RADIO SPINS ITS WEB -

THE BEGINNINGS OF RADIO BROADCASTING NETWORKS

By John F. Schneider W9FGH

www.theradiohistorian.org

Copyright 2025 - John F. Schneider & Associates, LLC

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(Click on photos to enlarge)

 

The summer home of Col. E.H.R. Green was the site of his radio station WMAF in Round Hill, Massachusetts.  WMAF was the first station to be permanently connected to AT&T lines to rebroadcast the programs of WEAF in New York City, 1924.

A WEAF engineer manages "portable" amplifiers for a remote broadcast in 1922.

This map shows the affiliated stations and line connections of the WEAF Red Network in 1925.  It became the NBC Red Network the following year.

This map shows the configuration of the AT&T network of equalized broadcast lines in 1929. 

This is a close-up of the AT&T connections in the Northeast USA.

 William S. Paley, head of the Columbia Network, completes a connection bringing CBS programs to the West Coast, January 19, 1929.

Amplifying equipment set up under the steps of the Capitol Building for the network broadcast of Pres. Herbert Hoover's inauguration, 1929.

THE NEED FOR WIRE LINES

In the beginning years of broadcasting, it quickly became apparent that some programs needed to originate from outside the radio studio.  Wires and amplifiers were employed to bring a variety of programs in from outside locations.  Remote microphones picked up hotel dance bands, church services, and ball games.  Occasionally, a station could run its own temporary wires to a nearby location for a single broadcast.  (A Portland, Oregon, station owner once famously dropped a tennis ball attached to a wire into the city sewer, and then fished it out a few blocks later. )  But most of the time, this meant connecting the station to the remote location via the public telephone or telegraph network. 

On January 21, 1921 the Westinghouse station KDKA in Pittsburgh carried the country’s first remote broadcast – a church service from Calvary Baptist Church.  They followed this with a local address by Herbert Hoover on January 15, 1922; a boxing match on April 11;  the Davis Cup tennis match August 4-6; and a National League baseball game on August 5.  These broadcasts were all transmitted through telephone lines readily provided by the Pittsburgh Bell System office. 

But then the AT&T corporate headquarters intervened, prohibiting anyone - other than themselves - from connecting external equipment to their lines.   This meant that the only other option stations had was to use telegraph lines operated by Western Union and others.  But telegraphy lines were not designed for the transmission of audio.  They suffered from continuous hum or noise, key-clicks that leaked through from adjacent lines, and a restricted audio bandwidth.  Broadcasters’ options for making remote broadcasts were scarce. 

In 1919, with the encouragement of the federal government, the Radio Corporation of America was formed to assume the operations and assets of the American Marconi Company.  The partners in the new venture were General Electric, Westinghouse, AT&T, and the United Fruit Company.  The four companies exchanged patent rights with their partners, giving them unbridled access to the latest radio technologies.  For its part, the new company, RCA, became the sales agency for the partners’ respective manufactured radio products. 

However, the art of broadcasting had not been foreseen when RCA was organized, and its explosive popularity in 1922 created immediate conflicts between the partners over issues never contemplated in the original contract.  AT&T, not principally a manufacturer, was an outlier in this new environment.  The RCA contract did give it the exclusive right to manufacture radio transmitters for resale through its Weste    rn Union subsidiary, but when broadcasting raised its head AT&T began demanding exclusive new rights that were not recognized by the other partners.  It claimed that its monopoly on transmitting audio messages by wire also gave it the exclusive right to transmit messages by radio.  It also declared that the patent cross-licensing agreement that formed the RCA Corporation did not include the ability to transmit audio communications over telephone lines.  This was the basis for its prohibition of telephone line connections by broadcasters.

WEAF DEBUTS 

In 1922, AT&T decided it needed to enter the broadcasting field with a station of its own in New York City.  Two other RCA partners had already formed their own stations:  Westinghouse operated KDKA in Pittsburgh, WBZ in Boston, and WJZ in Newark, NJ;  General Electric had WGY in Schenectady.  But in 1922, all broadcasters were required to share time on a single frequency, 360 meters (833 kHz).  AT&T, being late to the game, found itself sharing time with 15 other stations already transmitting in the New York area.

