The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945.
Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the
National Broadcasting Company
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
(NBC), the independent Blue Network was born of a divestiture in 1942, arising from
antitrust
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
litigation. In 1943, the Blue Network formally became the
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
(ABC), but operated closely with NBC for another two years.
Early history
The Blue Network dates to 1923, when the
Radio Corporation of America acquired
WJZ Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
from
Westinghouse, which had established the station in 1921. WJZ moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in May of that year. When RCA commenced operations of
WRC
WRC may refer to:
Broadcasting stations
* WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States
* Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area:
** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
on August 1, 1923, the root of a network was born, though it did not operate under the name by which it would later become known. Radio historian Elizabeth McLeod said it was not until 1924 that the "Radio Group" formally began network operations.
The core stations of the "Radio Group" were RCA's stations WJZ and WRC; the
Westinghouse station
WBZ, then in
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
; and
WGY, the
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
station in
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
.
RCA's principal rival before 1926 was the radio broadcasting department of the
American Telephone & Telegraph Company
AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...
. In 1921, AT&T began using this department as a test-bed for equipment being designed and manufactured by its
Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
subsidiary.
The RCA stations operated at a significant disadvantage to their rival chain. AT&T used its high-quality transmission lines, and declined to lease them out to competing entities, forcing RCA to use the telegraph lines of
Western Union
The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
, which were not as well calibrated to voice transmission as the AT&T lines.
Nevertheless, the WJZ network sought to compete toe-to-toe with the AT&T network, which was built around a different New York station,
WEAF (today's
WFAN). For example, both stations sent announcer teams to cover the
1924 Democratic National Convention
The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924, was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took a record 103 ballots to nominate ...
, which was held in
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
in New York City. Promotional material produced in 1943 claimed certain "firsts" in broadcasting by WJZ, such as the first educational music program in April 1922, the first
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
broadcasts in 1922, and the first complete opera broadcast, ''
The Flying Dutchman'', from the
Manhattan Opera House.
Creation
RCA (as well as its consortium partners
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
and
Westinghouse) received a break in 1926, when
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
made a corporate decision to exit the broadcasting business and focus on its telecommunications business.
The first step by AT&T was to create the
Broadcasting Company of America on May 15, 1926, to hold its broadcasting assets, which included WEAF and
WCAP in Washington. As reported in the press, this move was due to the growth in the radio broadcasting activities of AT&T and the special issues related thereto, though it would appear that subsequent activities in disposing of the assets of BCA may have also played a role in the decision. AT&T did in fact subsequently sell WEAF to RCA for $1 million in July 1926, a price that newspaper reports indicated was a substantial premium over what other stations were commanding in the marketplace, and represented a recognition of the status of WEAF in broadcasting, as well as its access to AT&T's lines. Indeed, the negotiations for the sale may have taken place very shortly after the creation of BCA, as Folder 129 in the NBC History Files at the Library of Congress contains a contract of sale for WEAF dated July 1, 1926. ''
The Oakland Tribune
The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group.
Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the decline ...
'' stated that 4/5ths of the purchase price of WEAF could be attributed to
goodwill and the line access. On July 28, 1926, the ''Washington Post'' reported in a front-page story that RCA had acquired WCAP. ''The Oakland Tribune'' reported the same day that WCAP had departed the field, and WRC would be operating on the frequency they had shared, which was 640 AM.
As part of the reorganization of the broadcasting assets in the wake of the acquisitions, on September 13, 1926, the formation of the National Broadcasting Company was announced via newspaper advertisements, and on November 15, 1926 NBC's first broadcast was made. This first broadcast on November 15, 1926 marked NBC's de facto formation of the
NBC Red Network
The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...
from the WEAF network assets, using WEAF as the "key station"; this network in eventual popular image tended to broadcast the most popular entertainment programming. RCA merged its former radio operations into NBC, and on January 1, 1927, WJZ became the "key station" of the Blue Network when its network switch operations began. The network, again in eventual popular image, tended to place its focus more on news and public affairs programming, as well as the "sustaining", or non-sponsored shows.
The ''Decatur Review'' (
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
) for Sunday, December 12, 1926 reported the following in an article describing a broadcast to be sponsored by the
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...
and aired the following New Year's Day, January 1, 1927, which is a description of this first Blue Network broadcast—note that it makes it clear that January 1, 1927 marked the debut of the Blue Network:
TWO BIG NETWORKS: The network to be used for the first concert will consist of a combination of chains of stations affiliated with WEAF and WJZ, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. It is also announced that this opening Victor program inaugurates a new chain system to be operated by the National Broadcasting Company, with WJZ as the "key" station. This new chain, which will be known as the "blue" network, will allow simultaneous broadcasting from WJZ through WBZ, Springfield and Boston, KDKA, Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, and KYW, Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. For broadcasting of the first program, therefore, the "blue" network will be joined with the "red" network, as the WEAF chain is designated, as well as other stations in various cities. Following the New Year's night program, the concerts will be given bi-monthly, through the "blue" network (...)
Allegedly, the color designations came from the way the networks were represented on maps, with red lines (or pushpins) denoting the WEAF network circuits, and blue the WJZ circuits.
