NBC’s Concentration, aired for 14  years, 7 months for a total of 3,770 telecasts
from August 25, 1958 to March 23, 1973, the longest run of any game show on
NBC. The series was hosted by Hugh Downs (pictured above) and later by Bob
Clayton (below). For a six-month period from March to September 1969, Ed
McMahan hosted the show which was based on the children’s memory game
of the same name.
 

Rare shot of Bob Clayton in front of the puzzle board

The first issue of the Concentration Puzzles magazine

The quiz show Truth or Consequences, was originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph 
Edwards (above) from 1940 to 1957. It was an instant hit with listeners. The shows
contestants had to answer a trivia question correctly (usually an off-the-wall question
that no one would be able to answer correctly, or a bad joke) and had about two 
seconds to do so before "Beulah the Buzzer" was sounded. If the contestant could  
not complete the "Truth" portion, there would be "Consequences," usually a zany
and embarrassing stunt. Edwards created the show which was based on a game 
he played on his family’s farm as a boy. The program would become a landmark 
in broadcast history as radio’s No. 1 audience participation show.

Ralph Edwards (holding microphone ) introducing contestants

Contestants singing  a “Consequence” stunt

The 25th annual Academy Awards show was first televised on NBC which continued to cover the event until 1960 when the ABC Network took over, televising the festivities through 1970, after which NBC resumed the broadcasts. ABC once again took over broadcast duties in 1976; it is under contract to do so through the year 2020. Bob
Hope is shown above hosting the first televised ceremony.

Ed Herlihy (August 14, 1909 – January 30, 1999) was a newsreel 
narrator for Universal-International. His voice was heard in many
films on every subject, making him one of the best-known voices  
in broadcast history. He also was a long-time radio and television
announcer for NBC,  and was briefly interim announcer on The
Tonight Show in 1962. Ed was also the voice of Kraft Foods radio  
and TV commercials from the 1940s through the early 1980s.

Narrator…Ed Herlihy

Five Star Jubilee was a country music variety show carried by NBC-TV from
March 17–September 22, 1961. The live program, a spin-off of ABC-TV’s Jubilee
USA, was the first network color television series to originate outside New York
City or Hollywood. It was produced from the Landers Theater (above) in Springfield, Missouri. The series featured five rotating hosts, Snooky Lanson, Tex Ritter, Rex
Allen, Jimmy Wakely, and Carl Smith. The sponsor was Massey Ferguson.