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The effects of the Hoover Dike were seen immediately . An extended drought occurred in the 1930s , and with the wall preventing water leaving Lake Okeechobee and canals and ditches removing other water , the Everglades became parched . Peat turned to dust , and salty ocean water entered Miami 's wells . When the city brought in an expert to investigate , he discovered that the water in the Everglades was the area 's groundwater β€” here , it appeared on the surface . Draining the Everglades removed this groundwater , which was replaced by ocean water seeping into the area 's wells . In 1939 , 1 million acres ( 4 @,@ 000 km2 ) of Everglades burned , and the black clouds of peat and sawgrass fires hung over Miami . Underground peat fires burned roots of trees and plants without burning the plants in some places . Scientists who took soil samples before draining had not taken into account that the organic composition of peat and muck in the Everglades was mixed with bacteria that added little to the process of decomposition underwater because they were not mixed with oxygen . As soon as the water was drained and oxygen mixed with the soil , the bacteria began to break down the soil . In some places , homes had to be moved on to stilts and 8 feet ( 2 @.@ 4 m ) of topsoil was lost .
= = = Conservation attempts = = =
Conservationists concerned about the Everglades have been a vocal minority ever since Miami was a young city . South Florida 's first and perhaps most enthusiastic naturalist was Charles Torrey Simpson , who retired from the Smithsonian Institution to Miami in 1905 when he was 53 . Nicknamed " the Sage of Biscayne Bay " , Simpson wrote several books about tropical plant life around Miami . His backyard contained a tropical hardwood hammock , which he estimated he showed to about 50 @,@ 000 people . Though he tended to avoid controversy regarding development , in Ornamental Gardening in Florida he wrote , " Mankind everywhere has an insane desire to waste and destroy the good and beautiful things this nature has lavished upon him " .
Although the idea of protecting a portion of the Everglades arose in 1905 , a crystallized effort was formed in 1928 when Miami landscape designer Ernest F. Coe established the Everglades Tropical National Park Association . It had enough support to be declared a national park by Congress in 1934 , but there was not enough money during the Great Depression to buy the proposed 2 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 acres ( 8 @,@ 100 km2 ) for the park . It took another 13 years for it to be dedicated on December 6 , 1947 . One month before the dedication of the park , the former editor of The Miami Herald and freelance writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas published her first book , The Everglades : River of Grass . After researching the region for five years , she described the history and ecology of the south of Florida in great detail , characterizing the Everglades as a river instead of a stagnant swamp . Douglas later wrote , " My colleague Art Marshall said that with [ the words " River of Grass " ] I changed everybody 's knowledge and educated the world as to what the Everglades meant " . The last chapter was titled " The Eleventh Hour " and warned that the Everglades were approaching death , although the course could be reversed . Its first printing sold out a month after its release .
= = Flood control = =
Coinciding with the dedication of Everglades National Park , 1947 in south Florida saw two hurricanes and a wet season responsible for 100 inches ( 250 cm ) of rain , ending the decade @-@ long drought . Although there were no human casualties , cattle and deer were drowned and standing water was left in suburban areas for months . Agricultural interests lost about $ 59 million . The embattled head of the Everglades Drainage District carried a gun for protection after being threatened .
= = = Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project = = =
In 1948 Congress approved the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes ( C & SF ) and consolidated the Everglades Drainage District and the Okeechobee Flood Control District under this . The C & SF used four methods in flood management : levees , water storage areas , canal improvements , and large pumps to assist gravity . Between 1952 and 1954 in cooperation with the state of Florida it built a levee 100 miles ( 160 km ) long between the eastern Everglades and suburbs from Palm Beach to Homestead , and blocked the flow of water into populated areas . Between 1954 and 1963 it divided the Everglades into basins . In the northern Everglades were Water Conservation Areas ( WCAs ) , and the Everglades Agricultural Area ( EAA ) bordering to the south of Lake Okeechobee . In the southern Everglades was Everglades National Park . Levees and pumping stations bordered each WCA , which released water in drier times and removed it and pumped it to the ocean or Gulf of Mexico in times of flood . The WCAs took up about 37 percent of the original Everglades .
