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Mutual Broadcasting System

The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American commercial radio network for 65 years, operating from 1934 until 1999. Strongest in rural areas, it began as a cooperative venture and provided some competition for the more established national networks.

Origins

On September 29, 1934, four AM radio stations—WXYZ in Detroit, WGN in Chicago, WOR in New York, and WLW in Cincinnati—agreed to form a cooperative program sharing radio network. WGN and WOR controlled the operation (at first dubbed the Quality Group) and contracted with AT&T for telephone lines to link Chicago and New York, with all four stations agreeing to share the costs. The Mutual Broadcasting System was incorporated in Illinois a month later. When WXYZ (which had contributed the popular western adventure program The Lone Ranger to ...

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