August 22 Radio History

➦In 1906…The Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey began to manufacture a record player called the Victrola. The hand-cranked unit, with horn cabinet, sold for $200. Records had to be purchased separately, usually in the appliance stores that sold the machines, at a price of $1 to $7. Famed conductor John Philip Sousa reacted to the new device by predicting "a marked deterioration in American music" and said that generations of amateur musicians would give way to "canned music."

➦In 1947...after 14 years as a quarter-hour daily serial for kids, “Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy“, was heard for the first time as a 30-minute three-times-a-week feature on ABC radio.

➦In 1964...The Beatles were in concert at Empire Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, playing to 20,261 fans.  The Bill Black Combo, the Exciters, the Righteous Brothers, and Jackie DeShannon opened for the group.  The show was broadcast locally by CKNW 980 AM.

➦In 1965...The Beatles performed two shows at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.  Mike Love and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys stopped by between shows to meet the group.





➦In 1970...Bread reached #1 with their first hit--"Make It With You".  That ended a five-week reign for the Carpenters' classic "(They Long To Be) Close To You".  Eric Burdon & War were up to #3 with "Spill The Wine" while the song "War" was at #4 for Edwin Starr.  The rest of the Top 10:  Mungo Jerry with "In The Summertime", Stevie Wonder had #6--"Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)", Clarence Carter moved from 16 to 7 with "Patches", Freda Payne's "Band Of Gold", B.J. Thomas moved into the list with "I Just Can't Help Believing" and one of the great One-Hit Wonders of the Rock Era*, "Tighter, Tighter" by Alive & Kicking was still alive at #10.


➦In 1987..."Who's That Girl" by Madonna became her sixth number one and 13th consecutive Top 10 song.  "La Bamba" by Los Lobos moved up to challenge, Suzanne Vega was at 3 with "Luka" and Richard Marx was up to #4 with "Don't Mean Nothing".  The rest of the Top 10:  "I Want Your Sex" by George Michael, U2 fell from #1 with "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", Debbie Gibson edged up with "Only In My Dreams", the Whispers found the Top 10 with "Rock Steady", T'Pau slipped with "Heart And Soul" and the first single from Bad by Michael Jackson (with Siedah Garrett on this one)--"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" moved from 16 to 10.


➦In 1990...orchestra leader David Rose died aged 80. He had the 1962 US No.1 single ‘The Stripper’. He led the band on NBC radio’s Red Skelton Show, and wrote music for the TV series Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza.




➦In 2004...Al Dvorin, the announcer who coined the phrase "Elvis has left the building" while working the King's Seventies concerts, dies in a car crash en route home from a Californian Elvis convention.

Jerry Leiber

➦In 2011...Jerry Leiber, who along with Mike Stoller, wrote many of Elvis Presley's big early hits, including "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock", as well as "Kansas City" for Wilbert Harrison, "Stand By Me" for Ben E. King and "On Broadway" for the Drifters, died in Los Angeles of cardiopulmonary failure at the age of 78.


➦In 2011...Nickolas Ashford of the duo Ashford & Simpson, who wrote songs such as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "You're All I Need To Get By", "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing", and "I'm Every Woman" with wife Valerie Simpson, and who also was a stellar producer, died at the age of 70 from throat cancer


➦In 2014...A Philadelphia radio legend, Don Cannon, passed away. He was 74.

Don Cannon

According to friends at WOGL, Cannon died from an abscess in his tooth that spread to his brain.

Cannon, who was born Dominic Canzano in Yonkers, N.Y., had been doing morning radio in Philadelphia since 1969, and was the morning man on WOGL 98.1 FM from 1990 until his retirement in 2004.   He began his career with Top40 WIBG and has also been heard on WIP, WFIL, WIFI, and WSNI.

In the eighties, Cannon was program director of WSNI and WPGR.

In the original Rocky movie, when the morning alarm clock goes off for Rocky's run, it was Cannon's voice on the radio.


➦In 2014...retired Milwaukee sportscaster Ted Moore, the radio voice of the Green Bay Packers during their glory years of the 1960s, who spent 48 years pursuing his career in broadcasting, suffered heart failure and died at age 87.