15 Minutes with Bing Crosby for radio as for recording, he's a cinch for ether popularity." The nationwide shows continued daily (except Sundays) on a sustaining basis until October 31, 1931 from station WABC in New York. Harry Von Zell was the announcer. Freddie Rich led the orchestra after the first week. Russ Columbo was broadcasting for NBC at 11:30 p.m. each night as competition for Bing with "Variety" noting "Scrap between NBC & CBS over Russ Columbo and Bing Crosby is getting warm." Crosby's popularity soon attracted a sponsor - the American Tobacco Company - and rather than Lucky Strike cigarettes, the company's president,
Seasons (Bing Crosby album) on BBC Radio2 on December 27, 1977. The BBC LP REB 398 - ‘Bing - The Final Chapter’ captures this final performance. Tracks 13-17 were poetry readings by Crosby recorded on September 14, 1977 for charitable purposes and for issue to the various Crosby fan clubs but they remained unissued until the Collectors' Choice CD in 2010. The album entered the UK album charts in December 1977 and remained there for seven weeks with a peak position of #25. Variety commented: "If it were merely that this is the last recording Bing Crosby ever made, it would be more than