Origins

     Amalgamated was founded in the fall of 1932 as a program production agency. Wynn's partners in the venture were Broad­ way producers Arthur Hopkins and T.W. Richardson, and Hungarian-born violinist and promoter Ota Gygi. Initial press releases hinted that Irving Berlin and Daniel Frohman were interested in the project and that more than a million dollars had been committed by two nationally known agencies.

     Despite these claims, nothing further was heard of the venture until January 1933 when George W. Trendle, president of the newly formed All-Michigan Network, announced his alliance with the Wynn group. The New York flagship of the network would be made up of an amalgamation of three small time-sharing stations controlled by Walter Whetstone's Stan­ dard-Cahill Corporation: WBNX, WCDA, and WMSG. This would be the first step, declared Trendle, toward building a nationwide chain of low-powered regional stations. Trendle claimed, without naming names, that five Detroit millionaires were backing the venture and that Wynn had enlisted the support of practically every theatrical man of note and 13 prominent authors.

     The next five months were filled with promises but little substance. Wynn went into detail in the trade press describing the policy of the new network, declaring that it would limit advertising to indirect messages at the beginning and end of each program and that he himself planned to appear occasionally on the network once his National Broadcasting Company-Texaco contract expired. Studio space was prepared in a newly constructed building at 501 Madison Avenue in New York City, arrangements were made with Western Union for network lines, and several dates were announced for the start of broadcasting, only to be postponed at the last minute.

     The industry was fast losing patience with Wynn's stalling. In the 1 June 1933 issue of Broadcasting, editor Sol Taishoff portrayed Amalgamated as an amateurish, slipshod operation, run entirely by show people who were decidedly naive about the realities of the broadcasting business. There was no longer any mention of Detroit millionaires and, even though the son­ in-law of President Roosevelt, Curtis B. Dall, joined the company in August as chairman of the board, it was becoming evident to observers that the network's money was coming primarily out of Ed Wynn's pocket.

Operations

     The Amalgamated network finally went on the air on the evening of 25 September 1933. Thirteen small Eastern stations carried the initial program-flagship WBNX; WCNW in Brooklyn, New York; WPEN in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; WDEL in Wilmington, Delaware; WCBM in Baltimore, Maryland; WOL in Washington, D.C.; WCAP in Asbury Park, New Jersey; WHDH in Boston, Massachusetts; WCAX in Burlington, Vermont; WPRO in Providence, Rhode Island; WNBH in New Bedford, Massachusetts; WSAR in Fall River, Massachusetts; and WFAS in White Plains, New York. Despite claims that the network would soon span the continent, no additional stations were ever added.

     Critic Ben Gross described the inaugural broadcast as chaotic, but a surviving recording reveals that it was in reality a dull hodgepodge of mediocre talent, the major exception being an appearance by the dynamic Broadway vocalist Jules Bled­ soe. There were no commercial announcements, but on-air credits were quietly slipped into the program for the firms that provided the bar for the guests and the beer they were served. Although Gross claimed that there were hundreds of complaints from listeners unable to hear the broadcast because the noise from the rowdy studio audience drowned out the performers, the recording makes it clear that this was a fabrication. The only complaints noted in a post-broadcast article in Broadcasting were from technicians, who suggested that the Western Union telegraph network lines were somewhat noisier than AT&T telephone circuits. Wynn himself was not present for the inaugural, because he was occupied with motion-picture duties in Hollywood and had left Gygi in full charge of the network in his absence.

Collapse

     The story of Amalgamated has a beginning and an end, but no middle. No sponsorships were ever sold. During October, a 15- hours-a-day schedule of music and talk was fed to the small eastern hookup that had taken the opening broadcast, but clearance of these sustaining programs (programs not paid for by advertising) proved difficult when affiliates insisted on carrying their own local, sponsored features.

     Curtis Dall resigned as chairman of Amalgamated in early October. Ed Wynn returned to New York in mid-October and soon realized the futility of the venture. He resigned on 2 3 October, claiming to have spent $250,000 on the project with no hope of any return. Subsequent investigation by receivers revealed that Wynn's out-of-pocket investment was closer to $125,000.

     At midnight on 1 November the network halted service to its 12 affiliates. On 3 November creditors foreclosed and Amalgamated passed into the hands of the Irving Trust Company. Liabilities totaled $38,000, with $10,000 owed in salaries to the company's 200 employees.

     The assets of the network were sold at auction on 18 December, raising $10,841 toward the settlement of outstanding claims. The studio equipment was purchased for $9,800 by advertising executive Milton Biow for use in his new station in Newark, WNEW. WNEW would subsequently lease the former Amalgamated studio space at 501 Madison Avenue for its New York studio.

     Ed Wynn resolved to settle all of the network's remaining debts. The stresses involved in the Amalgamated venture contributed to the failure of his marriage in 1937 and ultimately to a nervous breakdown. Ever the promoter, Ota Gygi spent much of 1934 trying to form yet another "new network" among stations in the Midwest, but he had lost all credibility. Several former Amalgamated stations became part of George Starer's American Broadcasting System.