Documentation is particularly impressive for the program department. They document the handling of commericial sponsorship, the disposition of program ideas and the coverage of news and special events. There are also significant files for ABC’s general services, sales, engineering, station relations, and station publicity. Topics treated include audience, broadcast, and station promotion; newspaper and magazine advertising; censorship; and relations with advertising agencies and affiliates.

News Department files are not thorough and document only a few years. Of anecdotal interest is a letter from Elmer Lowery regarding the recent hiring of Peter Jennings which predicts a “rosy future” for him at ABC (August 4, 1964, News Dept. Programs)

The most comprehensive files, although they exist only for the year 1959, are those for “American Bandstand.” Many photocopied records are illegible. Most records concern advertising spots on the show and consist of orders fro shows which record the advertisers name. Particularly of interest in light of the Payola scandal involving Dick Clark is correspondence recording the cancellation of practices that protected clients of “American Bandstand” from competitive products being advertised on the show. A complete Advertising Proposal feature, “American Bandstand,” is included.

“The Danny Thomas” show is also well documented with heavy correspondence regarding sponsorship of the show. Network records on the “Mike Wallace Show” deal primarily with the sale of the show to the Philip Morris Company. Audience letters regarding Mike Wallace and his interview style predominate, as do replies from Goldenson. An eloquent letter from Thomas W. Moore on November 11, 1963 documents efforts of ABC to sensitively handle coverage of President John F. Kennedy’s funeral.