The Communist Broadcasting System

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the television networks created as culturally diverse a programming schedule as has ever existed in the industry. CBS, more than any of its competitors, loaded its programming slots with ethnic-themed comedies. One of the most popular, Amos 'n' Andy, the story of two African-American southerners who relocated to Chicago, featured an almost entirely black cast. Bonino and Life with Luigi focused on the experience of the Italian-American family in the big city, while The Honeymooners and Hey, Jeannie! reflected the Irish-American experience. The Goldbergs was the Jewish counterpart to Life with Luigi, although unlike the latter, it focused on an entire family instead of a single man. Beulah, a show about an African-American housekeeper, was the first television program with an African-American woman in a leading role, and it found success as well. All of these programs featured ethnic minorities as the main characters, with white actors present in limited roles. In addition to shows about Italians, Jews, and African-Americans, the networks developed numerous other programs about ethnic minorities that aired with varying degrees of success in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

That television executives chose these programs makes perfect sense for multiple reasons. Many programs on the air in the late 1940s up through 1953 had already established solid audiences as radio shows. Television programs, like their predecessors on the radio, relied on advertisers. In an era where television was still something of a social experiment, advertisers were not interested in throwing money at an untried program. CBS, in particular, raided its stable of radio programs and those of other networks to ensure it had a strong television lineup. In 1948, the network poached Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Red Skelton, Burns and Allen, and Amos 'n' Andy from various network radio programs for its television division. The shows consistently scored high ratings, ensuring a high rate of return for the investors.

Another element that explains the popularity of these programs is the demographics of early television audiences. All four major networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont, were headquartered in New York City. Though all developed a network of affiliate stations throughout the country, the New York metropolitan area and its surrounding states had the most receivers and potential viewers, and a wider variety of programs. In the fall of 1948, the FCC put a freeze on applications of new affiliate television stations. At the time of the freeze, fourteen states, most of them in the South and the Midwest, had no transmitters at all. Of those, seven could not even get signals from adjoining states. They had no television access whatsoever. The FCC did not lift the ban until 1952, so people in those regions had no reason to own what, at the time, would have been an extremely costly piece of furniture. In 1950 the median annual household income was approximately $3,216, and the price of a television set could run anywhere from $200 to $500, a prohibitively high sum for many. Of the one million television sets in use by 1950, most were purchased by people within a 75-mile radius of the New York City metropolitan area and a few other major cities like Boston and Los Angeles.

The networks worked with the audience they were given, which happened to be one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse in the nation. According to the 1950 census, New York contained a far higher percentage of persons of non-northern European heritage than almost any other state in the union. The center of the immigrant population in that state was, not surprisingly, New York City. Out of 7.9 million residents, 22.6 percent were foreign born. Considering these demographics, it seems likely that a sizable percentage of television viewers in the late 1940s and early 1950s were first- and second-generation Americans. By airing a large variety of ethnic-themed programming, television networks attempted to satisfy a large range of viewers based on the diverse ethnic makeup of the audience. In its earliest years, advertisers marketed television as a conduit to reality, and the emphasis on ethnic programming demonstrates that television executives tried to project the realities of its current audience.

At the same time, programs featuring ethnic minorities created a perfect forum for negotiating tensions caused by the economic and social changes of postwar America. In the midst of the continued Great Migration, increased urbanization, and the ascent of the middle class, each program touched on one or more of these issues and did so in a humorous fashion. Amos 'n' Andy dealt with two African-American men and the cab business they started after moving to Chicago from the South as part of the Great Migration. The Goldbergs, I Remember Mama, and Life with Luigi all told the stories of immigrants navigating life in the big city. Even Beulah, the story of an African-American maid working for a white family in a non-urban setting, reflected the growing presence of African-Americans in northern cities and the ongoing struggle there to negotiate peaceable relations between the races. These programs were ideal for the urban Northeast because many viewers there could identify with navigating urban life and searching for balance.

Although ethnic programming proved popular with early audiences, ratings were no match for the burgeoning Red Scare. By 1947, America's postwar anti-communist paranoia had increased dramatically. As the public called for stricter guidelines for vetting federal employees, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) searched for evidence of disloyalty in the government and the U.S. attorney general created a list of subversive organizations deemed too radical for a government employee to support.

HUAC garnered further national recognition after the espionage charges against State Department official Alger Hiss gained traction. The committee wanted to find more cases that would both draw attention to its anti-communist mission and generate positive publicity. Targeting Hollywood seemed the most obvious answer. Communists and people who supported communist causes had supposedly taken over Hollywood, already considered a beacon of liberalism. Beginning in 1947, HUAC held hearings on the extent to which communism pervaded the film industry. Committee chairman J. Parnell Thomas spoke disparagingly of "writers mocking our political system and picking on rich men and portraying the wealthy and powerful as 'heavies.'" Those concerned about communists in show business ascribed to the "third violin theory," meaning that even an...