During the 1950s and 1960s the South Florida metropolitan area grew four times as fast as the rest of the nation . Between 1940 and 1965 , 6 million people moved to south Florida : 1 @,@ 000 people moved to Miami every week . Urban development between the mid @-@ 1950s and the late 1960s quadrupled . Much of the water reclaimed from the Everglades was sent to newly developed areas . With metropolitan growth came urban problems associated with rapid expansion : traffic jams ; school overcrowding ; crime ; overloaded sewage treatment plants ; and , for the first time in south Florida 's urban history , water shortages in times of drought .
The C & SF constructed over 1 @,@ 000 miles ( 1 @,@ 600 km ) of canals , and hundreds of pumping stations and levees within three decades . It produced a film , Waters of Destiny , characterized by author Michael Grunwald as propaganda , that likened nature to a villainous , shrieking force of rage and declared the C & SF 's mission was to tame nature and make the Everglades useful . Everglades National Park management and Marjory Stoneman Douglas initially supported the C & SF , as it promised to maintain the Everglades and manage the water responsibly . However , an early report by the project reflected local attitudes about the Everglades as a priority to people in nearby developed areas : " The aesthetic appeal of the Park can never be as strong as the demands of home and livelihood . The manatee and the orchid mean something to people in an abstract way , but the former cannot line their purse , nor the latter fill their empty bellies . "
Establishment of the C & SF made Everglades National Park completely dependent upon another political entity for its survival . One of the C & SF 's projects was Levee 29 , laid along the Tamiami Trail on the northern border of the park . Levee 29 featured four flood control gates that controlled all the water entering Everglades National Park ; before construction , water flowed in through open drain pipes . The period from 1962 to 1965 was one of drought for the Everglades , and Levee 29 remained closed to allow the Biscayne Aquifer β€” the fresh water source for South Florida β€” to stay filled . Animals began to cross Tamiami Trail for the water held in WCA 3 , and many were killed by cars . Biologists estimate the population of alligators in Everglades National Park was halved ; otters nearly became extinct . The populations of wading birds had been reduced by 90 percent from the 1940s . When park management and the U.S. Department of the Interior asked the C & SF for assistance , the C & SF offered to build a levee along the southern border of Everglades National Park to retain waters that historically flowed through the mangroves and into Florida Bay . Though the C & SF refused to send the park more water , they constructed Canal 67 , bordering the east side of the park and carrying excess water from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic .
= = = Everglades Agricultural Area = = =
The C & SF established 470 @,@ 000 acres ( 1 @,@ 900 km2 ) for the Everglades Agricultural Area β€” 27 percent of the Everglades before development . In the late 1920s , agricultural experiments indicated that adding large amounts of manganese sulfate to Everglades muck produced profitable vegetable harvests . Adding 100 pounds ( 45 kg ) of the compound was more cost effective than adding 1 short ton ( 0 @.@ 91 t ) of manure . The primary cash crop in the EAA is sugarcane , though sod , beans , lettuce , celery , and rice are also grown . Sugarcane became more consolidated an industry than did any other crop ; in 1940 the coalition of farms was renamed U.S. Sugar and this produced 86 percent of Everglades sugar . During the 1930s the sugarcane farmers ' coalition came under investigation for labor practices that bordered on slavery . Potential employees β€” primarily young black men β€” were lured from all over the U.S. by the promise of jobs , but they were held financially responsible for training , transportation , room and board and other costs . Quitting while debts were owed was punishable with jail time . By 1942 , U.S. Sugar was indicted for peonage in federal court , though the charges were eventually dismissed on a technicality . U.S. Sugar benefited significantly from the U.S. embargo on Cuban goods beginning in the early 1960s . In 1958 , before the Castro regime , 47 @,@ 000 acres ( 190 km2 ) of sugarcane were harvested in Florida ; by the 1964 – 1965 season , 228 @,@ 000 acres ( 920 km2 ) were harvested . From 1959 to 1962 the region went from two sugar mills to six , one of which in Belle Glade set several world records for sugar production .
Fields in the EAA are typically 40 acres ( 16 ha ) , on two sides bordered by canals that are connected to larger ones by which water is pumped in or out depending on the needs of the crops . The water level for sugarcane is ideally maintained at 20 inches ( 51 cm ) below the surface soil , and after the cane is harvested , the stalks are burned . Vegetables require more fertilizer than sugarcane , though the fields may resemble the historic hydrology of the Everglades by being flooded in the wet season . Sugarcane , however , requires water in the dry season . The fertilizers used on vegetables , along with high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus that are the by @-@ product of decayed soil necessary for sugarcane production , were pumped into WCAs south of the EAA , predominantly to Everglades National Park . The introduction of large amounts of these let exotic plants take hold in the Everglades . One of the defining characteristics of natural Everglades ecology is its ability to support itself in a nutrient @-@ poor environment , and the introduction of fertilizers began to change this ecology .
