Oh, Mae!
Who's that posed reposed on pillows with Charlie McCarthy? It's the screen's sex symbol of the 1930's, Mae West, who had been known to say some of her best work was done lying down.
It was her performance in a 1937 episode of NBC's Chase & Sanborn Coffee Hour featuring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy that fired the wrath of listeners, churches, members of Congress and the FCC. Read all about it and hear it for yourself in the new post, Bergen, McCarthy and Adam & Eve.
Although the blonde bombshell's Adam & Eve sketch with Don Ameche drew all the publicity, it was mild compared to her dialog later in the broadcast with Charlie that was loaded with sexual innuendo. Coming as it did on a Sunday evening less than two weeks before Christmas, it's understandable how it ruffled more feathers than were found on West's boas. See if you don't agree that even by today's standards it's far from tame...
George Washington Hill was the flamboyant and eccentric - but totally dedicated - President of American Tobacco Company. Hill created the greatest promotion in broadcasting history. That's a sweeping statement but it's impossible to refute when given the astounding results reported in 2013's most popular post to date, The Lucky Strike Sweepstakes.
It all began in April and May in 1936, and got stronger every week through the summer. The contest created millions of listeners for Your Hit Parade and of greater importance to Hill, millions of customers for his Lucky Strike Cigarettes. Our post describing the promotion also contains the May 27, 1936, broadcast of Your Hit Parade that encourages listeners to enter the contest and win a free carton of Luckies. They did in phenominal numbers because Hill blitzed Your Hit Parade and his contest over the NBC, CBS and Blue networks all summer long. The truly awesome details are all found in The Lucky Strike Sweepstakes.
Network Radio's most popular newspaper drama, Big Town, was the only series to leave the air after one successful run only to return after a year’s hiatus with a new cast, an altogether different sound and enjoy even greater success.
Lever Brothers and CBS made news in 1937 when they convinced Edward G. Robinson to become the first major film star to headline as a continuing character in a dramatic series. To support Robinson‘s role as the crusading newspaper editor of The Illustrated Press, rising young movie actress Claire Trevor, who already had 20 films to her credit, was enlisted to play opposite Robinson as the newspaper’s society editor.
With the Hollywood appeal of Robinson and Trevor, Big Town was an immediate hit. But the show stalled in 1942 when Robinson left the series.
That would have been the end of the story if it weren't for the show's creator, former newspaperman Jerry McGill. How McGill brought the series back bigger than ever with virtual unknowns Pawley and Carlon is described in the post, Big Big Town.
The post also provides audio examples from each of the program’s two distinctive runs. There’s quite a difference - yet the results in audience popularity were virtually identical. And the show's second run led to four movies, a television series, even a string of comic books, all based on the Big Town characters created by McGill. It's quite a story. So, like the Illustrated Press newsboy shouted to open many Big Town episodes, “Read all about it!” - you can hear about it, too - in Big Big Town.
Update: The mystery of Jack Benny's repeat broadcasts on the West Coast has finally been solved. The answer was found in a small item in the June 10, 1944 issue of Broadcasting magazine. It's explained in the updated Benny's Double Plays post and footnote.
Periodic Network Radio ratings for the top 15 or 20 programs were easily obtained from the trade papers during the Golden Age. But the networks seldom divulged the number of affiliated stations that sponsors paid to carry their programs. And that number - even on the same network - could vary greatly from program to program.
Fortunately for our purposes those figures for Network Radio's most successful year, 1948, were found and reported in Nets To Order. The post lists 187 programs, their sponsors, their networks and the number of affiliates bought for each proram.
One of the most important events in broadcasting history occurred in the midddle of the night of March 29, 1941, when 802 of America's radio stations changed frequencies to comply with the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, aka The Havana Act. How this massive upheaval to almost 90% of the country's stations came about is explained in the post, The March of Change.
One of our most popular recent posts, Goodnight, Mr. Durante... profiles Jimmy Durante’s 1936 failure in Network Radio and his successful comeback seven years later.
