The Don Lee Network, sometimes called the Don Lee Broadcasting System was an American regional network of radio stations in the old-time radio era.
Origin
Don Lee made a fortune as the exclusive West Coast distributor of Cadillac automobiles. He expanded into broadcasting by purchasing radio stations KFRC in San Francisco in 1926 and KHJ in Los Angeles in 1927. The stations were connected by telephone circuits and in December 1928 the Don Lee Broadcasting System was formed. Within a month, KMJ in Fresno, California; KWG in Stockton, California; and KFBK in Sacramento, California, had joined the network. By 1938, 28 stations were affiliated with the Don Lee network.
Lee died in 1934, leaving his son, Thomas S. Lee, to oversee the network's operation.
Relationships with other networks
In 1929, Don Lee Network and CBS entered into an agreement that created the Don Lee-Columbia Network, making the Lee stations the West Coast affiliates for CBS. The joint operation was launched on January 1, 1930. A typical schedule had the network carrying CBS programs in the early evening. When those ended at 8 p.m. Pacific Time, either KFRC or KHJ provided network programs, with the two usually alternating evenings. Some of the programs originating at one of the Lee stations were also transmitted nationally by CBS.
After initial success and expansion, disagreement over programming autonomy for stations led to the dissolution of the agreement. Any hopes for continuing the Don Lee-CBS partnership vanished when CBS bought radio station KNX in 1936, making CBS a competitor of KHJ in the Los Angeles market. After the separation, some stations left to become West Coast affiliates of NBC. The stations remaining with Don Lee joined the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Affiliating with Don Lee Network enabled Mutual to go coast to coast across the United States. The change, announced on June 27, 1936, added Lee's California affiliated stations to those already connected with Mutual. The expanded Don Lee-Mutual network began operations on December 30, 1936. After that affiliation, Lee continued independent operations, transmitting only certain Mutual programs to stations on the Lee network. Elizabeth McLeod wrote in her article, "Local Voices: The Don Lee and Yankee Networks", that the arrangement "was the best of both worlds — the freedom and local flavor of a regional chain, combined with the resources, when needed, of a national hookup. This was the philosophy of Mutual itself, and it tied in well with the way Don Lee had always tried to do business in the past ...".
Original programming
Bill Oates, in his biography, Meredith Willson - America's Music Man: The Whole Broadway-Symphonic-Radio-Motion Picture Story, noted:During the early 1930s, before regular broadcasting flowed endlessly from coast to coast from the network hubs in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and because of the time differences, West coast stations presented a great deal of network quality original programming for the Western divisions of NBC and CBS.In 1929, Willson began working for Lee, taking on the responsibility of overseeing music "for a variety of network shows." Others who worked for Lee and went on to achieve national popularity included Don Wilson, Ralph Edwards, Art Linkletter, Harold Peary, Morey Amsterdam, Merv Griffin, John Nesbitt, and Bea Benederet. Mark Goodson created game shows for the network before becoming better known for his work with Bill Todman in producing game shows for television.
Programs that originated in the Don Lee studios included Blue Monday Jamboree, Queen For A Day, The Bill Stulla Show, Heart’s Desire, Don Lee Music Hall, Peter Potter’s Party, and The Jack Kirkwood Show. KHJ and KFRC each had its own organ, dance band, and symphony orchestra as well as artists, singers, and other entertainers, so that each station could provide "a variety with appeal to any audience".
Television
The network experimented with television in the early 1930s, launching experimental station W6XAO in Los Angeles, California, on December 31, 1931. It broadcast one hour per day throughout the 1930s. In 1937, the TV and radio operations teamed up to broadcast the opening of the 27th annual Los Angeles Motor Car Dealers' Automobile Show. Don Lee also annually televised the Tournament of Roses Parade.