The Early Television Network You Never Heard Of

How the short-lived DuMont Television Network influenced modern-day television

Photo of a 1952 broadcast of the television program “We, the People,” from DuMont Television Network’s Pittsburgh, PA station, WDTV. Shown at right is New York Yankees player Bill Bevens, who was the guest. Photographer: Judd Sheppard, Pittsburgh, PA. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Which television network…

• Introduced Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners
• Aired American television’s first prime time soap opera
• Showed the first boxing and professional wrestling matches on television
• Produced the popular Captain Video children’s show

The answer: The DuMont Television Network. Wait… what??

That’s right. The DuMont Television Network (or the DuMont Network) was responsible for many television firsts, but it is often recognized as “the forgotten network” because it lasted just ten years, from 1946 to 1956.

How the DuMont Network got its start

The DuMont Network was an outgrowth of DuMont Laboratories, a company created by Allen B. DuMont, an electronics engineer and inventor.

In 1931, DuMont made a breakthrough innovation to the German-made cathode ray tube: He made it last longer and cheaper to produce. First finding success in producing oscilloscopes using his improved cathode ray tube, DuMont realized there was an emerging market for the tubes in television. His…