DuMont Television Network
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. (vice president; director of research) Mortimer Loewi (financial consultant) Ted Bergmann (director of sales, 1951–1953; general manager, 1953–1955) Lawrence Phillips (director of broadcasting) Chris Witting (director of broadcasting) Tom Gallery (director of sales) Don McGannon (general manager of O&Os) James Caddigan (director of programming and production) Paul Raibourn (executive vice president, Paramount; Paramount liaison) | |
History | |
---|---|
Founded | April 13, 1940 |
Launched | August 15, 1946 |
Founder | Allen B. DuMont |
Closed | August 6, 1956 (9 years, 357 days) |
The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont
The network was hindered by the prohibitive cost of
DuMont's latter-day obscurity, caused mainly by the
History
Origins
Early sales of television receivers were hampered by the lack of regularly scheduled programming being broadcast. A few months after selling his first set in 1938, DuMont opened his own New York-area experimental television station (W2XVT) in
Paramount Pictures became a minority shareholder in DuMont Laboratories when it advanced $400,000 in 1939 for a 40% share in the company.[10][11] Paramount had television interests of its own, having launched experimental stations in Los Angeles in 1939 and Chicago in 1940. DuMont's association with Paramount would later come back to haunt DuMont.[12][13]
Soon after his experimental Washington station
Although NBC in New York was known to have station-to-station television links as early as 1940 with WPTZ (now KYW) in Philadelphia and WRGB in Schenectady, New York, DuMont received its station licenses before NBC resumed its previously sporadic network broadcasts after the war.[16] ABC had just come into existence as a radio network in 1943 and did not enter network television until 1948 when its flagship station in New York City, WJZ-TV (now WABC-TV), began broadcasting. CBS also waited until 1948 to begin full network operations, because it was waiting for the Federal Communications Commission to approve its color television system (which it eventually did not due to its mechanical nature and incompatibility with black and white receivers). Other companies, including Mutual, the Yankee Network, and Paramount, were interested in starting television networks, but were prevented from successfully doing so by restrictive FCC regulations, although the Paramount Television Network did have some limited success in network operations in the late 1940s and early 1950s.[citation needed]
Programming
Despite no history of radio programming, no stable of radio stars to draw on, and perennial cash shortages, DuMont was an innovative and creative network.[17] Without the radio revenues that supported mighty NBC and CBS, DuMont programmers relied on their wits and on connections with Broadway.[18][peacock prose]
The network largely ignored the standard business model of 1950s TV, in which one advertiser sponsored an entire show, enabling it to have complete control over its content. Instead, DuMont sold commercials to several different advertisers, freeing producers of its shows from the veto power held by sole sponsors.[19] This eventually became the standard model for US television. Some commercial time was sold regionally on a co-op basis, while other spots were sold network-wide.[citation needed]
DuMont also holds another important place in American TV history. WDTV's sign-on made it possible for stations in the Midwest to receive live network programming from stations on the East Coast, and vice versa.[20] Before then, the networks relied on separate regional networks in the two time zones for live programming, and the West Coast received network programming from kinescopes (films shot directly from live television screens) originating from the East Coast. On January 11, 1949, the coaxial cable linking East and Midwest (known in television circles as "the Golden Spike", in reference to the golden spike that united the First transcontinental railroad) was activated. The ceremony, hosted by DuMont and WDTV, was carried on all four networks.[21] WGN-TV (channel 9) in Chicago and WABD in New York were able to share programs through a live coaxial cable feed when WDTV signed on in Pittsburgh, because the station completed the East Coast-to-Midwest chain, allowing stations in both regions to air the same program simultaneously, which is still the standard for US TV. It was another two years before the West Coast got live programming from the East (and the East able to get live programming from the West), but this was the beginning of the modern era of network television.[22]
The first broadcasts came from DuMont's
DuMont was the first network to broadcast a film production for TV:
- Edward Bowes
- The Morey Amsterdam Show, a comedy/variety show hosted by Morey Amsterdam, which started on CBS before moving to DuMont in 1949
- Captain Video and His Video Rangers, a hugely popular children's science fiction series[27][28]
- The Arthur Murray Party, a dance program
- Down You Go, a popular panel show
- Rocky King, Inside Detective, a private eye series starring Roscoe Karns
- The Plainclothesman, a camera's-eye-view detective series
- Live coverage of boxing and professional wrestling, the latter featuring matches staged by National Wrestling Alliance member Fred Kohler Enterprises in Chicago under the name Wrestling from Marigold Arena
- The Johns Hopkins Science Review, a Peabody Award-winning education program
- Cash and Carry, the first network-televised game show
- The Ernie Kovacs Show, a comedy show hosted by Ernie Kovacs
The network was a pioneer in TV programming aimed at minority audiences and featuring minority performers, at a time when the other American networks aired few television series for non-whites. Among DuMont's minority programs were
Although DuMont's programming pre-dated
Although nearly the entire DuMont film archive was destroyed, several surviving DuMont shows have been released on
Awards
DuMont programs were by necessity low-budget affairs, and the network received relatively few awards from the TV industry. Most awards during the 1950s went to NBC and CBS, who were able to out-spend other companies and draw on their extensive history of radio broadcasting in the relatively new television medium.