Just five weeks after the death of his first wife on Valentine's Day, 1943, Durante was unexpectedly thrust into a show with young Garry Moore. The Durante & Moore program was hastily put together in just a week’s time but their partnership on NBC and CBS was a success for five seasons.
The post, Goodnight, Mr. Durante... tells some of the story in his own words in an interview that hasn’t been heard anywhere for 48 years.
Personal note: A much younger Jim Ramsburg interviewed Jimmy Durante in 1965 on KLAC/Los Angeles. I was so touched by the genuine warmth of the man and his stories about Garry Moore, Carol Burnett and the adoption of his baby daughter at age 68, that I saved the 20 minute recording. My thanks go to Steve Raymer and his staff at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in Minneapolis for restoring the tape for inclusion on Goodnight, Mr. Durante…
The post also relates Jimmy Durante’s part in one of Network Radio’s biggest flops, the Jumbo Fire Chief Show of 1936 which all but killed his radio career for seven years until he and the 27 year old Moore replaced Abbott & Costello’s top rated show on a week’s notice in 1943. Audio episodes of both Jumbo Fire Chief and The Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore Show are posted with the text.
It’s the Durante interview, however, which includes his singing September Song and Young At Heart, that provide a true picture of the funny little man with the gravely voice and big nose who America loved for generations.
Speaking of nice people, Ralph Edwards made, "Aren't We Devils?" a national catch-phrase as he let listeners in on the stunts he had cooked up for his Truth Or Consequences contestants every Saturday night.
But 65 years ago, in February, 1948, Edwards became an angel to The American Heart Association's Heart Fund. His Walking Man contest had the nation guessing and donations pouring into the fund from listeners eager for a shot at the huge jackpot of prizes.
Edwards' skill at creating, producing and hosting Truth Or Consequences made it Network Radio's most successful Saturday night program and the most popular show ever sponsored by advertising giant Procter & Gamble.
Included in the post, Truth Or Consequences, are two episodes of the show from its peak season, 1947-48. They display how Ralph Edwards took a simple stunt show and gave it both a heartwarming depth and an exciting edge that no other program could match in Network Radio's Golden Age.
This site is an extension of the book, Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953, an almanac of the 21 years when the four national radio networks dominated American media. It contains hundreds of stories about the industry, the people and the programs.
But not all of them were winners. The recent post, R.I.P., PBS, tells the strange tale of the Progressive Broadcasting System, one of the many failed attempts to establish a fifth nationwide radio network. PBS was unusual, to say the least, and it folded in January, 1951, after a mere 67 days of operation.
January was also the month that Jack Benny jumped from NBC to CBS. His 1949 switch of networks is recounted in the post, Sunday At Seven. It tells the story with audio examples - including a rare CBS closed circuit broadcast to network affiliates featuring Benny, Amos & Andy plus CBS execs Bill Paley and Frank Stanton.
Both NBC and CBS attempted at different times to knock Jack Benny off his perch but nothing worked.
Instead, Benny just kept doing his thing every Sunday and in doing so he derailed or destroyed the Network Radio careers of Eddie Cantor, Gene Autry, Kate Smith, Horace Heidt, Jeanette MacDonald, Glenn Ford and Jessica Dragonette among others. Yet another of his victim’s stories is seen on this site in the post, Tallulah’s Big Show.
Sunday At Seven provides a season by season report of their attempts plus those of some shows few heard then or have heard about since - like Dear Mom and Christopher London. They all paid the price of competing with the comedian who invited the world to laugh at his frugalty.
Like Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953, entries to this site are painstakingly researched yet presented in an informal manner designed to hold your interest - if you have any interest in Network Radio's Golden Age.
Apparently you do - because over 17,000 readers have visited this site since it was established in the spring of 2012. Your interest will keep us adding new posts. And if you have any questions or suggestions for topics you'd like covered, please feel free to contact us at: tojimramsburg@gmail.com.
If you're a newcomer, welcome! You can get a quick introduction to this site with the post Forward Into History, my audio reading of the forward to Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953. From there you can browse the posts and pick what you like.
If you like this site you'll like the book that inspired it.
Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953 is available from all leading booksellers. Or ask for it at your local library. Either way, you'll have my thanks.
It was her performance in a 1937 episode of NBC's Chase & Sanborn Coffee Hour featuring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy that fired the wrath of listeners, churches, members of Congress and the FCC. Read all about it and hear it for yourself in the new post, Bergen, McCarthy and Adam & Eve.
Although the blonde bombshell's Adam & Eve sketch with Don Ameche drew all the publicity, it was mild compared to her dialog later in the broadcast with Charlie that was loaded with sexual innuendo. Coming as it did on a Sunday evening less than two weeks before Christmas, it's understandable how it ruffled more feathers than were found on West's boas. See if you don't agree that even by today's standards it's far from tame...
George Washington Hill was the flamboyant and eccentric - but totally dedicated - President of American Tobacco Company. Hill created the greatest promotion in broadcasting history. That's a sweeping statement but it's impossible to refute when given the astounding results reported in 2013's most popular post to date, The Lucky Strike Sweepstakes.
It all began in April and May in 1936, and got stronger every week through the summer. The contest created millions of listeners for Your Hit Parade and of greater importance to Hill, millions of customers for his Lucky Strike Cigarettes. Our post describing the promotion also contains the May 27, 1936, broadcast of Your Hit Parade that encourages listeners to enter the contest and win a free carton of Luckies. They did in phenominal numbers because Hill blitzed Your Hit Parade and his contest over the NBC, CBS and Blue networks all summer long. The truly awesome details are all found in The Lucky Strike Sweepstakes.
Network Radio's most popular newspaper drama, Big Town, was the only series to leave the air after one successful run only to return after a year’s hiatus with a new cast, an altogether different sound and enjoy even greater success.
Lever Brothers and CBS made news in 1937 when they convinced Edward G. Robinson to become the first major film star to headline as a continuing character in a dramatic series. To support Robinson‘s role as the crusading newspaper editor of The Illustrated Press, rising young movie actress Claire Trevor, who already had 20 films to her credit, was enlisted to play opposite Robinson as the newspaper’s society editor.
With the Hollywood appeal of Robinson and Trevor, Big Town was an immediate hit. But the show stalled in 1942 when Robinson left the series.
That would have been the end of the story if it weren't for the show's creator, former newspaperman Jerry McGill. How McGill brought the series back bigger than ever with virtual unknowns Pawley and Carlon is described in the post, Big Big Town.
The post also provides audio examples from each of the program’s two distinctive runs. There’s quite a difference - yet the results in audience popularity were virtually identical. And the show's second run led to four movies, a television series, even a string of comic books, all based on the Big Town characters created by McGill. It's quite a story. So, like the Illustrated Press newsboy shouted to open many Big Town episodes, “Read all about it!” - you can hear about it, too - in Big Big Town.
Update: The mystery of Jack Benny's repeat broadcasts on the West Coast has finally been solved. The answer was found in a small item in the June 10, 1944 issue of Broadcasting magazine. It's explained in the updated Benny's Double Plays post and footnote.
Periodic Network Radio ratings for the top 15 or 20 programs were easily obtained from the trade papers during the Golden Age. But the networks seldom divulged the number of affiliated stations that sponsors paid to carry their programs. And that number - even on the same network - could vary greatly from program to program.
Fortunately for our purposes those figures for Network Radio's most successful year, 1948, were found and reported in Nets To Order. The post lists 187 programs, their sponsors, their networks and the number of affiliates bought for each proram.
One of the most important events in broadcasting history occurred in the midddle of the night of March 29, 1941, when 802 of America's radio stations changed frequencies to comply with the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, aka The Havana Act. How this massive upheaval to almost 90% of the country's stations came about is explained in the post, The March of Change.
One of our most popular recent posts, Goodnight, Mr. Durante... profiles Jimmy Durante’s 1936 failure in Network Radio and his successful comeback seven years later.
Just five weeks after the death of his first wife on Valentine's Day, 1943, Durante was unexpectedly thrust into a show with young Garry Moore. The Durante & Moore program was hastily put together in just a week’s time but their partnership on NBC and CBS was a success for five seasons.
