Editing DuMont Television Network (section)

===Programming===
[[File:Rocky King Detective DuMont Television Network.JPG|right|thumb|Still from ''[[Rocky King, Inside Detective]]'', one of DuMont's most popular programs.]]
Despite no history of radio programming, no stable of radio stars to draw on like competitors NBC, CBS, and ABC had, and perennial cash shortages, DuMont was an innovative and creative network,<ref name="ABDTMOBC">Auter, P. (2005)[https://web.archive.org/web/20060923044856/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/DuMont/DuMont.htm DuMont, Allen B] </ref> its programmers often using its connections with [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]].{{sfn|Weinstein|2004|pp=46, 94}}

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 [[Television advertisement|commercials]] to several different advertisers, freeing producers of its shows from the veto power held by sole sponsors.{{sfn|Weinstein|2004|p=43}} This eventually became the standard model for U.S. television. Some commercial time was sold regionally on a co-op basis, while other spots were sold network-wide.

DuMont also holds another important place in American TV history. WDTV's sign-on made it possible for stations in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] to receive live network programming from stations on the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]], and vice versa.<ref name="GAOPT">Downs, S. (November 3, 1996). [http://www.nb.net/~schaefer/tv1103.htm "The Golden Age of Pittsburgh Television"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311024829/http://www.nb.net/~schaefer/tv1103.htm |date=March 11, 2007 }}. ''[[Greensburg Tribune-Review]]''. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.</ref> Before then, the networks relied on separate regional networks in the two time zones for live programming, and the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] received network programming from [[kinescope]]s (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.<ref name="RWFT">Hundt, B. (July 30, 2006). [http://observer-reporter.com/Main.asp?SectionID=6&ArticleID=24581 "Remember When: First tube"] {{dead link|date=August 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. ''Observer-Reporter Publishing''. Retrieved on January 7, 2007.</ref> [[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 American 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.<ref name="ATT">[http://www.corp.att.com/history/nethistory/milestones.html History of the AT&T Network — Milestones in AT&T Network History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107114157/http://www.corp.att.com/history/nethistory/milestones.html |date=January 7, 2007 }}. AT&T, 2006. Retrieved on December 28, 2006</ref>

[[File:DuMont television network WDTV broadcast 1952.JPG|thumb|WDTV broadcast of ''We, the People'' on April 18, 1952. The tall guest is [[New York Yankees]] player [[Bill Bevens]].]]
[[File:Benny Goodman Star Time DuMont Network.JPG|thumb|{{center|[[Benny Goodman]] and his band on the DuMont show ''[[Star Time (TV series)|Star Time]]'', circa 1950.}}]]
The first broadcasts came from DuMont's [[DuMont Building|515 Madison Avenue]] headquarters. The company soon found additional space, including a fully functioning theater, in the New York branch of [[Wanamaker's]] department store at Ninth Street and Broadway.<ref name = "TH"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AoEAAAAMBAJ&q=wanamaker+studios+captain+video&pg=PA4|title=Billboard|date=August 15, 1953|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|location=[[New York City]]|pages=4|language=en|quote='''DU M SHUTS DOWN STORE OPERATION . . .''' NEW YORK, Aug. 8. — Du Mont Television Network is closing down its studios and master control unit at [[770 Broadway|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 and His Video Rangers|Captain Video]]".|access-date=March 5, 2020}}</ref> Later, a lease on the [[Adelphi Theatre (New York)|Adelphi Theatre]] on [[54th Street (Manhattan)|54th Street]] and the [[Ambassador Theatre (New York City)|Ambassador Theatre]] on West 49th Street gave the network a site for variety shows. In 1954, the lavish DuMont Tele-Centre opened in the former [[Jacob Ruppert]]'s Central Opera House at 205 East 67th Street, today the site of the Fox Television Center and home of WABD successor station WNYW.<ref>{{cite web |title=WYNW - TV Station Profile |url=https://publicfiles.fcc.gov/tv-profile/wnyw |website=FCC Public Inspection Files |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |access-date=February 19, 2020 |ref=FCC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711142700/https://publicfiles.fcc.gov/tv-profile/wnyw |archive-date=July 11, 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4h4EAAAAMBAJ&q=Du+Mont's+Tele-Center+%22new+york%22&pg=PA14|title=Billboard|date=June 19, 1954|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|location=[[New York City]]|pages=14|language=en|quote='''Du M. Tele-Center To Be Officially Opened on Monday''' NEW YORK, June 12[, 1954]. [[The Boys from Boise (TV program)|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 [[Allen B. DuMont|Dr. Allen Du Mont]] and Mayor [[Robert F. Wagner Jr.|Robert Wagner]].[...]It was originally the Central Opera House. Du Mont invested {{US$|5000000|1954|long=no|round=-5|about=yes}} to re-build it for TV use.}}</ref>

