The gauntlet was thrown and advertisers responded. With a vote of confidence for network TV, the five national broadcast networks are looking at nearly $9.2 billion worth of prime time commercials they were able to sell for the new season.

That’s about on par with what was sold a year ago. But that’s a lot better than what many were expecting, coming off what was the weakest network season, probably since the early days of TV 60 years ago.

A lot of that weakness had to do with the writers strike from November into February. And there’s an ominious sign that members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Radio and TV Artists may force more work stoppages that could postpone the start of the fall season.

Still, though, advertisers stepped up to the plate and bought more than 80 percent of the available commercial time. That’s more than in previous years when networks typically pre-sold about 75 percent of their inventory. From published reports in trade journals, here’s where advertisers put their money:

• Fox sold about $2 billion, up about $100 million over last year, for its 15 hours a week of prime time – one hour a night less than ABC, CBS and NBC. The Fox lineup includes hits "American Idol," "House" and "24." There were reports that said Fox managed to get 10 percent increases in advertising rates.

• ABC sold about $2.5 billion, described as a slight increase over last year. The network was said to have managed to get rate increases in the vicinity of 7 percent to 9 percent for its hit shows "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey’s Anatomy." Two new shows also attracted advertisers, "Life on Mars," a sitcom about a detective transported back to 1973 (an adaptation of a British series) and "The Goode Family," an animated series created by Mike Judge, who created "King of the Hill" on Fox.

• CBS was reported to have sold about $2.4 billion in commercials, raising rates about 5 percent. Big sellers were its returning series "Two and a Half Men" and the various CSI shows.

• NBC, which has been struggling in prime time, said it sold $1.9 billion in advertising, up about $100 million from a year ago. Instead of specific shows, NBC said what drove its sales were deals it made to integrate advertiser products into the plot lines of shows.

• The CW was the one network to take a hit in its upfront sales, selling about $375 million, down from $625 million a year ago. But a big chunk of that is due to the network’s decision to turn its Sunday night primetime schedule over to an outfit called Media Rights Capital, which will produce four shows – a reality hour, a sitcom and two dramas – to air and will be responsible for selling the commercials within them.

KUAZ cuts two

Veteran local radio broadcaster Bill Mortimer got a surprise June 16 when he showed up for work after a week’s vacation and was told his services were no longer required at the University of Arizona’s National Public Radio station KUAZ 89.1-FM/1550-AM.

Times are tough, but what makes this one tougher is that Mortimer, who had worked at the station almost five years, was just 16 days short of being vested in the money-match to his state retirement savings program.

The list of Tucson radio call letters Mortimer has said over the years is about as long as they come: KAIR, KTKT, KMOP, KCUB, KCEE, KWFM, KMRR (the Wave), KIIM and KTUC.

Also gone from the UA operation, which now goes under the name Arizona Public Media, is Dianne Janis who was communications manager. She had only been there about a year.

The official line from Arizona Public Media is that they don’t talk about personnel issues. However, word is they plan to fill both positions.

Johnjay & Rich on to Portland

The march goes on: Johnjay Van Es and Rich Berra are expanding their "Johnjay and Rich" morning radio show to Portland, Ore., where starting July 8 they’ll be on Clear Channel’s hit music station, Z100. This makes their fourth market. The duo started on Tucson’s KRQ 93.7-FM in 2001, added Phoenix in 2006 and just last month expanded into Colorado Springs, Colo. All of the stations are owned by Clear Channel Communications.

Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4237. Inside Tucson Media appears weekly.