Operations, 1927–1941
Cooperation with the Red Network
The Red and Blue Networks shared a common pool of engineers and facilities,
and would on occasion, broadcast the same events. There are two early examples, from the biggest news events of 1927. On May 20, 1927, both of the NBC networks covered the return of
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
to America from his trans-Atlantic flight, star announcer
Graham McNamee
Thomas Graham McNamee (July 10, 1888 – May 9, 1942) was an American radio broadcaster, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first international decade. He originated play-by-play sports broadcasting for which he was awa ...
doing the honors. Three months later, a combined hookup of 67 stations on the two networks presented the second
Dempsey
Dempsey is a surname of Irish origin.
Background
Dempsey is an anglicised form of Ó Díomasaigh, 'descendant of Díomasach'; this personal name is the Irish adjective ''díomasach'' 'proud'. The family originated in the Kingdom of Uí Failghe ...
–
Tunney fight, broadcast by McNamee and NBC colleague Phillips Carlin. Radio historian Elizabeth McLeod has published a discussion of surviving NBC broadcast material from this era.
![Harry Lauder Enna Jetticks ad 1929](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Harry_Lauder_Enna_Jetticks_ad_1929.jpg)
A slightly later example of cooperation came on the evening of Sunday, December 1, 1929, when the famed "Laird of the Music Halls",
Sir Harry Lauder
Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...
, appeared on a coast-to-coast hookup that originated from
KFI in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
(later an NBC Red station, but at this time part of NBC's West Coast "
Orange Network"), but was distributed by
WJZ, which, as noted, was the key station of the Blue Network; advertisements suggest that certain NBC Red stations, as well as stations in the Orange Network, supplemented the network. A description of this broadcast is contained in a 1930 pamphlet put out by the Enna Jettick Shoe Company; Enna Jettick sponsored the first of Lauder's performances that night on its "Enna Jettick Melodies" show, which was followed later by another performance during the time ordinarily used by ''
The Collier Hour
''The Collier Hour'', also known as ''Collier's Radio Hour'', broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network from 1927 to 1932, was radio's first major dramatic anthology.
Production
''The Collier Hour'' offered adaptations of stories and seria ...
''.
At least as late as January 1939, in spite of the fact that by this time NBC was seeking to differentiate the images of its NBC Red and NBC Blue networks (see below), it would still arrange for special, joint broadcasts, such as a special two-hour presentation of "
The Magic Key of RCA
''The Magic Key of RCA'' was an American variety radio show that featured an unusually large and broad range of entertainment stars and other noted personalities. It was on the NBC Blue Network from September 29, 1935, until September 18, 1939.
...
" musical program (normally an NBC Blue program, sponsored by RCA's Victor records division) entitled "Salute to 1939."
Blue Network function through the mid-1930s
Ironically, even though the Blue Network generally was not given the more popular programs, it was the network that broadcast ''
Amos 'n Andy'' at the height of its popularity in the early 1930s, when on average over half of the nation's radio audience would tune in to the show. During the 1932–1933 season, Standard Oil of New Jersey (
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
) sponsored an unusual program, the ''
Five-Star Theater'', which each weeknight presented a show in a different format. The marquee show in this cycle was ''
Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel
''Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel'' is a situation comedy radio show starring two of the Marx Brothers, Groucho and his older brother Chico Marx, and written primarily by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman. The series was originally broadcast in the ...
'', which starred
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...
and
Chico Marx
Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx (; March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, actor and pianist. He was the oldest brother in the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, alongside his brothers Adolph ("Harpo"), Julius ("Groucho"), Milton ...
. Considering the show's relatively early (7:30 p.m. ET) time slot, it did rather well in the ratings, but it could not compete with the much stronger ratings produced by Esso's arch-rival
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...
, which sponsored
Ed Wynn on NBC Red, and the show ended after one year.
More commonly, the Blue Network would operate as a quasi-"farm team" for the Red Network, in terms of entertainment programs.
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...
(in 1935 and again in 1937),
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
(in 1932), ''
Fibber McGee and Molly'' (in 1935), and ''
Information, Please!
''Information Please'' is an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938, to April 22, 1951. The title was the contemporary phrase used to request from telephone operators what was then called "inform ...
'' (in 1938) are all examples of shows that debuted on the Blue Network before eventually transitioning over to larger audiences on the Red Network.
On occasion, shows would make brief stops at NBC Blue before moving elsewhere, such as the ''
Lux Radio Theatre'' (1934–35) and Will Rogers' program (1933), both of which would move to CBS.
![Lux Radio Theatre Seventh Heaven 1934](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Lux_Radio_Theatre_Seventh_Heaven_1934.jpg)
At some level, the Blue Network was known in the late 1920s and early 1930s for its children's programming. There are at least two volumes extant, from an Akron-based publishing house, which are collections of stories which purport to have been part of Blue Network programs. A copy of one, in the collection of E.O. Costello, shows a cover with two children listening to a late 1920s-style radio, from which shimmering images of fairy-tale characters are emerging. Other than the title (and the radio on the cover), the precise nature of the ties to the Blue Network is not known; the book does not even make direct reference to the National Broadcasting Company. It can also be said that this is an indication that the Blue Network had a well-established identity of its own by 1929.
