Haha, there were obviously some benefits.

Possibly true. But in rural areas--my grandparents lived in Iowa---on those long cold winter evenings, it was entertainment for the whole family. The Shadow; Fibber McGee and Molly, Superman; the Lone Ranger and many more.

NOt to mention a quicker source of news than a weekly newspaper--(weekly was all most small rural towns could afford). Plus music. Even a poor family who could not afford lotsof records for a record player could listen to Guy Lombardo, Les Brown and his band of renown and many, many others.

Yes, the ads were sad--so are Tv ads today. It is the price we pay for entertainment. Also, I suspect most adults were as good at ignoring audio ads as we are today at ignoring visual ads.

My point exactly! haha

The 1920's brought out the worst in human nature. One thing is the rise of radio. When electricity & network broadcasting became available in the 1920's, a radio appeared in every household. and was turned on almost all day (the birth of "soap operas") like TV is today. Kids would go around singing "singing commercials" It was an Advertisor's dream come true.
TV has PBS & many channels. Regulations on advertising came very slowly to radio in the 1920's & '30's. If you think TV today is biased - radio had a chance to accomplish good things, but the admen took control.

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3849...