--Or simulcast as it later became known...here is rare look into very early TV broadcasting & what we are seeing is basically a "live" radio broadcast of The Breakfast Club over the ABC network! The announcer raised his arm to cue the audience to intensify the applause response! The film was no doubt a kinoscope where a movie camera is fixed upon a TV screen to make a sound film of a TV broadcast..a process that continued throughout the 1950's until video was introduced in 1958... The films could be replayed by the network for transmissions in other time zones. This is why the picture looks shadowy & flat..the sound is very good however & thanks very much for sharing this!!
Greshwin fans take note: "Wintergreen For President" is performed as Don's campaign song...it first appeared in the Gershwins' 1932 show; "Of There I Sing".

This was good. My mother, just before we left for school and were eating our breakfast, would turn on the "Breakfast Club." Don McNeil was part of our lives for several years. It is a special "treat" to see one of the radio shows that was televised. Thank you so much for sharing this show.

Thanx, so great to see my husband with Don McNeill. Lee played Tenor Sax, Clarinets (Bb & Bass),flutes (C & Alto)& picolo.... & said corney jokes for more than 22 yrs. First as 'Red' & 'Blue' networks & then ABC. Thank, this was wonderful & heart warming. Sound OK, video poor & worth the view.

What a great clip.

TV at the begining, the best, an a look into the Golden age of TV. An if you are a TV History buff, this is the show to see. Radio was dieing, an TV was starting. An they were togather on this show. It's alot of fun!!!

The Breakfast Club was pretty much the first radio "morning show" of its' kind anywhere, starting the concept of a "team" centered around a primary host. It started in 1933 over the NBC Blue Network (which was ultimately spun off to become ABC Radio).

McNeil's run was legendary (with a tenure that outlasted Johnny Carson and Bob Barker!), but the show was incompatible with ABC's Top 40 O&Os (WABC, WLS, WXYZ and KQV/Pittsburgh) along with ABC's other long-form news programming.

The problem only was resolved in 1968 when ABC scooted the show (as well as Paul Harvey News) over to the "American Entertainment Network," one of four sub-networks created when ABC Radio "split." McNeil moved to most of the O&O's sister FM stations for the remainder of his run (less than a year).

ABC had a minimal television presence with O&Os in New York (WABC-TV nee WJZ-TV), Los Angeles (KABC-TV nee KECA-TV), Detroit (WXYZ-TV, arguably the most successful of the pack), San Fransisco (KGO-TV) and Chicago (WLS-TV nee WBKB-TV nee WENR-TV).

But it was not enough to constitute a network. DuMount had the (partial) upper hand. Paramount Pictures' investment in the network prevented DuMont from purchasing or establishing additional stations, yet Paramount owned two valuable stations in Chicago (which never aired a DuMount program) and Los Angeles (which was only an affiliate in 1948).

ABC did not make a real attempt to enter TV until 1953, when the United Paramount Theater chain (ironically, spun off by court order from Paramount) bailed them out.

What a great talent.

I don't know who uploaded this, but this rare telecast is awesome!!

Lots of topical jokes, references, plus music and commercials, and even a WABD logo!

How often does one see TV from the 1940's?
Plus, it's also rare to see ANYTHING aired by WABD/DuMont.

While this is very interesting to watch, I wonder what a 1960s broadcast of The Breakfast Club sounded like? Was it the same as what we heard ( and seen ) here?

The Breakfast Club ended its radio run in late 1968, however by that time two of ABC's top radio stations ( WABC and WLS ) were well into top 40 rock and roll. In his bio that came out in the 80s, "Cousin Brucie" Morrow said that McNeill and The Breakfast Club was "deadly" to WABC radio. I can see that...kids back then and I assume many adults too, wanting to hear the latest from The Supremes, Beach Boys, The Beatles or even Spanky & Our Gang...they turn on WABC or WLS only to hear this LOL

Hmmmmmm...maybe I answered my own question LOL
I guess there wasn't much in the way of differences between 1948 and 1968 as far as this show went..if "Cousin Brucie" was correct.

First, I would like to thank the uploader of this historical tidbit. It was a program my grandmother
and mother used to listen to on the radio. As a child, I vaguely remember this daily show which became a weekend show in the sixties. It was a rival to Arthur Godfrey morning show on CBS. Second, it shows what went into a radio program and how it would look on televison. Thank goodness Dumont took it upon themselves to broadcast a show meant for ABC radio and present it on the early screen when ABC refused to do so. Lastly, the program looks like a cross between Spike Jones and Prairie Home Companion. Frankly, if Don McNeill would of run for president in 2008; I would of voted for him.