Problems
The descriptions of the material contained in the NBC History Files at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
appear to indicate that at some level, there was discontent with the way NBC was managing the Blue Network vis-à-vis the Red Network. For example, one folder in the NBC History Files contains a three-page letter dated June 28, 1934, from station
WSYR in
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
, which complains of the neglect of the Blue Network in favor of the Red Network. This point can said to be reinforced firstly by a memorandum dated September 18, 1935, in which the Blue complained about its lack of access to broadcasts of the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
, and secondly by a letter dated shortly after that, on October 5, 1935, which is a communication from Hearst Radio complaining that ''
Amos 'n Andy'' and the
Al Pearce programs had been moved from the Blue Network to the Red Network, and complaining in general about the weakness of the Blue's programming. Indeed, the NBC History Files contain a February 1937 in-house memorandum so caustic of the performance of the Blue Network that the author's name was redacted from the document.
A significant issue with the NBC Blue Network may have been its size. It started, in January 1927, with 7 stations, had grown to 17 by the end of 1929, but still had only 33 stations by 1937.
["The Blue Network Today", page 3.] This would have made it significantly smaller than its rivals. In 1938,
Mutual had 107 affiliates, and CBS had 114; the Blue Network, by contrast, was not able to blanket the United States when NBC Red sold out its time, with the result that during 1937–1938, the Blue Network's revenues were generally falling, while NBC Red's increased. McLeod has noted that as of 1938, NBC had 23 stations in its core "Basic Red" group, and 24 in its "Basic Blue" group, with 107 stations that could be Red or Blue depending on the needs of a sponsor; the relative ratings (and thus revenues) for NBC Red programs versus NBC Blue counterparts suggests that sponsors chose to use Red more often than Blue.
Image
Perhaps more in line with the common perception of the Blue Network as a smaller, but more high-brow and public affairs-centered network was the fact that it was the original home of the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...
broadcasts, led by Maestro
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
. In a similar vein, one of the Blue Network's longest running programs was ''
America's Town Meeting of the Air
''America's Town Meeting of the Air'' was a public affairs discussion broadcast on radio from May 30, 1935, to July 1, 1956, mainly on the NBC Blue Network and its successor, ABC Radio. One of radio's first talk shows, it began as a six-week exp ...
'', a current-affairs discussion program. Both
Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescreen ...
and
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...
's news programs were also broadcast over the Blue Network. Both of these shows were the Blue's highest rated programs in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In an interesting variation on the talent shows hosted by
Major Bowes
Edward Bowes (June 14, 1874 – June 13, 1946), professionally known as Major Edward Bowes, was an American radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s whose ''Major Bowes Amateur Hour'' was the best-known amateur talent show on radio during its 18 ...
, the
Sherwin-Williams paint company sponsored the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
''Auditions of the Air'' for a number of years on Sunday afternoons in the 1930s and 1940s, in which singers competed for a chance to win contracts with the famed opera troupe. ''
The National Farm and Home Hour
''The National Farm and Home Hour'' is a variety show that was broadcast in various formats from 1928 to 1958. Aimed at listeners in rural America, it was known as "the farmer's bulletin board" and was produced by the United States Department of A ...
'', a show backed for many years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was one of the Blue Network's standout daytime programs, and would be a part of its lineup from 1929 until March 1945, when the program shifted to NBC.
Along with the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...
broadcasts, the
Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The Metropolitan Opera In ...
were part of the "crown jewels" of NBC Blue. A sober, dignified pamphlet issued by the network in 1937 stated that the broadcasts were under
RCA sponsorship, and "
rough the medium of nationwide NBC Network broadcasting, Grand Opera has been given to the entire nation. No longer is it reserved for the privileged few – now even the most isolated listeners throughout the United States are able to enjoy the world's finest music at their own firesides. The National Broadcasting Company (...) is proud to be the means of bringing the Metropolitan Opera to American radio listeners." The pamphlet notes that 78 stations broadcast these opera performances in 1937, and that reception for the program was "nationwide", something moderately unusual for an NBC Blue broadcast.
Radio historian Elizabeth McLeod has suggested, aside from a brief period where NBC Red and NBC Blue had different chime-sequences in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the two networks were *not* differentiated for many years, which would certainly be consistent with the roster of shows described above. She points out, with some justice, that NBC Red also broadcast a number of high-brow programs such as ''
The Voice of Firestone
''The Voice of Firestone'' was a radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled ''The Firestone Hour'', it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network ...
'', ''
The Atwater Kent Hour
''The Atwater Kent Hour'' (aka ''The Atwater Kent Radio Hour'') was a top-rated radio concert music program heard on NBC and CBS from October 4, 1925, to December 17, 1934, with stars of the Metropolitan Opera often making appearances. Classical m ...
'', and the ''
Cities Service Concerts
The ''Cities Service Concerts'' were musical broadcasts which had a long three-decade run on radio from 1925 to 1956, encompassing a variety of vocalists and musicians sponsored by Cities Service.
The concerts began with trial broadcasts in the Ne ...
''. Furthermore, she points out that until the 1936–1937 period, the "back office" support for the networks was the same, and often stations would shift from one network to another, depending on sponsor needs. It was only when the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
began investigating network practices, McLeod believes, that efforts were made by
RCA to differentiate the two networks, and to fully position NBC Blue as a high-brow/public affairs network. (In the same light, it has been suggested that the congressional pressure was the real reason the NBC Symphony Orchestra was created.)
