NBC Defies Racism--And Makes TV History

It’s hard today to imagine the courage displayed by NBC on this date in 1956.

It was 54 years ago today that the first TV show with a black host made its debut.

“The Nat King Cole Show” hit the airwaves, starring a man who today is considered an American musical icon. Back then, however, he was viewed as a talented singer and pianist who could be tolerated as a GUEST on someone else’s program---but----an African-American with a SHOW OF HIS OWN?

Unthinkable.

Not to the executives at NBC, who launched the program without a sponsor. No American business was willing to be associated with this harmless music and entertainment show. Starting as a 15 minute pops showcase, it was expanded to a half hour in 1957.

Many of Cole’s friends in show business appeared for union scale or no pay in order to help the show save money. Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Frankie Laine and Harry Belafonte appeared on the program.

Here’s a clip of an early show:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5tZrH2O4jc


The show lasted more than a year, airing its last episode on December 17, 1957. In the end, it was Cole himself—and not the network that finally pulled the plug. It is believed that Nat King Cole himself was losing personal wealth in keeping the show alive—and NBC was also in the hole, having never landed a national sponsor. It should be noted that Rheingold Beer was a regional sponsor for a time.

Although routinely beaten in the ratings by ABC, the show did have a decent audience—and some TV critics insist the show’s ratings struggles were more due to the genre of the music/variety show, which also claimed casualties with white stars at the helm, namely Frank Sinatra (1957), Judy Garland (1962) and Julie Andrews (1972)

In commenting on his lack of sponsors, Nat King Cole remarked, “I guess Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark”.

Regardless, the show was a milestone, a breakthrough moment. Nat King Cole is to be commended for the fortitude he exhibited in the face of overt racism—and in a rare display of corporate courage, NBC is to be applauded too, for taking a stand—and making television history.

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