Radio: No Time Left

NBC had bad news last week for many a hopeful national advertiser. The nation’s richest network announced that it was abandoning its waiting list. From now on new sponsors will be sold air time not on the basis of their position on a list, but according to the suitability of their pro grams.

This welcome (to listeners) decision was not purely esthetic. NBC could afford to get tough with its advertisers because, for the first time in its history, the network had no good air time (7-11 p.m. daily) left to sell. Nor could advertisers console themselves much by turning to the other three U.S. networks. CBS had a few evening half hours for sale, but they were not likely to be available long. There was some “ice-cream time”* available on the Blue Network and on Mutual, but Blue’s time sales for 1943’s first eight months were up 63% over last year, Mutual’s up 28%. All network radio advertising, according to Variety, is up 25% over last year.

Many a big war-converted corporation was holding its precious air time with an institutional program designed merely to keep its name alive for the day when it would again have something for public sale.

Radioese for the desirable 7-11 p.m. hours.