J. Walter Thompson Company. Broadcast Business Affairs Records.Consists of 8 boxes of memoranda, correspondence, legal agreements and other printed materials related to radio and television broadcasts. Of particular note are the collections of contract cards, lists of artists and agents, talent contracts with individual artists and performers, and syndication agreements. Companies represented include American Gas Association, Ford, Kodak, Kraft, Pan Am, and R.T. French.
Box 1 of this collection contains "Programs & Sponsors, 1934-1959," consisting of two series of large index cards arranged alphabetically by program title and by name of program sponsor. Program cards list a program's title, sponsor, broadcast, network or production company through which the sponsor's time was contracted, contract terms, broadcast network, time slot, program package price, and date of contract. Some also note contract transfers to other agencies, contract termination dates, markets in which the program was broadcast, dates on which the show was pre-empted, and option terms. Cards for Soaps (Soap Operas) and Sports are organized separately. Sponsor cards list program titles, names of talent contracted, broadcast medium, details of talent's representation (agents), dates of broadcast, type of service rendered, compensation, and contract date. The second box, "Talent, Music & Contract Cards, 1936-1962" contains a detailed card series describing the terms of the agency's contracts with individual performers, a second series documenting musical works for which JWT purchased performance rights, and a complete contract card index to individual paragraphs of the terms of talent and music contracts. The paragraphs are in numerical order, followed by clauses, amendments, extensions, and cancellation letters. Contract terms requested by individual artists but denied by JWT are also recorded on individual cards. The last series in the box lists artists' agents, including the names of agency principals, the artists they represent, and the names of the JWT clients to whom the artists are contracted. Additional information and contracts may be found in the JWT Microfilm Collection.