Arkansas
Arkansas is a state in the southern region of the United States, home to over 3 million people as of 2018. Its name is of Siouan derivation from the language of the Osage denoting their related kin, the Quapaw Indians; the state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U. S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta. Arkansas is the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States; the capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state, a hub for transportation, business and government. The northwestern corner of the state, such as the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is a population and economic center; the largest city in the state's eastern part is Jonesboro. The largest city in the state's southeastern part is Pine Bluff.
The Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15, 1836. In 1861, Arkansas withdrew from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. On returning to the Union in 1868, the state continued to suffer due to its earlier reliance on slavery and the plantation economy, causing the state to fall behind economically and socially. White rural interests continued to dominate the state's politics until the civil rights movement. Arkansas began to diversify its economy following World War II and relies on its service industry, poultry, tourism and rice; the culture of Arkansas is observable in museums, novels, television shows and athletic venues across the state. People such as politician and educational advocate William Fulbright; the name Arkansas was applied to the Arkansas River and derives from a French term, the plural term for Quapaws, a Dhegiha Siouan-speaking Native American people who settled in Arkansas around the 13th century.
This comes from an Algonquian term, /akansa/, for the Quapaws, is also the root term for Kansas. The name has been spelled in a variety of fashions. In 1881, the pronunciation of Arkansas with the final "s" being silent was made official by an act of the state legislature after a dispute arose between Arkansas's two U. S. senators as one favored the pronunciation as AR-kən-saw while the other favored ar-KAN-zəs. In 2007, the state legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring that the possessive form of the state's name is Arkansas's, followed by the state government. Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east; the United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States. The Mississippi River forms most of Arkansas's eastern border, except in Clay and Greene, counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, in many places where the channel of the Mississippi has meandered from its original 1836 course.
Arkansas can be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest half and the lowlands of the southeastern half. The highlands are part of the Southern Interior Highlands, including The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains; the southern lowlands include the Arkansas Delta. This dual split can yield to general regions named northwest, northeast, southeast, or central Arkansas; these directionally named regions are broad and not defined along county lines. Arkansas has seven distinct natural regions: the Ozark Mountains, Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas River Valley, Gulf Coastal Plain, Crowley's Ridge, the Arkansas Delta, with Central Arkansas sometimes included as a blend of multiple regions; the southeastern part of Arkansas along the Mississippi Alluvial Plain is sometimes called the Arkansas Delta. This region is a flat landscape of rich alluvial soils formed by repeated flooding of the adjacent Mississippi. Farther away from the river, in the southeast portion of the state, the Grand Prairie consists of a more undulating landscape.
Both are fertile agricultural areas. The Delta region is bisected by a geological formation known as Crowley's Ridge. A narrow band of rolling hills, Crowley's Ridge rises from 250 to 500 feet above the surrounding alluvial plain and underlies many of the major towns of eastern Arkansas. Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Ozark Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains, these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; these mountain ranges are part of the U. S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains; the highest point in the state is Mount Magazine in the Ouachita Mountains, which rises to 2,753 feet above sea level. Arkansas has many rivers and reservoirs within or along its borders. Major tributaries of the Mississippi River include the Arkansas River, the White River, the St. Francis River; the Arkansas is fed by the Mulberry River and the Fou
Jean Smart
Jean Elizabeth Smart is an American actress. After beginning her career in regional theater in the Pacific Northwest, she appeared on Broadway as Marlene Dietrich in Piaf in 1981. Smart was cast in a lead role as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women, which she played from 1986 to 1991, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the 2000 Broadway revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner, would go on to win two Emmy Awards for her role as Lana Gardener on the NBC sitcom Frasier, a third Emmy in 2008 for her role as Regina Newley on the ABC sitcom Samantha Who?. Her film credits include The Brady Bunch Movie, Sweet Home Alabama, I Heart Huckabees, The Accountant. Between 2006 and 2007, she portrayed Martha Logan on the series 24, starred as Floyd Gerhardt on Noah Hawley's FX series Fargo, which earned her a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as an Emmy Award nomination. Since 2017, she stars in the FX series Legion by Hawley, her most recent appearance is in the Bravo and now Netflix true crime series Dirty John.