During the 1952–53 TV season, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, host of Life Is Worth Living, won an
DuMont received an Emmy nomination for Down You Go, a popular game show during the 1952–53 television season (in the category Best Audience Participation, Quiz, or Panel Program). The network was nominated twice for its coverage of professional football during the 1953–54 and 1954–55 television seasons.[35]
Ratings
Videodex 62 City Ratings | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
First week of August 1950 | ||||
Rank | Series | Network | # of cities | % TV homes |
1 | Toast of the Town
|
CBS | 34 | 37.2 |
2 | Stop the Music | ABC | 50 | 28.4 |
3 | Kraft TV Theater
|
NBC | 34 | 27.5 |
4 | Ford Star Revue | NBC | 45 | 26.9 |
5 | The Garry Moore Show | CBS | 19 | 26.4 |
6 | The Big Story
|
NBC | 32 | 25.6 |
7 | The Original Amateur Hour | NBC | 54 | 25.3 |
8 | Break the Bank
|
NBC | 42 | 24.2 |
9 | The Lone Ranger | ABC | 39 | 23.9 |
10 | Your Hit Parade | NBC | 18 | 23.7 |
11 | Cavalcade of Stars
|
DuMont | 20 | 22.2 |
12 | Mama | CBS | 16 | 22.0 |
13 | Wrestling | DuMont | 15 | 21.4 |
14 | Beat the Clock | CBS | 33 | 20.7 |
15 | Masterpiece Playhouse | NBC | 32 | 19.2 |
The earliest measurements of TV audiences were performed by the C. E. Hooper company of New York. DuMont performed well in the Hooper ratings; in fact, DuMont's talent program, The Original Amateur Hour, was the most popular series of the 1947–48 season.[37] Two seasons later, Variety ranked DuMont's popular variety series Cavalcade of Stars as the tenth most popular series.[38]
In February 1950, Hooper's competitor
Life is Worth Living was not the only DuMont program to achieve double-digit ratings. In 1952, Time magazine reported that popular DuMont game show Down You Go had attracted an audience estimated at 16 million viewers.[39] Similarly, DuMont's summer 1954 replacement series, The Goldbergs, achieved audiences estimated at 10 million.[40][page needed] Still, these series were only moderately popular compared to NBC's and CBS's highest-rated programs.
Nielsen was not the only company to report TV ratings. Companies such as
Disputes with AT&T and Paramount
DuMont struggled to get its programs aired in many parts of the country, in part due to technical limitations of network lines maintained by telephone company AT&T Corporation. During the 1940s and 1950s, television signals were sent between stations via coaxial cable and microwave links that were owned by AT&T. The service provider did not have enough circuits to provide signal relay service from the four networks to all of their affiliates at the same time, so AT&T allocated times when each network could offer live programs to its affiliates. In 1950, AT&T allotted NBC and CBS each over 100 hours of live prime time network service, but gave ABC 53 hours, and DuMont 37. AT&T also required each television network to lease both radio and television lines. DuMont was the only television network without a radio network, so it was the only network forced to pay for a service it did not use. DuMont protested AT&T's actions with the Federal Communications Commission, and eventually reached a compromise.[42]
DuMont's biggest corporate hurdle may have been with the company's own partner, Paramount. Relations between the two companies were strained as early as 1939 when Paramount opened experimental television stations in Los Angeles and Chicago without DuMont's involvement. Dr. DuMont claimed that the original 1937 acquisition proposal required Paramount to expand its television interests "through DuMont". Paramount representative Paul Raibourn, who also was a member of DuMont's board of directors, denied that any such restriction had ever been discussed, but Dr. DuMont was vindicated by a 1953 examination of the original draft document.[43]
DuMont aspired to grow beyond its three stations, applying for new television station licenses in Cincinnati and Cleveland in 1947.[44] This would give the network five owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), the maximum allowed by the FCC at the time. However, DuMont was hampered by Paramount's two stations, KTLA (channel 5) in Los Angeles and WBKB (channel 4, now WBBM-TV on channel 2) in Chicago – the descendants of the two experimental stations that rankled DuMont in 1940. Although these stations did not carry DuMont programming (with the exception of KTLA for one year from 1947 to 1948), and in fact competed against DuMont's affiliates in those cities, the FCC ruled that Paramount essentially controlled DuMont, which effectively placed the network at the five-station cap.[45] Paramount's exertion of influence over the network's management and the power of its voting stock led the FCC to its conclusion.[46] Thus, DuMont was unable to open additional stations as long as Paramount owned stations or owned a portion of DuMont. Paramount refused to sell.
