While Ralph Edwards is perhaps best known today for his work in television, his involvement with radio spanned several decades dating back to 1929. He is one of a handful of radio stars that caused a town to change its name.

Early Years

  Edwards spent his formative years on the family farm in Colorado. The family moved to Oakland, California when he was 16 and he completed high school there in 1931. He began his broadcast career in 1929, while still in high school, at station KROW in Oakland. The station manager had been impressed with a high school play Edwards wrote and hired him to write scripts for radio-at the munificent pay of $1.00 per script. He soon took on general announcing (and some acting) duties as well.

Edwards entered the University of California, Berkeley in 1931, and had earned a BA in English by 1935, intent on becoming an English teacher. While in school, however, he kept a hand in radio, working at KTAB in Oakland. Upon graduation, with few jobs available to him in education at that time, Edwards decided to work in radio.·

Radio Years

  Not finding much in the way of full-time employment in California, Edwards hitch-hiked to New York to try his luck there. He took on various part-time announcing duties in 1936 while living hand-to-mouth. Slowly things picked up. He was soon performing actor duties in several network plays, and in 1938 won a coveted full-time staff announcer's position at CBS, beating nearly 70 rivals. Within a year he was announcing some 45 network programs, mostly daytime offerings, every week, and was said to be one of the busiest announcers in the business.

Over the next several years Edwards would serve as host or announcer on dozens of programs, among them Vic and Sade, The Phil Baker Show, Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour, Life Can Be Beautiful, The Quiz Show, and The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour. Despite his success as a network announcer and emcee, he was not content (the work was monotonous and boring) and sought greater opportunities.

This move involved his recollecting a childhood game, which in turn led to his creation in 1940 of what would become one of radio's pioneer game shows, Truth or Consequences. Edwards sold the idea to the Compton Agency and Procter & Gamble and that package was sold to CBS in March, setting up his own production firm. Edwards was then 26. The program was the number one audience participation program for the next three years (though now on NBC). Prizes were minor ($10 or $15); everyone listened for the silly consequences of the (usually) wrong answers to the questions posed. Truth or Consequences was broadcast live until 1948, repeated twice on its Saturday schedule, at 8 P.M. for the Eastern and Central Time Zones, and three hours later for broadcast on the West Coast. Edwards later remembered they used the same scripts but new contestants for the rebroadcast. The program continued to enjoy enormous ratings success for years, becoming a network staple. As Dunning relates, many of rhe stunts (the "consequences") were highly elaborate, some stretching out for weeks at a time, often including audience participation. In 1950 the New Mexico town of Hot Springs changed its name to Truth or Consequences in honor of the top-rated radio show. To mark the program's approaching tenth anniversary, Edwards had offered to host an annual celebration in and nationwide broadcast from any town willing to change its name to Truth or Consequences. The Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce spread the news of the offer to advertise the city free of charge. No longer would they be confused with other towns named Hot Springs across the country. A special city election voted by a margin of ten to one to change the name to Truth or Consequences. After a protest by nearly 300 area residents another election saw the votes in favor win by an even greater margin. Edwards kept his promise and aired the first live, coast-to-coast broadcast of Truth or Consequences from the newly named New Mexico town. Until the late 1990s, Edwards returned annually to the town of 7,000 people for the name-change celebration Fiesta. (In two later referenda, in January 1964, and again in August 1967, townspeople voted to retain the name. There is even a Ralph Edwards Park.)

In 1948, based on a minor "consequence" of his famous program, Edwards would create This Is Your Life, debuting first on radio and eventually enjoying a longer run (1952-61) on television, making Edwards a household name. During his long career, he also made a name for himself through his significant efforts for charity. During World War II, Edwards' formidable work for the War Bond drives won him wide praise, and his later involvement with the American Heart Association and the March of Dimes brought him further accolades.

Later Career

  Edwards would enjoy considerable success in the television medium as both a producer and host. Ralph Edwards Productions became part of Aquarius Productions in 1957 after 17 years as a sole proprietorship operation. After their long network runs, with several different hosts, both This is Your Life (1971-72, 1983) and Truth or Consequences (1966- 74,1977-78, 1987) were revived for first-run syndication. In 1978 all the Edwards companies (there were a number of them) and programs were merged into Aquarius and renamed Ralph Edwards Productions. That company began to syndicate People's Court in 1981.