''We the People'' (stylized onscreen as ''We The People'') is an American

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

aired on

CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

(1948-1949) and then on

NBC Television 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 ...

(1949-1952).

Broadcast history

''We the People'' was a 30-minute

, first on CBS for one season and then on NBC for two seasons. The host interviewed politicians, celebrities, and everyday people. The interviews tended to be "up close and personal", interviewing celebrities about difficulties they had to overcome. The non-celebrities were usually people who participated in some type of charitable work. The show was sponsored by

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

and produced by ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazine. The TV show aired Tuesdays at 9pm ET, and then Fridays at 8:30pm ET, and was simulcast on radio and TV for a time. The show had been aired on

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

since 1936. In October 1948, ''We the People'' was rated #3 on the

Hooper Ratings The C. E. Hooper Company was an American company which measured radio and television ratings during the Golden Age of Radio. Founded in 1934 by Claude E. Hooper (1898–1954), the company provided information on the most popular radio shows of the ...

, Hooper being a precursor to Nielsen ratings. On October 24, 1949, NBC began broadcasting ''We the People'' from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Fridays. It originated from WNBT. Gulf Oil ended its sponsorship of the program on September 26, 1952.

Famous episodes

On August 17, 1948, the American ex-Soviet spy

Elizabeth Bentley Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American spy and member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union from 1938 to 1945 until she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligenc ...

appeared on the show to urge follow ex-spies to come forward and name names to the U.S. Government. "It isn't enough to just quit being a Communist as I know hundreds have. Come forward now and tell what you know while there's still time to undo the damage we have so foolishly done."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0040057 CBS original programming NBC original programming 1948 American television series debuts 1952 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows

Broadcast history

Famous episodes

See also

References

External links