In 1949, Paramount Pictures launched the
Early troubles
DuMont began with one basic disadvantage: unlike NBC, CBS and ABC, it did not have a radio network from which to draw big-name talent, affiliate loyalty or radio profits to underwrite television operations until the television medium itself became profitable.[49] Most early television licenses were granted to established radio broadcasters, and many longtime relationships with radio networks carried over to the new medium. As CBS and NBC (and to a lesser extent, ABC) gained their footing, they began to offer programming that drew on their radio backgrounds, bringing over the most popular radio stars. Early television station owners, when deciding which network would receive their main affiliation, were more likely to choose CBS's roster of Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, and Ed Sullivan, or NBC's lineup of Milton Berle and Sid Caesar, over DuMont, which offered a then-unknown Jackie Gleason and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.[37] In smaller markets, with a limited number of stations, DuMont and ABC were often relegated to secondary status, so their programs got clearance only if the primary network was off the air or delayed via kinescope recording ("teletranscriptions" in DuMont parlance).[citation needed]
Adding to DuMont's troubles was the
Forced to rely on UHF to expand, DuMont saw one station after another go dark due to dismal ratings.
The FCC's Hyman H. Goldin said in 1960, "If there had been four VHF outlets in the top markets, there's no question DuMont would have lived and would have eventually turned the corner in terms of profitability."[54][page needed]
Decline and the end of the network
During the early years of television, there was some measure of cooperation among the four major U.S. television networks. However, as television grew into a profitable business, an intense rivalry developed between the networks, just as it had in radio. NBC and CBS competed fiercely for viewers and advertising dollars, a contest neither underfunded DuMont nor ABC could hope to win. According to author Dennis Mazzocco, "NBC tried to make an arrangement with ABC and CBS to destroy the DuMont network." The plan was for NBC and CBS to exclusively offer ABC their most popular series after they had aired on the bigger networks. ABC would become a network of re-runs, but DuMont would be shut out. ABC president Leonard Goldenson rejected NBC executive David Sarnoff's proposal, but did not report it to the Justice Department.[55]
DuMont survived the early 1950s only because of WDTV in Pittsburgh, the lone commercial VHF station in what was then the sixth-largest market in the country (after New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington). WDTV's only competition came from UHF stations
Despite its severe financial straits, by 1953, DuMont appeared to be on its way to establishing itself as the third national network.[30][59] This was the case despite a smaller footprint than ABC. While DuMont programs aired live on 16 stations, the network could count on only seven primary stations – its three owned-and-operated stations ("O&Os"), plus WGN-TV in Chicago, KTTV (channel 11) in Los Angeles, KFEL-TV (channel 2, now KWGN-TV) in Denver, and WTVN-TV (channel 6, now WSYX) in Columbus, Ohio.
In contrast, by 1953 ABC had a full complement of five O&Os, augmented by nine primary affiliates.