She plays the character mother of Debra Newell. Smart was born and raised in Seattle, the daughter of Kathleen Marie "Kay" and Douglas Alexander Smart, a teacher, she is the second of four children. Smart was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. On Season 10 of the television show Who Do You Think You Are?, Smart discovered she is a direct descendant of Dorcas Hoar, one of the last women convicted of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. She is a 1969 graduate of Ballard High School in Seattle, she graduated from the University of Washington Professional Actors Training Program with a BFA. Smart is a member of the University of Washington chapter of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. After graduating from college, Smart began her career appearing in regional theater throughout the Pacific Northwest, including in Washington and Oregon, she performed with the Seattle Repertory Theater as well as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. In the mid-1970s, she moved to New York City with college friend and fellow actress, Elizabeth Wingate, began working in Off-Broadway and professional regional productions.
In 1980 she appeared as Lady Macbeth at the Pittsburgh Public Theater opposite Tom Atkins as Macbeth and Keith Fowler as Macduff. In 1981, Smart was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in the Off-Broadway play Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. In February 1981, Smart appeared in a Broadway production of Piaf playing Marlene Dietrich, a role which she would reprise for the 1984 television version. In addition to theater, Smart began working in television in several smaller to mid-size guest parts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, appearing on The Facts of Life and Remington Steele among several others. According to Smart, after roles on the short-lived series Teachers Only and Reggie in 1983, "casting directors just decided I was funny; when that happens, you get pigeonholed, but I was fortunate. I got to move back and forth." The following year, she had a supporting part in the thriller Flashpoint. In 1985, Smart was cast in the starring role of Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the comedy series Designing Women, a role she played from the show's beginning in 1986 through its fifth season.
After leaving Designing Women, her work concentrated within made-for-television movies and supporting roles in films. Notably she portrayed serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, in the TV movie, Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story, followed by a supporting part in the black comedy Mistress, opposite Robert De Niro and Eli Wallach. Critic Roger Ebert praised the film and called Smart's character portrayal "calculating."The following year, she appeared in the family drama Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, as Ory Baxter in a television version of The Yearling. She was cast as Sally Brewton in the television miniseries Scarlett, appeared in a supporting role in The Brady Bunch Movie, she would appear in the television thriller film A Stranger In Town, opposite Gregory Hines. In 1995 Smart was cast as the lead in the comedy series High Society, which co-starred Mary McDonnell and ran for 13 episodes, followed by a role opposite Nancy McKeon in another short-lived CBS sitcom, Style & Substance. Other roles included a part in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple II, as Deborah Sloane in the drama Guinevere.
She had a lead role in the comedy Forever Fabulous as an aging beauty queen. In 2000, Smart was cast as Lana Gardner on the hit show Frasier, set in her hometown of Seattle, she went on to win two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Reflecting on the role, Smart said: "I had loved that role on Frasier so much that first episode. It’s nice to get nominated and win for something you were proud of. At the time I was a little bit snobby about doing guest parts. Based on what I don’t know, it wasn't something. But my agent said, “You have to read this.” I thought it was hilarious and the show was brilliant so I didn’t hesitate. I remember when we did the table read with the rest of the cast we could hardly get through it we were laughing so hard."The same year, she played in a Broadway production of The Man Who Came to Dinner, which earned her a Tony Award nomination. Soon after, she landed roles in several high-profile films including Sweet Home Alabama, playing the mother in law of Reese Witherspoon, in the comedy Bringing Down The House, opposite
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and most populous city of the U. S. state of Arkansas. It is the county seat of Pulaski County, it was incorporated on November 7, 1831, on the south bank of the Arkansas River close to the state's geographic center. The city derives its name from a rock formation along the river, named the "Little Rock" by the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe in the 1720s; the capital of the Arkansas Territory was moved to Little Rock from Arkansas Post in 1821. The city's population was 198,541 in 2016 according to the United States Census Bureau; the six-county Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area is ranked 78th in terms of population in the United States with 738,344 residents according to the 2017 estimate by the United States Census Bureau. Little Rock is a cultural, economic and transportation center within Arkansas and the South. Several cultural institutions are in Little Rock, such as the Arkansas Arts Center, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, in addition to hiking and other outdoor recreational opportunities.
