Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: The First Radio Commercial Message-ID: Date: 31 Jul 89 04:18:20 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 22 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 265, message 6 of 7 I know, this is TELECOM Digest, so what is a message about radio commercials doing here. There is only one excuse, really: The first sale of time on a radio station for commercial purposes occurred 67 years ago this week when radio station WEAF, New York City, sold the first commercial to a Jackson Heights apartment-house builder. WEAF, one of the first broadcast radio stations in America belonged to a very large organization: AT&T to be exact. Yes, among other things, AT&T used to own a commercial radio station in the early days of broadcasting. WEAF was designed primarily as an experimental station, used to test out the latest developments from Bell Labs and Western Electric Company. The majority of the time they played jazz music and/or symphonies, with occasional speeches of interest by important people in New York City. They only operated the station a short time, and decided it was not worth the time or money to continue operating it. This was just a little telecom trivia to start the week for you! Patrick Townson