The Philco Radio Time Radio Program

Background

The Spencer Company, the Helios Electric Company, and the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company became early pioneering storage battery manufacturers located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Helios Electric Company (founded 1892?) got its start manufacturing carbon-arc lamps. The reason we question the widely reported year of the founding of Helios Electric Company is based on the following Boston Globe June 30th 1883 entry of patents issued to Boston Area businesses and concerns:

LIST OF PATENTS

Issued to New England Inventors for the week ending June 20, 1883, as reported from the office of C. A. Shaw, solicitor of patents, 11 Court street, Boston:

Walter Alken, Franklin, N. H., knitting machine.
Frederick E. Allen. North Grafton, Mass., floor clamp.
Quimby S. Backus, Winchendon. Mass., boiler.
William D. Bartlett, Amesbury, 'Mass., vehicle spring.
Albert D. Bingham, Nashua, N. H., watch movement box.
Charlea F. Bliven, Worcester, Mass., dental plugger.
John W. Bradley, Stratford, Conn., assignor of one-half to Belknap Manufacturing Company, Bridgeport, Conn., valve mechanism.
John Bray, Washington, D. C.. assignor of one-half to C. H. Lougley, Hartford, Conn., paper fabric or matting.
Frank M. Brown, Boston, and C, B. Bosworth, Everett, Mass., assignors to Helios Electric Light Company of Maine, commutator for dynamo-eiectric machines.

Based upon the above referenced grant of patent--and the years it generally took to acquire a patent--a case could reasonably be made that the Helios Electric Light Company of Maine was an early predecessor of the Helios Electric Company, especially given the nature of the patent and industry.

Reincorporated in 1906 as the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company, the firm began specializing in the manufacture of batteries for early electric vehicles and storage batteries for early radio chassis'.

From the February 13th 1994 of the The Intelligencer - The Record:

Philco radios have a rich history
     By Linda Rosenkrantz
     Copley News Service

     Back in the distant past, when families actually ate dinner together, they would all gather round — after Mom had finished the dishes — and listen to radio programs such as "Inner Sanctum" and "Lux Radio Theater" and "Fibber McGee and Molly."
     And instead of looking at each other or staring out into space, they would focus on the instrument through which the sound was projected, an instrument which, since it was an object of veneration, quite often suggested the form of a cathedral or a Mayan temple.
     There were, of course, many different brands of these receivers — Radiola, Motorola, Airline, Crosley, Fada, Dumont, Emerson, Arvin, Atwater Kent, to name a few — but one of the most common (and most collectible) is the Philco.
     The history of the company stretches back more than a century, beginning in 1892 in Philadelphia as the Spencer Co., manufacturer of carbon arc lamps.
     It soon changed its name to the Helios Electric Co. and then, in 1906, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Co., now making storage batteries for electric automobiles, trucks and mine locomotives.  In 1919, just before the advent of radio, the name was condensed to Philco.
     Although the company was not yet making sound-receiving sets, it did supply the batteries for them and also began to sponsor the "Philco Hour," a national weekly radio broadcast in 1927.
     When RCA introduced a set using alternating current, which could be plugged directly into the socket without the use of a battery that same year, Philco decided to go into the design and production of radios themselves.
     Their first model — designated as Model 511, came on the market in 1928 and was the combination of chassis and speakers largely developed by other firms.
     Among the several variations were a wooden Louis XVI-style console, a metal cabinet table model finished in two-toned brown with gold pin stripes, and — in a real stylistic innovation — a selection of hand-painted "flower radios" in various colors and motifs, which are now among the rarest of all Philco radios.
     An aggressive advertising campaign produced impressive results — sales for 1928 totaled 96,000 units, and in just two more years, Philco would become the industry leader, selling twice as many radios as its nearest competitor.
     As sound technology improved, with better static and tone control, design became more modern as well.  Philco's first cathedral "midget" set was offered in 1930 and went on to become a collector's classic — the prototypical vintage radio and basis for most modern reproductions.
     Philco formed a promotional tie-in with Paramount Pictures and used their stars, such as Harold Lloyd and Charles "Buddy" Rogers, for large scale promotion.
     Through the years there were other successes — highboys and lowboys, Baby Grand and Concert Grand Consoles, shortwave converters, grandfather clock consoles, the Lazy X (designed by Norman Bel Geddes), chairside sets, modern tombstone cabinets and many others — all of which are highly collectible.
     If you want to learn more about this subject, consult the scrupulously comprehensive "Philco Radio 1928-1942" by Ron Ramirez with Michael Prosise (Schiffer Publishing Ltd.)
     It offers a detailed year-by-year look at the Philco line throughout the  golden age of radio and is illustrated with almost 500 illustrations of surviving examples, as well as interesting vintage ads.
     Linda Rosenkrantz edited Auction magazine and authored five books, including "Auction Antiques Annual."  Write Collect, -c/o Copley News Service, P. O. Box 190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190.  Letters cannot be answered personally.

