When big business was in show business

Abstract

US radio during the period before television differed from that of later eras in at least one key respect: advertisers had direct programme control through programme sponsorship. A radio sponsor was an advertiser who rented airtime from a broadcaster and then often hired an advertising agency to develop programme concepts, hire talent and production staff, write scripts, and oversee individual broadcasts during their airtime. The rise of sponsorship meant that ‘big business’ was not just involved in the manufacturing, distributing, and marketing of products but was also the overseer of, in the words of sponsor Lee Bristol, ‘swing bands, scat singers and comedians.’ As one advertising executive asserted about radio sponsors, ‘Big business has learned a new vocabulary. … It’s now in show business.’ But this collaboration on radio between ‘big business’ and ‘show business’ would largely end after the advent of television.