A musical variety show, The Bing Crosby Show was broadcast from
1930 to 1956 on both CBS and NBC . The show involves singing and
short comedy skits. Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was born May 3, 1903
, and was lost to us on October 14, 1977. Bing was a popular
American singer and actor whose career stretched over more than half
a century from 1926 until his death. Crosby was the best-selling
recording artist until well into the rock era, with over half a
billion records in circulation.
One of the first multimedia stars, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby
held a nearly unrivaled command of record sales, radio ratings and
motion picture grosses. Widely recognized as one of the most popular
musical acts in history, Crosby is also credited as being the major
inspiration for most of the male singers of the era that followed
him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin.
Crosby exerted an important influence on the development of the
postwar recording industry. In 1947, he invested $50,000 in the
Ampex company, which developed North America's first commercial
reel-to-reel tape recorder, and Crosby became the first performer to
pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings on
magnetic tape. He gave one of the first Ampex Model 200 recorders to
his friend, musician Les Paul, which led directly to Paul's
invention of multitrack recording. Along with Frank Sinatra, he was
one of the principal backers behind the famous United Western
Recorders studio complex in Los Angeles.
Through the aegis of recording, Crosby developed the techniques
of constructing his broadcast radio programs with the same
directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal,
time shifting) that occurred in a theatrical motion picture
production. This feat directly led the way to applying the same
techniques to creating all radio broadcast programming as well as
later television programming. The quality of the recorded programs
gave them commercial value for re-broadcast. This led the way to the
syndicated market for all short feature media such as TV series
episodes.
As for Bing Crosby’s radio presence:
The Radio Singers (1931, CBS), sponsored by Warner Brothers, 6
nights a week, 15 minutes.
The Cremo Singer (1931–1932, CBS), 6 nights a week, 15 minutes.
Unsponsored (1932, CBS), initially 3 nights a week, then twice a
week, 15 minutes.
Chesterfield's Music that Satisfies (1933, CBS), broadcast two
nights, 15 minutes.
Bing Crosby Entertains for Woodbury Soap (1933–1935, CBS),
weekly, 30 minutes.
Kraft Music Hall (1935–1946, NBC), Thursday nights, 60 minutes
until Jan. 1943, then 30 minutes.
Armed Forces Radio (1941–1945; World War II).
Philco Radio Time (1946–1949, ABC), 30 minutes weekly.
The Bing Crosby Chesterfield Show (1949–1952, CBS), 30 minutes
weekly.
The Minute Maid Show (1949–1950, CBS), 15 minutes each weekday
morning; Bing as disc jockey.
The General Electric Show (1952–1954, CBS), 30 minutes weekly.
The Bing Crosby Show (1954–1956, CBS), 15 minutes, 5 nights a
week.
A Christmas Sing with Bing (1955–1962, CBS, VOA and AFRS), 1 hour
each year, sponsored by the Insurance Company of North America.
The Ford Road Show (1957–1958, CBS), 5 minutes, 5 days a week.
The Bing Crosby – Rosemary Clooney Show (1958–1962, CBS), 20
minutes, 5 mornings a week, with Rosemary Clooney.
So sit back with one of America’s most
popular singer and actor, and enjoy over 75 hours and 210 episodes
of musical variety and comedy all wrapped into one enjoyable
package.
