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NETWORK PROGRAM HISTORY 1930-1939— Continued
Amos 'n' Andy, after being among the ten leaders for five years, dropped out of the select list in the fall of 1934. When Burns and Allen returned to the air for General Cigar in the fall with another orchestra in place of Guy Lombard©, the rating suffered and the program was below 10th position. Lombardo, with his own show for Plough ranked 10th in July, seventh in August, and ninth in December and February. After Bristol-Myers combined its two half-hour shows into one, Town Hall climbed into the first 10 and remained there for the rest of the year.
The following are the 21 programs which appeared among the ten leaders for one or more months from March 1934 to February 1935, together with the number of months in which they rated among the first 10 : Maxwell House Show Boat 12; Fleischmann Hour 12; Chase & Sanborn 10; Palmolive 10 (not broadcast March, 1934) ; Baker's Broadcast 9 (off three months) ; Paul Whiteman 9; Ed Wynn-Texaco 8 (off four months) ; Jack Benny 8 (off one month and not broadcast March, 1934); Fred Allen 8; Amos 'n' Andy 6 (off three months); First Nighter 6; Armour 5; Ben Bernie 4 (off three months) ; Gulf Headliners 4; Guy Lombardo (Plough) 4 (not broadcast four months) ; Burns and Allen 3 (off four months) ; Sinclair 3 ; Lowell Thomas 2 ; Cities Service 1 ; March of Time 1 (off six months); Eddie Cantor-Pebeco 1 (also three for Chase & Sanborn, and off eight months).
The leaders for the period from November 1934 to February 1935 were: Captain Henry's Show Boat, Fleischmann, Jack Benny, Baker's Broadcast, Chase & Sanborn, Palmolive, Town Hall, Texaco, Amos 'n' Andy, and First Nighter. Seven others were among the first 10 for at least one of the four months : Paul Whiteman, Lombardo-Land, Ben Bernie, March of Time, Gulf Headliners, Lowell Thomas, and Eddie Cantor (on for Pebeco in February).
In February, 1935, variety shows had the highest average popularity rating. Others rating high were personality shows, news topics, operettas and continuous musical comedies. Talks and religious programs still had low ratings.
Emergence of the Amateur Hour
A new type meantime appeared in the classifications — the amateur show. For some time previous to the appearance of a network amateur show, Major Bowes had been successfully conducting a local amateur hour over station WHN in New York; but the first national amateur show appeared as part of Fred Allen's "Town Hall Tonight" and was followed shortly afterward by the National Amateur Night with Ray Perkins as master of ceremonies. While the C.A.B. did not tabulate the numerous amateur hours that had appeared since the introduction of the feature on Fred Allen's program, it was discovered that there was at least one amateur hour per night in each city where investigations were made.
In 1933 investigation showed that the Broadway headliner type of program had surpassed the mystery show in popularity. In April of '34 there was only one mystery show of outstanding popularity, but by spring of 1935 there were again four mystery programs led by Eno Crime Clues.
The variety programs were recruiting their guest stars from every branch of show business with the result that a new and different star each
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