Little Rock's history is available through history museums, historic districts or neighborhoods like the Quapaw Quarter, historic sites such as Little Rock Central High School. The city is the headquarters of Dillard's, Windstream Communications, Stephens Inc. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Heifer International, the Clinton Foundation, the Rose Law Firm, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Other corporations, such as Dassault Falcon Jet, LM Wind Power, Simmons Bank, Euronet Worldwide, AT&T, Entergy have large operations in the city. State government is a large employer, with many offices downtown. Two major Interstate highways, Interstate 30 and Interstate 40, meet in Little Rock, with the Port of Little Rock serving as a shipping hub. Little Rock derives its name from a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River called the "Little Rock"; the Little Rock was used by early river traffic as a landmark and became a well-known river crossing. The Little Rock is across the river from The Big Rock, a large bluff at the edge of the river, once used as a rock quarry.
Archeological artifacts provide evidence of Native Americans inhabiting Central Arkansas for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. The early inhabitants may have been the Folsom people, Bluff Dwellers, Mississippian culture peoples who built earthwork mounds recorded in 1541 by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Historical tribes of the area were the Caddo, Osage and Cherokee. Little Rock was named for a stone outcropping on the bank of the Arkansas River used by early travelers as a landmark, it was named in 1722 by French explorer and trader Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe, marked the transition from the flat Mississippi Delta region to the Ouachita Mountain foothills. Travelers referred to the area as the "Little Rock." Though there was an effort to name the city "Arkopolis" upon its founding in the 1820s, that name did appear on a few maps made by the US Geological Survey, the name Little Rock is what stuck. Little Rock is located at 34°44′10″N 92°19′52″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 116.8 square miles, of which 116.2 square miles is land and 0.6 square miles is water.
Little Rock is located on the south bank of the Arkansas River in Central Arkansas. Fourche Creek and Rock Creek run through the city, flow into the river; the western part of the city is located in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Northwest of the city limits are Pinnacle Mountain and Lake Maumelle, which provides Little Rock's drinking water; the city of North Little Rock is located just across the river from Little Rock, but it is a separate city. North Little Rock was once the 8th ward of Little Rock. An Arkansas Supreme Court decision on February 6, 1904, allowed the ward to merge with the neighboring town of North Little Rock; the merged town renamed itself Argenta, but returned to its original name in October 1917. The 2017 U. S. Census population estimate for the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area was 738,344; the MSA covers the following counties: Pulaski, Grant, Lonoke and Saline. The largest cities are Little Rock, North Little Rock, Jacksonville, Sherwood, Cabot and Bryant.
Little Rock lies in the humid subtropical climate zone, with hot, humid summers and cool winters, with little snow. It has experienced temperatures as low as −12 °F, recorded on February 12, 1899, as high as 114 °F, recorded on August 3, 2011; as of the 2005–2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U. S. Census Bureau, White Americans made up 52.7% of Little Rock's population. Blacks or African Americans made up 42.1% of Little Rock's population, with 42.0% being non-Hispanic blacks. American Indians made up 0.4% of Little Rock's population while Asian Americans made up 2.1% of the city's population. Pacific Islander Americans made up less than 0.1% of the city's population. Individuals from some other race made up 1.2% of the city's population. Individuals from two or more races made up 1.4% of the city's population. In addition and Latinos made up 4.7% of Little Rock's population. As of the 2010 census, there were 193,524 people, 82,018 households, 47,799 families residing in the city; the population density was 1,576.0 people p
Alice Ghostley
Alice Margaret Ghostley was an American actress and singer. She was best known for her roles as the bungling insecure Esmeralda on Bewitched, as Cousin Alice on Mayberry R. F. D. and as Bernice Clifton on Designing Women, for which she received an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1992. She was a regular on The Julie Andrews Hour. Ghostley was born in Eve, Missouri in 1923 to Edna Muriel and Harry Francis Ghostley, who worked as a telegraph operator, she grew up in Oklahoma. She dropped out to pursue a career in theatre. Ghostley first came to Broadway in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952 and in the film version released in 1954, she appeared in the 1960 revue A Thurber Carnival and in The Beauty Part, playing several distinct roles in each. She performed in several musical comedies, including Shangri-La. In 1978, she succeeded Dorothy Loudon, who had created the role of Miss Hannigan in the original Broadway run of the musical Annie. A veteran of early television, Ghostley appeared as Joy, one of the ugly stepsisters in the 1957 musical television production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Cinderella, which starred Julie Andrews in the title role.
