Jan 9, 2012
Double or Nothing was a quiz show that ran for 14 years.
Over that time there were four hosts: Walter Compton, John
Reed King, and Todd Russell, and Walter O'Keefe.
Prizes were small, but the emcees were interesting enough that the
program always drew a good audience.
John Reed King, the host of this episode, was a World War II
news correspondent for CBS before he moved to the Mutual Network
and took over Double or Nothing.
This episode, from August 12, 1945, is unique in that early in the
show it has a incorrect war bulletin. A newsman breaks into
the program to announce that Japan has agreed to sign the surrender
papers agreeing to the Allies terms. But later in the show
another bulletin interrupts, stating that the first bulletin was in
error and that Japan had made no such announcement. (The
actual announcement came three days later.)