The Bing Crosby Empire

Bing Crosby and his franchise of programs spanning the years of the Golden Ages of Radio and Television stand as some of the most extensive and legendary of the era. Beginning with The Rhythm Boys during 1929, Bing Crosby soon rose to become one of Radio, Film and Television's most popular performers between 1929 and 1962, the period most historians broadly refer to as the Golden Age of Radio:

• 1929 Old Gold Presents Paul Whiteman
• 1929 Gold on WEAF
• 1930 The Gus Arnheim Orchestra
• 1930 Two Shades of Blue
• 1931 Presenting 15 Minutes with Bing Crosby
• 1931 The Cremo Singer
• 1931 The Rhythm Boys
• 1931 Sunkist Musical Cocktails
• 1932 Music That Satisfies
• 1933 The Woodbury Show
• 1935 Kraft Music Hall
• 1945 Freedom of Opportunity
• 1945 The Edward Everett Horton Show
• 1948 A Question of Pianos
• 1948 This Is Bing Crosby
• 1956 The Ford Show
• 1960 The Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show

In addition to his own featured programs he was also one of Radio's most frequent guest performers of the era. There's no question that Bing Crosby considered both his talent and production capabilites a business franchise. Bing Crosby was one of the era's canniest multimedia entrepreneurs. Among the various businesses which comprised the Bing Crosby empire were:

In 1947 Bing Crosby served as the Vice President of the Board of
Directors of The Pittsburgh Pirates Professional Baseball Club

• Bing Crosby Enterprises, Inc.
• The Del Mar Turf Club and Del Mar Racetrack
• Bing Crosby Productions
• Project Records
• The Binglin Stable
• The Pittsburgh Pirates [25% share]
• The Blue Skies Trailer Park

Crosby also invested heavily in technology of the era, most notably Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M Corporation) and its Ampex Tape Recording Media technologies. As it turns out, Bing Crosby's association with 3M and Ampex revolutionized Radio programming from 1947-on.

Bing Crosby, ABC and Ampex revolutionize broadcast Radio

From the December 18th 1947-12-18 edition of the San Mateo Times:

BING CROSBY SIGNS BIG SAN CARLOS DEAL

Takes Over Full
Output of New
Recording Device

By GEORGE W. WHITESELL
Times Staff Correspondent

     SAN CARLOS, Dec. 18.—Announcement of the first contract upon a new tape recording process that probably will revolutionize the broadcasting industry was made here today by the Ampex Electric corporation, which said that the contract has been completed with Crosby Enterprises, Inc., headed-by radio's foremost personality, Bing Crosby.

Crosby Deal Completed
     Final completion of the contract was made by Crosby's brother and business manager. Everett Crosby, and T. I. Moseley, owner of the Dalmo-Victor corporation. Moseley and A. M. Poniatoff are the largest stockholders in Ampex corporation.
     A quartet of men at the local plant, Forrest Smith, manager; Charles McSharry, office manager; Harold Lindsay and Myron Stolaroff, engineers, jointly made the announcement of the perfection of the tape recording device which will be distributed by Crosby Enterprises with the entire first year's output already sold to the American Broadcasting Company.

Even Breathing Heard
     A demonstration of the new recorder, a shining 900-pound cabinet with two quietly whirring 35-minute tape reels on its top, left auditors breathless.  Music and voices reproduced on the thin, brown plastic tape were more real than the sound of music or persons standing in the same room.
     An uncanny, almost ghostlike effect in which the actual breathing of musicians and singers could be detected marks
the tremendous almost ''open-end" sound range of the reproduction which also has-hitherto hidden qualities in the middle-register of sound made electrically, audible for the first time.  It is the highest fidelity ever achieved by electrical engineers.