On August 3, 1922, AT&T debuted WBAY, broadcasting from the roof of the Long Lines building at 24 Walker Street.  To its dismay, the coverage was dismal because the steel infrastructure of the building was absorbing a good part of the transmitted signal.  So, on August 16, the transmissions were moved to another AT&T transmitter on West Street which had the call sign WEAF.  A local phone line connected WEAF with the studio on Walker Street.

From its inception, WEAF was conceived by AT&T to be a “Toll” station.  That is, it would provide broadcast time for a fee to anyone who wished to transmit a “message” to the public – in essence, advertising.  It also claimed for itself, through patent rights and the RCA partner agreement, the exclusive right to broadcast messages for hire to the public.  On August 28, WEAF carried the country’s first radio commercial – a ten minute promotional announcement by an apartment building complex. 

NETWORK BROADCAST TECHNOLOGY IS DEVELOPED

Remote broadcasts were immediately a part of WEAF’s program schedule, given its ready access to AT&T’s national network of telephone lines.  In telephone parlance, a remote broadcast was referred to as a NEMO (“Not Originating Main Office”) – a term that would become used generally by the broadcast industry over decades.  A NEMO circuit order consisted of an equalized line and a separate “Order Wire” telegraphic line which was used for communication between the connection points. 

Because AT&T reserved for itself the right to connect to its phone lines, was quick to make use of it.  On October 8, 1922, WEAF broadcast the Princeton-Chicago football game from Stagg Field by AT&T long lines from Chicago.  This was followed by the Yale-Brown game from New Haven, and the Princeton-Harvard game from Cambridge. 

The first connection between two radio stations occurred on January 4, 1923, when WEAF combined with WNAC in Boston for a three-hour broadcast.   The occasion was the Massachusetts State Bankers’ Association banquet in Boston, from which both speeches and musical entertainment were programmed.  A temporarily equalized line was run from New York to Boston with several repeater amplifiers along the 300-mile path.  It carried the Boston program to New York, and then it was reversed to carry entertainment from WEAF to Boston.  A separate local line was run from the banquet hall to the WNAC studios.  A standby program line and telegraphy order wire line were also installed.  An estimated audience of 100,000 listeners heard the broadcast from the two stations.

The WNAC experiment was an audience success, but AT&T engineers were not happy with the quality.  It suffered from line noise, key clicks, crosstalk from phone calls into the program line and vice versa, as well as insufficient frequency response for music performances.  They began working on better solutions. The development of an active equalizer (Western Electric 1-A) allowed them to transmit reasonable audio quality through specially-dedicated lines of the network.  

A system of equalized lines was developed, with loading coils connected every 3,000 feet to maintain adequate frequency response.  Manned amplifier stations spaced at 50-200 mile intervals boosted the signal level that had decreased due to line loss.  Standard telephone amplifiers were modified to provide better frequency response, from 200 Hz to 5 kHz, and to adjust for any frequency response imbalance.  Because amplifier gains varied with battery voltage fluctuations, and line losses changed with the weather, it was necessary to conduct daily gain and equalization adjustments at each point along the line.  To facilitate this process, “order wire” Morse lines were used by the broadcasters and repeater stations to communicate via telegraphy.

STATION HOOK-UPS BECOME MORE FREQUENT

Starting in 1923, AT&T made liberal use of its phone line facilities to share programs with other radio stations over temporary hookups.

•  June 7, 1923 – A WEAF broadcast from the National Electric Light Association convention at Carnegie Hall was sent to KDKA, KYW, and WGY.
• June 21, 1923:  A speech by President Harding was broadcast over KSD in St. Louis and forwarded by wire to WEAF  The next day, WEAF carried another Harding speech from Kansas City.   (A planned third Harding broadcast over six stations from San Francisco never took place; Harding died August 2 in a San Francisco hotel.)
• ·December 6, 1923:   Calvin Coolidge’s message to Congress was broadcast over WEAF, KDKA, KYW, WGY, KSD, WDAF, and WFAA.
• September 12, 1924 – “National Defense Day” was broadcast from Washington, DC, over 18 stations connected through 39,000 miles of audio lines.

