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,
The Bing Crosby – Chesterfield Show in June 1949. Crosby then returned to CBS where Chesterfield cigarettes picked up the sponsorship tab for his show. The show was named The Bing Crosby Show for Chesterfield and premiered on September 21, 1949. Following his three-year stint with Philco which had concluded in the previous June, Bing Crosby’s first programme with his new sponsors was broadcast on the 21st September 1949. The decade which was drawing to a close had consolidated Crosby’s position as the world’s most popular singer and in comparison to periods of a similar duration, was his most productive in terms of feature films, records,