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DuMont: Difference between revisions
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In 1954, the network sold its ''de facto'' monopoly station in Pittsburgh (WDTV), which it used to get clearances in other markets, to Westinghouse <ref>(already the owner of radio station KDKA, which also became the new name for WDTV the next year)</ref> for $9.75 Million. Although the sale gave DuMont some much-needed cash, it also set off its downfall. Most of the lineup was dropped beginning in April 1955, and on September 23 the network's last regular series (a game show, ''What's The Story'') aired for the last time. The only things left were sporting events, which continued to air sporadically over the next ten months.
Following the broadcast of ''Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena'' on August 6, 1956 (one retrospective claims it was only seen on '''five stations'''), DuMont went bust with the remaining network-owned stations (WABD, New York and WTTG, Washington) going independent and spun off into the company that eventually became Metromedia. 30 years later, [[Rupert Murdoch]] bought Metromedia's television operations from company creator John Kluge and established the [[
The network's founder, Allen B. DuMont, seemed to realize the benefits of keeping the network's programming as intact as possible, and admirably did so despite the general wipe-and-reuse practices of the era and the network's own ever-increasing money problems. [[Downer Ending|That was for naught, however]], as many kinescopes were trashed around 1958 for their silver content and the rest were dumped by three trucks into Upper New York Bay during the 1970s. As such, very little of the network's programming survives today; [[The Other Wiki]] has [[wikipedia:List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts|a list]] if you're so inclined.
While the network was mostly forgotten, there were two later references of note:
* One was in ''[[
* The second was in the [[Grand Finale]] <ref>(by production order)</ref> of ''Ellen'' (May 13, 1998), presented as a [[Serious Business]] documentary by Linda Ellerbee about the fictional DeGeneres' long career. Clips were shown of Ellen hosting DuMont's 1954 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NechRuEE4t8#t=10m13s game] ''[[Red Scare|Who's The Commie?]]'' (with announcer John O'Hurley), apparent proof that the network was desperate to get some sort of ratings; Orson Bean recalled that he was skeptical about a woman hosting a game show, "But then the camera went on, and there she was — [[Bill Cullen]] with a rack". It apparently continued on WABD until about 1958 or so, as it was among those present in the quiz show scandal investigations...although Ellen was eventually cleared of said charges due to the "Commies" being generous people who liked jazz.
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