Brace Beemer, center, with The Lone Ranger crew in the WXYZ studios.

The first radio episode of The Lone Ranger premiered on January 30, 1933 
on WXYZ, a radio station serving Detroit, Michigan. It became so popular, it 
was picked up by the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network, and finally
by NBC’s "Blue Network”, which later became ABC. The last new episode was
broadcast September 3, 1954 for a total of 2,956 episodes over a period of
21 years.Transcribed repeats of the 1952–53 episodes continued to be
aired on ABC until June 24, 1955.

(A Jar lid)

The NBC radio comedy “The Great Gildersleeve” premiered on August
31, 1941 and aired until 1957. The show, starring Harold Peary (above)
as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, followed his adventures raising his
niece Marjorie, played by Lurene Tuttle and her young brother Leroy,
played by Walter Tetley. Another popular cast member was Birdie the
family cook, played by Lillian Randolph.

 
Walter Tetley

Lurene Tuttle

Lillian Randolph

    Arthur Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983)

Arthur Godfrey was a pioneer radio and television broadcast entertainer
who enjoyed prominent success during the 1950s. He was at the helm of 
two CBS-TV weekly series and a daily 90-minute television mid-morning 
show through most of the decade. Godfrey was one of the early masters
of the commercial pitch. He identified with many of his sponsors such as
Lipton Tea and soup.

 Arthur Godfrey Time (above) was a Monday-Friday radio show that ran
until 1972 on CBS.

The above photo shows radio station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan going on the air August
20, 1920. The Station was located in the Detroit News Building, a common practice in
the early days of radio. The first news program was broadcast August 31, 1920. The station was later renamed WWJ and is still broadcasting at 950 on the AM dial with
a all-news format under the ownership of the CBS network.

Listening to a ready-made radio receiver in 1920

It is generally agreed that the first paid radio commercial was developed by 
WEAF in New York by AT&T in August of 1922. The book titled "The WEAF
Experiment" by an AT&T employee describes the concept of "toll broadcasting"
to advertisers, in which businesses would underwrite or finance a broadcast, in
exchange for being mentioned on the radio. The first sponsor, or commercial –
according to AT&T – came from the Queensboro Reality Corporation of New
York, advertising an apartment complex. The set of five programs over five
days starting 8/28/22 cost $50, plus the long distance access fee.