At first, long distance lines would be temporarily removed from telephone service and equalized for broadcast use.  After the broadcast, the lines would be returned to regular service.  But the labor involved in this process convinced AT&T that it needed to install permanent lines for the purpose of broadcasting.

Their first opportunity to do so came in July, 1923.  Coronel Edward H.R. Green was an eccentric millionaire who, as a hobby, assembled a complete Western Electric-equipped broadcasting station at his summer estate in Round Hill, Massachusetts.  Starting in the summer of 1923, he broadcast phonograph music from his personal record collection each evening to entertain local residents.  But ,to his surprise, the local residents complained that his broadcasts were blocking their reception of WEAF from New York.  So Green approached AT&T and offered to pay the line and program costs to bring WEAF’s programs to his station, where they would be rebroadcast for the local audience. 

AT&T installed a permanent 5 kHz equalized line to Providence, RI, and from there a temporary line carried WEAF programs to Colonel Green’s station.  WEAF’s programs were rebroadcast daily from WMAF from July 1 until September 30, when Green closed his estate down for the winter.  AT&T then made an arrangement with another Western Electric station, WJAR in Providence, and WEAF’s programs began being heard there starting on October 19.

On July 4, 1923, AT&T opened WCAP in Washington, DC.  Permanent program line connected WCAP with New York, and it mostly rebroadcast the programs of WEAF.  Coincidently, WCAP was ordered to share time on its 469 meter frequency with WRC, the D.C. station of WEAF’s arch-enemy, WJZ.  Postal Telegraph Company lines brought WJZ’s programs to Washington for broadcast over WRC.

On May 30, 1924, a Memorial Day speech by President Coolidge was carried over WCAP and rebroadcast by both WEAF and WJAR.  After that date, the three stations continued to be hooked up for the regular sharing of programs.

THE WJZ NETWORK

As the internal conflict between AT&T and the other RCA partners intensified, New York’s two powerful stations, WEAF and WJZ ,become bitter rivals.  WEAF was selling advertising and sponsored programs, which they claimed as an exclusive right.  RCA’s station WJZ chafed at being restricted from advertising.  It was producing equally excellent programs but broadcast them for free.  WEAF saw that as unfair competition – how could they sell air time to a sponsor when WJZ was willing to broadcast the same program for just the production costs?

As a further point of conflict, the RCA station was denied the use of AT&T’s superior telephone lines.   WJZ was initially installed in 1921 by Westinghouse at its factory in Newark, and RCA took over the operation late in 1922.  In Newark, the station always suffered from the difficulty of coaxing New York entertainers to make the long trip to Newark for a broadcast.  At first, attempts were made to broadcast from a New York studio at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, feeding the programs to the Newark transmitter over a Western Union cable pair, but the circuit suffered from significant noise and telegraph crosstalk.  Finally, RCA consolidated the WJZ studio and transmitter at a new site in the Aeolian Building in New York on May 16, 1923.  (A second, lesser RCA station, WJY, also broadcast from the same location for a few years.)

Unable to utilize AT&T phone lines, WJZ made the best of its Western Union option, finding new ways to route its connections to minimize noise and crosstalk.  On November 17, 1922, WJZ broadcast the first Presidential remote, carrying Warren G. Harding ‘s speech from Madison Square Garden to its studio on a Western Union line.  In August, 1923, RCA opened WRC in Washington, DC and connected it to WJZ on Postal Telegraph lines.  That December, a permanent Western Union line was established with WGY in Schenectady, later extended to WSYR in Syracuse.  A connection with WBZ in Boston in 1925 formed the structure of WJZ’s modest network.

POLITICAL CONVENTIONS

1924 was a presidential election year, and the WEAF and WJZ networks both came into heavy play keeping the country informed of election activities.

The Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland from June 10-13.  The facilities of WTAM there were used to transmit the convention proceedings to 19 stations over the WEAF network.  Graham McNamee and Philips Carlin were tapped to broadcast the convention proceedings, which were heard by an audience of millions.  Afterwards, the remote broadcast amplifiers were shipped to New York for the Democratic National Convention, which began on June 24 at Madison Square Garden.  That convention, broadcasting to the same station group, lasted a grueling fifteen days before candidate John W. Davis was nominated on the 103^rd ballot.  The convention was also covered by Andrew J. White and Norman Brokenshire for WJZ, with a Western Union feed to WGY.

WEAF fed later election activities to a temporary hookup of stations.  A speech by Calvin Coolidge to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was carried by 22 stations on October 23.  His final campaign address on Election Eve went to 27 stations, including five on the West Coast connected by standard telephone circuits.  For the election night broadcast, Will Rogers entertained listeners with stories and jokes between ballot results.  Coolidge defeated Davis on that night, and his inauguration on March 4 was broadcast over both the WEAF and WJZ networks.

WEAF FORMS THE “RED NETWORK”

In broadcasting’s first year or two, radio listeners were simply thrilled to hear anything that came over the airwaves.  Around the country, second-class or amateur musicians and singers were recruited to fill the stations’ time schedules, usually performing without charge. 

But the public soon tired of mediocre talent and increasingly sought out better quality programs.  This was difficult for stations outside of the New York Metropolitan Area, as most of the country’s top performing talent was located there.  For their parts, both WEAF and WJZ had access to the nation’s best talent, but it came at a hefty price at a time when advertising revenue was minimal or non-existent. 

The natural solution was for the New York stations to share their programs with stations in other cities, and to also share the program costs with them.  What was needed was a means to transport the audio between cities.  Telegraph lines, which had never been designed to carry audio, did not provide the necessary audio quality.  Shortwave links were tried, but their propagation was unpredictable.  The only viable option was to use the specialized program lines of the AT&T network, which that company was reserving exclusively for themselves.

Initially, AT&T’s plan had been to set up a network of its own stations in major cities around the country, feeding them with its own lines.  But they had arrived late to the game, and found that good frequencies in most of the country’s major cities were no longer available.  The only remaining option was to contract with other stations to rebroadcast their programs, and to share the costs between those stations and the program sponsors. 

In 1924, AT&T developed its network business plan.  It would contract with the best stations in each major city reachable by their equalized broadcast lines.  They wanted the stations with the best coverage, preferably those who were already using Western Electric equipment.  The available lines at that time principally covered the Northeast and upper Midwest, reaching as far west as Kansas City and Dallas, although they extended no farther in the Southeast than Washington D.C.   Programs originating at WEAF would be fed over AT&T long lines, many of which would be repurposed from telephony service during evening (off-peak) hours.  21 stations were offered the opportunity to join the network.  The line costs for all sponsored programs would be paid by the respective sponsors, and each station would also be paid for its air time.  In turn, the stations would pay AT&T for the program and line costs of all sustaining (unsponsored) programs.  It was presumed that the two options would tend to cancel out, so that the cost to most stations for joining the AT&T network would be minimal.

21 stations were initially offered the opportunity to join the network, but most of those stations balked at paying the hefty line costs to their cities.  As a result, when the network began operations in October, 1924, it was being heard over just six stations:  WJAR Providence, WEEI Boston, WGR Buffalo, WCAE Pittsburgh, and the two AT&T stations.  The stations received 3 hours of programs nightly from WEAF.  The hookup was informally called the “Red Network” because the network’s lines on the phone system maps were drawn in red pencil.  The name stuck.

After its weak beginning, AT&T realized that an extra effort would be needed to jump-start the operation.  So, starting on January 1, 1925, WEAF fed the network with a sustaining broadcast of Metropolitan Opera stars John McCormack and Lucrezia Borzi. It was the first of a series of ten one-hour broadcasts provided at no cost to the network by AT&T.   Thirteen stations signed up for these “WEAF Grand Opera Company” broadcasts, and the series finally gave impetus to the network concept to succeed.   By that Spring, 13 stations in 12 cities had joined the network.

