1946 and 1947 when radio was very profitable and when the networks were planning to use their profits from radio to build the television industry. The NBC research department predicted in 1946 that television would produce an $8 million loss over the next four years, and it was suggested that radio should be made to finance that loss. In 1947 NBC chairman David Sarnoff urged radio network affiliates to get into television, and many heeded this advice. As a result, 1948 was a period of transition as the number of cities with television grew from eight to 23 and the number of stations on the air from 17 to 41. The FCC slowed the process by putting a freeze on all pending television licenses while it studied the likely impact of the new medium, and this freeze was extended by the Korean War until 1952. Still, large-scale television programming started in 1948 with the national political conventions and a number of weekly programs. Radio held its own at first, perhaps because of the shortage of television outlets. There was an erosion in national radio advertising, but this was offset by a growth in regional and local advertising (Fornatale and Mills 3-4).
Television as a medium was developed by companies that had been active in network radio, and the television system was patterned after that of radio. This included the system of sponsorship and advertising. By the end of the first full decade of television broadcasting, however, it was clear that television was different from radio in a number of respects, and the system of advertising shifted from a sponsor-oriented system to one in which the networks and stations sold time to advertisers rather than having advertisers sponsor specific programs. This change also involved a shift in programming responsibility and control from advertisers to networks and independent programmers and studios. The shift was not only a response to changing economic conditions but also to concer...