By this time, DuMont had begun to differentiate itself from NBC and CBS. It allowed its advertisers to choose the locations where their advertising ran, potentially saving them millions of dollars. By contrast, ABC followed NBC and CBS' practice of forcing advertisers to purchase a large "must-buy" list of stations, even though it was only a fourth the size of NBC and CBS.[62]
ABC's fortunes were dramatically altered in February 1953, when the FCC cleared the way for UPT to buy the network. The merger provided ABC with a badly needed cash infusion, giving it the resources to mount "top shelf" programming and to provide a national television service on a scale approaching that of CBS and NBC.[63] Through UPT president Leonard Goldenson, ABC also gained ties with the Hollywood studios that more than matched those DuMont's producers had with Broadway.[citation needed]
Realizing that ABC had more resources than they could even begin to match, DuMont officials were receptive to a merger offer from ABC. Goldenson quickly brokered a deal with Ted Bergmann, DuMont's managing director, under which the merged network would have been called "ABC-DuMont" until at least 1958 and would have honored all of DuMont's network commitments. In return, DuMont would get $5 million in cash, guaranteed advertising time for DuMont sets and a secure future for its staff.[56] A merged ABC-DuMont would have been a colossus rivaling CBS and NBC, as it would have owned stations in five of the six largest U.S. television markets (excluding only Philadelphia) as well as ABC's radio network. It also would have inherited DuMont's de facto monopoly in Pittsburgh and would have been one of two networks to have full ownership of a station in the nation's capital (the other being NBC). However, it would have had to sell a New York station – either DuMont's WABD or ABC flagship WJZ-TV (channel 7, now WABC-TV), probably the former. It also would have had to sell two other stations – most likely ABC's two smallest O&Os, WXYZ-TV in Detroit and KGO-TV in San Francisco (both broadcasting on channel 7) – to get under the FCC's limit of five stations per owner.[citation needed]
However, Paramount vetoed the plan almost out of hand due to
With no other way to readily obtain cash, DuMont sold WDTV to Westinghouse for $9.75 million in late 1954, after Westinghouse decided to give public backing to the public interest groups for the channel 13 allocation in Pittsburgh, allowing the station to launch that spring as educational
On April 1, 1955, most of DuMont's entertainment programs were dropped. Bishop Sheen aired his last program on DuMont on April 26 and later moved to ABC.[31] By May, just eight programs were left on the network, with only inexpensive shows and sporting events keeping the remains of the network going through the summer. The network also largely abandoned the use of the intercity network coaxial cable, on which it had spent $3 million in 1954 to transmit shows that mostly lacked station clearance.[66] The company only retained network links for live sports programming and utilizing the company's Electronicam process to produce studio-based programming. Ironically, Electronicam is best remembered for being used by Jackie Gleason's producers for the 39-half-hour episodes of The Honeymooners that aired on CBS during the 1955–56 television season.[citation needed]
In August 1955, Paramount, with the help of other stockholders, seized full control of DuMont Laboratories. Shareholders approved a split of the manufacturing and broadcasting operations of the company in August 1955, and the sponsored shows on the network were discontinued.[67][68] The last non-sports program on DuMont, the game show What's the Story, aired on September 23, 1955.[69] After that, DuMont's network feed was used only for occasional sporting events. The last broadcast on what was left of the DuMont Television Network, a boxing match, aired on August 6, 1956.[70] (The date has also been reported as September 1955,[71][72] November 1957[73] or August 4, 1958,[74] with the last broadcast of Monday Night Fights.) According to one source, the final program aired on only five stations nationwide.[74] It appears that the boxing show was syndicated to a few other east coast stations until 1958, but likely not as a production of DuMont or its successor company. Likewise, the remains of DuMont were used to syndicate a high school football Thanksgiving game in 1957; that telecast, the only DuMont broadcast to have been sent in color, was a personal project of Allen DuMont himself, whose hometown team in Montclair, New Jersey, was contending in the game for a state championship.[73]
DuMont spun off WABD and WTTG as the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation; in requesting the FCC's approval of the reorganization, it told the commission that the network "could not be operated profitably under the existing system of allocation and control of television broadcast stations and affiliations".[75] The name was later changed to "Metropolitan Broadcasting Company" to distance the company from what was seen as a complete failure.[76] In 1958, John Kluge bought Paramount's shares for $4 million,[12] and in 1961 renamed the company Metromedia.[77] WABD became WNEW-TV and later WNYW. WTTG still broadcasts under its original call letters as a Fox affiliate.
