March 6 In Radio History

 In 1954...KE2XCC (93.1 FM), the station owned by Maj. Edwin Howard Armstrong, closes down for the final time at 9 PM.  Today 93.1 FM is occupied by WPAT-FM.


In 1959...Pioneer IV sent the furthest radio signal ever heard: 400,000 miles.





In 1981...Walter Cronkite stepped down as anchor of The CBS Evening News after 19 years. He was replaced by Dan Rather.


In 1983…The Country Music Television (CMT) network debuted on U.S. cable TV.


In 1995...the Howard Stern Radio Show debuted in Phoenix, Arizona on KEDJ-FM.





In 2002…Longtime Chicago radio personality (WLS, WCFL) 70-year-old Art Roberts, also remembered for his on-air stints in Milwaukee and Buffalo, died following a series of strokes.

Roberts, according his 2002 obit in The Chicago Tribune,  was known as Chicago's "hip uncle" for his work on AM radio in the 1960s and '70s. And to teenagers of that time he was a godsend for bringing them the rock 'n' roll stars they craved.

According to Jeff Roteman's WLS Tribute website,  his radio career began in Atlanta, Texas in 1953. In 1956, Art Roberts joined the legendary KLIF in Dallas. In 1959, Art worked in Buffalo at WKBW before joining WLS in 1961.

He was one of seven young, star disc jockeys hired by WLS to bring rock to Chicago. Roberts started in the early afternoon slot, then took over the popular 9 p.m. to midnight gig from Dick Biondi. He was known for telling bedtime stories about "the head that ain't got no body" and creating fictitious characters like "Hooty Saperticker," who wanted to go through life doing nothing.

Roberts stayed at WLS for 10 years before heading to San Francisco's KNBR in 1971, Other career stops included WCFL, WOKY, and KLUV. Art's final radio stop was KGVM in Reno in 1998.

In 2005...former BBC Radio 1 DJ, Tommy Vance, died. He originally came to fame during the 1960s as a DJ on British pirate station, "Radio Caroline" and BBC Radio 1. Vance began his radio career in the USA under the name 'Rick West'. He took the name 'Tommy Vance' at the radio station KOL in Seattle from a DJ who had failed to turn up after the station had heavily promoted and paid for expensive jingles which were already recorded.



While at KOL, Vance was recruited by the Top 40 programming consultant Bill Drake, to join his team of "Boss Jocks" at the emerging West Coast KHJ radio in Los Angeles (aka Boss Radio). Vance held the evening airshift at KHJ for several months in late 1965. During this period, it was alleged that Tommy decided to return abruptly to the UK, after running into an unresolvable problem with the U.S. immigration authorities, regarding being drafted for the Vietnam War.


In 2013...Alvin Lee, English rocker, died from complications from surgery at 68.