The post, Goodnight, Mr. Durante... tells some of the story in his own words in an interview that hasn’t been heard anywhere for 48 years.
Personal note: A much younger Jim Ramsburg interviewed Jimmy Durante in 1965 on KLAC/Los Angeles. I was so touched by the genuine warmth of the man and his stories about Garry Moore, Carol Burnett and the adoption of his baby daughter at age 68, that I saved the 20 minute recording. My thanks go to Steve Raymer and his staff at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in Minneapolis for restoring the tape for inclusion on Goodnight, Mr. Durante…
The post also relates Jimmy Durante’s part in one of Network Radio’s biggest flops, the Jumbo Fire Chief Show of 1936 which all but killed his radio career for seven years until he and the 27 year old Moore replaced Abbott & Costello’s top rated show on a week’s notice in 1943. Audio episodes of both Jumbo Fire Chief and The Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore Show are posted with the text.
It’s the Durante interview, however, which includes his singing September Song and Young At Heart, that provide a true picture of the funny little man with the gravely voice and big nose who America loved for generations.
Speaking of nice people, Ralph Edwards made, "Aren't We Devils?" a national catch-phrase as he let listeners in on the stunts he had cooked up for his Truth Or Consequences contestants every Saturday night.
But 65 years ago, in February, 1948, Edwards became an angel to The American Heart Association's Heart Fund. His Walking Man contest had the nation guessing and donations pouring into the fund from listeners eager for a shot at the huge jackpot of prizes.
Edwards' skill at creating, producing and hosting Truth Or Consequences made it Network Radio's most successful Saturday night program and the most popular show ever sponsored by advertising giant Procter & Gamble.
Included in the post, Truth Or Consequences, are two episodes of the show from its peak season, 1947-48. They display how Ralph Edwards took a simple stunt show and gave it both a heartwarming depth and an exciting edge that no other program could match in Network Radio's Golden Age.
This site is an extension of the book, Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953, an almanac of the 21 years when the four national radio networks dominated American media. It contains hundreds of stories about the industry, the people and the programs.
But not all of them were winners. The recent post, R.I.P., PBS, tells the strange tale of the Progressive Broadcasting System, one of the many failed attempts to establish a fifth nationwide radio network. PBS was unusual, to say the least, and it folded in January, 1951, after a mere 67 days of operation.
January was also the month that Jack Benny jumped from NBC to CBS. His 1949 switch of networks is recounted in the post, Sunday At Seven. It tells the story with audio examples - including a rare CBS closed circuit broadcast to network affiliates featuring Benny, Amos & Andy plus CBS execs Bill Paley and Frank Stanton.
Both NBC and CBS attempted at different times to knock Jack Benny off his perch but nothing worked.
Instead, Benny just kept doing his thing every Sunday and in doing so he derailed or destroyed the Network Radio careers of Eddie Cantor, Gene Autry, Kate Smith, Horace Heidt, Jeanette MacDonald, Glenn Ford and Jessica Dragonette among others. Yet another of his victim’s stories is seen on this site in the post, Tallulah’s Big Show.
Sunday At Seven provides a season by season report of their attempts plus those of some shows few heard then or have heard about since - like Dear Mom and Christopher London. They all paid the price of competing with the comedian who invited the world to laugh at his frugalty.
Like Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953, entries to this site are painstakingly researched yet presented in an informal manner designed to hold your interest - if you have any interest in Network Radio's Golden Age.
Apparently you do - because over 17,000 readers have visited this site since it was established in the spring of 2012. Your interest will keep us adding new posts. And if you have any questions or suggestions for topics you'd like covered, please feel free to contact us at: tojimramsburg@gmail.com.
If you're a newcomer, welcome! You can get a quick introduction to this site with the post Forward Into History, my audio reading of the forward to Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953. From there you can browse the posts and pick what you like.
If you like this site you'll like the book that inspired it.
Network Radio Ratings, 1932-1953 is available from all leading booksellers. Or ask for it at your local library. Either way, you'll have my thanks.
