page_title: DuMont Television Network
section_title: Programming
hierarchical_section_title: DuMont Television Network / History / Programming
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Benny Goodman and his band from the DuMont Television network program Star Time.
context_page_description: The DuMont Television Network was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in the United States. It was owned by Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, a television equipment and set manufacturer, and began operation on June 28, 1942.
  The network was hindered by the prohibitive cost of broadcasting, by a freeze on new television stations in 1948 by the Federal Communications Commission which restricted the network's growth, and even by the company's partner, Paramount Pictures. Despite several innovations in broadcasting and the creation of one of television's biggest stars of the 1950s, Jackie Gleason, the network never found itself on solid financial ground. Forced to expand on UHF channels during an era when UHF tuning was not yet a standard feature of television sets, DuMont fought an uphill battle for program clearances outside its three owned-and-operated stations in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. It ended network operations on August 6, 1956.
context_section_description: 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. Without the radio revenues that supported mighty NBC and CBS, DuMont programmers relied on their wits and on connections with Broadway. Eventually, the network provided original programs that are remembered more than 60 years later.
  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 many different advertisers, freeing producers of its shows from the veto power held by sole sponsors. 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.
  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. 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. 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.
  The first broadcasts came from DuMont's 515 Madison Avenue headquarters. It soon found additional space, including a fully functioning theater, in the New York branch of Wanamaker's department store at Ninth Street and Broadway. Later, a lease on the Adelphi Theatre on 54th Street and the 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.
  DuMont was the first network to broadcast a film production for TV: Talk Fast, Mister, produced by 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 (Gleason took his variety show to CBS in 1952, but filmed the "Classic 39" Honeymooners episodes at DuMont's Adelphi Theater studio in 1955–56). Bishop Fulton J. Sheen's devotional program Life Is Worth Living went up against Milton Berle in many cities, becoming the first show to compete successfully in the ratings against "Mr. Television". In 1952, Sheen won an Emmy Award for "Most Outstanding Personality". The network's other notable programs include:
  Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour, which began on radio in the 1930s under original host 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 kids' science fiction series
  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 
caption: Benny Goodman and his band on the DuMont show Star Time, ca. 1950.
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