DuMont, Allen B.

In = 1931,=20 Allen B. DuMont founded Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc., = in his=20 garage with $1000-half of it borrowed. The company achieved = its=20 initial success as the primary U.S. manufacturer of = cathode-ray=20 tubes, which had become critical to the electronics = industry. DuMont=20 entered into television broadcasting---first experimentally, = then as=20 a commercial venture-in 1938. In fact, the only way to = receive=20 NBC-RCA's historic public broadcast of television outside = their 1939=20 World's Fair pavilion was on sets made by DuMont = Labs.=20

DuMont=20 first became involved in broadcasting by building a radio=20 transmitter and transmitter and receiver out of an oatmeal = box while=20 suffering from polio. In 1924, he received an electrical = engeneering=20 degree from Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute. After = graduation, he=20 joined the Westinghouse Lamp Company as an engineer at a = time when=20 500 tubes a day were being produced. Later DuMont became = supervisor=20 and initiated technical improvements that increased = production to=20 5,000 tubes per hour. In 1928, he worked closely with Dr.= =20 Lee DeForest on expanding radio, but left later to = explore=20 television.

DuMont=20 achieved a number of firsts in commercial television = practice, but=20 with little success. He tried to expand his network too = rapidly both=20 in the number of affiliates and the number of hours of = programming=20 available to affiliates each week. Even as DuMont was = developing=20 into the first commercial television network, the other = networks,=20 most notably CBS and NBC, were preparing for the time when = rapid=20 network expansion was most feasible-experimenting with = various=20 program formats and talent borrowed from their radio = networks, as=20 well as encouraging their most prestigious and financially=20 successful radio affiliates to apply for television=20 licenses.

Prime-time=20 programming was a major problem for DuMont. The network = would not or=20 could not pay for expensive shows that would deliver large=20 audiences, thereby attracting powerful sponsors. When a = quality show=20 drew a large audience in spite of its budget, it was = snatched by CBS=20 or NBC. DuMont televised the occasional successful show, = including=20 Cavalcade=20 of Stars (before Jackie Gleason left), Captain=20 Video, and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen's Life=20 Is Worth Living. The network never seemed to generate = enough=20 popular programming to keep it afloat, however-possibly be- = cause it=20 lacked the backing of a radio network.

The NBC,=20 CBS and ABC radio networks provided financial support for = their=20 television ventures while the fledgling industry was=20 growing-creating what the FCC deemed 'an ironic situation in = which=20 one communications medium financed the development of its=20 competitor." DuMont's only outside financial = assistance=20 came from Paramount Studios between 1938 and 1941. The = company=20 created and sold class-B common stock exclusively to = Paramount for=20 one dollar per share and a promise to provide = affiliation=20 with CBS and NBC. Analysts have suggested that DuMont's lack = of=20 primary affiliates was a key factor in the network's demise. =

One important = factor=20 contributing to the demise of the DuMont Network was Allen = B. DuMont=20 himself. Many people thought of him as a "bypassed=20 pioneer" with no head for business. Major = stockholders=20 began to publicly question the soundness of his decisions,=20 especially his desire to keep the TV network afloat despite = major=20 losses. In 1955, concerned holders of large blocks of DuMont = stock=20 began to wrest control from the company founder. =

When the=20 fiscally weakened DuMont corporation spun off its television = broadcasting facilities in 1955, Business Week claimed that = DuMont=20 had been forced into television programming in order to = provide a=20 market for his TV receivers. No evidence has been found to = support=20 this claim, however. In markets where licenses for = television=20 stations were being granted during the postwar period, there = were=20 sufficient license applicants to provide audiences with = programming=20 to stimulate set sales. One reason DuMont television sales = lagged=20 behind other manufactures was that his sets were of higher = quality,=20 and consequently much more expensive. In fact, in 1951 = DuMont cut=20 back tel= evision=20 set production by 60%-although profits from this = division had=20 been subsidizing the TV network-because other manufactures = were=20 undercutting DuMont's prices.

After the=20 DuMont Television Network and its owned- and-operated = stations were=20 spun off into a new corporation, there remained only two = major=20 divisions of Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc. In 1958 = Emerson=20 Electric Company purchased the DuMont consumer products=20 manufacturing division. DuMont was no longer employed by his = own=20 company when the last division-osc= illograph=20 and cathode-ray tube manufacturing--was sold = to=20 Fairchild in 1960. DuMont was hired by Fairchild as group = general=20 manager of the A. B. DuMont Division of Fairchild Camera and = Instrument Corporation until his death in 1965. =

DuMont may=20 have remained in television broadcasting despite fiscal = losses in=20 order to uphold the title once given him, 'the father of = commercial=20 television."

His=20 company pioneered many important elements necessary to the = growth=20 and evolution of the industry. DuMont engineers perfected = the use of=20 cathode-ray tubes as TV screens, developed the kinescope = process, as=20 well as the "magic eye cathode-ray radio tuning indicator, = and the=20 first electronic viewfinder. DuMont was an intelligent and = energetic=20 engineer who took risks and profited financially from = them-becoming=20 history's first television millionaire. But when the big = radio=20 networks entered the field of television, DuMont was unable = to=20 compete with these financially powerful, considerably = experienced=20 broadcaster.

-Philip J. = Auter