<P> Season three premiered on June 17, 2008 . Auditions took place in Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago from January to April . A televised MySpace audition also took place . </P> <P> Season three differed from the previous two in many ways . Auditions were held in well - known theaters across the nation, and a new title card was introduced, featuring the American flag as background . The X's matched the ones on Britain's Got Talent as did the judges' table . Like the previous season, the Las Vegas callbacks continued, but there were forty acts selected to compete in the live rounds, instead of twenty . This season also contained several results episodes, but not on a regular basis . The show took a hiatus for two - and - a-half weeks for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but returned with the live rounds on August 26 . </P> <P> Neal E. Boyd, an opera singer, was named the winner on October 1 . Eli Mattson, a singer and pianist, was runner - up . </P> <P> Season four premiered on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 . It was the first to be broadcast in high definition . Auditions for this season were held in more than nine major cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, Tacoma, Boston, and Houston . Los Angeles auditions kicked off the January 29--31 tour at the Los Angeles Convention Center, followed by the February 7--8 Atlanta auditions . New York and Miami auditions were held during March . Tacoma auditions were held April 25 and 26 . In addition to live auditions and the ability to send in a home audition tape, season four offered the opportunity for acts to upload their video direct to NBC.com/agt with their registration . This year's host was Nick Cannon . Jerry Springer said that he could not return as host due to other commitments . </P>

When is america's got talent on nbc