 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:31.920 of entertainment. Now about a pain in the net. Eventually, 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:36.000 in the nineteen teens we got a Ritual Trade Commission 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.760 in the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:43.320 this kind of fraud. But when radio comes along, there 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.920 are people who accuse it of just basically being a 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.640 high tech medicine show, and in some sense it was. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.760 You'll find the fact that the most complete relief in adison. 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.800 You've every sure the reason is simple. Addison contained not 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.400 one they ativiated along for before. If later fails, your 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.480 food may remain on the justice, leaving your headache in 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:12.280 irritable to feel fearful and happy again. Big Carter's little liverpill. 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.440 And my doctor recommended ivory. He did all he so 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.480 condu with clanny, and that to protect the fine texture 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.400 and pours a soculd pin gently, and that to do 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.120 that so must be pure blultaslter is a solution when 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.800 you take it the same remating energy. Six studium mastile 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.680 solicillates is ready to go right to work and say 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.520 that there is the cree. Eight thousands of sparkling bubbles 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:47.400 give speed to alcidosis relifition in qualities. Yeah, I'm just 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:51.000 trying to find out how I can improve the program. 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.120 Wait a minute, Wait a minute, everybody, this maybe trouble. 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:57.000 Come in. Do you want an opinion? Oh you you 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.120 heard the program and it's too slow? You mean you 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:04.200 did not? I should bank bank bang, good bye. He 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:06.840 must be in a fast business. I make minute rob 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:14.000 so long. Okay, the sponsor wants speed, that's what he's 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:16.160 going to get now on your toes. Everybody. We have 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:20.080 stopped the program over, take it away, Pete, I pun 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.840 up style present and here he is, thank you, Anne, 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:29.040 Here she is Hello man. You can't get it any 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:33.920 fashion than that. With radio, we have very few recorded 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:37.320 programs from the thirties and forties because audio tape, a 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.560 format which you can edit, didn't exist before the nineties. 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.840 In fact, the Nazis helped invent it. In the networks 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:49.440 disallowed recordings of any kind during their network broadcasts. Everything 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.080 had to be live, every single thing, the sound effects, 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.560 the music, the acting, And that was because the networks 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.920 wanted to make sure the affiliates all those local radio 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:03.120 stations didn't just go out and buy some recorded programs 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:06.800 and not use the networks at all. So when advertisers 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.959 first started getting into radio, some of them more concerned 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.720 that it was too ephemeral, that the words that came 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.440 over the radio set would come and go so quickly 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.520 that the audience wouldn't catch it. So they did things 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.520 like they repeated their brand name over and over. Ladies 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.320 and gentlemen, this is a new pitch Bandwagon, brought to 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.120 you by the f W Pitch company makers a Pictures 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.840 Ideal Hair Tonic and Pictures Danders removing Campoo. They spelled 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:42.760 out their brand name r E. S p. A A Blanca, 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:48.119 cresta Blanca. It's with print. You had the advertisement on 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.200 a piece of paper. You could look at it again, 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:52.639 you could reread it, you could give it to somebody else. 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.080 And they're really worried that this kind of ephemerality would 0:17:56.280 --> 0:18:02.960 make radio advertising less effective. But proponents would argue that 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:07.199 that efemorality wasn't a problem because radio used the voice. 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.880 The idea rides on the speaker's voice and his words 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:14.680 on how these words are articulated and pronounced and used 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.480 in language, and the voice was a much more effective 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:24.760 vehicle for advertising message than that dry, impersonal, voiceless print 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:30.040 on the page. Radio announcers usually were like the m 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.119 C of the show, Well your faithful friend, when muscle 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:39.160 they can pain dang busters. They would open the show, 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.280 they'd introduced the show, they'd introduced the characters. Sometimes they 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.399 would give the backstory. Now we present once again Mary Noble, 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.080 backdaid wife, the story of a little Iowa girl who 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:52.360 married one of America's more tantom actors, Larry noble matinee 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:54.840 idol of a million other women, the story of what 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:56.960 it means to be the wife of a famous star. 