Legalities on Jack's Move to CBS

[bboswell]

I just heard Jack's first CBS show again today, and Phil mentions that they won't let him sing his song on this network. That leads me to a couple of questions.

This sounds like a real situation, but was it possibly just for a gag?
If real, did NBC own the song, or did CBS just not want it sung for some reason?
Was this "The Thing" or "That's what I like about the South?"
What other stipulations did CBS or NBC make on Jack?

(I remember all of the sticky legal problems when David Letterman switched networks and had to rename the show, etc...)

[LLeff]

This sounds like a real situation, but was it possibly just for a gag?
If real, did NBC own the song, or did CBS just not want it sung for some reason?

I haven't listened to that show in a while, but I think it was a gag. Networks generally didn't own songs, music publishing companies did. It was probably tantamount to Jack saying, "They won't let me play my violin on this network."

[bboswell]

I just re-listened to it, and you're right, I missed the gag 5 minutes earlier where it was Jack who wouldn't let Phil play it.

Earlier Jack says: "Phil, don't start that over here. I haven't told you this before, but that song is what drove Edgar Bergen into retirement."

And then later, the portion I heard...

(After a bad joke...) Phil's line was "Ohh, Harris, they might not let you sing your song on this network but you'll louse them up some way!"