Sold On Radio: Advertisers in the Golden Age of Broadcasting

333 Pages·2008·1.65 MB·English

by  Jim Cox

SOLD ON RADIO
ALSOBYJIMCOX
ANDFROMMCFARLAND
The Great Radio Soap Operas (1999; paperback 2008)
Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales,
Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized
the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s—
A Biographical Dictionary (2007)
The Great Radio Sitcoms (2007)
The Daytime Serials of Television, 1946–1960 (2006)
Music Radio: The Great Performers and Programs
of the 1920s through Early 1960s (2005)
Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons: A Complete History and
Episode Log of Radio’s Most Durable Detective (2004)
Frank and Anne Hummert’s Radio Factory: The Programs and
Personalities of Broadcasting’s Most Prolific Producers (2003)
Radio Crime Fighters: Over 300 Programs from the Golden Age (2002)
Say Goodnight, Gracie: The Last Years of Network Radio (2002)
The Great Radio Audience Participation Shows:
Seventeen Programs from the 1940s and 1950s (2001)
S R
OLD ON ADIO
Advertisers in
the Golden Age
of Broadcasting
Jim Cox
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
Photographs provided by Photofest
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Cox, Jim, ¡939–
Sold on radio : advertisers in the golden age
of broadcasting / Jim Cox.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-3391-9
illustrated case binding : 50# alkaline paper
1. Radio advertising—United States—History—20th century.
2. Radio broadcasting—United States—History—20th century. I. Title.
HF6146.R3C69 2008 659.14'20973—dc22 2008014538
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2008 Jim Cox. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Ralph Edwards hosting “Truth or Consequences”
for Procter & Gamble’s laundry detergent
Duz (Photofest); radio ©2007 Shutterstock
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To the memory of
Willard K. (Daddy) Weeks
E. Odell Crowe
and
Chauncey R. Daley
three men whose mentoring
profoundly shaped my life
and the lives of my contemporaries
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Acknowledgments
No author acts independently. I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again: were
it not for a handful of individuals who supplied information and verified tenuous
facts, a project like this would never be completed. With a diverse contingent of
resources at my fingertips, I still lean heavily upon the expertise of a handful of
confidantes who have proven themselves as reliably accurate as they are depend-
able, competent and gracious with their time and substance.
At the head of the list is research colleague Irene Heinstein whose ability to
discover obscure details about individuals, enterprises and events is mesmerizing.
Tirelessly, proficiently, profusely she labors, never satisfied until the most infini-
tesimal nagging quest is satisfied. Irene possesses the uncanny ability to find and
furnish reams of substantive documentation on any topic and does so with dis-
patch and—I believe—glee. A whole lot of the data in this book passed before
her eyes, much of it originating with an august array of factoids she can summon
at a moment’s notice. I am enduringly grateful for her commitment and am priv-
ileged to acknowledge it here.
My chum Charlie Niren came to my rescue several times with tapes of shows
and their commercials that were helpful in completing the manuscript. I was pro-
foundly dependent on a similar series of MP3 discs provided by Gary Mercer
which he labeled Encyclopedia of Radio & TV: A History of Radio & TV. Cope
Robinson, a veteran of Newell-Emmett ad agency in “those days,” read significant
portions of the manuscript and offered priceless comments along the way. He,
Chris Chandler, Ted Meland and Jim Widner evaluated my original theme for the
project and rendered helpful reactions before I launched into the venture. Several
others supplied information, answers and assistance when summoned: Conrad
Binyon, Claire Connelly, Jack French, Russell Hudson, Bill Jaker and Lee Mun-
sick.
I’m indebted to a few colleagues who motivated me with their own often
unheralded journalistic pursuits in the preservation of vintage radio. My pals
include editors Bob Burchett, Steve Darnall, Jack French, Jay Hickerson, Ken
Krug, Patrick Lucanio and Mike Utz. Tom Heathwood and Walden Hughes, a
couple of stalwarts on the air, lent empathy to these endeavors.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Once again, I’m indebted to my lifelong companion, Sharon Cox, for her
willingness to share me with my pursuits into the days of yesteryear. All of my
family does likewise, in fact, and I am deeply grateful to each one.
I’m also thankful for you, dear reader—for your interest, encouragement and
cheer. You are the reason I do this. I trust you will be rewarded with the outcome
of these modest endeavors.
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART I. THE COMMERCIALIZATION
OF AMERICAN NETWORK RADIO
1. Ancestors of Radio Advertising  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2. Commercializing the Ether  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3. Ad Agencies: They Held the Whip Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4. Audience Measurement Services: Counting the House  . . . . . 41
5. Commercial Copywriters: Persuasive Penmanship  . . . . . . . 52
6. Commercial Spokesmen: They Delivered the Goods  . . . . . . 60
PART II. PATRONAGE OF AMERICAN NETWORK RADIO
American Home Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
American Tobacco Company  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Andrew Jergens Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Bristol-Myers Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Campbell Soup Company  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Coca-Cola Company  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Ford Motor Company  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
General Foods Corporation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
ix