Original Amateur Hour lasted on radio until 1952 and on television until 1970. The television version was ultimately broadcast over all four major networks during its long run, eventually settling in as a Sunday afternoon CBS feature during its final decade of production.

The format of the program remained virtually unchanged from its premiere in early network radio. The show was essentially an amateur talent contest, the nonprofessional status of contestants thus distinguishing Original Amateur Hour from Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, which also ran during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Contestants traveled to New York’s Radio City from all parts of the United States to sing, dance, play music, and participate in various forms of novelty entertainment. Those who passed an initial screening were invited to compete on the program. Winners were determined by viewers who voted via letters and phone calls, and winning contestants returned to compete against a crop of new talent on the next program. Between amateur acts, Mack conducted rambling interviews and shared corny jokes with contestants. Contestants who won three times earned cash prizes, scholarships, or parts in a traveling stage show associated with the program. In 1951 five such shows traveled about the United States.

While most contestants fell back into obscurity following their appearance on the program, others went on to successful professional careers. Stars who first appeared on television’s Original Amateur Hour include ventriloquist Paul Winchell and pop singers Teresa Brewer, Gladys Knight, and Pat Boone.

Original Amateur Hour offered a shot at fame and fortune to thousands of hopeful, would-be professional entertainers. As such, it represented a permeable boundary between everyday viewers and the national entertainment industry. The program’s general appeal, reliable ratings, simple format, and low production costs have inspired many imitators in television, including the Gong Show (which resurrected the notorious rejection gong, not heard since the Major Bowes’s radio broadcasts) and, more recently, Star Search.