Entrepreneurship Bing Crosby

1 entrepreneurship

1.1 role in tape recording
1.2 videotape development
1.3 tv station ownership
1.4 thoroughbred horse racing

entrepreneurship
role in tape recording

during golden age of radio, performers had create shows live, redoing program second time west coast time zone. crosby s radio career took significant turn in 1945, when clashed nbc on insistence allowed pre-record radio shows. (the live production of radio shows reinforced musicians union , ascap, wanted ensure continued work members.) in on air: encyclopedia of old-time radio, historian john dunning wrote german engineers having developed tape recorder near-professional broadcast quality standard:

[crosby saw] enormous advantage in prerecording radio shows. scheduling done @ star s convenience. 4 shows week, if chose, , take month off. networks , sponsors adamantly opposed. public wouldn t stand canned radio, networks argued. there magic listeners in fact hearing being performed , heard everywhere, @ precise instant. of best moments in comedy came when line blown , star had rely on wit rescue bad situation. fred allen, jack benny, phil harris, , crosby masters @ this, , networks weren t give easily.

crosby s insistence factored further development of magnetic tape sound recording , radio industry s widespread adoption of it. used clout, both professional , financial, innovate new methods of reproducing audio of performances. nbc (and competitor cbs) insistent, refusing air prerecorded radio programs. crosby walked away network , stayed off air 7 months, creating legal battle kraft, sponsor, settled out of court. crosby returned air last 13 weeks of 1945–1946 season.

the mutual network, on other hand, had pre-recorded of programs 1938 run of shadow orson welles. , new abc network, had been formed out of sale of old nbc blue network in 1943 following federal anti-trust action, willing join mutual in breaking tradition. abc offered crosby $30,000 per week produce recorded show every wednesday sponsored philco. additional $40,000 400 independent stations rights broadcast 30-minute show, sent them every monday on 3 16-inch lacquer discs played ten minutes per side @ 33⅓ rpm.

crosby wanted change recorded production several reasons. legend has been told give him more time golf game. , did record first philco program in august 1947 enter jasper national park invitational golf tournament in september, when new radio season start. golf not important reason.

with perry como , arthur godfrey in 1950

though crosby did want more time tend other business , leisure activities, sought better quality through recording, including being able eliminate mistakes , control timing of show performances. because own bing crosby enterprises produced show, purchase latest , best sound equipment , arrange microphones way; logistics of microphone placement had long been hotly debated issue in every recording studio since beginning of electrical era. no longer have wear hated toupee on head required cbs , nbc live audience shows (he preferred hat). record short promotions latest investment, world s first frozen orange juice, sold under brand name minute maid. investment allowed crosby make more money finding loophole whereby irs couldn t tax him @ 77% rate.

murdo mackenzie of bing crosby enterprises had seen demonstration of german magnetophon in june 1947—the same device jack mullin had brought radio frankfurt, along 50 reels of tape, @ end of war. 1 of magnetic tape recorders basf , aeg had built in germany starting in 1935. 6.5mm ferric-oxide-coated tape record 20 minutes per reel of high-quality sound. alexander m. poniatoff ordered ampex company, d founded in 1944, manufacture improved version of magnetophone.

crosby hired mullin start recording philco radio time show on german-made machine in august 1947, using same 50 reels of i.g. farben magnetic tape mullin had found @ radio station @ bad nauheim near frankfurt while working u.s. army signal corps. crucial advantage editing. crosby wrote in autobiography:

by using tape, thirty-five or forty-minute show, edit down twenty-six or twenty-seven minutes program ran. in way, take out jokes, gags, or situations didn t play , finish prime meat of show; solid stuff played big. take out songs didn t sound good. gave chance first try recording of songs in afternoon without audience, 1 in front of studio audience. d dub 1 came off best final transcription. gave chance ad lib as wanted, knowing excess ad libbing sliced final product. if made mistake in singing song or in script, have fun it, retain of fun sounded amusing.

