When Radio Ruled #135 - Origins of the Mutual Network 1934-39

Old Time Radio was dog eat dog, CBS and NBC scooped up the all the best stations and biggest talent, leaving all the little local stations in the dust

Not all the independent stations wanted to let NBC and CBS run away with their audiences

In 1934 WGN and 3 other independents, WOR in New York, WLW in Cincinnatti, and WXYZ in Detroit entered into a program sharing agreement. They called themselves the Mutual Network but they were more Mutual than Network. There was a coordination committee, but the real power was with the individual stations who maintained their autonomy as equals.

It was a bottom-up business model. Socialized Radio that shared shows for a several hours a week, but also did their own local thing with the lion’s share of their airtime.

From these humble beginnings, Mutual would grow to cover the entire country and compete head to head with NBC and CBS.