DuMont was the first network to broadcast a film production for TV: ''[[Talk Fast, Mister]]'', produced by [[RKO Radio Pictures|RKO]] in 1944. DuMont also aired the first TV [[situation comedy]], ''[[Mary Kay and Johnny]]'', as well as the first network-televised [[soap opera]], ''[[Faraway Hill]]''. 

''[[Cavalcade of Stars]]'', a [[variety show]] hosted by [[Jackie Gleason]], was the birthplace of ''[[The Honeymooners]]'' skits (Gleason took his variety show to CBS in 1952, but filmed the [[The Honeymooners#The "Classic 39" episodes|"Classic 39"]] Honeymooners episodes at DuMont's Adelphi Theater studio in 1955–56). Roman Catholic Bishop [[Fulton J. Sheen]]'s [[Religious broadcasting|devotional program]] ''[[Life Is Worth Living]]'' went up against [[Milton Berle|Milton Berle's]] variety show in many cities, becoming the first show to compete successfully in the ratings against the comedian known as "Mr. Television." In 1952, Sheen won an [[Emmy Award]] for "Most Outstanding Personality".<ref>McNeil, Alex (1996). ''Total Television'' (4th ed.), p. 1040. New York: Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-14-024916-8}}</ref> The network's other notable programs include:
* ''[[Ted Mack (radio-TV host)|Ted Mack]]'s [[The Original Amateur Hour]]'', which began on radio in the 1930s under original host [[Edward Bowes|Major 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<ref name="RR">Merlin, J. [http://www.slick-net.com/space/text/index.phtml Roaring Rockets: The Space Hero Files] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060113022008/http://www.slick-net.com/space/text/index.phtml |date=January 13, 2006 }}. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.</ref><ref name="Weinstein">Weinstein, D. (2004). ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'', p. 69. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. {{ISBN|1-59213-499-8}}</ref>
* ''[[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|Wrestling from Marigold Arena]]''
* ''[[The Johns Hopkins Science Review]]'', a Peabody Award-winning education program
* ''[[Cash and Carry (TV series)|Cash and Carry]]'', the first network-televised [[game show]]
* ''[[The Ernie Kovacs Show]]'', a comedy variety show hosted by [[Ernie Kovacs]]
* [[The Magic Cottage (TV series)|''The Magic Cottage'']], a children's show starring artist Patricia Meikle
* ''[[The Goldbergs (broadcast series)|The Goldbergs]],'' a warm look at an immigrant Jewish family in New York City, starring its creator and writer ''[[Gertrude Berg]]''

The network also 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 aimed at non-whites. Among DuMont's minority programs were ''[[The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong]]'', starring film actress [[Anna May Wong]], the first American TV show to star an Asian American person;<ref>[http://www.today.ucla.edu/out-about/080103_anna-may-wong/ "Film reveals real-life struggles of an onscreen 'Dragon Lady'."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327104822/http://www.today.ucla.edu/out-about/080103_anna-may-wong/ |date=March 27, 2012 }} ''[http://www.today.ucla.edu/ UCLA Today Online] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080903090621/http://www.today.ucla.edu/ |date=September 3, 2008 }}'', January 3, 2008. Retrieved: May 27, 2008.</ref> and ''[[The Hazel Scott Show]]'', starring the eponymous singer-pianist in the first American network TV series to be hosted by a [[black people|black]] woman.<ref name="Brooks" /><ref name="McNeil4" />

