This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 102: The Return of Johnny Dollar (1955)

————————————

At a CBS radio affiliates meeting in September of 1955, John Karole VP of Sales, predicted CBS’s time sold would be more than the other three networks combined.

Affiliates were given a Segmented Selling Plan. The plan offered a five-minute segment for twenty-one hundred dollars. Privately, many of the local stations grumbled. CBS had recently instituted income-slashing one-year contracts. Affiliate compensation was cut twenty percent.

But, Frank Stanton, President of CBS, boasted that since the birth of radio advertising, more than eight billion dollars had been spent on commercials. Eight million new radios had been manufactured in 1955—forty-five percent more the previous year.

Five-minute newscasts would dominate the tops of most hours. The network was now selling news advertising at its highest rate in history.

CBS was excited to announce evening programs with name-brand talent and The $64,000 Question would air simulcast on CBS Radio.

They were also substantially increasing dramatic production.

This included two evening strips at 8PM that would air five nights per week for fifteen minutes each night. One was to be Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, starring Gerald Mohr, who had just finished a successful run as Christopher Storm on TV’s Foreign Intrigue. Mohr recorded an audition on August 29th, 1955.