The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Kniwt on May 03, 2018, 10:03:33 AM
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The December 1948 issue of "Modern Television & Radio" contains a pair of somewhat lengthy essays on the then-unresolved question of whether "giveaway programs" were legal. The "blessing" side was written by none other than Bill Cullen, from the period when he was hosting Hit the Jackpot and Winner Take All. It begins on Page 49 of this pdf (and, alas, jumps several times):
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Modern-Television-and-Radio/Modern-Television-&-Radio-1948-12-Vol-1-No-1.pdf
The beginning:
Of radio's ten most popular programs of this past season, three of them are the so-called "giveaway" shows. Their audience numbers about 35 million people, or one-quarter of the population of the United States. That, I venture to say, is a lot of people! And I might add that bitter experience has taught us people in radio that millions of listeners do not congregate by their loudspeakers to hear something that bores them stiff.
But now our bitter critics, who have always agreed with this thesis of "No entertainment -- no listeners," rave and rant that good talent cannot compete with free refrigerators. I say -- "Bosh!"
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Astonishingly, I was unfamiliar with this article. Thanks!