May Be Dubbed
     Also new to recording is the ability of the tape to be reduplicated or "dubbed" without any loss in fidelity.  A re-recording may be made by the machine from its own tape in an infinite progression of times without any loss whatever, where ordinary disc recording loses nearly 20 per cent of quality on each successive re-recording.
     The tape moves through the recorder so fast that it may be slowed down for editing, splicing and "dubbing" without the splicing being audible, thus uncovering a big short cut for all radio transcription.

Crosby Uses Tape
     Crosby's interest in the new process stems from his own decision, made over a year ago, to record all of his programs instead of making "live"' broadcasts.  This object was endangered by quality losses in recording until last summer when Crosby began to record his shows on German-built tape machines which had been improved by the W. A. Palmer company of San Francisco.  These tape recordings were placed upon wax transcriptions for distribution and use by the American Broadcasting company and its affiliated stations.
     Starting in 1948, the entire Crosby show will be recorded on the far more advanced Ampex recorder.  These shows will also be re-transcribed to wax discs, probably until April, when it is hoped that high fidelity stations will have sufficient Ampex equipment to allow broadcasts directly from the tape.

Watch Petrillo
     Engineers Lindsay and Stolaroff, who have developed the new process, say that the effects of the new high fidelity transcription will he readily apparent on existing radio sets of the AM type and even better on FM broadcasts.  Both said that the average AM home radio is capable of much better reproduction than present broadcast signals will allow.
     Smith said that a chief worry now, here as well as throughout the entire broadcast industry, is what effect the recording ban set for January 1 by Caesar Petrillo and his national musicians union will have upon transcribed broadcasts.
"We don't know the answer here," said Smith.
     From Los Angeles, however, today comes word that there is close liaison beween Everett Crosby and Petrillo.

Used Since October
     The Ampex instruments have been experimentally recording the Crosby broadcasts since October, it was revealed, and Bing Crosby was said to have personally ordered the connection between Ampex and Crosby Enterprises.

One of the astonishing effects of the new recordings in revealing full quality of spoken voices will probably cause top-flight radio announcers to change their methods of speech. The unctuous, richly furred voices of the announcers will have to approach more closely the normal since the exaggerated characteristics developed for present radio sound "over-done and silly" under the new recording process.

Plans Limited
     Smith said that the present plans of Ampex will be limited for the first year to production of high precision recording and play-back machines with an initial order of 500 of these to be completed. This, he said, cannot be done under normal mass production methods because of the precision elements involved. He said that the San Carlos plant will employ about 30 highest type electrical workers on the production.

     Meanwhile the Ampex plant here is tapering off on production of electric motors for airplanes. It has been engaged in this work since war days when the plant was also busy in making radar parts. Smith estimates that a switch-over to the recording device manufacturing will start in about four weeks.

     The plant is located at 1155 Howard street in San Carlos. Smith said that the research on the recording device has been under way for more than a year. He also said that production of home recorders on a mass basis is under consideration but that it will be at least a year before this field is entered.

Bing Crosby, ABC, and Philco debut Philco Radio Time:
Radio Broadcasting takes a dramatic turn in fidelity

Philco Radio Time was an historic marker in the history of Broadcast Radio. Premiering on October 16th 1946 to great fanfare, Philco launched an all-out campaign to promote the new series. Bing Crosby had ended a ten-year association with Kraft Foods in 1945, the better to provide him more independence in producing any further Radio programs. The sweetener that sealed the deal with Philco was their agreement to allow Crosby to pre-record his programs; initially via E.T. and later via magnetic tape transcription.

Philco was of course no novice in Radio promotion by any measure. Philco's extensive campaign throughout the run of Philco Radio Time not only built on Philco's previous prestige production, Radio Hall of Fame, but also promoted all of Philco's newest developments in both Radio and early affordable Television. The Billboard trade magazine reported that Philco's production budget for Philco RadioTime was $2,000,000, with another $500,000 devoted to Print promotion of the series and Philco's product line. Put in context, the same budget in today's dollars would be in excess of $25 million; a very generous budget to be sure. And indeed, a glance at the the Print ads Philco commisioned to promote Philco Radio Time (sidebar left) underscores the extraordinary good taste and exceptional quality of the campaign.