= = Turning point = =
A turning point for development in the Everglades came in 1969 when a replacement airport was proposed as Miami International Airport outgrew its capacities . Developers began acquiring land , paying $ 180 an acre in 1968 , and the Dade County Port Authority ( DCPA ) bought 39 square miles ( 100 km2 ) in the Big Cypress Swamp without consulting the C & SF , management of Everglades National Park or the Department of the Interior . Park management learned of the official purchase and agreement to build the jetport from The Miami Herald the day it was announced . The DCPA bulldozed the land it had bought , and laid a single runway it declared was for training pilots . The new jetport was planned to be larger than O 'Hare , Dulles , JFK , and LAX airports combined ; the location chosen was 6 miles ( 9 @.@ 7 km ) north of the Everglades National Park , within WCA 3 . The deputy director of the DCPA declared : " This is going to be one of the great population centers of America . We will do our best to meet our responsibilities and the responsibilities of all men to exercise dominion over the land , sea , and air above us as the higher order of man intends . "
The C & SF brought the jetport proposal to national attention by mailing letters about it to 100 conservation groups in the U.S. Initial local press reaction condemned conservation groups who immediately opposed the project . Business Week reported real estate prices jumped from $ 200 to $ 800 an acre surrounding the planned location , and Life wrote of the expectations of the commercial interests in the area . The U.S. Geological Survey 's study of the environmental impact of the jetport started , " Development of the proposed jetport and its attendant facilities ... will inexorably destroy the south Florida ecosystem and thus the Everglades National Park " . The jetport was intended to support a community of a million people and employ 60 @,@ 000 . The DCPA director was reported in Time saying , " I 'm more interested in people than alligators . This is the ideal place as far as aviation is concerned . "
When studies indicated the proposed jetport would create 4 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 US gallons ( 15 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 L ) of raw sewage a day and 10 @,@ 000 short tons ( 9 @,@ 100 t ) of jet engine pollutants a year , the national media snapped to attention . Science magazine wrote , in a series on environmental protection highlighting the jetport project , " Environmental scientists have become increasingly aware that , without careful planning , development of a region and the conservation of its natural resources do not go hand in hand " . The New York Times called it a " blueprint for disaster " , and Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson wrote to President Richard Nixon voicing his opposition : " It is a test of whether or not we are really committed in this country to protecting our environment . " Governor Claude Kirk withdrew his support for the project , and the 78 @-@ year @-@ old Marjory Stoneman Douglas was persuaded to go on tour to give hundreds of speeches against it . She established Friends of the Everglades and encouraged more than 3 @,@ 000 members to join . Initially the U.S. Department of Transportation pledged funds to support the jetport , but after pressure , Nixon overruled the department . He instead established Big Cypress National Preserve , announcing it in the Special Message to the Congress Outlining the 1972 Environmental Program . Following the jetport proposition , restoration of the Everglades became not only a statewide priority , but an international one as well . In the 1970s the Everglades were declared an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO , and a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention , making it one of only three locations on earth that have appeared on all three lists .
= DuMont Television Network =
The DuMont Television Network ( also known as the DuMont Network , simply DuMont / Du Mont , or ( incorrectly ) Dumont / duːmΙ’nt / ) was one of the world 's pioneer commercial television networks , rivalling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in the USA . It began operation in the United States in 1946 . It was owned by DuMont Laboratories , a television equipment and set manufacturer . The network was hindered by the prohibitive cost of broadcasting , by regulations imposed by the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) which restricted the company '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 was not yet a standard feature on television sets , DuMont fought an uphill battle for program clearances outside of their three owned @-@ and @-@ operated stations in New York , Washington and Pittsburgh , finally ending network operations in 1956 .
DuMont 's latter @-@ day obscurity , caused mainly by the destruction of its extensive program archive by the 1970s , has prompted TV historian David Weinstein to refer to it as the " Forgotten Network " or " Network Is Long Gone " . A few popular DuMont programs , such as Cavalcade of Stars and Emmy Award winner Life Is Worth Living , appear in television retrospectives or are mentioned briefly in books about U.S. television history .
