August 14 Radio History

➦In 1909...announcer Ed Herlihy was born in Boston.

He is perhaps best remembered as a newsreel narrator for Universal-International, but he was also a staff announcer for NBC radio & TV in New York. He was a host of radio’s The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour in the 1940’s and 50’s, while announcing on dozens of other productions.  Herlihy is fondly remembered as the voice of Kraft Foods radio and TV commercials from the 1940s through the early ’80s.

When he died at age 89 on January 30th 1999, his New York Times obituary called him “A Voice of Cheer and Cheese”.

'Ma Perkins' Cast

➦In 1933..., Crossley Broadcasting’s WLW in Cincinnati premiered the daytime drama “Ma Perkins.” Just four months later, “Ma” moved to WMAQ Radio in Chicago and was heard over the entire NBC radio network. Virginia Payne (below) was 23 years old when she started in the title role, playing a middleaged Ma operating a lumberyard in Rushville Center. Her children were Evey, Fay and John (who was killed in the war). One of the other characters in the show was Shuffle Shober.

Virginia Payne played Ma Perkins for an incredible 27 years — and 7,065 episodes.


➦In 1942...Garry Moore hosted a new radio program on NBC. “The Show Without a Name” was an effort to crack the morning show dominance of Arthur Godfrey (CBS) and “Don McNeil’s Breakfast Club” (ABC). A prize of $500 was offered to name the show and someone came up with the title, “Everything Goes”.




➦In 1945...radio brought the news of Japan’s surrender ending World War II.  On the CBS radio series, “Columbia Presents Corwin,” Orson Welles did a special reading about the fall of Japan, titled, “Fourteen August”.


➦In 1957...1010 WINS-AM New York went top-40. 1010 WINS adheres  to a strict playlist, except for Alan Freed and Jack Lacy.

➦In 1957...ABC radio announced an experiment with a “live” music show hosted by Herb Oscar Anderson. The show would be in sharp contrast to DJ shows and recorded music.

John, George, Paul, Peter Best

➦In 1962…It was decided that Pete Best would be let go from the Beatles. Producer George Martin was unhappy with his drumming and it was said that some group members felt overshadowed by Best's teen idol good looks.

It was not until two days later, after one more performance at Liverpool's Cavern Club, that manager Brian Epstein told Best he was dismissed, giving him no real reason, and abruptly cut off contact with the other members of the group.

John Lennon later admitted to the group's "cowardly" handling of the event. Ringo Starr, drummer for the Liverpool group Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, was asked to join the group as Best's replacement. Ringo made his first appearance with the Beatles on August 18.

Tom Harmon

➦In 1962...It was announced that starting in September, sportscaster Tom Harmon will be heard on ABC radio where he will have a 10-minute weekday sports broadcast and he’ll also be heard on weekends in eight five-minute broadcasts. He joins ABC after 13 years with CBS’ Pacific radio network.

Once a member of the Los Angeles Rams, Tom Harmon was one of the first athletes to go into broadcasting. He was an All-American football player in 1940 at the University of Michigan.

One of Tom’s daughters would marry Ricky Nelson and, later, son Mark would become a well-known actor. He currently stars in NCIS on CBS-TV.


➦In 1962...Disc Jockey Bob Crane of KNX, Los Angeles is signed to star in “Send Me No Flowers” by the Laguna Beach (Calif) SummerTheate


➦In 1973...In the past six years, FM radio listeners have increased by 152%, according to Arbriton and a statistic that should give AM music stations some pause. The study covered 8 of the top-10 markets.


➦In 1973...Philadelphia adds its third FM rock station as WYSP 94.1 FM joins the frey behind WIFI 92.5 FM and WMMR 93.3 FM. WYSP (Your Station in Philadelphia) jocks included Tom Straw, Dean Clark, and Doug Cristian with Frank X. Feller as program director. The music included popular cuts from albums by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Chicago, and Crosby Stills and Nash.

➦In 1983...WFIL 560 AM Philadelphia switched to all oldies.

Starting on September 18, 1966, WFIL began playing "Top 40" rock and roll. It quickly became the most successful non-RKO "Boss Radio" formatted station, known locally as "The Pop Music Explosion". The original line up of air personalities, or "Boss Jocks" were scheduled as follows:

6-10am: Chuck Browning
10am-2pm: Jay Cook ("Captain Jay Cook")
2-6pm: Jim Nettleton ("Diamond Jim" Nettleton)
6-10pm: George Michael ("King George" Michael)
10pm-2am: Long John Wade
2-6am: Dave Parks ("Dave the Rave" Parks)
Weekends: Frank Kingston Smith

WFIL announcers heard in later years of the Top 40 era included Dr. Don Rose, Jim O'Brien (who later also became a WPVI-TV weather broadcaster and station personality), Dan Donovan, J. J. Jeffrey, Dick Heatherton, Tom Dooley, "Tiny" Tom Tyler, Mitch "K.C." Hill, "Big" Ron O'Brien, Kris Chandler, Geoff Richards, Joel Denver, Brother Lee Love (Alan Smith), and Banana Joe Montione.


➦In 1988...Shadoe Stevens takes over as host of “American Top 40”

Casey Kasem left the show over contract concerns with ABC. Industry trade paper Billboard magazine reported that the main disputes between Kasem and Watermark/ABC were over his salary, because of declining ratings and a smaller group of stations airing the show. Casey's final AT40 show aired on August 6, 1988. At no point during that final show did Kasem ever let on that any changes were afoot, and simply omitted the phrase "join me next week" while closing the show.

Kasem was replaced by Shadoe Stevens, whose first American Top 40 show aired on August 13, 1988, on 1,014 stations.  Kasem joined the Westwood One radio network less than a year later to start a rival show, Casey's Top 40. Many AT40 listeners were upset by Kasem's departure and, as a result, many stations dropped American Top 40 in favor of Casey's Top 40 once it hit the airwaves on January 21, 1989.


➦In 1993...It was announced Teens are listening to country music more and more. Country has climbed from a 2.3% share of teens in the summer of 1989 to an 8.7% share this year.

➦In 2007...CBS settles its termination dispute with Don Imus who was fired in April after referring to a mostly black university women’s basketball team as “nanny-headed hos.”


➦In 2007...Ryan Seacrest is tapped to host the 59th annual Emmy Awards. “I’ve covered the Emmys before from many different angles and I’m thrilled, honored and excited to be hosting it this year. With my schedule, there’s always that final check to make sure I could do it all, but with the Emmy’s you make the time.”


➦In 2012…Actress Rosemary Rice died after a heart attack at 87. She provided the voice of Betty Cooper on the Archie Andrews radio series, played the oldest daughter and narrated the early 1950s TV series, "Mama," appeared on Broadway, recorded 15 children's albums, and earned three Clio Awards for her work in television commercials – on camera and as a voiceover artist. For Clairol, she became the familiar voice of the ad slogan, "If I've only one life to live, let me live it as a blonde."