May 15, 1943: ABC Is Founded

May 15, 1943: The American Broadcasting Company (ABC), takes over the radio stations of the NBC Blue Network. This is recognized as the birthdate of "The Alphabet Network."

ABC would lag well behind NBC, CBS, and even MBS (Mutual Broadcasting System) for many years. And the DuMont Television Network would lead it in TV operations for a while. It was the Army-McCarthy hearings, broadcast live from the U.S. Capitol Building in June 1954, that are said to have "made" ABC as a major network -- if only the 3rd-biggest, behind NBC and CBS. It did, however, surpass DuMont, which went out of business in 1956; and Mutual, which never made the jump to television, limiting itself to radio for its entire existence, 1934 to 1999.

It would be sports that lifted ABC up. In 1960, broadcasting from Rome, it brought the Olympics to America live. The following year, ABC Wide World of Sports began, showing people sporting events, as the title suggested, from all over the world. In 1970, it began broadcasting ABC Monday Night Football. Monday Night Baseball followed in 1976.

By that point, ABC was airing situation comedies like Happy Days, and police dramas like Starsky & Hutch, and the two bigger networks had slipped. NBC entered the darkest period in its history, and CBS dipped in the ratings just enough for ABC to become Number 1 for the 1st time. Now, when people spoke of the "Big Three networks," it was not only no longer a joke to include ABC, they were, for a time, an obligatory 1st.

Despite the encroachment of Fox in the 1980s, and the cable boom thereafter, ABC remains one of the Big Three.

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May 15, 1943 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Mel Ott, by this point also the Giants' manager, hit a home run to win it the game the bottom of the 11th inning. It is the 447th home run of his career, the most in National League history to that point, a record he will extend to 511, and hold until surpassed by a later Giant, Willie Mays, in 1966.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 13-6 at Ebbets Field. Al Glassop hit a home run. 2nd baseman Billy Herman, a future Hall-of-Famer, went 3-for-5 with 5 RBIs against his former team.

* The Boston Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0 at Braves Field in Boston. Nate Andrews pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Johnny Vander Meer.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Stan Musial went 1-for-5. Mort Cooper was the winning pitcher, and helped his own cause with a home run.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-0 at League Park in Cleveland. Jack Salveson pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 8-1 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The New York Yankees and the St. Louis Browns were rained out at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was made up on August 10. The Browns won, 10-2.

* And the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. This game was also made up on August 10. The White Sox won, 4-2.