Edward Bowes

Major Bowes Amateur Hour, radio‘s best-known talent show, was one of 
the country’s most popular programs broadcast in the 1930s and 40s. It 
was created and hosted by Edward Bowes who presided over the radio 
program until his death on his 72nd birthday, June 14, 1946. 

Bowes brought his amateur hour to New York City’s radio station WHN 
in April 1934. On March 24, 1935, the NBC Radio picked up the show,
with sponsor Chase and Sanborn. It ran on NBC until September of
1936, when it moved to CBS Radio for the remainder of its run on
radio in 1952.  By then the show was known simply as The Original
Amateur Hour.

Bowes with a young contestant on the CBS Radio show