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Sponsor was a magazine for radio and TV advertising
buyers and commercial broadcast stations. It
published from November of 1946 to December of 1964
It began as a monthly, and then went bimonthly in
1950. It went weekly from, October of 1956.
Publication ended on December 28, 1964.
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Norman Glenn - Founder |
Norman R. Glenn (born Norman R. Goldman), founding editor
and publisher of Sponsor
and Marketing and Media Decisions, was born in Chicago
Heights, Illinois on September 3, 1909. Mr. Glenn enrolled
in the University of Chicago as a Liberal Arts major in 1927
but dropped out during his senior year due to financial
hardship.
 To
help support himself and his family, Mr. Glenn took a job
with the Chicago Daily News. While at The Chicago Daily News
he was introduced to the General Manager of WLS radio in
Chicago who offered Mr. Glenn a job and where he worked from
1932-1936. His first job at the radio station was to hold up
placards introducing the acts at WLS's weekly show, "The
National Barn Dance". Mr. Glenn was eventually promoted to
information clerk at WLS and finally, in 1933, to Promotion
Director. As Promotion Director, he handled all publicity
and promotions for the Prairie Farmer-owned WLS. |
In 1945, Mr. Glenn married Elaine Cooper and, for a short
time, was Executive Director of Frequency Modulation
magazine. Earlier, while at Broadcasting Magazine, Mr. Glenn
imagined a trade journal geared towards the broadcast
advertiser - to serve the concerns of broadcast media,
broadcasters and advertisers. This idea came to fruition
with the publication of Sponsor magazine in November of
1946. Sponsor's credo, as stated in the magazine's first
issue was, "Sponsor is the trade magazine for the man who
foots the broadcast advertising bill..its objective is to do
a job for the sponsor". Sponsor initially ran as a monthly
publication but by the end of 1947 expanded into a bi-weekly
publication.
Sponsor magazine was a popular and influential magazine
within the broadcast community. Sponsor's editorials were of
notable influence. The editorials called for sound TV and
radio practices, creation of a television ad bureau, a
revitalized radio ad bureau, improved research and media
buying professionalism. For several years, Sponsor ran a
series entitled, "This We Fight For". This was a series of
articles dealing with ethical standards. During the early to
mid 1950s, Sponsor also ran a series of editorials entitled,
"Red Channels" which attacked McCarthyism and blacklisting.
This series earned the magazine the George Polk Memorial
Award for distinguished journalism. Norman Glenn sold
Sponsor magazine to Obijay Press of Duluth, Minnesota in
1963.
Mr.Glenn went on to found Media Decisions in
1966. He passed away in 1998 at the age of
91. |
We would like to continue the Norman Glenn
Collection with examples of Media
Decisions... later Marketing
& Media Decisions... the journal he founded after
selling Sponsor in 1963. Please contact the
site if you have access to copies. |
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Special Editions |
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40 Year Album of Pioneer Radio Stations |
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Sponsor was among the first media
publications to feature and highlight
broadcasters who served the African American
communities across the United states. In
that era, such stations self-defined and
were referred to as "Negro" programmed and
that term, which has fallen out of favor and
use, was eminently acceptable at that time.
We present the "Negro Market" issues in
their historical context as the media
reflects prevailing attitudes of the time. |
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Cultural Note of Clarification |