The NBC History Files at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
lend support to the notion that NBC was gradually groping for a way to differentiate the Red Network from the Blue Network. For example, they contain a confidential memorandum, dated May 13, 1936, which sets forth a network policy against mixing the Red and Blue network stations. (Compare and contrast this with the way the Harry Lauder broadcast of 1929 was handled, above.) There also exists an October 1938 sales force memorandum, which contains talking points on how to differentiate the Blue Network from the Red Network and
CBS. Even as far back as December 1932, NBC had set forth a policy banning specific references not only to CBS, but even to the Red Network.
Of note is the fact that NBC began to step up efforts to expand the network; while it had 33 stations in 1937, this total had nearly tripled by January 1941, when the network had 92 stations coast to coast.
These efforts to expand the network are evidenced by an NBC publication in late 1936, ''Great and Growing Greater'', which described efforts to increase both the size and quality of Blue Network stations. Among the improvements cited and proposed were increasing the broadcast power of WJZ and KDKA to 50,000 watts each, adding new stations to the group such as WEAN, WICC and WEBR, adding a Pacific Coast network (with KGO, KECA, KFSD, KEX, KJR and KGA) and expanding the daytime power of such stations as KOIL, KWK and KSO. This ad campaign, in a booklet tipped into the book, also showed a lengthy list of sponsors that had purchased Blue Network time. As the book states: "All of these additions and improvements are daily increasing the effectiveness of the NBC Blue Network. All contribute considerably to the listener's pleasure and to the advertiser's sales results."
In the months leading up to the January 1942 spinoff of the Blue Network, NBC undertook vigorous steps to create separate brand images for the Red and Blue Networks. To a certain extent, this had been going on since at least the summer of 1939, when ''Time'' magazine indicated that NBC was undertaking an extensive build-up of NBC Blue. In both the fall of 1937, and the fall of 1941, NBC would specifically identify a program as being broadcast on the "Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company", and at least in the fall of 1941, would have a similar tag for the Blue Network. An example of this buildup comes in "Alice in Sponsor-Land", a publication put out by
RCA some time in mid-1941 to market that network's shows. This book focuses squarely on the Red Network, describing its entertainment programming, without any reference to the Blue Network. Above the lineup of stations in the back of the volume is the tag-line: "This is the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company." In addition, throughout the book are slogans such as "Any time is Good Time on NBC Red!" This book, in part, demonstrates exactly how NBC differentiated the Red Network from the Blue Network in the fall of 1941, when, as noted, the Blue Network was still a part of NBC.
Programming, 1935–1941
What follows are some examples of the programming on NBC Blue that illustrate a gradual shift in tone.
The official website for
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...
shows a number of programs that she did for NBC Blue during this time, including a
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
play cycle in August 1937, two different dramatic series of her own in 1935–1936 (one sponsored by
General Foods), and an appearance on a Blue series in 1940, one which brought famous people who would explain why a particular book has been their favorite.
The "preview" section of the November 28, 1938 edition of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' gives some idea of the kind of programming that the Blue Network carried. On Friday, November 25 at 4 p.m., it carried a speech by then-
Secretary of State Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ...
. Later that night, it carried the welterweight championship fight from
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
, followed by Wagnerian opera from Chicago's Lyric Opera. Saturday, November 26 shows that the Blue carried both the
Army–Navy football game and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The ''
Town Meeting of the Air'' on Thursday night carried a debate among economists as to whether an economic plan for world peace was possible.
For one season in the early 1940s, a high-profile sponsored program on the Blue was ''The
Cavalcade of America'', a show dramatizing historical events which was sponsored by
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
. The show, which debuted in 1935 on CBS and moved to the Blue in January 1940, was created at a time when the firm was under attack for being, in effect, a "merchant of death", and this show, which focused on American historical figures, was one way DuPont tried to burnish its image.
Certainly, the show had high production values, as can be witnessed by its use of
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor, known for his commanding, stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Amo ...
for a show in February 1940 on
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, as described in the February 26, 1940 issue of ''Time''. It was also known for the use of university professors to vet the historical accuracy of the stories, as well as scripts by future Pulitzer Prize-winner
Arthur Miller. (This show would eventually stay with NBC Red and NBC, starting in 1941, and the network would continue to broadcast the show even into the age of television).
An interesting perspective can be seen on one of the most dramatic days in the history of network radio. On the morning of the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
on December 7, 1941, while the first attack wave was over
Oahu
Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...
, NBC Blue was broadcasting ''The Inspector General'', as part of its ''Great Plays'' program, while NBC Red was broadcasting a program with popular bandleader
Sammy Kaye. At 4 p.m., ET, the Blue's broadcasts of the National Vespers was interrupted by various news reports. Later in the evening, at 6:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.,
Drew Pearson's and
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
's regular broadcasts are heard, followed at 7 p.m. by a news roundup show that competed with Jack Benny, and later on ''Bible Week'' opposite the ''Chase and Sanborn Hour'' with
Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Ch ...
. (The Blue did have the popular ''
Inner Sanctum'' mystery anthology series later that night at 8:30, followed in turn by its number one show with
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...
.) Lastly, of interest to those who may recall the satiric references in
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...
cartoons of the era, at 10 p.m., the Blue carried ''The Goodwill Hour'' with John J. Anthony, dispensing advice to those who sought it, and who presumably were not tuned into
Phil Spitalny's orchestra on the Red network.
Proposed sale
During the late 1930s, NBC seriously considered disposing of the Blue Network on its own initiative. There are substantial materials contained in the NBC History Files at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
illustrating this point. The fact that
David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was an American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career, he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly afte ...