Now, with enough stations on the network, WEAF was able to attract sponsors for many of their programs.  Some of their most successful of these shows were “The Eveready Hour”, “The Atwater-Kent Hour”, “The Clicquot Club Eskimos”, “The A&P Gypsies”, and the “Gold Dust Twins”.   These programs were sold as “goodwill” promotions for their sponsors, and direct-sale announcements were prohibited.  The sponsor’s benefits were limited to program naming rights and indirect promotional announcements in the openings and closings of the programs. 

By December of 1925, the WEAF Red Network was a success, serving 26 stations, as far west as KSD in St. Louis.  AT&T was finally seeing a modest profit for its efforts.

CONFLICT RESOLVED

It wasn’t long after the formation of RCA that internal conflict began between AT&T and its “Radio Group” partners over the issues of broadcasting and patent rights.  The RCA partners refused to recognize the aggressive rights AT&T was claiming for itself, including exclusive rights to network broadcasting and paid advertising.  By 1924, AT&T had disposed of all of its RCA stock and was in open conflict with its partners.  According to the original contract, any conflicts between the partners were to be settled by arbitration, and so a long and convoluted arbitration hearing took place over the 1924-25 period.  Finally, the single arbitrator assigned to the case decided most issues in favor of the Radio Group.  This led to further negotiations between the parties, and the result was, in the summer of 1926, that AT&T sold WEAF and its Red Network to RCA for $1 million. 

Essentially, AT&T finally realized that its earnings from the operation of WEAF and its fledgling network were relatively modest.  Their “experiment” with broadcast had also thrust them into the entertainment business, which was not their core focus as a technology company.  In fact, the real business they were aptly and uniquely suited for was the leasing of broadcast quality phone lines.  They were the only organization capable of providing such a service, and the profits to be realized would be lucrative. 

Upon its acquisition of WEAF and the Red Network, RCA, General Electric and Westinghouse joined together to form the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).  The WEAF Network was reorganized as the NBC Red Network, with its inaugural broadcast over 25 stations occurring on November 15, 1926.  For its part, the WJZ Network was finally given access to AT&T lines and began operations as the “Blue Network” on January 1, 1927.  Because equalized broadcast lines did not reach farther west than Kansas City at that time, a new NBC network called the “Orange Network” was established in San Francisco.  It fed seven Pacific Coast stations over Pacific Bell long lines, broadcasting duplications of the New York programs performed by a West Coast staff of artists, actors and musicians.

Back in New York, the intensely rival management and staffs of WEAF and WJZ found themselves uncomfortably merged into a single operation at the WJZ Aeolian Hall studios.  In 1927, NBC moved into a six-studio suite on the twelfth and thirteenth floors of a new office building at 711 Fifth Avenue.  That facility was immediately outgrown, and By 1930, plans were already underway for an even larger and grander facility – NBC Radio City.

NBC’s first coast-to-coast broadcast was the Rose Bowl Game from Pasadena on January 1, 1927, with Graham McNamee at the microphone, but it was fed eastward over standard low-quality telephone lines.  Finally, in December, 1928, AT&T completes the installation of one broadcast quality line over the Rocky Mountains.  This incorporated KOA in Denver, KSL in Salt Lake City, and the Pacific Coast Orange Network into a nationwide chain of 58 stations which broadcast a selected mix of Red and Blue Network programs.  A second line was added in the mid-1930’s, and the Red and Blue Networks were finally coast-to-coast operations.

By the end of the 1920’s, AT&T’s broadcast network had grown to more than 28,000 miles of full-time lines feeding 123 stations.

ADDITIONAL NETWORKS SPREAD THEIR WINGS

As AT&T continued to build out its nationwide network of broadcast-quality lines, other organizations saw opportunity in forming their own networks.  There were nearly 600 radio stations in the United States in the late 1920’s, and only ten percent of those were NBC affiliates.  Certainly, the remaining stations represent additional opportunity.