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.760 And they would also offer make the announcement the word 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.359 from our sponsor, good advice officer, it always pays to 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:07.760 strike the happy medium even and the like that if 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.360 you take that's why more and more people are using 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.280 Act Black. And those announcers then became really important because 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:18.199 they were embodying the brand. No matter what your favorite 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.240 entertainment is, you'll always find it on the Maxwell House 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.680 show board. You're taking admitting as always just your loyalty 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.119 the Maxwell House Coffee. The other reason they thought it 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.600 would be powerful was because people were receiving these messages 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.160 in the comforts of their home, and so they're going 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:41.320 to be more receptive, more vulnerable. We might say today 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:47.800 to this disembodied voice coming directly into the private emotional 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:52.320 center of American lives, Let's see how the broadcast gets 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:56.480 from the studio to your home. These ideas that radio 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:01.119 was a particularly powerful medium also meant that regulators are 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:03.639 very worried about it. Of course, you don't hear the 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.720 real sounds over your home radio. What you hear is 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:12.760 a translation of the song. The Nazis in the nineteen 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:16.960 thirties were using radio as a propaganda machine, and a 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.960 lot of people were convinced that radio had converted a 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:24.159 large part of the German population to the Nazi cause, 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:26.760 and so there was a lot of concern that radio 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.679 was too powerful a medium and we had to be 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.280 really careful that it wasn't abused. Radio waves from many 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.720 programs are being picked up by your radio all the time. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:43.480 More often the networks were more concerned that advertisers would 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.119 offend audiences and then the listeners would turn off the 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:51.760 network or turn off the radio altogether. NBC had a 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:56.639 department called the Continuity Acceptance Department, and it was essentially 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.560 a censoring process. They would read the scripts and advance 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.199 of the broadcast and try to censor anything that they 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.240 thought would offend an audience. They called it ready ears 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:11.639 or your ears burning baby. So there's this very strong 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.840 sense that in order to serve the public interest with 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:19.840 this commercially sponsored programming, everything that went out had to 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:30.800 appeal to all ages. It had to be inoffensive and uncontroversial. 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:37.080 Henry older dad that everyone's every day experiences in the 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:42.360 older living room and would not cross a line into 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:47.760 anything that resembled propaganda. Now we have this thing in 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.560 the Constitution called the First Amendment. The federal government is 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:56.240 not supposed to impose prior restraint on the press, that is, 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:58.359 the news media. They can't make a rule saying you 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:02.359 can't cover this topic. But what happened with radio is 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.680 that because it was an uncontrolled medium, it just goes 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:08.480 out into the ether the air, and it can't sort 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:12.000 of control who gets it. Regulators decided that radio did 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:16.840 not have full First Amendment protection. Radio stations had to 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:21.800 serve the public interest, and that meant that they couldn't 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.920 just broadcast anything they wanted. So a radio station could 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:29.280 not broadcast pornography or even indecency, that is bad words. 