, the head of
RCA, was involved in these discussions indicates the high level at which this proposal was given consideration. A plain reading of the finding guide at the Library of Congress on the NBC History Files does not disclose the precise nature of these discussions, though the fact that these discussions existed is of record. In 1943, after the Blue Network had been spun off (but before its eventual sale), a promotional publication noted that:
"As far back as 1932, a group of executives of the National Broadcasting Company conceived the idea that The Blue Network could progress faster and serve its stations, its advertisers and the listening public much better if, instead of being a part of NBC it were to become an independent network."["The Blue Network Today", page 4.]
Divestiture, 1940–1943
Initial moves by the FCC
During the 1930s, accusations were leveled at both NBC and
CBS, in part by their rival Mutual, that the two senior network systems engaged in a series of anticompetitive activities, by locking up talent through in-house talent bureaus, and tightly tying together the system of affiliated stations through onerous contracts.
In May 1940, after a three-year investigation, the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(which had had oversight over radio broadcasting since 1934) issued a scathing report (the "Report on Chain Broadcasting") attacking the affiliation policies of NBC and CBS, as well as the talent booking agency practices. The report proposed limiting each network to one affiliated station per city, which would have had a direct impact on NBC's dual-network ownership. In May 1941, the FCC went a step further and issued formal rules to break up what it perceived to be monopolies in radio; one of these rules specifically barred a network from operating more than one hookup, which would have been aimed directly at NBC's ownership of its two networks, in a manner even more explicit than the June 1940 report.
Litigation against NBC
Subsequent congressional hearings in the fall of 1941 resulted in the
FCC watering down the rules, but the reprieve was short-lived, as the antitrust division of the Department of Justice, on December 31, 1941, filed an antitrust action against NBC and
CBS, seeking to break up the networks' methods of operation.
Mutual, at the same time, filed an antitrust suit of its own, in the amount of $10.275 million, according to the January 12, 1942 edition of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
''.
[''Time'' magazine, January 12, 194]
Old Law v. New Thing
/ref>
This account by ''Time'' describes at least one of the accusations leveled against NBC by Mutual, from an affidavit by Mutual's general manager. In the fall of 1941, Mutual debuted a comedy-variety series sponsored by Ballantine Ale, called ''Three Ring Time'', starring Milton Berle
Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...
and Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future w ...
. The show was set to debut on a 77-station network, but 14 of these stations were under contract to NBC, which had the power to exercise options on the most desirable time, in cities where there was limited competition. NBC eventually exercised options for six of these stations, with the result that ''Three Ring Time'' was being carried simultaneously on NBC Blue and Mutual.
While the antitrust suits were pending, NBC and CBS had appealed to the courts regarding the ability of the FCC to regulate the operations of radio networks. While these appeals were in progress, NBC started the process of formally separating the operations of the Red Network and the Blue Network, a process which had begun in 1939 with the formation of a separate sales department for the Blue Network and which continued into 1940 and 1941 with the formation of other departments for the Blue Network. NBC began to specifically identify the networks, contrary to its general practice, and began to divide personnel and facilities; eventually, it formed a separate corporate entity for the Blue Network on January 8, 1942, "Blue Network Company, Inc." From this date on, while NBC still maintained ownership of the Blue Network, it was for most purposes an entirely separate network. NBC Red at this point became known as simply NBC.
In June 1942, The United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
upheld the jurisdiction of the FCC over the issuance of rules relating to chain broadcasting. While the FCC litigation continued in the wake of this ruling, the public and private antitrust litigation was held in abeyance.
On May 10, 1943 the Supreme Court (''National Broadcasting Co. v. United States
''National Broadcasting Co. v. United States'', 319 U.S. 190 (1943), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Federal Communications Commission had the power to issue regulations pertaining to associations between br ...
'', 319 U.S. 190) upheld the right of the FCC to regulate practically everything that was radio, by sustaining the jurisdiction of the FCC to regulate the contractual relations of the major networks with affiliated stations. Efforts in late 1943 before the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee to obtain legislation to, in effect, reverse the decision went nowhere.
Sale
The January 11, 1943 edition of ''Time'' states that seven investment houses, three insurance companies, two manufacturers, a daily newspaper, and an industrialist had all taken serious looks at purchasing the network.[''Time'' magazine, January 11, 194]
Black & Blue
/ref> However, with the ruling from the Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, NBC was now spurred to take vigorous action to sell the Blue Network. The bidding came down to three groups, with an initial bid of $6 million, which was raised in sequence by rivals to $6.5 and then $7 million. In late July, 1943, the investment banking firm of Dillon, Read & Co. made a bid of $7.8 million.
On July 30, 1943, just over two months after the court's ruling, RCA announced the sale of the network to American Broadcasting System, Inc., a firm controlled by Edward J. Noble
Edward John Noble (August 8, 1882 – December 28, 1958) was an American broadcasting and candy industrialist originally from Gouverneur, New York. He co-founded the Life Savers Corporation in 1913. He founded the American Broadcasting Company ...
, a former undersecretary of commerce who was better known as the chairman of Life Savers Corp. The price was announced as $8 million. This was followed by a petition to the FCC to approve the sale, which was filed on August 13.
