A single radio show captured one-third of the US population nightly by 1931

Evidence

The audiences, astounding at the time, are still impressive by today’s standards. While measurements were crude in those days, by 1931, Amos ‘n’ Andy is believed to have attracted some 40 million listeners each and every evening—with some episodes reaching 50 million—this out of a population that was then 122 million. It was a result unprecedented for any entertainment product, the equivalent of having today’s Super Bowl audiences each and every evening—and with just one advertiser. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 315

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s attention-platform-surveillance history thread: the scale of single-sponsor national broadcasting before fragmentation.
• CANDY: The 40-50 million nightly listeners out of a 122 million population, Super Bowl every night with one advertiser, is striking dinner-table trivia.