For 50 years, DuMont was the only major broadcast television network to cease operations,
Failed revival of the DuMont brand
On February 22, 2018, Lightning One, Inc., owned by
Fate of the DuMont stations
All three DuMont-owned stations are still operating and are owned-and-operated stations of their respective networks, just as when they were part of DuMont. Of the three, only Washington's WTTG still has its original call letters.[82]
WTTG and New York's WABD (later WNEW-TV, and now WNYW) survived as Metromedia-owned independents until 1986, when they were purchased by the News Corporation to form the nucleus of the new Fox television network. Clarke Ingram, who maintained a DuMont memorial site, has suggested that Fox can be considered a revival, or at least a linear descendant, of DuMont.[83]
Westinghouse changed WDTV's call letters to KDKA-TV after the pioneering radio station of the same name, and switched its primary affiliation to CBS immediately after the sale. Westinghouse's acquisition of CBS in 1995 made KDKA-TV a CBS owned-and-operated station.
DuMont programming library
DuMont produced more than 20,000 television episodes from 1946 to 1956. Because they were created prior to the launch of
Although films submerged for decades have been successfully recovered (see The Carpet from Bagdad as an example), there have been no salvage-diving efforts to locate or recover the DuMont archive. If it survived in that environment, most of the films have likely been damaged. Other kinescopes were put through a silver reclaiming process, because of the microscopic amounts of silver that made up the emulsion of black-and-white film during this time.[84]
It is estimated that only about 350 complete DuMont television shows survive today, the most famous being virtually all of
Affiliates
At its peak in 1954, DuMont was affiliated with around 200 television stations.[85] In those days, television stations were free to "cherry-pick" which programs they would air, and many stations affiliated with multiple networks, depending mainly on the number of commercial television stations available in a market at a given time (markets where only one commercial station was available carried programming from all four major networks). Many of DuMont's "affiliates" carried very little DuMont programming, choosing to air one or two more popular programs (such as Life Is Worth Living) and/or sports programming on the weekends. Few stations carried the full DuMont program lineup. For example, the promising WKLO-TV (UHF Ch. 21) in the growing Louisville, Kentucky/Indiana market had to split its time between DuMont and ABC-TV. The station lasted only seven months (September 1953 – April 1954) on the air.[citation needed]
In its later years, DuMont was carried mostly on poorly watched UHF channels or had only secondary affiliations on VHF stations. DuMont ended most operations on April 1, 1955, but honored network commitments until August 1956.[citation needed]
Kinescopes
- Kinescopes of DuMont Network programs, from the Internet Archive: The Adventures of Ellery Queen, Captain Video and His Video Rangers, Cavalcade of Stars, Life Is Worth Living, Miss U.S. Television 1950 Contest, The Morey Amsterdam Show, The Old American Barn Dance, Okay Mother, On Your Way, Public Prosecutor, Rocky King — Detective, School House, They Stand Accused and A DuMont Network identification
See also
- Fourth television network
- Golden Age of Television
- List of DuMont programs
- List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
- List of former DuMont Television Network affiliates
- NFL on DuMont
- Passaic: Birthplace of Television and the DuMont Story (1951 TV special on history of DuMont)
Notes
- ^ The name of the network has been spelled both "DuMont" and "Du Mont". "Dumont" and "DUMONT" are generally considered incorrect. Weinstein (2004) uses "DuMont" for the name of the network. Bergmann (2002) prefers "Du Mont".[2] For the purposes of this article, the Weinstein spelling is used. (The name was pronounced on-air to sound like DOO-mont, with an accent on the "Du".)
References
- Bergmann, Ted; Skutch, Ira (2002). The DuMont Television Network: What Happened?. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-8108-4270-0.
- Garvin, Glenn (March 2005). "Who Killed Captain Video? How the FCC strangled a TV pioneer". Reason Online. Retrieved January 5, 2007.[dead link]
- Hess, Gary Newton (1979). An Historical Study of the DuMont Television Network. New York: Ayer Publishers. ISBN 978-0-405-11758-9.
- Ingram, C. (2002). "DuMont Television Network Historical Web Site". Archived from the original on January 22, 2009. Retrieved December 24, 2008.
- Merlin, Jan (May 11, 2006). "Space Hero Files: Captain Video". Archived from the original on January 10, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- Weinstein, David (2004). The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-59213-245-4.
Citations
- ^ a b "Allen B. DuMont | American engineer and inventor". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ Weinstein 2004, p. vi.
- ^ Weinstein 2004, p. 16.
