[3] Although Colgate dropped its sponsorship in June 1951, the show continued on NBC as Bill Stern's Sports Newsreel through September 1953.
[4] During World War II, the Newsreel was among the programs that NBC rebroadcast by transcription to members of the United States armed forces stationed abroad.
The opening theme "was sung in barbershop quartet style to the tune of Mademoiselle from Armentieres"[6] and mentioned the sponsoring product prominently.
[3] The theme's lyrics varied a bit over the years, but the basic form was as follows: Bill Stern the Colgate shave-cream man is on the air.
This is Bill Stern bringing you the ____th edition of the Colgate shave cream Sports Newsreel ... featuring strange and fantastic stories ... some legend, some hearsay ... but all so interesting we'd like to pass them along to you!
Tony Silvia wrote: "[Stern] delighted in telling stories about the players that cast them as heroes beyond the reach of mere mortals.
Radio Historian John Dunning wrote: "[O]ften he persuaded top stars -- Orson Welles, Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra and skater Sonja Henie were just a few -- to do guest spots.
One of my classics was about Abraham Lincoln, who, having been assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington, regained consciousness just long enough to say to Secretary of War Stanton, "Tell General Abner Doubleday not to let baseball die."
In 1949, radio critic John Crosby wrote: "Even the word 'hearsay' is a rather generous description, implying ... that Stern's stories have reached stature of legend ...