He expanded into broadcasting by purchasing radio stations KFRC in San Francisco in 1926 and KHJ in Los Angeles in 1927.
[7]In 1929, Willson began working for Lee, taking on the responsibility of overseeing music "for a variety of network shows.
"[7] Others who worked for Lee and went on to achieve national popularity included Don Wilson, Ralph Edwards, Art Linkletter, Harold Peary, Morey Amsterdam, Merv Griffin, John Nesbitt, and Bea Benederet.
[3] Programs that originated in the Don Lee studios included Blue Monday Jamboree,[3] Queen For A Day, The Bill Stulla Show, Heart’s Desire, Don Lee Music Hall, Peter Potter’s Party, and The Jack Kirkwood Show.
[8] KHJ and KFRC each had its own organ, dance band, and symphony orchestra as well as artists, singers, and other entertainers, so that each station could provide "a variety with appeal to any audience".
[3] The network experimented with television in the early 1930s, launching experimental station W6XAO in Los Angeles, California, on December 31, 1931.
In 1937, the TV and radio operations teamed up to broadcast the opening of the 27th annual Los Angeles Motor Car Dealers' Automobile Show.
He helped to boost the audience for the new service by preparing and distributing plans that allowed industrious amateurs in the Los Angeles area to build their own television receivers.
[10] In 1948, the Lee operations expanded into a radio and television complex valued at $2.5 million at Fountain and Vine in Hollywood.
[2] The 118,000-square-foot,[11] three-story facility included 14 broadcast studios, four of which were sound stages that could each accommodate more than 100 musicians, with seating for 350 people in the audience.
[12] It later served as the studio for Los Angeles' first education television station, KCET while the "Vine Street Theatre" co-located at the same address and purchased by ABC Television around 1967 and was used as the home of The Joey Bishop Show and, in the 1970s, as studios for The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game.
The radio network and its shares of Mutual stock were sold in November 1950 to General Tire and Rubber Company for $12.3 million.