mullin s 1976 memoir of these days of experimental recording agrees crosby s account:

in evening, crosby did whole show before audience. if muffed song then, audience loved it—thought funny—but have take out show version , put in 1 of rehearsal takes. sometimes, if crosby having fun song , not working @ it, had make out of 2 or 3 parts. ad lib way of working commonplace in recording studios today, new us.

crosby invested us$50,000 in ampex eye towards producing more machines. in 1948, second season of philco shows taped new ampex model 200 tape recorder using new scotch 111 tape minnesota mining , manufacturing (3m) company. mullin explained how 1 new broadcasting technique invented on crosby show these machines:

one time bob burns, hillbilly comic, on show, , threw in few of folksy farm stories, of course not in bill morrow s script. today wouldn t seem off-color, things different on radio then. got enormous laughs, went on , on. couldn t use jokes, bill asked save laughs. couple of weeks later had show wasn t funny, , insisted put in salvaged laughs. laugh-track born.

crosby had launched tape recorder revolution in america. in 1950 film mr. music, crosby seen singing 1 of new ampex tape recorders reproduced voice better else. quick adopt tape recording friend bob hope. gave 1 of first ampex model 300 recorders friend, musician les paul, led directly paul s invention of multitrack recording. organization, crosby research foundation, held various tape recording patents , developed equipment , recording techniques such laugh track still in use today.

along frank sinatra, crosby 1 of principal backers behind famous united western recorders recording studio complex in los angeles.

videotape development

mullin continued work crosby develop videotape recorder (vtr). television production live television in years, crosby wanted same ability record had achieved in radio. 1950 s fireside theater, sponsored procter & gamble, first television production. mullin had not yet succeeded videotape, crosby filmed series of 26-minute shows @ hal roach studios, , telefilms syndicated individual television stations.

crosby continued finance development of videotape. bing crosby enterprises (bce) gave world s first demonstration of videotape recording in los angeles on november 11, 1951. developed john t. mullin , wayne r. johnson since 1950, device aired described blurred , indistinct images, using modified ampex 200 tape recorder , standard quarter-inch (6.3 mm) audio tape moving @ 360 inches (9.1 m) per second.

tv station ownership

a crosby-led group purchased station kcop-tv, in los angeles, california, in 1954. nafi corporation , crosby purchased television station kptv, in portland, oregon, $4 million on september 1, 1959. in 1960, nafi purchased kcop crosby s group. in 1950s, crosby helped establish cbs television affiliate in hometown of spokane, washington. partnered ed craney, owned cbs radio affiliate, kxly (am), , built television studio west of crosby s alma mater, gonzaga university. once begin broadcasting, station sold within year northern pacific radio , television corp.

thoroughbred horse racing

crosby fan of thoroughbred horse racing , bought first racehorse in 1935. in 1937, became founding partner of del mar thoroughbred club , member of board of directors. operating del mar racetrack @ del mar, california, group included millionaire businessman charles s. howard, owned successful racing stable included seabiscuit. charles son, lindsay c. howard became 1 of crosby s closest friends; crosby named son lindsay after him, , purchase 40-room hillsborough, california estate lindsay in 1965.

crosby , lindsay howard formed binglin stable race , breed thoroughbred horses @ ranch in moorpark in ventura county, california. established binglin stock farm in argentina, raced horses @ hipódromo de palermo in palermo, buenos aires. number of argentine-bred horses purchased , shipped race in united states. on august 12, 1938, del mar thoroughbred club hosted $25,000 winner-take-all match race won charles s. howard s seabiscuit on binglin s horse ligaroti. in 1943, binglin s horse don bingo won suburban handicap @ belmont park in elmont, new york.

the binglin stable partnership came end in 1953 result of liquidation of assets crosby, needed raise enough funds pay hefty federal , state inheritance taxes on deceased wife s estate. bing crosby breeders cup handicap @ del mar racetrack named in honor.

crosby co-owner of british colt meadow court, jockey johnny longden s friend max bell. meadow court won 1965 king george vi , queen elizabeth stakes, , irish derby. in irish derby s winner s circle @ curragh, crosby sang when irish eyes smiling .

though crosby s stables had success, joked horse racing failures part of radio appearances. crosby s horse came in became running gag.