BW - EP123—002: January 1954—Gunsmoke Loses One Sponsor And Finds Another

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

When Gunsmoke was sponsored for a single broadcast on November 21st 1952, by Chrysler Plymouth, the show drew a good rating against ABC’s This is Your FBI, and was heard by roughly 8 million people. After eighteen months on the air, on October 3rd, 1953, the critically acclaimed show got sponsorship from General Foods’ Post Toasties. But the sponsorship ended thirteen weeks later on December 26th. The show continued to air, sustained by CBS, on Saturdays at 8:30PM. The next week, on January 2nd, 1954, Gunsmoke broadcast an episode called “Stage Holdup.” It would take Jimmy Stewart’s aversion to Liggett & Myers Tobacco to land Gunsmoke its big sponsor. They wanted to sponsor The Six Shooter. Stewart declined, fearful of what a tobacco brand might do to his wholesome image. The Six Shooter went off the air in June, while Liggett & Myers sponsored Gunsmoke, beginning with the July 5th, 1954 episode. By 1956, Gunsmoke was the top rated show on radio. It was one of the few able to temporarily hold its audience in the TV era, even with the launch of Gunsmoke’s TV version.