= = History = =
= = = Origins = = =
DuMont Laboratories was founded in 1931 by Dr. Allen B. DuMont with only $ 1 @,@ 000 , and a laboratory in his basement . He and his staff were responsible for many early technical innovations , including the first consumer all @-@ electronic television set in 1938 . The company 's television sets soon became the gold standard of the industry . In 1942 , DuMont worked with the Army in developing radar technology during World War II . This ended up bringing in $ 5 million in capital for the company .
Early sales of television sets were hampered by the lack of regularly scheduled programming being broadcast . A few months after selling his first set in 1938 , DuMont opened his own New York area experimental television station ( W2XVT ) in Passaic , New Jersey . In 1940 , the station moved to Manhattan as W2XWV on channel 4 . Unlike CBS and NBC , which reduced their hours of television broadcasting during World War II , DuMont continued full @-@ scale experimental and commercial broadcasts throughout the war . In 1944 , W2XWV became WABD ( callsign derived from DuMont 's initials ) moving to channel 5 in 1945 , the third commercial television station in New York . On May 19 , 1945 , DuMont opened experimental W3XWT in Washington , DC . A minority shareholder in DuMont Laboratories was Paramount Pictures , which had advanced $ 400 @,@ 000 in 1939 for a 40 % share in the company . Paramount had television interests of its own , having launched experimental stations in Los Angeles in 1939 and Chicago in 1940 , and DuMont 's association with Paramount ultimately proved to be a mistake .
Soon after his experimental Washington station signed on , DuMont began experimental coaxial cable hookups between his laboratories in Passaic , New Jersey , and his two stations . It is said that one of those broadcasts on the hookup announced that the U.S. had dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki , Japan , on August 9 , 1945 . This was later considered to be the official beginning of the DuMont Network by both Thomas T. Goldsmith , the network 's chief engineer and DuMont 's best friend , and DuMont himself . Regular network service began on August 15 , 1946 , on WABD and W3XWT . In 1947 , W3XWT became WTTG , named after Goldsmith . The pair were joined in 1949 by WDTV ( channel 3 ) in Pittsburgh .
Although NBC in New York was known to have station @-@ to @-@ station television links as early as 1940 with WPTZ ( now KYW ) in Philadelphia and WRGB Schenectady , NY , DuMont received its station licenses before NBC resumed its previously sporadic network broadcasts after the war . ABC had just come into existence as a radio network in 1943 and did not enter network television until 1948 , when it signed on a flagship station in New York City , WJZ @-@ TV ( now WABC @-@ TV ) . CBS also waited until 1948 to begin network operations because it was waiting for the Federal Communications Commission to approve its color television system ( which it eventually did not ) . Other companies – including Mutual , the Yankee Network , and Paramount itself – were interested in starting television networks , but were prevented from successfully doing so by restrictive FCC regulations ; however , at least the Paramount Television Network actually did have some limited success in network operations in the late 1940s and early 1950s .
= = = Programming = = =
Despite no history of radio programming or 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 , and 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 , and in 1954 , the lavish DuMont Tele @-@ Centre opened in the former Jacob Ruppert 's Central Opera House at 205 East 67th Street .
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 , and was 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 wrestling , the latter featuring matches staged by the Capitol Wrestling Corporation , the predecessor to WWE
The Johns Hopkins Science Review , a Peabody Award @-@ winning education program
Cash and Carry , the first network @-@ televised game show
The Ernie Kovacs Show , the first truly innovative show in what was then visual radio , not television .
The network 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 for non @-@ whites . Among DuMont 's minority programs were The Gallery of Madame Liu @-@ Tsong , starring Asian American film actress Anna May Wong , the first US TV show to star an Asian American , and The Hazel Scott Show , starring pianist and singer Hazel Scott , the first US network TV series to be hosted by a black woman .
Although DuMont 's programming pre @-@ dated videotape , many DuMont offerings were recorded on kinescopes . These kinescopes were said to be stored in a warehouse until the 1970s . 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 . Nevertheless , a number of DuMont programs survive at The Paley Center for Media in New York City , the UCLA Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles , in the Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia , and the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago .
