July 18 Radio History

➦In 1909...Harriet Nelson, formerly Hilliard; born Peggy Lou Snyder. (Died at age 85  – October 2, 1994) . She was best known is best known for her role on the radio and TV sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.  She sang with husband Ozzie Nelson’s band, and played other comedic roles on radio’s Red Skelton Show.

Red Skelton

➦In 1913...Richard Bernard Eheart born (Died at age 84 – September 17, 1997). Professionally known as Red Skelton, he was best known for his national radio and television acts between 1937 and 1971, and as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.

Skelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The "Doughnut Dunkers" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films.

His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).

Skelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was cancelled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971.

➦In 1913...Marvin Elliott Miller born (Died at age 71  – February 8, 1985). Possessing a deep, baritone voice, Marvin Miller began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri, before becoming a Hollywood actor.

Miller graduated from Washington University before commencing his career in radio. When a singer named Marvin Miller debuted on another St. Louis radio station, he began using his middle initial to distinguish himself from the newcomer. For the Mutual Broadcasting System, he narrated a daily 15-minute radio show entitled The Story Behind the Story, which offered historical vignettes. He also served as announcer on several Old Time Radio shows of the 1940s and 1950s, including The Jo Stafford Show and the long-running mystery series The Whistler.

Miller played Dr. Lee Markham on The Woman in White on NBC radio and Howard Andrews on Midstream on the Blue Network and appeared as "The voice of the Past" on the May 21, 1942 broadcast of The Right to Happiness. In 1945–47, he was the announcer for Songs by Sinatra. He played two characters and was the announcer on The Billie Burke Show (1943-1946).

He won Grammy Awards in 1965 and 1966 for his recordings of Dr. Seuss stories: in 1967 for Dr Seuss Presents – If I Ran the Zoo and Sleep Book and 1966 for Dr Seuss Presents Fox in Socks and Green Eggs and Ham. He also read Horton Hatches the Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories.

In the mid-1970s, Miller even lent his voice to sports films, narrating the official Indianapolis 500 films in 1975 and 1976.


➦In 1922...WHAS-AM signed-on in Louisville KY.

On May 16, 1925, the first live broadcast of the Kentucky Derby was originated by WHAS and was also carried by WGN in Chicago. The call of the Derby featured an announcer who watched from the windows of one of the famous twin spires of Churchill Downs.

On May 15, 1932, WHAS changed from being an NBC affiliate and joined CBS. At that time, WHAS operated on 820 kHz with 10 KW power, but the output was soon increased to 25 KW as authorized by the Federal Radio Commission.

During a 1937 flood, WHAS aired 115,000 messages. On March 29, 1941 the station moved to its current frequency of 840 AM and made a clear-channel station, both as a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, which relocated the 840 clear channel allocation to Louisville from Toronto, where it was used by CBL. On March 30, 1970 WHAS began 24-hour operation.

The station was originally part of the local media empire ruled by the Bingham family, which also published Louisville Courier-Journal and Louisville Times.  WHAS and its FM sister station, WAMZ (the former WHAS-FM) were acquired by Clear Channel Communications (which, as iHeartMedia, continues to own the stations to this day) in 1986.

➦In 1964…United Artists -the label which issued  the soundtrack to “A Hard Day’sNight” and Capitol Records - locked horns on the songs from the film.

UA had the rights to the original soundtrack album which contains seven songs and instrumental music by George Martin. Capitol was going “all-out” to buck the soundtrack album. Capitol had the rights to issue singles off the album.

UA rush released advance copies of the “A Hard Day’s Night” soundtrack album to radio stations and stores, after WMCA 570 AM New York got an advance copy and began playing it to their huge New York audience. Capitol issued a single disc by the Beatles, coupling the movie’s title song “A Hard Day’s Night” with “I Should Have Known Better.”

The Capitol album contained the seven picture songs and five new tunes, but could not be identified as a soundtrack album – only UA had those rights.  

1010 WINS and 77WABC weren’t happy about the “Hard Day’s Night” WMCA exclusive.

WINS got a Beatles exclusive from a special overseas source and began playing “Slowdown” by the Beatles soon after. 

➦In 1964…Tom Clay departed from station CKLW 800 AM, Windsor-Detroit.  The station and Clay called it an amiable parting. Clay felt he was not doing enough on his show when not allowed to play the records himself (union rules). Clay’s nighttime slot was taken by Terry Knight from WTRX, Flint.

Knight would go on to become a recording artist with Terry Knight & The Pack . Their biggest hit was 1966’s “I Who Have Nothing.”) Knight would then go on to bigger and better things as the manager for Grand Funk Railroad .

➦In 1974… KNEW-AM in San Francisco changed to country. Today the station is owned by iHeartMedia and Progressive Talk as KKSF 910 AM.

➦In 1974…Cousin Bruce Morrow departed WABC 770 AM New York to take the spot vacated by Wolfman Jack on rival WNBC 660 AM.

Morrow's first stint in radio was in Bermuda at ZBM-AM, where he was known as "The Hammer".

Morrow began his career in the USA at New York Top 40 station 1010 WINS in 1959. In 1960, he relocated to Miami, Florida for a stint at WINZ (AM) before returning to New York the next year for the major station WABC.

Morrow's return to New York City came just as rock and roll music was becoming extremely popular among the baby boom demographic, and Morrow found himself on the most powerful radio station on the East Coast at the beginning of the so-called British Invasion. His main competition came from his previous station WINS, which featured "Murray the K," a DJ who claimed an association with the Beatles.

Morrow quickly became a success on WABC's teenager-oriented evening shift.

Morrow worked for WABC for 13 years and 4,014 broadcasts until August 1974, when he transferred to rival radio station WNBC; after three years there, he quit performance to team with entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillerman to become the owner of the Sillerman Morrow group of radio stations, which included WALL; WKGL, now WRRV, in Middletown, New York; WJJB, later WCZX, in Poughkeepsie, New York; WHMP in Northampton, Massachusetts; WOCB in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts; WRAN (now dark) New Jersey 1510 in Randolph, New Jersey; and television station WATL Atlanta. The group later purchased WPLR in New Haven, Connecticut.

During 1982, Morrow resumed working as a radio announcer, for New York's oldies station WCBS 101.1 FM.  As of 2019, Morrow hosts programs for SiriusXM, on the '60s on 6 channel. Cousin Brucie's Saturday Night Party – Live is broadcast Saturday nights, while Cruisin' with Cousin Brucie is broadcast live on Wednesday nights. The Wednesday broadcast used to repeat on Sunday nights, but no longer does. In place of the repeat, a show titled "Best of Brucie" airs, a compilation of all of his best moments on SiriusXM. 

➦In 1984…KPLZ Seattle becomes the 11th station to license Mike Joseph’s “Hot Hits” phrase.

➦In 1984…Chicago Radio Arbitron Ratings… WGN-AM was best with an 8.8...Urban WGCI-FM is up to a 6.1...News WBBM  4.6...Easy WLOO – 5.6...B-96 (WBBM-FM) dips to a 4.6 from 5.0...WLS-AM dips to a 3.2 from 3.7...WLS-FM is up to a 3.5 from 2.9...WCLR (A/C) is up to a 4.1 from 3.4...Country WMAQ scores a 4.1...WLUP up from a 3.0 to 3.4...WLAK (Nothing but love songs) is down to a 3.2 from a 3.9.

➦In 1984…Capital Cities bought Metromedia’s KLAC 570 AM in Los Angeles.

➦In 1984…WGAR 1220 AM Cleveland flipped to  Country. Today, the station airs a religious format as WHKW.