Despite initial high hopes, the Amalgamated network struggled from the beginning. The plan to greatly restrict advertising "ballyhoo" was even more successful than intended, for despite Wynn's claim in March that there were "twenty-seven sponsors ready", none of the ABS offerings ever gained sponsorship. (Affiliates therefore had to pay the network to carry its unsponsored "sustaining programs".) Chronically under-financed, there were reports that the employees had worked unpaid for weeks, and when they finally began to receive salaries, it was at half-pay.