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.639 They could get in trouble with the Federal Communications Commission 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.960 and lose their license, and their licenses essentially access to 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:42.480 a certain part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Today, the only 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:47.720 entities that are subject to this limited First protection are broadcasters, 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:52.080 people who transmit over the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes terrestrial 0:22:52.160 --> 0:23:04.600 radio J and then linear broadcast television networks and ABC, CBS, 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:09.040 and that's about it. Everybody else, all those cable networks. 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:11.560 They are not subject to that limitation. They have full 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:15.359 First Amendment rights, and today, of course, Internet is not 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:22.560 at all subject to limited First Amendment protection. Two dominant networks, 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:26.680 both of which survived today, emerged in nine twenties. Radio 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:33.399 with fundamental differences between them. NBC was a subsidiary of 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:36.320 the Radio Corporation of America. Which kind of music do 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:39.919 you like? And it was essentially a loss leader designed 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:43.040 to just keep the industry moving ahead. You name it 0:23:43.440 --> 0:23:45.920 r C A Victor's Got It the music you want 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:50.120 when you wanted by the world's greatest artists, sending out 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:53.040 programs in order to get people to burn more radio sets. 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:56.480 The philteramic antenna is featured in this X four model, 0:23:56.960 --> 0:24:00.080 along with dual speakers that filled the room with the 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:04.120 best am sound ever heard. They didn't really see themselves 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:08.600 as an entertainment or advertising company. They saw themselves as 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:11.600 a technological company that wraps up our c A Victor's 0:24:11.640 --> 0:24:18.879 New line of radios, good listening and good selling. This 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:23.200 is CBS. They cut on be a broadcasting system. CBS, 0:24:23.240 --> 0:24:26.919 on the other hand, was designed to please advertisers because 0:24:27.040 --> 0:24:29.280 it was taken over a buy an advertiser in the 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:32.879 late twenties, William Paley, so my closest friends so that 0:24:32.920 --> 0:24:35.680 I was buying into a gimmick. They just couldn't understand 0:24:36.400 --> 0:24:39.080 anybody having any doubt about the future of this media. 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:44.120 William Paley's family owned a tobacco company and they sold 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:47.359 a lot of cigars called the La Paulina cigars on 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:51.520 a radio show in the nineteen twenties in Philadelphia. Well, George, 0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:53.760 so this is the place you buy those secret weapons 0:24:53.800 --> 0:24:57.320 you smoke. And they realized that radio could be a 0:24:57.400 --> 0:25:00.840 very effective selling tool. Eddie, Please, these happen to be 0:25:01.040 --> 0:25:04.919 very fine cigars. Sure, you walk through Los Angeles smoking 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:07.280 those things in the poorness and rubber factory gets all 0:25:07.320 --> 0:25:13.240 the blame. Paley basically bought these radio stations in this network, 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:16.720 which had been a subsidiary of the Columbia Recording Company, 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:19.440 and he builds it up into I think one of 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:25.159 the most effective advertising platforms in media history, because he 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:30.840 decides to really cater to advertisers and help them figure 0:25:30.880 --> 0:25:34.879 out how best to reach their aciences. But the people 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:40.600 actually making decisions about programs were not the networks. Back 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:43.160 in the thirties and the forties, the networks were only 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:46.560 deciding who to sell time to. Let's have my own brand, Joe, 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:50.280 there's a quarter, thank you, Mr Candor here's your ten cigars. 0:25:51.560 --> 0:25:54.280 The people making the decisions about the programs were the 0:25:54.359 --> 0:26:09.080 advertisers and their advertising agencies. One of the top radio 0:26:09.160 --> 0:26:14.359 producers was called Blackett sample Huart. Frank hummert realize very 0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:17.480 early on that radio would be an excellent medium for 0:26:17.560 --> 0:26:21.560 reaching housewives. Housewives to be at home sweeping the floor, 0:26:21.800 --> 0:26:23.879 doing the dishes, and they could have the radio on 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:26.639 and listen to a show. Ladies, drill at the new 0:26:26.760 --> 0:26:30.480 loveliness of your complexion, the radiant, pingling feeling that is yours. 0:26:30.600 --> 0:26:34.600 After a facial with Hopper White clay Pack, Hummer decided 0:26:34.640 --> 0:26:37.280 that the best way to keep audiences tuned into the 0:26:37.440 --> 0:26:41.760 radio was to provide serialized stories. Well for a week 0:26:42.200 --> 0:26:45.560 he followed the continual plotting of the Cousins against Mam 0:26:46.240 --> 0:26:48.800 Now coutin Silvester is trying to make Faith fall in 0:26:48.880 --> 0:26:51.000 love with him, and at the same time he and 0:26:51.160 --> 0:26:53.920 his Dady doesn't it, are trying to keep Willie and 0:26:54.000 --> 0:26:58.040 Evy out of their life. Bab newspapers and magazines had 0:26:58.080 --> 0:27:02.120 provide serialized stories for cads. They're very popular in nineteenth 0:27:02.160 --> 0:27:07.480 century literature. Those cereals then were like fifteen minutes a day. 0:27:08.240 --> 0:27:11.760 They was open with an organ playing these dramatic cords. 0:27:12.359 --> 0:27:17.760 And you've heard these organs sounds parodied ever since. The 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:21.560 Homards would create multiple programs at the same time by 0:27:21.680 --> 0:27:26.399