The other stepsister was played by actress Kaye Ballard. Twelve years Ghostley guest-starred as a harried maternity nurse on Ballard's comedy series, The Mothers-in-Law. Ghostley guest starred on the NBC police comedy, Car 54, Where Are You?, with Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne, she portrayed recurring characters on several situation comedies, beginning with Bewitched in 1966 in "Maid To Order", in which Ghostley played an inept maid named Naomi, hired by Darrin Stephens to assist his wife Samantha during her pregnancy. Towards the end of the 1965-66 season, actress-comedian Alice Pearce, featured as nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, died; the producers of the series offered the role of Gladys to Ghostley, who refused it. As a result, in the fall of 1966, character actress Sandra Gould assumed the role of Gladys. In September 1969, after the death of actress Marion Lorne, who played Aunt Clara, Ghostley joined Bewitched as a semiregular in the role of Esmeralda, a shy witch who served as a maid and babysitter to the Stephens' household.
Ghostley's character of Esmeralda was created to replace Aunt Clara's role as a bumbler of magic. On February 22, 1969, she appeared as Aggie on Mrs Muir; the episode was entitled "Make Me A Match". The captain and Mrs. Muir matched her with Claymore Gregg. On March 6, 1970, she appeared on another episode of The Ghost & Mrs Muir, "Curious Cousin", she played nosey Cousin Harriet. She interferes with Mrs Muir's private life. To divert her excessive attention, posing as Captain Gregg, comes to court her. Ghostley's Esmeralda appeared in 15 episodes of Bewitched between 1969 and 1972. During her two years on Bewitched, Ghostley joined the cast of Mayberry R. F. D. Playing Cousin Alice after Frances Bavier's character, Aunt Bee, was written out of the series, she appeared in 14 episodes. After eight years, Bewitched was cancelled by ABC in the spring of 1972; that year in September, she was hired as a semiregular for the ABC-TV variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour. The Julie Andrews Hour was cancelled by ABC in the spring of 1973 after 24 episodes.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Ghostley appeared in episodes of situation comedies such as Hogan's Heroes, Good Times, One Day at a Time, The Odd Couple, What's Happening!!. Between 1986 and 1993, Ghostley portrayed Bernice Clifton, the off-kilter, eccentric friend of Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker's mother, Perky, on Designing Women, she played Irna Wallingsford in six episodes of Evening Shade. She had a recurring role of Ida Mae Brindle in the sitcom Small Wonder, which ran from 1985 to 1989. Among many other guest roles, she appeared in a flashback episode as the crazed mother-in-law of Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls, she made a one-time appearance as Great-Grandma in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Ghostley made a few guest appearances on the daytime drama Passions in 2000, playing the ghost of Matilda Matthews. Among her roles in motion pictures, Ghostley appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird, playing Stephanie Crawford, the neighborhood gossip, she appeared in the film version of Grease as shop teacher Mrs. Murdock.
