Content area
The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts have been on the air since 1931. Texaco began sponsoring the program in 1940 and continues to do so today. It is the longest running continuously sponsored radio program in American broadcasting history.
The purpose of this study was to analyze the program's success and endurance by addressing the following questions: How was the relationship established? What has contributed to its endurance? What is its future direction? What lessons can be learned by contemporary arts organizations?
The study relied on the resources of the Metropolitan Opera House archives and Texaco's archives, including newspaper clippings, personal and professional correspondence, internal memoranda, reports, scripts, and contracts. Personal reminiscences, attitudes, and opinions about the broadcasts were gleaned from personal interviews and correspondence with people associated with the program. Magazine articles, press releases, biographies, histories, and other reference works were also utilized.
The principal findings of this study are: (1) The alliance between Texaco and the Metropolitan was formed due to fortuitous circumstances in which the Metropolitan needed a sponsor, Texaco needed a public relations vehicle, and a mutual public relations counsel brought them together. (2) The broadcasts' audience was valuable to Texaco. The opera program tends to attract people who are upscale, who may be opinion leaders, and who look favorably on Texaco's goodwill gesture. In addition, these people contribute to the Metropolitan's fund-raising drives. (3) The broadcasts represent tradition and continuity. They are at the hub of the Metropolitan's current media activities. (4) Arts organizations should learn from the Metropolitan's experiences. If they seek corporate aid they must be wary of the donor's power and tendency to expand that power. They must maintain active and direct contact with donors so that the arts institutions' goals do not become over shadowed by the donor's need for image enhancement. The arts organization should diversify funding sources.