Radio Control

     In the 1920s, the advertising industry merged with that of radio, forming a powerful bond that remains intact today, forever affecting what we hear and the choices we make when it comes to radio media.
     Advertising is an incredibly strong industry that has grown from the 18th century to the modern day as a seemingly natural part of our media-consuming experience. Its force has long influenced all parts of American society, forming a large part of our culture. In today's world, ventures can hardly last without an inclusion of advertising; for example, new websites can only last so long as homegrown, unaffected entities before they have sidebars of ads to fuel the economy and media consumption of all forms. This was no exception in the 1920s as radio was booming and becoming a weighty force in American society. Ads soon seamlessly entered the world of radio, altering it and making it what it is today.
     Advertising's marriage to radio began in 1922 with AT&T's station WEAF. As AT&T began charging content providers a fee for the use of its stations, advertising in radio began to evolve. These fees turned into manufacturer sponsorship to advertise their goods, which then turned into the now commonplace concept of advertisers paying the station to play their ads. Ads alone may have changed radio, but the advertising industry altered radio even farther as paying advertisers began nudging radio stations to better suit their own interests. Advertising agencies knew they needed a commercial audience to fully cover the range of customers they wished to reel in, so radio stations began focusing more on entertainment radio, rather than on news or education, areas that only draw in limited audiences. So, as radio itself became more widespread and more influential, so did the advertising industry affixed at its side. The two remain tightly joined today, ever changing our culture and society.