Déjà Vu

August 24, 2009 By David Burn Leave a Comment

The Wall Street Journal wisely turned to Terry Teachout, its drama critic, for an important lesson in media history.

Americans of all ages embraced TV unhesitatingly. They felt no loyalty to network radio, the medium that had entertained and informed them for a quarter-century. When something came along that they deemed superior, they switched off their radios without a second thought. That’s the biggest lesson taught by the new-media crisis of 1949. Nostalgia, like guilt, is a rope that wears thin.

Teachout also points out that the new TV networks operated at a loss for many years before finding a path to profitability–a great reminder for new media entrepreneurs to keep tilling the soil.

Filed Under: Media Trends

About David Burn

I wrote my first ad for a local political candidate when I was 17. She went on to win her race, and I felt the power of persuasive copy for the first time. Starting in Portland in 1995, I worked my way across the country as a copywriter and eventually became a content director making media products for big packaged goods brands. I returned to Oregon in 2008, and now I focus on building brands for companies that matter, including this one.