FCC hearings
One of the significant issues surrounding the sale of the Blue Network involved the network's practices regarding "controversial" topics and proponents. The network, citing the code of the National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...
, declined to sell time to labor organizations, cooperatives, and other organizations advocating "controversial topics", but did give them free air time, provided there was an opportunity for the other side to be heard. On August 27, 1943, the Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
filed a brief in a petition to intervene in the FCC proceedings on the network sale. The CIO complained that the NAB code regarding "controversial" broadcasts inhibited its ability to buy airtime. While the FCC denied the CIO's petition to intervene, it did invite the CIO to give testimony in the hearings.
At the hearings held on September 10, 1943, FCC Chairman James L. Fly roundly denounced the policy of the Blue Network in refusing to sell airtime, but granting air time for free, to proponents of controversial broadcasts. He colorfully described the policy as chasing would-be purchasers from the front of the shop, but "directing them to the back door for a handout." Mark Woods, the head of the Blue Network, defended the policy, stating that it was in compliance with the NAB code. When Edward J. Noble testified at the hearings held on September 20, 1943, he was questioned closely by Chairman Fly as to the policies regarding the refusal to sell air time to labor organizations, cooperatives and other special interest groups.[''New York Times'', October 4, 1943, 24:3] Noble was directed by Chairman Fly at this hearing to submit a statement as to what the policy would be of the Blue Network in terms of "the expansion of the mechanisms of free speech." On October 3, 1943, Noble released a letter to the FCC in which it was stated that the Blue Network would meet "with an open mind" all requests for broadcasting time, "considering each on the merits", and excluding none on the basis of ideas or personality. Certainly, not all were pleased by Chairman Fly's stance. Columnist David Lawrence, in his October 7, 1943 column, thought that the FCC had overstepped its authority in attempting to force the Blue Network to change its policies regarding the sale of airtime.
Noble's written response seems to have been sufficient. The sale was approved by the FCC on October 12, 1943. Noble was forced to divest himself of New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
station WMCA, which he had owned since 1940, but his American Broadcasting System, Inc., the entity formed to be the parent of the Blue Network, acquired WJZ, additional stations in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
and San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, as well as land-line leases, certain studio facilities and leased studio facilities, and the affiliation system.
Antitrust conclusion
Following the sale, the Department of Justice dropped its antitrust proceedings against NBC on October 17, 1943, having previously dropped proceedings against CBS on October 11, and the federal courts, upon its motion, dismissed Mutual's antitrust claims against CBS and NBC.
Changes: 1943–1945
In the April 21, 1947, issue of ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', Mark Woods called the Blue Network of 1942 (that is, just before the sale) "a dump." The article describes the then 116-station network as the home of cast-off speeches and classical music, which had only generated $14 million in revenue. It could, perhaps, be argued that Woods was denigrating the state of the Blue Network at that time, to contrast with the relative success of the network later in the 1940s; this is possible in light of the fact that the Blue Network had been profitable in 1942. Woods and the rest of the management team, after the sale to Noble, began to take steps to make the Blue Network more competitive with NBC and CBS.
Finances and ownership
An early step was to obtain a deep-pocketed backer. Noble, on December 28, 1943, sold a 12.5% stake to Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
, and a similar stake to advertising executive Chester J. LaRoche, for $500,000 each. Smaller stakes were taken by Blue Network executives Mark Woods (president) and Edgar Kobak (executive vice-president, who would the next year leave the Blue for Mutual).
Programming
During the 1943–1945 period, the Blue Network used many of the NBC broadcasting facilities, including the Radio City facilities in New York (see the KATE ad, above), as well as studio space in Los Angeles. The back of the ticket for "Fun Valley", a show starring veteran comedian Al Pearce, sponsored by Dr. Pepper
Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink. It was created in the 1880s by pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904. It is now also sold in Europe ...
and broadcast on Sunday afternoons in 1944, makes reference to both Blue Network Company, Inc. and the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. in terms of the rules and regulations audience members had to obey.
Of obvious import were steps taken to preserve the best programming the network had, and make improvements; these were happening in the period immediately prior to, and following, the sale of the network. While the Blue Network did lose a few programs to NBC, such as '' Quiz Kids'' and '' Duffy's Tavern'' (more shows that debuted or had a previous run on the Blue; see Lackmann, op. cit.) and the NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...
(Lackmann, op. cit.), it did retain one highly rated show, the ''Jergens Journal'' with Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...
, which managed to compete successfully with NBC's powerhouse Sunday night lineup (it was the 11th-ranked program for all of 1943–1944, and Blue's only program in the top 20). The Blue Network also retained the rights to broadcast the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The Metropolitan Opera In ...
; Milton Cross was the host for NBC, Blue, ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, CBS, and the opera's own broadcasts from 1931 through 1975. This was in spite of the fact that NBC did not want to assign the rights to either the '' Town Meeting of the Air'' or the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts to the Blue Network.
In an interview with ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' published on January 11, 1943, Woods noted that the Blue Network was seeking to differentiate itself from NBC and CBS by the aggressive use of transcriptions, contrary to the practice of the larger networks. This would have its full fruition when Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
started transcribing his prime-time shows in 1946.
