Columbia
Broadcasting System
aka CBS (Radio and Television)
Milestones
January 21, 1927
United Independent Broadcasters is established by New
York talent agent Arthur Judson after NBC refuses to sign
any of his stars.
April 1927
United merges with Columbia Phonographic Manufacturing
Company to form Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System.
September 18, 1927
Columbia goes on the air at 3 pm (EST) with a
presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR (Newark, New Jersey)
and 15 affiliates.
November 1927
Columbia buys Brooklyn station WABC, which becomes the
new network's flagship station.
The station became WCBS in 1946.
September 25, 1928
William Paley buys Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting
System for $500,000 and shortens its name to Columbia
Broadcasting System.
July 21, 1931
Columbia establishes W2XAB, an experimental television
station, in New York City.
November 8, 1932
W2XAB broadcasts the first television coverage of
presidential election returns.
1934
Paley establishes an independent news division within
Columbia.
March 12, 1938
Edward R. Murrow anchors news coverage of Adolf Hitler's
annexation of Austria, launching what became The CBS
World News Roundup.
fall 1938
Columbia opens a studio in Hollywood to attract top movie
talent to its network.
Columbia purchases the American Record Corporation and
renames it Columbia Records.
October 30, 1938
Orson Welles and the
Mercury Theatre broadcasts The War of the Worlds.
1940
Columbia hires Edmund A. Chester to serve as
Director of Latin American Relations and Director of
Short Wave Broadcasts.
In this capacity, Chester coordinated the development
of the Network of the Americas with the Department of
State, the Office for Inter-American Affairs, and Voice
of America.
August 28, 1940
W2XAB transmits the first color television broadcast in
the United States.
July 1, 1941
W2XAB becomes the second commercial television station in
the United States, as WCBW.
1946
Frank Stanton is promoted to president of Columbia
Broadcasting System; Paley promotes himself to chairman
of the board.
1948
Paley signs former NBC talents Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Burns and
Allen, Edgar Bergen, and Charlie McCarthy.
May 3, 1948
Douglas Edwards begins anchoring CBS Television News,
the first regularly-scheduled national network television
news program featuring an anchor.
1949
CBS airs live television coverage of the United Nations
General Assembly proceedings.
1950
George Burns and Gracie Allen move their radio show to
television.
Columbia begins buying and building television station
outside of the New York City market.
1951
The Columbia Broadcasting System debuts its
"unblinking eye" logo.
Lucille Ball moves her radio series My Favorite
Husband to television, as I Love Lucy.
1952
The soap opera The Guiding Light makes the move
from radio to television.
Our Miss Brooks begins airing on both radio and
television.
1962
Walter Cronkite becomes the anchor of CBS
Television News, which is renamed CBS Evening
News.
September 30, 1962
CBS ends its prime-time radio programming with finale
episodes of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny
Dollar.
1974
The Columbia Broadcasting System formally changes its
name to CBS, Inc.
1986
Major shareholder Laurence Tisch assumes control of CBS.
November 1995
CBS, Inc. is bought by the Westinghouse Electric
Corporation.
1997
Westinghouse acquires Infinity Broadcasting Corporation,
merges it with CBS Radio, and spins it off as a
subsidiary corporation.
Westinghouse acquires The Nashville Network and Country
Music Television.
The cable channel CBS Eye on People is created.
December 1997
Westinghouse is officially renamed CBS Corporation.
1999
CBS acquires King World Productions, owners of The
Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune, etc.
2000
CBS is acquired by Viacom.
Original Stations
WOR Newark (flagship)
WEAN Providence
WNAC Boston
WFBL Syracuse
WMAK Buffalo-Lockport
WCAU Philadelphia
WJAS Pittsburgh
WADC Akron
WAIU Columbia
WKRC Cincinati
WGHP Detroit
WMAQ Chicago
KMOX St. Louis
WCAO Baltimore
KOIL Council Bluffs
WOWO Fort Wayne
Notable Radio Programs
Beulah (1945-1952)
Camel Caravan (variety show; 1933-1954)
Cavalcade of America (1935-1953)
Guiding Light (1947-1956)
My Favorite Husband (1948-1951)
Our Miss Brooks (1948-1957)
Radio Mystery Theater (1974-1982)
Take it or Leave It (game show; 1940-1947)
Notable Television Series
48 Hours (1988- )
60 Minutes (1968- )
All in the Family (1971-1979)
Barnaby Jones (1973-1980)
Becker (1998-2004)
The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971)
The Big Bang Theory (2007- )
Big Brother (2000- )
Blue Bloods (2010- )
The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978)
Burns & Allen (aka The George Burns and
Gracie Allen Show; 1950-1958)
Cagney & Lacey (1981-1987)
Cannon (1971-1976)
Cold Case (2003-2010)
Criminal Minds (2005- )
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000- )
Dallas (1978-1991)
Designing Women (1986-1993)
Diagnosis Murder (1993-2001)
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-1998)
The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985)
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971)
Elementary (2012- )
Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005)
Falcon Crest (1981-1990)
Family Matters (1989-1998)
Good Times (1974-1979)
The Good Wife (2009- )
Green Acres (1965-1971)
The Guiding Light (1952-2009)
Gunsmoke (1955-1975)
Hawaii Five-0 (1968-1980)
Hee Haw (1969-1997)
How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)
I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
Jake and the Fatman (1987-1992)
The Jeffersons (1975-1985)
Judging Amy (1999-2005)
Kate & Allie (1984-1989)
The King of Queens (1998-2007)
Knots Landing (1979-1993)
Kojak (1973-1978)
Late Show with David Letterman (1993- )
Lou Grant (1977-1982)
Magnum P.I. (1980-1988)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977)
M*A*S*H (1972-1983)
Maude (1972-1978)
Mayberry R.F.D. (1968-1971)
The Mentalist (2008- )
Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996)
Murphy Brown (1988-1998)
Nash Bridges (1996-2001)
N.C.I.S. (2003- )
Newhart (1982-1990)
Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956)
Person of Interest (2011- )
Petticoat Junction (1963-1970)
Route 66 (1960-1964)
Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983-1987)
Simon & Simon (1981-1995)
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967-1970)
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971-1974)
Survivor (2000- )
Touched by an Angel (1994-2003)
Two and a Half Men (2003- )
Two Broke Girls (2011- )
Walker, Texas Ranger (1993-2001)
Without a Trace (2002-2009)
WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982)
INTERNET SOURCE
Museum of Broadcast Communications http://www.museum.tv/eotv/columbiabroa.htm
SEE ALSO
Orson Welles
Red Skelton
Questions or comments about this
page?
|
SKC Films Library