Editing Mutual Broadcasting System (section)

==== The Korean War and original drama's decline ====
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Before the Guterma fiasco, the network had maintained its reputation for running a strong and respected news organization. As the conflict on the Korean peninsula began to escalate in mid-1950, Mutual began airing two special nightly reports on the situation, featuring the commentary of Major [[George Fielding Eliot]], military analyst for CBS during World War II. Six correspondents, more than NBC or ABC, were working for Mutual in Korea by August 1950.<ref>Bliss (1991), pp. 258–59.</ref> On occasion, Mutual's commentary programs made the news: On March 11, 1954, Fulton Lewis Jr. featured [[Joseph McCarthy|Senator Joseph McCarthy]] as his guest, two days after the senator's ethics had been called into question on the CBS TV show ''[[See It Now]]'', hosted by [[Edward R. Murrow]]. In his radio interview, McCarthy dismissed Murrow as "the extreme left-wing, bleeding-heart element of television."<ref>Doherty (2003), p. 184.</ref> In 1957, Mutual refused to air an episode of [[Clarence Manion]]'s ''Manion Forum'' featuring Herbert V. Kohler Sr. due to controversy over the [[Kohler strikes]].<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press| isbn = 978-0-8122-9307-4| last = Hemmer| first = Nicole| title = Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics| location = Philadelphia, UNITED STATES| date = 2016}}</ref>

Mutual began the 1950s by entering the realm of adult [[science fiction]] with ''[[2000 Plus]]'' on March 15, 1950, almost a month before NBC premiered the similarly themed ''[[Dimension X (radio program)|Dimension X]]''.<ref>{{Harvp|Dunning|1998|p=687}}.</ref> The network picked up adventure series ''[[Challenge of the Yukon]]'' from ABC Radio, which originated at Mutual cofounder WXYZ in 1938 (but after the station left the network). Renamed ''Sergeant Preston of the Yukon'', this show launched on Mutual on July 10, 1951.<ref name="Harmon-p18-25">{{Harvp|Harmon|2011|pages=18–25}}.</ref> A partnership with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the end of 1951 had the film studio supply up to six hours of programming per week starting in 1952 with ''[[The MGM Theater of the Air]]'' as its centerpiece,<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=December 10, 1951 |title=MBS Promotion Centers On MGM Shows |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1951/BC-1951-12-10.pdf |magazine=Broadcasting |volume=41 |issue=24 |page=30 |access-date=December 27, 2014 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308032048/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1951/BC-1951-12-10.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> but the programs lasted for only one year.<ref>{{Harvp|Dunning|1998|p=458}}.</ref> Another established drama, [[Phillips Lord|Phillips H. Lord]]'s ''[[Counterspy (radio series)|Counterspy]]'', moved to Mutual in 1953 after a prior run on ABC.<ref>{{Harvp|Dunning|1998|p=181}}.</ref> The network's other new offerings in 1953 were a further sign of the times—[[Electrical transcription|transcription]] reruns of ''[[Coke Time with Eddie Fisher]]'' (utilizing soundtracks from Fisher's NBC-TV show) and an audio simulcast of CBS-TV's ''[[Perry Como]] [[Chesterfield (cigarette)|Chesterfield]] Show''.<ref name="Broad19530706p27" /> ''The Shadow''{{'}}s long run finally ended in December 1954,<ref>{{Harvp|Harmon|2011|pages=149–168}}.</ref> followed by ''Sergeant Preston'' in June 1955.<ref name="Harmon-p18-25" /> ''[[Gang Busters]]'', another Lord serial that ran on ABC, CBS, and NBC throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, moved to Mutual in October 1955.<ref>{{Harvp|Dunning|1998|p=276}}.</ref> In November 1957, the final episodes of ''Counterspy'' and ''Gang Busters'' aired, ending the network's last two remaining half-hour original dramatic shows.<ref>{{Harvp|Dunning|1998|pp=181, 276}}.</ref> Mutual had forsworn the genre and would not broadcast a new dramatic series until 1973 with the short-lived [[Rod Serling]] vehicle ''[[The Zero Hour (U.S. radio series)|The Zero Hour]]''.{{efn|For more on ''The Zero Hour'', see:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rod-serling.com/zerohour.html|title=The Zero Hour—1974|access-date=March 1, 2010|publisher=Submitted for Your Perusal: The Rod Serling Sound Collection|archive-date=January 17, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117175115/http://www.rod-serling.com/zerohour.html}}</ref>}}

