cole was the first black man to have his own television program. his program began on nbc television in 1956. nbc agreed to support "the nat king cole show" for a while. it hoped american companies would pay to sell their products on the program. however, major companies were not willing to advertise on a program that had a black performer. they believed that white people in the southern part of the united states would not buy their products. many americans watched the show, but nbc stopped production after a year.