- ^ "A U. S. Television Chronology, 1875-1970". jeff560.tripod.com. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
- ^ Ponce de Leon, Charles L. (2015). "That's the Way It Is: A History of Television News in America". press.uchicago.edua. Beginnings. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ^ Weinstein 2004, p. vii.
- ^ Hart, Hugh. "Jan. 29, 1901: DuMont Will Make TV Work". WIRED. Archived from the original on December 28, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
- ^ a b Dean, L. DuMont TV — KTTV TV11 Archived December 31, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Larry Dean's R-VCR Television Production website. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ^ Bergmann & Skutch 2002.
- ^ Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982) Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television, p. 11. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- ^ Auter, P. & Boyd, D. DuMont: The Original Fourth Television Network. The Journal of Popular Culture. Vol. 29 Issue 3 Page 63 Winter 1995. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ a b c d e Spadoni, M. (June 2003). DuMont: America's First "Fourth Network" Archive at the Wayback Machine (archived February 11, 2007). Television Heaven. Retrieved on September 6, 2019.
- ^ a b McDowell, W. Remembering the DuMont Network: A Case Study Approach Archived September 6, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Southern Illinois University. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ Brennan, Patricia (May 14, 1995). "WTTG Marks 50 Years". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
- ^ "Network Television to Reach City". The Pittsburgh Press. January 11, 1949. p. 29. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
- ISBN 0-8108-4270-X
- ^ Auter, P. (2005)DuMont, Allen B Archived September 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ Weinstein 2004, pp. 46, 94.
- ^ Weinstein 2004, p. 43.
- Greensburg Tribune-Review. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ Hundt, B. (July 30, 2006). "Remember When: First tube" [dead link]. Observer-Reporter Publishing. Retrieved on January 7, 2007.
- ^ History of the AT&T Network — Milestones in AT&T Network History Archived January 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. AT&T, 2006. Retrieved on December 28, 2006
- ^ Billboard. New York City: Nielsen Business Media, Inc. August 15, 1953. p. 4. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
DU M SHUTS DOWN STORE OPERATION . . . NEW YORK, Aug. 8. — Du Mont Television Network is closing down its studios and master control unit at Wanamaker's department store next Friday (14). Master control will begin operating at the Du Mont's Tele-Center the next day. Among the shows that had been originating at Wanamaker's was "Captain Video".
- ^ "WYNW - TV Station Profile". FCC Public Inspection Files. Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on July 11, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
- ^ Billboard. New York City: Nielsen Business Media, Inc. June 19, 1954. p. 14.
Du M. Tele-Center To Be Officially Opened on Monday NEW YORK, June 12[, 1954]. The Boys from Boise, the first original televised musical, was aired on the network in 1944. — Du Mont on Monday will hold the official tape-cutting ceremonies for its Tele-Center, which has actually been in use for over a year. Speakers at the event will be Dr. Allen Du Mont and Mayor Robert Wagner.[...]It was originally the Central Opera House. Du Mont invested $5,000,000 (equivalent to about $56,700,000 in 2023) to re-build it for TV use.
- ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- ^ Merlin, J. Roaring Rockets: The Space Hero Files Archived January 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ISBN 1-59213-499-8
- ^ "Film reveals real-life struggles of an onscreen 'Dragon Lady'." Archived March 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine UCLA Today Online Archived September 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, January 3, 2008. Retrieved: May 27, 2008.
- ^ ISBN 0-345-31864-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- ^ a b Adams, Edie (March 1996). "Television/Video Preservation Study: Los Angeles Public Hearing". National Film Preservation Board. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved September 24, 2007.
- ^ Collections — Early television Archived January 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The UCLA Film and Television Archive. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ ISBN 1-59213-499-8
- ^ "Advanced Primetime Awards Search". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 2005. Archived from the original on April 3, 2009. Retrieved September 24, 2007.
- ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- ^ a b c d e Jajkowski, S. (2001). Chicago Television: And Then There Was… DuMont Archived October 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- ^ "The Adenoidal Moderator". Time. April 28, 1952. Archived from the original on January 21, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
- ISBN 978-0-8156-0887-5.
- ^ "Videodex 62-Market Survey". Billboard. Vol. 62, no. 39. September 30, 1950. p. 6.
- ^ (PDF) from the original on September 4, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
- ISBN 0-405-11758-2.
- ISBN 0-405-11758-2.