In certain respects, the Blue made attempts to grab the spotlight with unusual broadcasts. On December 25, 1942, the Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, ...
sponsored an all-day broadcast on the network, a "Victory Parade's Christmas Party of Spotlight Bands". The hiring, in 1943, of noted bandleader Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of numerous bands, including Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and The Law. He has also performed as a solo artist, and co ...
as Director of Music was an attempt by the network, in its own words, to strengthen the entire musical schedule, as well as obtain a prominent figure. The "Metropolitan Auditions of the Air", discussed above, had moved to the Blue Network by 1943 as well, joining the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
News continued to be a priority for the network; indeed, Raymond Swing would win a Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
for the network in 1944 for his news commentary. A 1943 promotional pamphlet listed Swing, Walter Winchell, Martin Agronsky
Martin Zama Agronsky ( ; January 12, 1915 – July 25, 1999), also known as Martin Agronski, was an American journalist, political analyst, and television host. He began his career in 1936 working under his uncle, Gershon Agron, at the ''Palest ...
, Drew Pearson, Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescreen ...
and Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Celene Thompson (July 9, 1893 – January 30, 1961) was an American journalist and radio broadcaster. She was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934 and was one of the few women news commentators on radio ...
, among others, as part of "the most impressive roster of news analysts and commentators on the air today." Newsman George Hicks George Hicks may refer to:
* George Hicks (trade unionist) (1879–1954), British trade unionist and politician
* George Hicks (footballer) (1902–?), English footballer
* George Elgar Hicks (1824–1914), English painter
* George Hicks (RAF off ...
was on a landing craft heading to the Normandy invasion beaches on D-Day when it was strafed by enemy planes, the sound of the combat being broadcast. The network did have some difficulty with its news commentators during the war, however. The February 22, 1943 edition of Time notes that Woods had to clamp down on both Walter Winchell and Drew Pearson for over-aggressive name calling in their broadcasts, much to their dismay.
Blue Network Programs
Several programs can be cited to show how the Blue Network was striving to reach beyond its previous reputation, and compete head-on with CBS and NBC as a stand-alone network.
One ambitious broadcast, copies of which are generally available to collectors of old-time radio broadcasts, was a special two-hour program broadcast on Christmas Day, 1944. Entitled "Christmas on the Blue", the show was emceed by Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...
, and featured, among other stars, Joe E. Brown
Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1891 – July 6, 1973) was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his friendly screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 19 ...
, The Andrews Sisters, Ed Wynn, Paul Whiteman and others. The show also featured broadcasts of overseas servicemen sending greetings and well wishes to their loved ones at home, something unusual for the era.
One of the pairings on this special program involved Wendell Niles, a long-time announcer on many radio shows, including Bob Hope's. The Blue Network gave him and partner Don Prindle a comedy series, ''Niles and Prindle'', which is referenced in the special as being scheduled for a debut the following month. It was said to involve two friends "who argued about everything", and had a brief run in 1945. It was certainly unusual for the Blue Network to attempt to convert a long-time announcer into a featured comedy star, and in this sense, "Niles and Prindle", if not unique (given that Graham McNamee
Thomas Graham McNamee (July 10, 1888 – May 9, 1942) was an American radio broadcaster, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first international decade. He originated play-by-play sports broadcasting for which he was awa ...
was the "Perfect Foil" to Ed Wynn), it must be said to be at least quite singular.
Of interest to animation fans was a show called ''Nitwit Court'', which sought to do to John J. Anthony's ''The Goodwill Hour'' what ''It Pays to Be Ignorant'' did to ''Information, Please!
''Information Please'' is an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938, to April 22, 1951. The title was the contemporary phrase used to request from telephone operators what was then called "inform ...
''. Host Ransom Sherman would pose problems to a jury consisting of Arthur Q. Bryan, as "Willow", a man with a lisp, Mel Blanc, as "Hornblower", a fumbling motorboat owner, and Sara Berner as "Bubbles Lowbridge", a not terribly bright woman.
Affiliate growth
Strengthening the affiliate station list was a matter of importance to the network. While the network had 116 stations in January 1942 and 155 stations as of June 1943, this still meant that it could only offer to advertisers coverage of approximately 76% of the radio homes in the United States. In this sense, the moves by the FCC to loosen the provisions of the contracts binding affiliated stations to networks helped the Blue Network. This allowed it to pick up a few additional stations in 1944, including (ironically) a few from the Mutual Broadcasting System. This was one of its priorities, as the Blue Network had inherited smaller and less powerful stations than NBC and CBS.
Rebranding
Finally, a major priority of the Blue Network was to form a new identity, one that would mark a break with the past. In December 1945, the FCC approved the transfer of The Blue Network, Inc.'s broadcast licenses to American Broadcasting Company. Beginning on January 22, 1945, the network's opening and closing announcements changed to "The Blue Network of the American Broadcasting Company." Starting February 18, the same wording was instituted as the network outcue for station breaks. On June 15, 1945, the Blue Network formally changed its name to the American Broadcasting Company. They were not alone in desiring this catchy acronym. Two prior claimants were bought out prior to June 1945, and in negotiations with the Associated Broadcasting Corp. in December 1945, it acquired the rights to the name "ABC" from yet a third party. From June 1945 forward, the entity has been known generally as the American Broadcasting Company, and reference should be made to that entry for its subsequent history.
The souvenir program for the '' Maurice B. Sachs Amateur Hour '' broadcast of Sunday, September 30, 1945 refers to the broadcast as coming from "Blue Network Studio A." Even into 1947, in some markets, ABC would promote its shows with the tag-line "It's a Blue Network Program!"
