Radio and Postwar Advertising

Americans had been listening to the radio for forty years by the early 1960s. Before the end of World War II, however, radio was built around daily or weekly programs that ranged from mysteries to live musical performances. These shows were sponsored by a single advertiser who presented their message a couple of times during the program. After the war, this kind of programming moved to television. In need of something new, radio stations began to focus on playing records. The different stations in a city featured different styles of music, including pop, jazz, classical, blues, soul, or – to Mr. Watson’s dismay – country. These records were presented by disc jockeys (DJs), who had the verbal talents to express their big personalities in fun and exciting ways, becoming local celebrities in the process. Instead of one sponsor, postwar radio featured “spot” advertising – or clusters of short commercials plugging the products of many different companies – that were played between groups of songs.

It was not just what Americans heard on air that changed, though. Just as important was that Americans also used their radios in very different ways. Before the war, almost all radio listening happened at home. Even a small radio set was about the size of a kitchen toaster and to power it, you needed delicate vacuum tubes made of glass. The introduction of electronic transistors, which are the predecessors of today’s computer microchips, made radios more compact and portable. They became a standard feature in cars. Teenagers brought small, handheld models along when they met up with friends at the park or the beach. More and more, radio listening was something that Americans did on the go. And with the building of highway systems, the growth of the suburbs, a booming automobile industry (centered in the Watsons’ southeastern Michigan), and the “car culture” this all fostered, Americans were on the go more and more often.

Interestingly, radio mirrored this sense of movement. Songs, commercials, station identification notices, and DJ banter all blended into a continuous stream of sound. One thing that greatly contributed to this sense of flow was the highly musical quality of advertising. In the 1940s, companies began to set their sales slogans to catchy little melodies. Before long, these “jingles” were everywhere. The whole idea was to get these “ear worms” lodged in people’s heads, where they could replay over and over. The dominant thinking in advertising then was that if consumers heard a short, memorable sales pitch enough times, they would eventually be persuaded by it. Another shape this idea took was the “unique selling proposition,” which used authoritative-sounding language, such as scientific jargon, to highlight a single main advantage that supposedly set a product apart from its competitors. The thinking was that it is easier for someone to remember one thing than many. The controls built into the Ultra-Glide record player to prevent it from skipping, or what Mr. Watson called its “exclusive Vibro-Dynamic-Lateral-Anti-Inertial Dampening system,” is a good example.

Because Americans were constantly exposed to advertising, they became fluent in its language. That does not, however, mean they were like sponges who simply absorbed commercial messages. Americans realized they were being sold to and, like the Watsons, used advertising as a common touchstone they could borrow from to make jokes or to make the case for their own “pet” purchases. More than any one specific product, advertisers sold a vision of the “good life,” which in the early 1960s meant an everyday existence that felt technologically up-to-date, in step with modern styles, and free from the hardships and inequalities of the past.

About the Author

Richard Popp is a professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and author of The Holiday Makers: Magazines, Advertising, and Mass Tourism in Postwar America.