- ^ IEEE History Center: Thomas Goldsmith Abstract Archived December 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine (May 14, 1973). IEEE History Center. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- ^ Weinstein, David (2004). The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (pp. 24–25). Philadelphia: Temple University.
- ^ White, Timothy R. (1992). Hollywood's Attempt to Appropriate Television: The Case of Paramount Pictures. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI. pp. 117–118.
- ^ White, Timothy R. (1992). "Hollywood on (Re)Trial: The American Broadcasting-United Paramount Merger Hearing" Archived October 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Cinema Journal, Vol. 31, No. 3. (Spring, 1992), pp. 19–36.
- ^ DUMONT, ALLEN B. The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived September 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ingram, Clarke. "Channel Six: UHF" Archived August 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine DuMont Television Network Historical Web Site. Accessed January 21, 2010.
- ^ The FCC and the All-Channel Receiver Bill of 1962, LAWRENCE D. LONGLEY, JOURNAL OF BROADCASTING. Vol. XLII. NO. 3 (Summer 1969)
- ^ Clarke Ingram's historical account at https://uhfhistory.com/articles/kcty.html has this as exactly two months; DuMont closed on the acquisition at the start of January 1, 1954, and took the station dark at the end of February 28, 1954. It lost DuMont $250,000 and lost Empire Coil, the original proprietor, $750,000. It was the third of a long list of UHF pioneers to fail.
- ISBN 0-8108-4270-X.
- ISBN 0-405-11758-2.
- ISBN 978-0-89608-472-8.
- ^ ISBN 0-8108-4270-X.
- ^ O'Brien, E. (July 1, 2003). Pittsburgh Area Radio and TV Archived December 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982) Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television, p. 39. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- ^ Grace, R. (October 3, 2002). "Reminiscing: Channel 2, Your Du Mont Station" Archived August 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Metropolitan News-Enterprise Online. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ Jajkowski, S. (2005). Chicago Television: My Afternoon With Red Archived November 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- ISBN 0-684-19055-9. pp 114–115
- ISBN 0-8108-4270-X.
- ^ Jajkowski, S. (2005). "Flashback: The 50th Anniversary of ABC" Archived April 11, 2005, at the Wayback Machine. Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
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- ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
- ^ "NewspaperArchive® |.aspx historic newspaper articles including obituaries, births, marriages, divorces and arrests". www.newspaperarchive.com.
- ^ "NewspaperArchive® |.aspx historic newspaper articles including obituaries, births, marriages, divorces and arrests". www.newspaperarchive.com.
- ^ a b Tober, Steve (November 20, 2017). "Thanksgiving football games a disappearing tradition". NorthJersey.com. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
The '57 Thanksgiving game at Foley Field was televised live and in color (both rarities in those early TV days) on Channel 5 via the old Dumont Television Network, which was under the leadership of Dr. Dumont, who – by the way – was a Montclair resident. Also, the late, great Chris Schenkel did the play by play.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-07-010269-9.
August 4, 1958. Monday Night Fights, the final show of the old Dumont network dies. At the end, it is carried on only five stations, nationwide.
- ProQuest 1014926098.
- ^ Bergmann & Skutch 2002, p. 85.
- ProQuest 1285745524.
- ^ Ryan, J. (January 24, 2006). "Exit WB, UPN; Enter the CW" Archived October 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. E! Online News. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
- ^ "THE DUMONT NETWORK Trademark of LIGHTNING ONE, INC. Serial Number: 87806925 :: Trademarkia Trademarks". trademark.trademarkia.com.
- ^ "Billy Corgan reboots an old favorite, the National Wrestling Alliance". Chicago Tribune. November 11, 2017. Archived from the original on March 9, 2018.
- ^ "TESS – NWA". Archived from the original on March 8, 2018.
- , for details.
- ^ Ingram, C. (2002). DuMont Television Network Historical Web Site Archived October 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
- ^ "REMINISCING: Day in Court, Winchell-Mahoney Time – DuMont Shows: Not to Be Seen Again, ROGER M. GRACE, Metropolitan News-Enterprise, May 29, 2003". Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
- ^ Corarito, Gregory (1967). Tulsa TV History Thesis — KCEB Archived September 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
External links
- Clarke Ingram's DuMont Television Network Historical Website Archived February 24, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
- The "Golden Telecruiser" Historic Pictures
- List of DuMont programs at the Internet Movie Database
- Dumont Television Network — Western States Museum of Broadcasting