Editing Amalgamated Broadcasting System (section)

==Failure and aftermath==
Despite initial high hopes, the ABS network struggled from the beginning. The plan to greatly restrict advertising "ballyhoo" was even more successful than intended, for despite Wynn's claim in March that there were "twenty-seven sponsors ready",<ref name="plan"/> none of the ABS offerings ever gained sponsorship. (Affiliates therefore had to pay the network to carry its unsponsored "sustaining programs".) Chronically under-financed, there were reports that the employees had worked unpaid for weeks, and when they finally began to receive salaries, it was at half-pay.<ref name="mistake">[https://www.otrr.org/FILES/Magz_pdf/Radio%20Stars/Radio%20Stars%203402.pdf#page=10 "The Secret Story of Ed Wynn's Greatest Mistake"] by John Skinner, ''Radio Stars'', February 1934, pages 10-11, 66-67. (otrr.org)</ref>

Wynn returned from Hollywood to investigate reports that the network was faltering. Prior to its launch, a confident Wynn had said, "We may get knocked down a couple of times but we'll get up smiling and go right ahead toward our objective, building slowly but firmly so that each time we take a set-back — if we must take set-backs — it will be only for a short distance. Then we will build back up from there."<ref name="plan" /> However, he was shocked to find the situation unsalvageable, and resigned as ABS president on October 25.<ref>[https://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/New%20York%20Evening%20Post/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Post%201933%20Grayscale/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Post%201933%20Grayscale%20-%206132.pdf "Ed Wynn Fires Himself; Comedian, Not Executive"], ''New York Evening Post'', October 25, 1933, page 12. (fultonhistory.com)</ref> A series of unsuccessful attempts were made by Gygi to save the network, but Amalgamated ceased operations at midnight November 1, 1933, only five weeks after its start. Within a few days creditors had forced the network into involuntary bankruptcy and liquidation, with the $10,000 pipe organ sold for $1,000, and the studios acquired for use by a Newark, New Jersey, station, [[WBBR|WNEW]].<ref>[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Popular-Communications/80s/Popular-Communications-1989-08.pdf#page=32 "Broadcasting's Biggest Bomb"] by Tom Kneitel, ''Popular Communications'', August 1989, pages 32-35.</ref> Ed Wynn felt ashamed and personally responsible for the ABS fiasco. He vowed to repay the investors, whose losses were estimated to be as much as in excess of $300,000.<ref name="tonight"/> The resulting pressure, plus the end of ''The Fire Chief Program'' and his marital trouble two years later, helped drive the comedian toward a nervous breakdown by the end of the 1930s.

The film ''[[The Great Man]]'' (1956), which has a broadcasting background and features Ed Wynn in a supporting role, is based at a fictional network known as the "Amalgamated Broadcasting Network". A recording of ABS's inaugural broadcast survives and is circulated among old-time radio fans.<ref name="biel">[http://jeff560.tripod.com/am8.html "The Amalgamated Network and the WNEW Call"] by Dr. Michael Biel, August 19, 1997.</ref>

The ABS failure did not deter others from promoting their own "third network" attempts:
* One eventual success was the [[Mutual Broadcasting System]] (Mutual), although it would never gain the prominence of the older NBC and CBS networks. It was established on September 29, 1934, and was long considered the fourth major radio network following the formation of ABC.
* NBC's Blue network was sold in 1943 to America Broadcasting System, Inc., a radio broadcaster controlled by former undersecretary of commerce and then-Chairman of Live Savers Corp. Edward J. Noble, after which it initially took on "The Blue Network" branding. In 1945, the Blue Network was folded into Noble's ABS, and re-branded as the "American Broadcasting Company" (ABC). ABC's radio network replaced CBS as the third major radio network, behind NBC and CBS.

Aside from "third network" attempts, there were other national network attempts:
*Ota Gygi in 1934 unsuccessfully tried to form a network around station [[WMVP|WCFL]] in Chicago, then in 1936 found a new backer, Chicago industrialist [[Samuel Insull]], and became vice president of the short-lived Affiliated Broadcasting Company (ABC; pre-Edward Noble).<ref>{{cite web |title=Business: Insull & Pennies |url=https://time.com/archive/6755129/business-insull-pennies/ |website=Time.com |access-date=22 October 2024 |date=24 February 1936}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Heinl |first1=Robert D. |title=Heinl radio business letter (Jan-June 1936) |url=https://archive.org/details/heinlradiobusine1936hein/mode/2up |publisher=Washington D.C. : Robert D. Heinl |date=1936}}</ref> (In contrast, when Ed Wynn was asked if he would make another attempt at organizing a radio network, his firm reply was: "Never again. My business is to make people laugh, not to make myself feel like crying.")<ref name="mistake" />

After ABC's establishment as the third major radio network, there were attempts at additional national radio networks:
* The [[Liberty Broadcasting System]] (LBS; considered second in size to Mutual), launched in 1948 by [[Gordon McLendon]], which mainly aired live recreations of [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) games, but also aired various other types of programming, such as late night band remotes.
*The [[Progressive Broadcasting System]] (PBS; considered below LBS), a short-lived radio network launched in the 1950s, which "catered to small radio stations".