Although nearly the entire DuMont film archive was destroyed , several surviving DuMont shows have been released on DVD . A large number of episodes of Life Is Worth Living have been saved , and they are now aired weekly on Catholic @-@ oriented cable network , the Eternal Word Television Network , which also makes a collection of them available on DVD ( in the biographical information about Fulton J. Sheen added to the end of many episodes , a still image of Bishop Sheen looking into a DuMont Television camera can be seen ) . 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 amount of surviving episodes released commercially by at least one major distributor of public domain programming .
= = = = 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 . DuMont , however , did win a number of awards during its years of operation .
During the 1952 – 53 TV season , Bishop Fulton J. Sheen , host of Life Is Worth Living , won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Personality . Sheen beat out CBS 's Arthur Godfrey , Edward R. Murrow and Lucille Ball , who were also nominated for the same award . Sheen was also nominated for – but did not win – consecutive Public Service Emmys in 1952 , 1953 , and 1954 .
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 its coverage of professional football during the 1953 – 54 and 1954 – 55 television seasons .
The Johns Hopkins Science Review , a DuMont 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 . Though DuMont series and performers continued to win local TV awards , by the mid @-@ 1950s the DuMont network no longer had a national presence .
= = = = Ratings = = = =
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 , was the most popular series of the 1947 – 48 season . Variety ranked DuMont 's popular variety series Cavalcade of Stars as the tenth most popular series two seasons later .
In February 1950 , Hooper 's competitor A. C. Nielsen bought out the Hooperatings 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 . One of the DuMont Network 's biggest hits of the 1950s , Life is Worth Living , received Nielsen ratings of up to 11 @.@ 1 , attracting more than 10 million viewers . 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 which aired in the same timeslot were cancelled .
Life is Worth Living was not the only DuMont program to achieve double @-@ digit ratings . In 1952 , Time magazine reported that popular DuMont game show Down You Go had attracted an audience estimated at 16 million viewers . Similarly , DuMont 's summer 1954 replacement series , The Goldbergs , achieved audiences estimated at 10 million . 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 , however . Companies such as Trendex , Videodex and Arbitron had also measured TV viewership . The adjacent chart comes from Videodex 's August 1950 ratings breakdown , as reported in Billboard magazine .
= = = Disputes with AT & T and Paramount = = =
DuMont struggled to get its programs aired in many parts of the country , in part due to technical limitations of network lines maintained by the telephone company AT & T Corporation . During the 1940s and 1950s , television signals were sent between stations via coaxial cable and microwave links which were owned by AT & T. The service provider did not have enough cable lines and microwave circuits to provide signal relay service from all four networks to all of their affiliates at the same time , so AT & T allocated times when each network could offer live programs to their affiliates . In 1950 , AT & T allotted NBC and CBS each over 100 hours of live prime time network service , but gave ABC only 53 hours , and DuMont just 37 . AT & T also required each television network to lease both radio and television lines . DuMont was the only television network without a radio network , but was forced to pay for a service it did not use . DuMont protested AT & T 's actions with the Federal Communications Commission , and eventually received a compromise .
DuMont 's biggest corporate hurdle , however , may have been with the company 's own partner , Paramount . Relations between the two companies were strained as early as 1939 , when Paramount opened experimental television stations in Los Angeles and Chicago without DuMont . Dr. DuMont claimed that the original 1937 acquisition proposal required Paramount to expand its television interests " through DuMont " . Paramount representative Paul Raibourn , who also was a member of DuMont 's board of directors , denied that any such restriction had ever been discussed ( Dr. DuMont was vindicated on this point by a 1953 examination of the original draft document ) .
DuMont aspired to grow beyond its three stations , applying for new television station licenses in Cincinnati and Cleveland in 1947 . This would give the network five owned @-@ and @-@ operated stations ( O & Os ) , the maximum allowed by the FCC at the time . However , DuMont was hampered by Paramount 's two stations , KTLA ( channel 5 ) in Los Angeles and WBKB ( channel 4 , now WBBM @-@ TV on channel 2 ) in Chicago – the descendants of the two experimental stations that rankled DuMont in 1940 . Although these stations never carried DuMont programming ( with the exception of KTLA for one year from 1947 to 1948 ) , and in fact competed against DuMont 's affiliates in those cities , the FCC ruled that Paramount essentially controlled DuMont , which effectively placed the network at the five @-@ station cap . Paramount 's exertion of influence over the network 's management and the power of its voting stock brought the FCC to its conclusion . Thus , DuMont was unable to open additional stations as long as Paramount owned stations or owned a portion of DuMont . Paramount refused to sell .
