Early radio advertising worked indirectly through sponsored content

Evidence

At the time, companies with designs on radio’s audiences stalked them indirectly, by sponsoring content. Gillette, for example, underwrote a lecture series on the “history of the beard.” Most, however, sponsored a musical act like La Palina Hour, named after La Palina cigars, or the Clicquot Club Eskimos, a banjo ensemble presented by a popular ginger ale (the “Eskimos” played their banjos in full parkas before their studio audiences). — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 292

Categorization

• SHARE: The ‘history of the beard’ lecture series and banjo players in parkas sponsored by ginger ale are perfectly specific tidbits for a radio/advertising history friend.
• CANDY: That a razor company sponsored a lecture series on beard history is a delicious irony worth quoting at a dinner party.
• XREF: connects to: Early radio advertising could more than double a sponsor’s product sales — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 337; Early radio networks funded programming by combining licensed sustaining shows with advertiser-sponsored content — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 339; An advertiser, not a network, invented the serial radio program — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 306 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Early radio networks funded programming by combining licensed sustaining shows with advertiser-sponsored content #exemplifies (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 339
• Early radio advertising could more than double a sponsor’s product sales #expands (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 337