In 1955, the famous comedy team [[Bob and Ray]] came over from NBC for a five-day-a-week afternoon show.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Griffith, Benjamin|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_bio/ai_2419200115/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717012342/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_bio/ai_2419200115/|archive-date=July 17, 2012|title=Bob and Ray|date=January 29, 2002 |access-date=March 1, 2010|encyclopedia=St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture |publisher=BNET (CBS Interactive)}}</ref> Kate Smith returned in January 1958 for her final radio series, which ran until August.{{r|Dunning-1998}} In June 1958, just a few months before the Scranton takeover, the network had launched a nightly 25-minute newscast, ''The World Today'', hosted by [[Westbrook Van Voorhis]], famous as the voice of ''[[The March of Time]]''. Sports began to occupy an increasing portion of Mutual's schedule: the network began regularly airing a Major League Baseball ''Game of the Day,'' every day except Sunday. This expansion into daily sports programming would run well into the 1960s.{{efn|Radio historian Ronald Garay says Mutual launched its Game of the Day in 1949.<ref>{{harvp|Garay|1992|p=50}}.</ref> Sports historians Jerry Gorman et al. say it was 1950.<ref>{{harvp|Gorman|Calhoun|Rozin|1994|pp=91, 105}}.</ref> Garay indicates that the concept was picked up from the [[Liberty Broadcasting System]], founded in 1947. Yet the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame]] lists among famed broadcaster [[France Laux]]'s credits "Mutual Game of the Day (1939–41, '44)."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=2005 Ford C. Frick Award Finalists |url=http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/library/2005_frick_finalists.htm  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509095657/http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/library/2005_frick_finalists.htm |archive-date=May 9, 2006 |access-date=February 13, 2023 |website=National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum}}</ref>}} While baseball's World Series and All-Star Game would go to rival NBC in 1957, Mutual secured national radio rights to [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish football]] in 1954.<ref name="Billbo19540807p14">{{Cite magazine |date=August 7, 1954 |title=Mutual to Air All Notre Dame Tilts |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/50s/1954/Billboard%201954-08-07.pdf |magazine=Billboard |volume=66 |issue=32 |page=14 |access-date=February 14, 2023 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=January 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131080723/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/50s/1954/Billboard%201954-08-07.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Broad19560423p104" /> The rights would switch between networks over the following decade before Mutual became the exclusive broadcaster in 1968,<ref name="Broad19680115p42">{{Cite magazine |date=January 15, 1968 |title=Mutual goes Notre Dame |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1968/1968-01-15-BC.pdf |magazine=Broadcasting |volume=74 |issue=3 |page=42 |access-date=February 14, 2023 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=January 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131030849/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1968/1968-01-15-BC.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> which would remain a cornerstone for the rest of the network's existence.<ref name="Broad19880815p44">{{Cite magazine |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Scott |last2=Stump |first2=Matt |last3=Brown |first3=Rich |date=August 15, 1988 |title=Football rights pass $600 million |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1988/BC-1988-08-15.pdf |magazine=Broadcasting |volume=115 |issue=7 |pages=44–45, 47–48 |access-date=February 14, 2023 |via=World Radio History |archive-date=January 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131030244/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1988/BC-1988-08-15.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ND19990913">{{cite web |date=September 13, 1999 |title=Irish Looks To Continue Ten-Game Home Win Streak |url=http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/091399aab.html  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503100824/http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/091399aab.html |archive-date=May 3, 2012 |access-date=March 1, 2010 |website=Notre Dame Fighting Irish, The Official Athletic Site |publisher=CBS Interactive}} This source refers to "Mutual/Westwood One" months after Mutual's dissolution had taken place.</ref>