In 1985, she had a supporting role in the Nancy Allen comedy Not for Publication. Alice played Grandmama in the direct-to-video movie Addams Family Reunion. Ghostley received a Tony nomination in the late 1960s for different roles she played in the Broadway comedy The Beauty Part, she received a Tony award for Best Featured Actress for her role in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. In 1992, she earned an Emmy nomination for her role in Designing Women. Ghostley was married to Felice Orlandi, an Italian-American actor, from 1953 until his death in 2003, they had no children. Alice Ghostley died at her home in Studio City, California, on September 21, 2007 after a long battle with colon cancer and a series of strokes. On August
Delta Burke
Delta Ramona Leah Burke is an American actress and author. From 1986 to 1991, she starred as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Burke's other television credits include Filthy Rich, Women of the House and DAG, she has produced and starred in made-for-TV movies, appeared in the film What Women Want, had a recurring guest role in the drama series Boston Legal. She has starred in the Broadway productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie and Steel Magnolias. Burke was born in Florida, to a single mother, Jean. Frederick Burke, an Orlando realtor, adopted her after marrying her mother, she has never met her biological father. Burke has two younger siblings: Jonathan. Burke graduated from Colonial High School in 1974, won the senior superlative "Most Likely to Succeed." In 1972, she won the Miss Flame crown from the Orlando Fire Department and went on to become State Miss Flame. In her senior year of high school, she won the Miss Florida title for 1974.
Burke won a talent scholarship from the Miss America Organization, allowing her to attend a two-year study program at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In 1974, as part of winning Miss Florida, Burke appeared on the ABC-TV show Bozo the Clown, filmed in Orlando, Florida, she worked as the magical assistant to Herbert L. Becker; the two worked together for six months. In 1980, Burke portrayed the role of the second Bonnie Sue Chisholm in the CBS western miniseries, The Chisholms, her best-known role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in Designing Women was created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. Before Designing Women, Burke spent a year on Filthy Rich in 1982 playing the wily young widow, Kathleen Beck. After that, she played female football team owner Diane Barrow on Ten. Burke earned two consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1990 and 1991, the only lead female cast member of Designing Women to do so. Alice Ghostley received a nomination for Supporting Actress in a Comedy in 1992, for her recurring role as Bernice Clifton.
Meshach Taylor received one in 1989 for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. In 1990, Burke publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the show on a televised interview with Barbara Walters and other media outlets, she argued on Entertainment Tonight that there was a labor dispute, actors were forced to work over 15 hours per day, with executives blocking the doors and keeping actors on set. She said that cast-mate Dixie Carter, who had once been her close friend and maid of honor at her wedding to Gerald McRaney, wasn't speaking to her as she sided with her bosses. At the end of the fifth season of Designing Women in 1991, Burke was let go from her contract due to her contentious relations with Carter and the Thomasons. Burke became a blond for the short-lived sitcom Delta, in which she portrayed an aspiring country music singer; when ratings plummeted, Burke became a brunette again. In 1995, she and Linda Bloodworth Thomason reconciled their differences, Burke returned as Suzanne Sugarbaker in Women of the House, but that show met an early demise.
It took more than a decade for Burke and Carter to reconcile, but they did so when Burke guest-starred in an episode of Family Law, on which Carter was a regular cast-member. Since the early 1990s, Burke's weight has been a subject of discussion in the tabloid press, her struggles with weight and eating disorders stretch back to her pageant days in the early 1970s. She became a much-parodied figure in the press due to the media's incessant obsession with her weight, including in a skit on Saturday Night Live, wherein Leon Phelps from The Ladies Man has a sexual fixation with her. In 1989, Burke asked Thomason to write an episode addressing her weight; the episode, "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?", had Suzanne Sugarbaker going to her 15-year high school reunion and having her feelings hurt after hearing disparaging remarks about her weight. Her performance on this episode is said to have led to her receiving her first Emmy nomination as Best Actress, she earned a second nomination the following year.
