America's history through the lens of 20th century broadcast media
Copyright 2018
Greenstone Media Consulting, LLC
Broadcast History
The Breakfast Club, developed in and broadcast from Chicago, was hosted throughout its long life by Don McNeill.  The program was structured in distinct segments which focused around the "call to breakfast" and had many featured performers over the years.  Described by some as one of the corniest programs imaginable, it was a creature of its time reflective of a far simpler American life that developed in the latter portion of the 1990s.  As much as its was seemingly outdated, its endurance until 1968 was a testimonial to the dedication of its audience.  It was the last live, entertainment program carred on ABC (by the of its run it was being carried on the American Entertainment Radio Network, one of the four networks into which the ABC Radio Network split itself in 1968 and was the motive for naming that network for "entertainment."
Breakfast Club
Blue Network - ABC
1933 - 1968
Membership card, Blue Network, 1943                  
Program souvenir, TV program, c. 1953                
No cigarettes, 1943.  The Breakfast Club's response to a national cigarette shortage during World War II.  The box contained nothing but air.
Merchandise Mart, Chicago, set up for Breakfast Club, 1940s
Membership card, TV Club, c. 1951