Although DuMont's programming pre-dated [[videotape]], many DuMont offerings were recorded on the [https://www.earlytelevision.org/kinescope.html kinescope device developed by Eastman Kodak]. These kinescopes were said to be stored in a warehouse until the 1970s.<ref name="TH" /> Actress [[Edie Adams]], the wife of comedian [[Ernie Kovacs]] (both regular performers on early television) testified in 1996 before a panel of the [[Library of Congress]] on the preservation of television and video. Adams claimed that so little value was given to these films that the stored kinescopes were loaded into three trucks and dumped into [[Upper New York Bay]].<ref name="LoC">{{cite web|last=Adams |first=Edie |author-link=Edie Adams |title=Television/Video Preservation Study: Los Angeles Public Hearing |work=National Film Preservation Board |publisher=Library of Congress |date=March 1996 |url=https://www.loc.gov/film/hrng96la.html |access-date=September 24, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927072638/http://www.loc.gov/film/hrng96la.html |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref> Nevertheless, a number of DuMont programs survive at [[The Paley Center for Media]] in New York, the [[UCLA Film and Television Archive]] in Los Angeles, in the [[Peabody Award]]s Collection at the [[University of Georgia]], and in the [[Museum of Broadcast Communications]] in Chicago,<ref name="UCLA">[http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/Profiles/earlytv.html Collections — Early television] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103215747/http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/Profiles/earlytv.html |date=January 3, 2011 }}. The UCLA Film and Television Archive. Retrieved on December 28, 2006.</ref> and several surviving DuMont shows have been released on [[DVD]]. 

Much of what survived was either never properly copyrighted (live telecasts, because they were not set on a fixed medium, were not eligible for copyright at the time, although films of those telecasts could if they contained a proper copyright notice) or lapsed into the [[public domain]] in the late 1970s when DuMont's successor-company [[Metromedia]] declined to renew the copyrights. 

A large number of episodes of ''Life Is Worth Living'' have been saved, and they are aired weekly on [[Catholicism|Catholic]]-oriented cable network, the [[Eternal Word Television Network]], which also makes a collection of them available on DVD. Several companies that distribute DVDs over the internet have released a small number of episodes of ''Cavalcade of Stars'' and ''The Morey Amsterdam Show''. Two more DuMont programs, ''Captain Video and His Video Rangers'' and ''Rocky King, Inside Detective'', have had a small number of surviving episodes released commercially by at least one major distributor of public domain programming. Because so few episodes remain of most DuMont series, they are seldom rerun, even though there is no licensing cost to do so. 

====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, the aforementioned Bishop Sheen won an [[Emmy Award]] for ''Most Outstanding Personality''. Sheen beat out three CBS nominees -- [[Arthur Godfrey]], [[Edward R. Murrow]], and [[Lucille Ball]] -- for the honors. Sheen also was nominated for Public Service Emmys in 1952, 1953, and 1954.<ref name="Weinstein2">Weinstein, D. (2004). ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'', p. 156-157. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. {{ISBN|1-59213-499-8}}</ref>

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 [[NFL on DuMont|its coverage of professional football]] during the 1953–54 and 1954–55 television seasons.<ref name="ATAS">{{cite web|title=Advanced Primetime Awards Search |publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |year=2005 |url=http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php |access-date=September 24, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403022947/http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php |archive-date=April 3, 2009 }}</ref>

''[[The Johns Hopkins Science Review]]'', a DuMont [[public affairs (broadcasting)|public affairs]] program, was awarded a [[Peabody Award]] in 1952 in the Education category. Sheen's Emmy and the ''Science Review'' Peabody were the only national awards the DuMont Network received.<ref name="McNeil3">McNeil, Alex (1996). ''Total Television'' (4th ed.), 1121. New York: Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-14-024916-8}}</ref> Though DuMont series and performers continued to win local TV awards, by the mid-1950s the DuMont network no longer had a national presence.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