In 1949 , Paramount Pictures launched the Paramount Television Network , a service which provided local television stations with filmed television programs ; Paramount 's network " undercut the company that it had invested in . " Paramount did not share its stars , big budgets or filmed programs with DuMont ; the company had stopped financially supporting DuMont in 1941 . Although Paramount executives indicated they would produce programs for DuMont , the studio never supplied the network with programs or technical assistance . The acrimonious relationship between Paramount and DuMont came to a head during the 1953 FCC hearings regarding the ABC – United Paramount Theaters merger when Paul Raibourn , an executive at Paramount , publicly derided the quality of DuMont television sets in court testimony .
= = = Trouble from the start = = =
DuMont began with one basic disadvantage : unlike NBC , CBS and ABC , it did not have a radio network from which to draw big @-@ name talent , affiliate loyalty or radio profits to underwrite television operations until the television medium itself became profitable . Most early television licenses were granted to established radio broadcasters , and many longtime relationships with radio networks carried over to the new medium . As CBS and NBC ( and to a lesser extent , ABC ) gained their footing , they began to offer programming that drew on their radio backgrounds , bringing over the most popular radio stars . Early television station owners , when deciding which network would receive their main affiliation , were more likely to choose CBS 's roster of Lucille Ball , Jack Benny and Ed Sullivan , or NBC 's lineup of Milton Berle and Sid Caesar over DuMont , which offered a then @-@ unknown Jackie Gleason and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen . In smaller markets , with a limited number of stations , DuMont and ABC were often relegated to secondary status , so their programs got clearance only if the primary network was off the air or delayed via kinescope recording ( " teletranscriptions " in DuMont parlance ) .
Adding to DuMont 's troubles was the FCC 's 1948 " freeze " on television license applications . This was done to sort out the thousands of applications that had come streaming in , but also to rethink the allocation and technical standards laid down prior to World War II . It became clear soon after the war that 12 channels ( " channel 1 " had been removed from television broadcasting use because storms and other types of interference could severely affect the quality of signals on this channel ) were not nearly enough for national television service . What was to be a six @-@ month freeze lasted until 1952 , when the FCC opened the UHF spectrum . The FCC , however , did not require television manufacturers to include UHF capability . In order to see UHF stations , most people had to buy an expensive converter . Even then , the picture quality was marginal at best . Tied to this was a decision to restrict VHF allocations in medium- and smaller @-@ sized markets . Television sets were not required to have all @-@ channel tuning until 1964 .
Forced to rely on UHF to expand , DuMont saw one station after another go dark due to dismal ratings . It bought small , distressed UHF station KCTY ( channel 50 ) in Kansas City , Missouri in 1954 , but ran it for just three months before shutting it down at a considerable loss after attempting to compete with three established VHF stations .
The FCC 's Dr. Hyman Goldin said in 1960 , " If there had been four VHF outlets in the top markets , there 's no question DuMont would have lived and would have eventually turned the corner in terms of profitability . "
= = = The end = = =
During the early years of television , there was some measure of cooperation among the four major U.S. television networks . However , as television grew into a profitable business , an intense rivalry developed between the networks , just as it had in radio . NBC and CBS competed fiercely for viewers and advertising dollars , a contest neither underfunded DuMont nor ABC could hope to win . According to author Dennis Mazzocco , " NBC tried to make an arrangement with ABC and CBS to destroy the DuMont network . " The plan was for NBC and CBS to exclusively offer ABC their most popular series after they had aired on the bigger networks . ABC would become a network of re @-@ runs , but DuMont would be shut out . ABC president Leonard Goldenson rejected NBC executive David Sarnoff 's proposal , but " did not report it to the Justice Department " .
DuMont survived the early 1950s only because of WDTV in Pittsburgh , the lone commercial VHF station in what was then the sixth @-@ largest market . WDTV 's only competition came from UHF stations and distant stations from Johnstown , Pennsylvania ; Youngstown , Ohio ; and Wheeling , West Virginia . No other commercial VHF station signed on in Pittsburgh until 1957 , giving WDTV a de facto monopoly on television in the area . Since WDTV carried secondary affiliations with the other three networks , DuMont used this as a bargaining chip to get its programs cleared in other large markets .