Number 1 Programs: Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts

Before we had AMERICA'S GOT TALENT or even THE X-FACTOR, television had the original talent show, ARTHUR GODFREY'S TALENT SCOUTS.

ARTHUR GODFREY'S TALENT SCOUTS premiered, on TV, on December 6, 1948.  The popular radio program began two years earlier, on July 2, 1946. The television program aired on Monday nights at 8:30 p.m. during its entire run.  By 1957, audiences began to prefer adventure shows to variety shows. The show aired its final episode on New Year's day, 1958.

THE RATINGS:
Nielsen began keeping ratings during the 1950-51 season. ARTHUR GODFREY'S TALENT SCOUTS placed 8th for the season. The following TV season, the show became #1 program in the land. It would be the only season it attained the title. As the seasons progressed, the rankings slowly started falling off. Number two for the '52-'53 season and third place the season after that. In 1954-55, AGTS fell out of the top 10 for the first time, finishing in the 18th spot. The next two seasons saw it moving back up to 16th and 12th, respectively. But, in the fall of 1957 Godfrey‘s ratings dropped out of the top 30 chart and the series ended January 1, 1958.

On December 24, 1956, the show became the first entertainment program to be videotaped for broadcast, as the then-new technology was used for a time-delayed rebroadcast in the Pacific Time Zone. An Ampex Quadruplex videotape machine recorded the initial live broadcast to the Eastern part of the country, which was replayed three hours later.

ABOUT GODFREY:
At the time, Arthur Godfrey helmed two CBS-TV weekly series and a daily 90-minute television mid-morning show through most of the 1950's, but by the early 1960s found himself reduced to hosting an occasional TV special, but would do a few movies. Godfrey passed away from emphysema in March, 1983.