Starting in 1925, General Electric operated the New York State Network, connecting WGY, WFBL, WHAM and WMAK.  Bare telegraph lines were used, with the equalizing amplifiers built and provided by G.E.  It operated into the mid-1930’s.

Back in New York, United Independent Broadcasters was formed by Arthur Judson and George Coats in January of 1927 for the purpose of organizing a new network.  The Columbia Phonograph Company was brought in as an investment partner in April.  The Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System debuted on September 18, 1927, feeding ten hours of programs per week to sixteen affiliated stations from rented studios at WOR in New York.  (The first control room was in the men’s room!)  But a complete lack of advertising sales and inept internal organization caused Columbia Phonograph to back out after losing $100,000 in only three months of operations.  For the next few months, the ownership of the endangered network was tossed around like a hot potato.  It finally landed in the hands of 27-year-old William Paley, the son of a wealthy Philadelphia cigar manufacturer. 

Paley was a radio neophyte, but energetic and a quick learner.  He shortened the name to the Columbia Broadcasting System, made crucial changes to the affiliate agreements, and signed dozens of new stations and important major advertisers, tripling the revenue in just a few months.  He changed the programming emphasis from highbrow music to more mainstream tastes, signing the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and a young singer named Bing Crosby.  Vaudeville entertainers and comedians began appearing on the Columbia Network, including Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, and Fred Allen.  Announcer Ted Husing was sent out to broadcast sporting events.  In need of more cash, he sold 49% of the company to Paramount Pictures (later buying it back in 1932).  He purchased New York’s WABC (now WCBS) and moved the studios out of WOR.  And he signed a ten-year lease for five floors of studio and office space in a new building at 485 Madison Avenue, close to the major New York ad agencies.  By 1931, at the bottom of the depression, Columbia had 85 affiliates, 400 employees, and showed a net profit of $2.3 million. 

OTHER ATTEMPTS AT FORMING A NETWORK DON'T GO WELL

In 1928, bankers Adolph Linden and Edmund Campbell bought an overextended group of West Coast stations (KJR Seattle, KEX Portland, KGA Spokane, and KYA San Francisco).  They formed the American Broadcasting Company (unrelated to today’s ABC).  The network’s ambitious network program schedule debuted on December 22, 1928, with a three hour program sponsored by the Union Oil Company.  It fed a full schedule of high-class programs originating from its San Francisco and Seattle studios on alternate nights.  No expense was spared to offer the finest entertainment programs to its listeners.  The ABC network attracted well-paid talent from all over the country (including a young musician named Meredith Willson).  In January of 1929, new telephone circuits were added to feed additional stations in Omaha (KOIL), Denver (KLZ), Salt Lake City (KDYL) and Los Angeles (KMTR). The burgeoning network now had eight stations.  On June 1, ABC welcomed five additional affiliate stations to the network:  WIBO Chicago, WIL St. Louis, WRHM Minneapolis (aka WLB), KFAB Lincoln, Nebraska, and KTNT Muscatine, Iowa.   KFBK in Sacramento also joined the network on July 13, 1929.  Later that month a press release stated that ABC was lining up a number of stations on the East Coast, including WOL in Washington, D.C.  By that time, the payroll had grown to nearly 300 people. 

But, with only modest advertising revenue, people started questioning where the money was coming from. Late in 1929, as the depression was on the horizon, investigators discovered that more than $1 million of depositors’ money had disappeared from the bank that Linden and Campbell managed.  The flow of money from the bank stopped abruptly.  Payroll checks bounced and the network lines were disconnected for non-payment. A local music store repossessed a truckload of grand pianos.  Linden and Campbell were charged with defrauding shareholders and depositors out of $2 million.  Both men were convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in the Washington State Penitentiary. 