Even more ironic, Philco Radio Time not only promoted Philco's Radio and Television lines but--from October 1947 forward--was also implicitly promoting Bing Crosby Enterprises' Ampex line of broadcast quality magnetic tape recorders and equipment. Clearly none of the parties to the various promotions had any reason to complain.

On the talent side of the production ABC, Philco and Crosby pulled out all the stops for the era. Philco Radio Time's music directors were Skitch Henderson and John Scott Trotter. Bill Morrow and Murdo McKenzie handled production of both the initial electrical transcription (E.T.) disc recordings as well as the later Ampex tape-transcribed recordings. Regular cast members throughout the series were songstress Lina Romay, The Charioteers, The Rhythmaires, and Gail Robbins. From about the tape-transcribed programs forward, songbirds Dinah Shore and Peggy Lee and jazz violinist Joe Venuti became series regulars as well. Bing and Philco's announcer of choice, Ken Carpenter, also complimented every broadcast as both a comedic foil for Crosby and Philco's spokesman. All told, a solid supporting ensemble to Bing Crosby throughout the series.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg . . .

The extraordinary parade of guest stars throughout Philco Radio Time was unprecedented in a half-hour variety program of its type. Premiering with Bob Hope as the guest of honor, Hope would appear as a featured guest a total of four times during the series. Fledgling ABC also liberally promoted the stars in its other prime time programming with their appearances as guest stars throughout Philco Radio Time. Needless to say,Philco Radio Time was a promotional bonanza for ABC and Philco on several levels:

• Philco Radio Time consistently garnered top share ratings for variety programming.
• ABC upgraded its Key Stations WENR, WJZ and KECA with banks of state of the art Ampex 200a Series and 300 series recorders during the run of Philco Radio Time--the first of the major networks to do so.
• Philco Radio Time actively promoted Philco's The Burl Ives Program.
• Launched The Phil Silvers Show as the 1947 Summer replacement for Philco Radio Time.
• Philco Corporation had three of its most successful years while promoting Philco Radio Time.

One of the ironies throughout Philco Radio Time was the alleged decline in popularity of Philco's rendition of a Bing Crosby-starring vehicle. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. The writing was well above average, the show never lacked compelling guest talent, and once Crosby started employing his Ampex tape recorders to transcribe the series--from October 1st 1947 forward--the technological upgrade afforded the production several revolutionary capabilities over all competing broacasts:

• Prerecording or time-shifting program segments, performers, and Crosby's own production numbers from either coast and throughout the previous week.
• Far greater fidelity over AM--and later FM--Radio of the era.
• Far more versatility in editing each program.
• Guest performers with conflicting commitments could be more easily accomodated for each production.

As it was, the buzz ABC and Crosby created with the success of their tape-transcribed Philco Radio Time productions quickly spread throughout the Broadcast Radio Industry, though not necessarily through ABC's listening audience. Inevitably, by 1949 NBC, Mutual, and CBS had adopted tape-transcribed technologies as well.

Billboard article of November 5th 1949 showing thirty-five network programs that had adopted tape transcriptions.

The old adage, "A rising tide lifts all boats," applied to Philco Radio Time in several other ways. Songstress Peggy Lee's career received a tremendous boost with Philco Radio Time and featured appearances in nineteen programs in the series. Der Bingle, loyal as he was to the performers, family and friends who either helped him get his start or helped further his career, regularly featured those friends and previous collaborators throughout Philco Radio Time, among them:

• Joe Frisco [featured performer in much of Crosby's earliest Radio work]
• Joe Venuti [featured performer in much of Crosby's earliest Radio work]
• Ken Carpenter [Crosby's Kraft Music Hall announcer and foil]
• Les Paul [early collaborator in tape track mixing and dubbing]
• Leo McCarey [Director of Crosby's films Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)]
• The Gonzaga University Glee Club [from Crosby's alma mater]
• Bob Crosby [Bing Crosby's brother and early competitor]
• Cathy Crosby [Bob Crosby's--then 9 year old--daughter and Bing's neice]
• Irving Berlin [Composer and lyricist of many of Bing Crosby's greatest hits]
• Johnny Mercer [Composer, lyricist and 1930s collaborator with Bing Crosby]
• Jack Teagarden [Paul Whiteman Orchestra jazz trombonist and featured performer with Bing Crosby]
• Bob Hope [Bing Crosby's lifelong friend, golf partner and Road To . . Films co-star]
• Dorothy Lamour [Bing Crosby's Road To . . Films co-star]
• Jimmy Demaret [famous professional golfer and golf partner of Bing Crosby]
• Barry Fitzgerald [co-star in Crosby's Going My Way (1944)
• Hank Greenburg [baseball legend recently traded from the Detroit Tigers to Crosby's own Pittsburgh Pirates]

