A landmark musical variety series on both radio (1935-1953) and television (1950-1959, 1974), Your Hit Parade was one of the first and most important manifestations of the musical countdown or survey. Unlike later variations on this format, however, on Your Hit Parade the songs were performed live by a regular cast of singers, some of them famous (Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Dinah Shore). The TV version of Your Hit Parade has been cited, somewhat implausibly, as a forerunner of music video and MTV.

The radio series Lucky Strike Hit Parade debuted on the NBC Red network on April 20, 1935. During the next two years, both NBC and CBS carried the program from time to time, until in 1937 it found its "home" in the Saturday evening schedule on CBS, where it remained until 1947, when it moved back to NBC. The TV version premiered in 1950 as a simulcast...