Burke has been a leading actress in a number of television films, had a supporting role in the Mel Gibson film What Women Want. In the early 2000s, she co-starred with David Alan Grier on the sitcom DAG, she had a recurring role on Popular as Cherry Cherry. Burke made her Broadway debut in September 2003, when she starred as Mrs. Meers in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, she was the third actress to play the role in the production, after Harriet Harris and Terry Burrell. She played the role until February 2004, before being succeeded by her Designing Women co-star Dixie Carter. Burke played the role of Truvy in the original Broadway production of Steel Magnolias, playing the role for the shows entire four-month run from April 4 - July 31, 2005. In 2002, she reunited onscreen with Carter in a guest appearance on Carter's series Family Law, she played Bella Horowitz during a five-episode arc on Boston Legal as a former flame of William Shatner's character, Denny Crane, in season three. Burke has appeared in a film for Hallmark Channel, titled Bridal Fever, which aired February 2, 2008.
In March 2012, it was announced. However, after Burke fell on the set, production of the pilot was suspended and it was not picked up to series. Burke has been married to actor Gera
CBS
CBS is an American English language commercial broadcast television and radio network, a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major production facilities and operations in New York City and Los Angeles. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the company's iconic symbol, in use since 1951, it has been called the "Tiffany Network", alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley, it can refer to some of CBS's first demonstrations of color television, which were held in a former Tiffany & Co. building in New York City in 1950. The network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations, purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paley's guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, one of the Big Three American broadcast television networks.
In 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known as CBS, Inc. The Westinghouse Electric Corporation acquired the network in 1995, renamed its corporate entity to the current CBS Broadcasting, Inc. in 1997, adopted the name of the company it had acquired to become CBS Corporation. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971. In late 2005, Viacom split itself into two separate companies and re-established CBS Corporation – through the spin-off of its broadcast television and select cable television and non-broadcasting assets – with the CBS television network at its core. CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which controls the current Viacom. CBS operated the CBS Radio network until 2017, when it merged its radio division with Entercom. Prior to CBS Radio provided news and features content for its portfolio owned-and-operated radio stations in large and mid-sized markets, affiliated radio stations in various other markets.
While CBS Corporation owns a 72% stake in Entercom, it no longer owns or operates any radio stations directly, though CBS still provides radio news broadcasts to its radio affiliates and the new owners of its former radio stations. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated television stations throughout the United States; the company ranked 197th on the 2018 Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue. The origins of CBS date back to January 27, 1927, with the creation of the "United Independent Broadcasters" network in Chicago by New York City talent-agent Arthur Judson; the fledgling network soon needed additional investors though, the Columbia Phonograph Company, manufacturers of Columbia Records, rescued it in April 1927. Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18, 1927, with a presentation by the Howard L. Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, by the end of 1927, Columbia Phonograph wanted out.
In early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the network's Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, their partner Jerome Louchheim. None of the three were interested in assuming day-to-day management of the network, so they installed wealthy 26-year-old William S. Paley, son of a Philadelphia cigar family and in-law of the Levys, as president. With the record company out of the picture, Paley streamlined the corporate name to "Columbia Broadcasting System", he believed in the power of radio advertising since his family's "La Palina" cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchhheim share of CBS and became its majority owner with 51% of the business. During Louchheim's brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebe's Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the network's flagship station. WABC was upgraded, the signal relocated to 860 kHz.
The physical plant was relocated – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, where much of CBS's programming would originate. By the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a firmer financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered into talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures, who planned to move into radio in response to RCA's forays into motion pictures with the advent of talkies; the deal came to fruition in September 1929: Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time. The agreement specified that Paramount would buy that same stock back by March 1, 1932 for a flat $5 million, provided CBS had earned $2 million during 1931 and 1932. For a brief time there was talk that the network might be renamed "Paramount Radio", but it only lasted a month – the 1929 stock market crash sent all stock value tumbling, it galvanized Paley and his troops, who "had no alternative but to turn the network around and earn the $2,000,000 in two years....
This is the atmosphere in which the CBS of today was born." The near-bankrupt movie studio sold its CBS shares back to CBS in 1932. In the first year of Paley's wa
