October 6 In Radio History

In 1949...Japanese-American broadcaster, Iva Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose), was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000 for treason.

D'Aquino broadcast as "Orphan Ann" during the 15-20 minute D.J. segment of the 75-minute program The Zero Hour on Radio Tokyo (NHK). The program consisted of propaganda-tinged skits and slanted news reports as well as of popular American music.

After World War II ended in 1945, the U.S. military detained Toguri for a year before releasing her for lack of evidence. Department of Justice officials agreed that her broadcasts were "innocuous". But when Toguri tried to return to the US, a popular uproar ensued because Walter Winchell (a powerful broadcasting personality) and the American Legion lobbied relentlessly for a trial, prompting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to renew its investigation of Toguri's wartime activities. Her 1949 trial resulted in a conviction on one of eight counts of treason. In 1974, investigative journalists found that key witnesses claimed they were forced to lie during testimony. U.S. President Gerald Ford pardoned Toguri in 1977.

In 1973...The hot 100..Cher had the #1 song with "Half Breed".  Paul Simon moved to #2 with "Loves Me Like A Rock", Marvin Gaye's former #1 (Let's Get It On") was third followed by the previous #1 "We're An American Band" by Grand Funk.

The rest of the Top 10:  "Higher Ground" from Stevie Wonder, "That Lady" by the Isley Brothers, the Allman Brothers Band had their biggest hit with "Ramblin' Man", the Rolling Stones collected their 30th career hit and 15th Top 10 when "Angie" reached #8, Helen Reddy slipped with "Delta Dawn" and former Temptations member Eddie Kendricks said "Keep On Truckin'".

In 1984...The Album Charts..The count reached 10 for weeks at #1 for Prince's excellent Purple Rain album.  The previous #1 from Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., however, had been in the Top Three every week since being dethroned and was not going away.  Sports by Huey Lewis & the News, itself a #1 album, was now moving back up after 53 weeks of release!  Private Dancer from Tina Turner was now at 4 and the Cars held steady with Heartbeat City.
So great were these five albums that they had made up the Top Five in various order for the past seven weeks.  Another note:  the debut album from Madonna reached the Top 10 for the first time--in its 58th week of release.


In 2004...Howard Stern announced he would move his show to SIRIUS Satellite Radio beginning January, 2006.