Indeed there was one personal connection or another with virtually all of Bing Crosby's guests throughout the series. As must be apparent, Philco Radio Time was very much a family affair for Bing Crosby who reportedly exercised almost total control over the production. Very few of the above mentioned family, friends and collaborators needed a boost to their respective careers, but their appearances on Philco Radio Time invariably lent a very familial and warm flavor to the series.

Bing Crosby had a great deal of fun featuring his imaginary guest stars as well:

• 'Charlie McCarthy' [Courtesy of Edgar Bergen]
• 'Mortimer Snerd' [Courtesy of Edgar Bergen]
• 'Gladys Zabisco' [the alter ego of Sara Berner]
• 'Frankie Remley' [the alter ego of Elliott Lewis]
• 'Rudolph Schmoehopper' [???]
• 'Lady Peel' [the alter ego of Beatrice Lilly]
• Everett Crosby [Bing's business manager courtesy of Fred Allen]

In fact, right out of the gate, Bing Crosby took a swipe at his new sponsor by literally tearing up the closing commercial message script on air during the October 16th 1946 premiere. It's also worth noting that many of Crosby's guest stars were competing prime time stars from both NBC and CBS.

It's something a mystery to this day why Philco Radio Time never consistently broke into the top five broadcasts of the era during its run. It did very well, but not as well as it might have. The music was superb, the guests were highly entertaining, the sketches were well written as was the by-play between Ken Carpenter, Crosby and his guests, and John Scott Trotter's scoring was excellent throughout. The commercial messages were cleverly and tastefully presented, the fidelity of the tape-transcribed recordings were a marked improvement, and Philco Radio Time was unquestionably a revolutionary undertaking for the era.

Philco Radio Time's late night Wednesday timeslot certainly didn't help to propel the production into popular prominence. Philco Radio Time's competition was usually opposing crime or mystery dramas. We're also convinced that the long-standing bad rap given Philco Radio Time by other radio historians appears entirely unfounded. It would appear that the only element really holding Philco Radio Time back was ABC's unfortunate relegation of the sereis to a late Wednesday night timeslot. If there's any mystery to Philco Radio Time's lack of even greater success, it's why ABC would bury such an entertaining, star-studded variety feature in such an awkward timeslot for three years. We can understand why Bing Crosby wouldn't complain, but we 're at a loss to understand why Philco Corporation didn't fight for a better timeslot.

As we've noted in several other articles, timing was indeed everything in broadcast Radio of the era. The only element holding Philco Radio Time back from even better ratings during its run was ABC's almost negligent support of the program either before or after Philco Radio Time's Wednesday night broadcasts. And yet in spite of ABC's lack of programming support, Philco Radio Time premiered to a 24.0 share on October 16th 1946 and a 13.6 Hooper rating just before the series took its Summer hiatus in 1947. To say that Philco Radio Time performed poorly throughout its run simpliy defies the historical facts. Could ABC have done a better job supporting Philco Radio Time's Wednesday night slot? Of course it could. We'd imagine the better question is, "But did ABC even need to?"

Philco Radio Time would have been a solid hit whether ABC supported it or not. A cynic might well question why ABC should have felt obliged to help Philco Radio Time any more than it needed to. Philco Corporation continued to pour advertising dollars into promoting Philco Radio Time--let alone the estimated $30,000 to $35,000 it was lavishing on each week's half-hour installments. Fledgling ABC obviously determined that devoting any more support to Philco Radio Time simply wasn't cost-productive--and ABC was probably right.

It's also worth remembering that ABC expended a great deal of its capital upgrading three of its Key Stations to Ampex tape recording equipment--primarily to broadcast Philco Radio Time. It's also worth noting that ABC recouped that capital investment in record time [no pun intended]--not to mention trumping all the other competing older and larger networks with its state of the art tape transcription technology.

But wait, there's more . . .