In 1933, comedian Ed Wynn announced the formation of the Amalgamated Broadcasting System from New York City.  His management team was composed entirely of people from the entertainment field, and lacked anyone with experience in broadcasting, engineering, business or finance.  Little thought was given to anything but the programming aspects of the operation.  An initial slate of six low-powered Northeast stations was connected by Western Union lines.  But within three months of its inaugural broadcast, the Amalgamated network was bankrupt, and Wynn was said to have personally lost $250,000 in the failed venture.

In 1934, Detroit broadcaster George B. Storer began operations of the American Broadcasting System with 18 affiliated stations stretching from the East Coast to St. Louis.  WMCA in New York was the ABS flagship station (later shifting to WNEW).  It fed a daily 16-hour program schedule consisting of live music with a heavy emphasis on sports, but there were few paid advertisements.  The network folded in March, 1935.  The stated reason for its failure was a lack of available stations with suitable coverage in the primary markets.

The Affiliated Broadcasting Company was yet another “ABC” network.  It connected 19 stations in the Upper Midwest from WIND in Chicago in 1935, but only lasted through 1936.   Other attempts with such names as the “Transcontinental Broadcasting System” and the “Progressive Broadcasting System” failed to launch.

Network radio’s only other success story was a linkup of four independent stations -  WGN Chicago, WXYZ Detroit, WLW Cincinnati, and WOR New York, operating under the name “The Quality Group”.  A key to their success was the inclusion of WXYZ’s three popular serials – “The Lone Ranger”, “The Green Hornet”, and the “Challenge of the Yukon”.  By October of 1934, the name had been changed to the Mutual Broadcasting System.   Additional stations soon joined the group, including the 12-station Don Lee Network on the West Coast.  New programs like “The Shadow” and “Lum and Abner” drew new sponsors and loyal audiences.  By 1942, the Mutual Network had grown to 207 affiliated stations – the largest network in the country by station count.

In 1943, an anti-trust ruling by the F.C.C. forced NBC to sell its Blue Network.  Edward J. Noble, the owner of Life Savers, bought the network for $8 million and renamed it the American Broadcasting Company.  There finally was a network named ABC that would survive and succeed.

POST SCRIPT

The 1930’s and 40’s were network radio’s golden era.  Most of the radio audience tuned in daily to hear the wide variety of programs offered by the country’s four networks on a national and regional basis.  Field reporters scattered across the battlefields of World War II offered instant reporting on the progress of the war, driving audience ratings even higher.  But the rise of television after the war cut into the networks’ profits and attention.  NBC, ABC and CBS invested great amounts of energy and resources into their new television networks, and their radio networks became the forgotten stepchildren.  Old-style entertainment shows officially ended in 1960 when CBS canceled the last of its daytime soap opera serials.  News and information programs became the networks’ new focus as stations aired their newscasts and short features between recorded music shows hosted by local disc jockeys.  NBC’s weekend “Monitor” series of the 1950’s and 60’s was the last successful attempt at long-form network programming.  In 1986, NBC sold its radio network division to Westwood One, and it divested of its seven network-owned radio stations by 1989.  Westwood One also purchased the Mutual Network in 1985 and closed the network in 1999.  CBS divested of its radio stations and network in 2016 through a merger with Entercom (now Audacy).  Most of the ABC Network’s assets were sold to Citadel Broadcast in 2007.  Today, the structure of American radio has been flipped upside down:  The individual stations are now mostly owned by large conglomerates, and the creation of syndicated programs has been fragmented into dozens of smaller distribution companies.  As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only constant is change.”

 This article originally appeared in the Spectrum Monitor Magazine - December, 1925

REFERENCES:

“A Tower in Babel” by Eric Barnouw

“Commercial Broadcasting Pioneer:  The WEAF Experiment, 1922-1926” by William Peck Banning

“This Thing Called Broadcasting” by Dr. Alfred Goldsmith and Austin Lescarboura

“Big Business and Radio” by Gleason L. Archer

“Connecting the Continent” by Mark Durenberger

“Program Transmission and the Early Radio Networks” by Ludwell Sibley, “AWA Review, Vol. 3”, 1988