====Ratings====
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin: .46em 0 0 .2em;"
|-
! style="background: #D3CD8B; color: black;" colspan=5|Videodex 62 City Ratings
|-
| style="background: #C9CAC8; color: black; text-align: center;" colspan=5|'''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 (American game show)|Stop the Music]]''
| ABC
| 50
| 28.4
|-
| 3
| ''[[Kraft Television 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 (radio and TV series)|The Big Story]]''
| NBC
| 32
| 25.6
|-
| 7
| ''[[The Original Amateur Hour]]''
| NBC
| 54
| 25.3
|-
| 8
| ''[[Break the Bank (1948 game show)|Break the Bank]]''
| NBC
| 42
| 24.2
|-
| 9
| ''[[The Lone Ranger (TV series)|The Lone Ranger]]''
| ABC
| 39
| 23.9
|-
| 10
| ''[[Your Hit Parade]]''
| NBC
| 18
| 23.7
|-
|<span style="color:green;"> 11 </span>
|''[[Cavalcade of Stars|<span style="color:green">Cavalcade of Stars</span>]]''
|<span style="color:green;"> DuMont </span>
|<span style="color:green;"> 20 </span>
|<span style="color:green;"> 22.2 </span>
|-
| 12
| ''[[Mama (American TV series)|Mama]]''
| CBS
| 16
| 22.0
|-
|<span style="color:green;"> 13 </span>
|<span style="color:green;"> ''Wrestling'' </span>
|<span style="color:green;"> DuMont </span>
|<span style="color:green;"> 15 </span>
|<span style="color:green;"> 21.4 </span>
|-
| 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,|''The Original Amateur Hour'',]] was the most popular series of the 1947–48 season.<ref name="CTTDN" /> Two seasons later, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' ranked DuMont's popular variety series ''Cavalcade of Stars'' as the 10th most popular series.<ref name="McNeil2">McNeil, Alex (1996). ''Total Television'' (4th ed.), 1143–1145. New York: Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-14-024916-8}}</ref>

In February 1950, Hooper's competitor [[ACNielsen|A. C. Nielsen]] bought out the Hooper ratings system. DuMont did not fare well with the change: none of its shows appeared on Nielsen's annual top 20 lists of the most popular series.<ref name="McNeil2" /> The aforementioned ''Life is Worth Living'' did receive Nielsen ratings of up to 11.1, meaning that it attracted more than 10 million viewers. Bishop Sheen's one-man program – in which he discussed philosophy, psychology, and other fields of thought from a Christian perspective – was the most widely viewed religious series in the history of television. 169 local television stations aired ''Life'', and for three years the program competed successfully against NBC's popular ''[[The Milton Berle Show]]''. The ABC and CBS programs that aired in the same timeslot were canceled.<ref name="Weinstein2" />

''Life is Worth Living'' was not the only DuMont program to achieve double-digit ratings. In 1952, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine reported that popular DuMont game show ''Down You Go'' had attracted an audience estimated at 16 million viewers.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine| title =The Adenoidal Moderator| magazine =Time| date =April 28, 1952| url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816367,00.html?promoid=googlep| access-date =September 30, 2007| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090121002952/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816367,00.html?promoid=googlep| archive-date =January 21, 2009| url-status =dead}}</ref> Similarly, DuMont's summer 1954 replacement series, ''[[The Goldbergs (broadcast series)|The Goldbergs]]'', achieved audiences estimated at 10 million.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book| last =Smith| first =Glenn D. Jr.| title =Something on My Own: Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting, 1929–1956| year =2007| isbn =978-0-8156-0887-5| publisher =Syracuse University Press| location =Syracuse, N.Y.}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}} 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 [[Trendex]], [[Videodex]], and [[Arbitron]] had also measured TV viewership. The chart in this section comes from Videodex's August 1950 ratings breakdown, as reported in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine.<ref name="billboard1950">{{cite magazine|date=September 30, 1950|title=Videodex 62-Market Survey|magazine=Billboard|volume=62|issue=39|pages=6}}</ref>