This show would not be possible without our advertisers.

Seriously, don't worry, I'm not about to read some ads right now.

I just want you to consider the way we use

advertising. A lot of podcasters and radio hosts, myself included, read out

messages from our sponsors rather than play pre-recorded commercials.

Rush Limbaugh does it?

Bowl and Branch, they have reinvented sheets and bedding with the sole purpose of making your

nighttime rest more comfortable than ever.

Howard Stern does it?

It's Snor Stop Extinguisher.

Yes, the fast acting snore spray.

And these ads in some ways actually hearken back to where audio advertising began.

But the journey of how we got to now is fascinating.

The organist, a podcast from KCRW and McSweeny's,

recently featured a two-part documentary

about the surprising and strange history of radio advertising as heard to the years of Clive Desmond

a radio producer and podcast host who has worked extensively in the ad industry

His account of the evolution of ad spots, jingles and voiceovers, all

add up into a story of his own journey, and it starts when he was a boy.

I grew up in a little bungalow style house in Buffalo, New York.

There was a beautiful radio in the kitchen. It was always on.

In 1959, when I was two and a half, I began listening.

...