Television
By June 1945, commercial television in the United States had been frozen, owing to the lower level of priorities given to it as compared to war work. Furthermore, ABC was generally slow to move into television broadcasting. It did win approval to build five television stations; the first, WABC-TV, WJZ-TV in New York was completed in the summer of 1948. WJZ-TV was followed by stations in WLS-TV, Chicago and WXYZ-TV, Detroit later in 1948; and KGO-TV, San Francisco and KABC-TV, Los Angeles during 1949–all five stations were assigned to broadcast on channel 7. Until those stations were built, ABC had to lease time and studio facilities from other stations including DuMont Television Network, DuMont network New York flagship WNYW, WABD, as well as other stations in WPVI-TV, Philadelphia and WJLA-TV, Washington which eventually helped form the core of the ABC television network. It might be supposed that the Blue Network never existed in television, but as noted above, the Blue Network did make at least a few known forays into television prior to the June 1945 name change. For example, the Blue Network applied for a construction permit for a TV station in the upper VHF band, but all such applications were shelved during the war years. Experiments were also conducted by the Blue Network in television program production before it permanently became ABC and formally opened a network under the ABC name in 1948. The script for a February 25, 1945 broadcast of ''Ladies Be Seated'', which was a relatively popular audience-participation/stunt game show on Blue Network radio, still exists, and is reprinted in full in Ritchie. It is, in fact, the script for the first broadcast. It was hosted by Johnny Olson, who would later become the long-running announcer on most of CBS's Goodson-Todman-produced game shows, most notably ''Match Game'' and ''The Price Is Right (U.S. game show), The Price Is Right''. Technically, this was not a network broadcast, as it was broadcast locally on WRGB, the General Electric television station in Schenectady, New York. However, the opening title card, according to the script, was for "The Blue Network of the American Broadcasting Company." No video copy of this broadcast is known to exist.
Blue Network stations
As noted above, during the 1930s and 1940s, the Blue Network was divided into groups of stations. The core group of stations was known as "Basic Blue", and covered the Northeast United States/New England and portions of the Upper Midwest, around the Great Lakes area. The Southern Blue Network covered the Deep South, the Mountain Blue Group the Mountain states, the Pacific Coast Blue Network the Pacific states, Pacific Coast states, and the Southwestern United States, Southwestern Blue Group the Oklahoma-Texas region.
A pamphlet published by the American Rolling Mill Co. in connection with a radio talk on "The Miracle of Steel" given on the Blue Network on April 9, 1939 has a listing of the Blue Network stations participating in this broadcast. They are as follows:
Other Blue Network basic stations in 1939 were WAMC, WABY (Albany, New York); WJTN (Jamestown, New York); WRNL, WRTD (Richmond, Virginia); WPSE, WLEU (Erie, Pennsylvania); CINW, CFCF (Montreal, Quebec) and WEAV, WMFF in Plattsburgh, New York.["Stations That Make Up the Networks", ''The Daily Mail'' (Hagerstown, Maryland), March 11, 1939, p. 9]
See also
* Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The Metropolitan Opera In ...
References
Books
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Newspapers and magazines
* ''Albert Lea Evening Tribune'' (MN), via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Berkshire County (MA) Eagle'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Charleston (WV) Daily Mail'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Decatur (Illinois) Review'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Fresno Bee'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Galveston News'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Iowa City Press-Citizen'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Lima (Ohio) Sunday News'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''McKean County Democrat'' (PA), via newspaperarchive.com
* ''New York Times''
* ''Oakland Tribune'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Oneonta Star'' (New York), via newspaperarchive.com
* ''San Mateo Times'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Syracuse Herald'', via newspaperarchive.com
* ''Time', via time.com
* ''Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune'', via newspaperarchive.com
Broadcasts
* "Christmas on the Blue," Blue Network, December 25, 1944
* "Inner Sanctum Mysteries," December 7, 1941
* "Johnson's Wax Program, a/k/a Fibber McGee and Molly," NBC Red, October 11, 1937 and September 30, October 14 and December 23, 1941
* "The Chase and Sanborn Hour," NBC Red, September 5, 1937
* "The Jergens Journal," Blue Network, May 13, 1945
* Joseph W. Stilwell message to the American people from Burma via the Blue Network [sound recording], circa 1944, i
Joseph Warren Stilwell papers
Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University
Web sites
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Miscellaneous
* Matchbook covers for radio stations WFCI, WJW and WISH, collection of E.O. Costello
* Publicity photo for "The House on Q Street", Blue Network, 1944, collection of E.O. Costello
* Publicity photo of Dorothy Thompson, dated 9/6/39, NBC Blue, collection of E.O. Costello
* NBC publicity photo No. 15538 (Smetana photo)
* Souvenir program, Maurice B. Sachs Amateur Hour, dated September 30, 1945, collection of E.O. Costello
* Ticket for the March 19, 1944 broadcast of "Fun Valley", collection of E.O. Costello
* , collection of E.O. Costello
* , collection of E.O. Costello
Notes
{{Disney
Radio stations established in 1927
Radio stations disestablished in 1945
1927 establishments in the United States
1945 disestablishments in the United States
ABC Radio Networks
NBC Radio Network
American Broadcasting Company
Defunct radio networks in the United States
Defunct radio stations in the United States