April 16 Radio History

Joan Alexander

In 1913...actor Les Tremayne was born in England, but moved to Chicago at age 4. Landing his first radio job in 1930, he went on to appear in scores of serials and shows using a variety of voices and accents, including leads in First Nighter, The Thin Man & The Falcon.  He is believed to have worked on more than 30,000 broadcasts, with as many as 45 radio shows a week in the 30s and 40s. In TV he had recurring roles in One Man’s Family, Ellery Queen, Rin Tin Tin & General Hospital, as well as scores of guest roles.  Late in life he turned to voiceover cartoon work.  He died of heart failure Dec 19, 2003 at age 90.

In 1915...actress Joan Alexander was born in St. Paul, Minn. She played Lois Lane on the radio serial The Adventures of Superman (1940-51) for more than 1600 episodes, and Della Street on the CBS radio daytime drama Perry Mason.  On TV she appeared as a regular panelist on the 1951–1955 ABC-TV game show The Name’s the Same.  She died at age 94 due to an intestinal blockage on May 21 2009.




In 1935...the highly popular "Fibber McGee & Molly" Radio program was first broadcast.
Episode Titled The Blizzard 1942. Original Air Date Was 01/27/1942.


In 1956...the first solar powered radio went on sale.


In 1956...ABC Radio debuted “Rhythm Parade,” a a nationally broadcast rock and roll show from the Flame Show Bar in Detroit.




In 1962...The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite debuted. Over 18 years, Cronkite became known as "The Most Trusted Man in America."



In 1987...the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sternly warned U.S. radio stations to watch the use of indecent language on the airwaves. This was directed at shock jocks, like Howard Stern, and those on your neighborhood radio station. Some stations, the FCC noted, had gone way beyond the seven dirty words made famous by comedian George Carlin in a routine from the early 1970s.


In 1997...the Howard Stern Radio Show debuted on WRQC-FM in Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota.


In 1999…Pittsburgh radio personality (KDKA)/actor/cartoon voicist Rege Cordic died of brain cancer at the age of 72.

Rege Cordic

Cordic was born in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh and attended Central Catholic High School. He started in radio as a staff announcer and substitute sportscaster at WWSW-AM. When morning host Davey Tyson left the station in 1948, Cordic was one of a number of staffers given the opportunity to replace him. At first a straightforward announcer, Cordic began introducing comedy to his program—first in subtle ways, such as reading a sports score for "East Overshoe University" along with the real scores, and later by adding a repertory company of supporting comic characters. The morning show, renamed "Cordic & Company," became the most popular in Pittsburgh.

In 1954, "Cordic & Company" moved to KDKA-AM on Labor Day, one of the first times that an American radio station had hired a major personality directly from a local competitor. Popular Bette Smiley had decided to retire from her full-time KDKA wake-up show "Radio Gift Shoppe of the Air" and move to a Sunday-only condensed version on WCAE in August 1954 in order to raise her young son Robbie. Cordic's immediate predecessor in the morning slot was the "Ed and Rainbow" show, featuring Ed Schaughency with Elmer Waltman cast in the role of Rainbow, the janitor. Waltman was dropped, and Schaughency was moved to the afternoon with a show called "Schaughency's Record Cabinet."



Schaughency lasted less than two years in that role before he was replaced by Art Pallan, who also came over from WWSW. Schaughency took on a new role as a news reader and moved back to mornings, delivering the newscasts during "Cordic & Company." The Cordic show's ratings continued to grow until, at some points, it had an 85 share—meaning that 85% of all radios in Pittsburgh were tuned to "Cordic & Company" while it was on. By the end of his tenure in Pittsburgh, Cordic was reportedly earning $100,000 a year, a huge sum for a radio host at the time.



One of Cordic's most memorable running gags at both WWSW and KDKA were fake advertisements for "Olde Frothingslosh", "the pale stale ale with the foam on the bottom." The beer was supposedly brewed by Sir Reginald Frothingslosh at Upper Crudney-on-the-Thames. In 1955, Pittsburgh Brewing Company began issuing special Christmas-season cans and bottles of Olde Frothingslosh filled with real beer. Since the Cordic ad read "The foam is on the bottom", the bottles & cans were packed upside down in the cases. The humorous labels changed every year and became favorites of collectors. The brewery (as well as a few other small local Pittsburgh breweries such as Tech Beer) released new editions of Olde Frothingslosh even after Cordic left Pittsburgh, continuing until 1982 and then reviving the brand in 1998, and more recently in 2007.

In 1965, CBS Radio offered Cordic the morning drive-time spot at KNX-AM in Los Angeles. The spot was being vacated by Bob Crane, who was leaving radio to star in Hogan's Heroes. Cordic accepted the offer in July 1965, but KDKA owner Westinghouse Broadcasting Corporation refused to release Cordic from his contract until it ended in November 1965. KNX's morning ratings dropped precipitously during the four months that the show had no permanent host. They improved somewhat when Cordic arrived, but not enough to offset the drop, and the station switched to an all-news format after 18 months with Cordic as the morning host. The flair for Pittsburgh-centered satire, it seems, was difficult for Cordic to import to the more sophisticated Los Angeles radio market, despite the successes of similar personalities like Jim Hawthorne.

Cordic, still being paid for the remaining time under his KNX contract, studied acting, and began getting television roles. He first appeared on television in The Monkees in 1967 and The Flying Nun in 1968. He had small parts in a few films, but was primarily a television actor. Over the years, he appeared several times on Gunsmoke, and also had roles in Kung Fu, Nichols, Columbo, Barnaby Jones, The Waltons, and McCloud, among many others. From the late 1970s until 1991, he was heard in cartoon voice roles, starting with The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour in 1976, and also including Jabberjaw, Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Transformers, and a voice part in the 1977 animated film The Mouse and His Child. While he lived in Los Angeles, Cordic would regularly fly back to Pittsburgh to tape segments for WTAE-TV's Sunday Afternoon Movie. Cordic had an uncredited part, as a featured party guest in Woody Allen's 1973 movie, "Sleeper."

Cordic returned to morning radio for a brief time in late 1981, taking over at oldies station KRLA/Pasadena. He signed on for a year, but left the job after just four months. He spent the rest of his career in the lucrative voiceover field, lending his voice to many national commercials.


In 2005...NRSC adopts NRSC-4 (United States RBDS) and NRSC-5 (United Sates IBOC) standards


In 2013…former NFL placekicker and sportscaster Pat Summerall, the lead play-by-play voice of NFL football for first CBS, then Fox and ESPN, suffered cardiac arrest and died at age 82.