Krebs Furniture spot ad promoting their sponsorship of Philco Radio Time (February 12th 1947)

Did we mention that Philco Radio Time was not only broadcast over ABC, but over any other Radio station that wished to buy a subscription to the transcribed, syndicated series? Perhaps you already figured that out from Philco's Print promotions of the era. Quite understandably, those subscribers couldn't be stations directly competing with ABC or its affiliates, but under those conditions ABC had nothing to lose. It didn't hurt Bing Crosby Enterprises' bottom line either.

You'll notice in the details below that Philco Radio Time was sponsored by literally hundreds of retail furniture dealers of the era. We're concluding that the furniture connection was due to the fact that expensive console radios were routinely sold in furniture stores of the era. We also found Philco Radio Time sponsored by at least two breweries--Ranier Beer & Ale and Burgermeister Beer. We found a Jewelry store sponsor as well. If that doesn't further illustrate the success of the series, we're hard pressed to imagine a better metric for its popularity and continuing demand.

To futher illustrate the popularity of Philco Radio Time over other than ABC Network affiliates, we encountered at least a thousand distinct newspaper spot ads and promotions of the series from just local and regional Philco Dealers alone. So was there truly an extraordinary demand for Philco Radio Time? You betchum, Red Ryder! Was Philco Radio Time simply 'Bing Crosby Lite' of the era? Not on your tintype, Nellie!

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

The most helpful provenances were the log of the RadioGOLDINdex and newspaper listings.

We're frankly perplexed by the various reviews of Philco Radio Time by present day radio historians, 'credentialed experts,' and commercial collectors. As best as we've been able to determine there's no foundation whatsoever for referring to Philco Radio Time as a poorly received, under-performing program during its three years on the air.

In fact Philco Radio Time's acceptance by the listening public was entirely the opposite as that described in most other articles and books written about the series, as were virtually all contemporary reviews of the program throughout its production. Billboard magazine found both the premiere episode and the very concept of Philco Radio Time as well as its extraordinary promotion by Philco Corporation sufficiently newsworthy to devote over seven full pages to the program in its October 26th 1946 issue. Throughout the twenty-seven articles that Billboard devoted to Philco Radio Time in that October 26th issue, the concept, technology, talent, promotion, and production were all characterized with superlative after superlative.

Philco Radio Time premiered to a 24.0 share, when most other competing variety programming of the era generally garnered shares in the 4.6 to 5.8 range. Philco Radio Time continued to garner shares well above average for its type throughout its run.

As with much of the critique and information regarding the programming from the Golden Age of Radio the overwhelming amount of the circulating 'OTR' information is no more than opinionated hearsay and anecdotes--and for the most part revisionist history.

The shame of it is that with the preponderance of such revisionist rubbish in wide circulation over the past 36 years of the 'Old Time Radio' aberration of vintage Radio collecting, a great deal of that nonsense has inevitably become accepted as fact in the vacuum of honest historical research employed by that segment of vintage Radio interest.

One need but read the review of the premiere of Philco Radio Time (immediately below) and the Billboard review of the 1947-1948 season premiere of Philco Radio Time (above in the left sidebar) to understand the absurdity of continuing to refer to Philco Radio Time as anything but an unqualifed success, given its late Wednesday night timeslot and weak Wednesday night supporting programming from ABC. If any entity associated with Philco Radio Time deserves criticism, it's ABC.

But in fairness to ABC, the positioning of Philco Radio Time in a late Wednesday night timeslot was just another manifestation of ABC's technique of aggressive counter-programming during its first ten years. Indeed several of the articles praising Philco Radio Time in the October 26th Billboard issue cited a total absence of quality programming in opposition to Philco Radio Time by the three other major networks of the era. Those articles cited over and over again the aggressive--though inadequate--attempts by NBC, CBS and MBS to drown out Philco Radio Time on Wednesday evenings. Billboard's conclusions were that none of the competing networks had anything of substance to compete with Bing Crosby and Philco Radio Time in the 8p.m. to 10 p.m. timeslot across the nation.

The Billboard review of the October 16th 1946 premiere of Philco Radio Time, one of the most extensive and laudatory reviews we've ever read in The Billboard.

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[Date, title, and episode column annotations in red refer to either details we have yet to fully provenance or other unverifiable information as of this writing. Red highlights in the text of the 'Notes' columns refer to information upon which we relied in citing dates, date or time changes, or titles.]