Inkstainedwretch
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Yep, 1937-38. That was probably the peak period for the popularity of horse racing in the US. The broadcast of the 1938 Kentucky Derby scored a C. A. B. rating of 16.6 -- which was just a tenth of a point less than the final day of coverage of the Munich Conference that fall, a moment where the fate of the world hung in the balance, and a rating which topped FDR's 1939 State of the Union address by 0.3 of a point.
To give some additional perspective, the single most-listened-to radio broadcast of the 1930s was the second Louis-Schmeling fight on June 22, 1938, which scored a rating of 63.6 -- that's more than anything else in the decade. Not even the abdication of King Edward VIII topped that rating. The rating figures translate roughly into one million listeners per point, and the total population of the US in 1938 was about 130 million, which gives you an idea of just how impressive that statistic is. In terms of percentage of the total population, not even the Super Bowl today comes close.
Max Schmeling was a class act and no Nazi. After the war he became a successful businessman and when he learned that Louis had fallen on hard times he helped him out financially. In the end he helped pay for Joe's funeral.