August 25 Radio History

➦In 1949…NBC Radio debuted the sitcom "Father Knows Best."  The series was set in the Midwest, it starred Robert Young as the General Insurance agent Jim Anderson. His wife Margaret was first portrayed by June Whitley and later by Jean Vander Pyl. The Anderson children were Betty (Rhoda Williams), Bud (Ted Donaldson), and Kathy (Norma Jean Nilsson). Others in the cast were Eleanor Audley, Herb Vigran, and Sam Edwards. Sponsored through most of its run by General Foods, the series was heard Thursday evenings on NBC until March 25, 1954.

Dick Clark

➦In 1962...The radio bug bit Dick Clark again - as he announced plans to syndicated a radio series for Top-40 stations.

The two-hour program would be broadcast five days a week and would be produced and distributed by Dick Clark Radio Productions and Mars Broadcasting Inc.

Dick Clark says the show will feature artist interviews and records and will be taped at Mars Broadcasting in Stamford, Conn. Clark was a Disc Jockey at WFIL 560 AM in Philadelphia when he landed the job as host  of TV's “American Bandstand.

➦In 1962...Detroit radio personality Fred Wolf celebrated 12 years as the morning man on WXYZ 1270 AM

He started with the station in 1950 and stayed until 1965 when he left the after refusing to play some rock and roll records.

➦In 1962...Paul Sherman, 1010 WINS, New York replaced Bob (Bob-A-Loo) Lewis on its Saturday and Sunday “Freedomland” remote broadcasts. He would soon join rival 77WABC.

➦In 1966...WNBC 660 AM New York canceled the syndicated “Joe Pyne Show” after debuting last March. WNBC gives no reason for the cancellation. Discharged from the Marines at the end of World War II, Pyne attended a local drama school to correct a speech impediment. While studying there, he decided to try radio. He worked briefly in Lumberton, North Carolina, before he was hired at a new station, WPWA, in Brookhaven, PA.

However, he argued with the owner and was fired. Next, he got a job at WILM (AM) in Wilmington, Delaware, the first of three times he would work at that station. He moved to WVCH, a new station in Chester, which went on the air in March 1948. Seeing little chance to advance his career in Chester, Pyne left after a year and a half. He moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he was hired at WLIP, owned by local station owner William Lipman (hence the call letters). After six months of hosting innocuous programs such as Meet Your Neighbor from various grocery stores, he quit during a confrontation with WLIP management in which he threw Lipman's typewriter against a wall. Pyne worked at several stations in Atlantic City, NJ, and began to change his style of broadcasting.

Pyne gradually tired of being a disc jockey who made comments about politics and current events. He developed his on-air persona as an opinionated host who knew something about everything. He returned to WILM, where he debuted as a talk show host in 1950.

By the early 1950s, television was replacing radio as America's main medium. In 1954, Pyne moved to television with The Joe Pyne Show, broadcast by WDEL-TV in Wilmington. In 1957, he moved to Los Angeles. His initial show was unsuccessful, and he returned to Wilmington. He hosted a TV talk show on WVUE, which was also seen in Philadelphia, and received positive reviews from critics. In the late 1950s the local black press generally praised him for inviting black newsmakers on his show to discuss issues of concern to their community. By 1960, he was hosting a radio show on KABC (AM). The acerbic Bob Grant took over Pyne's show in 1964, and Pyne continued on KLAC. This led to a television show on KTTV.

R. Peter Strauss

➦In 1966...R. Peter Straus, president of  WMCA 570 AM New York - appeared on a program on rival station - WNEW 1130 AM. He was interviewed by Richard Doan on a weekly series titled “The Truth About Radio.”

Straus was told that he probably was one of those broadcasters “who peddles rock ‘n’ roll all day and who refuses to call it by that name,” that maybe he was ashamed of the practice. Straus denied he was ashamed and asserted that WMCA programmed for the largest possible audience so that its commercials and community messages of substantive content would be exposed to the largest number of people.

➦In 1971....Former 93 KHJ Los Angeles night DJ Humble Harve Miller, who affirmed his guilt in court, was sentenced for a term of five years to life for killing his wife, Mary.

He pled guilty to second-degree murder – the unlawful killing of a human being with malice, but without premeditation on Aug 2. His seven-year marriage was described as “stormy and tempestuous” and Mrs. Miller as “domineering and literally a witch.”

➦In 1977....Record executive Irving Azoff announced he would be serving as executive producer on a movie called “FM.” Azoff coordinated the soundtrack – to include a blend of rock standards, current hits and original compositions written for the movie and take charge of a live rock concert which will be filmed for inclusion in the film.



The movie was to be  about the going’s on  - at a major market FM rock music station and the music business.

➦In 1989...KLOS-FM Los Angeles morning show hosts Mark and Brian aired a no-no. Equipped with hidden mics, they took listeners on an aural Graceland tour for the 12th anniversary of Elvis’ death, but they were caught. Graceland says you’re not supposed to be broadcasting from the premises. They called the duo incredibly rude and distasteful.

Glenn Beck

➦In 1999...KLOS Los Angeles apologized for a Mark & Brian stunt after they announced plastic gardening tools called “Black Hoes” would be given out.

➦In 2009...Glenn Beck returned to Fox News Channel after a vacation with fewer advertisers, part of the fallout from calling President Barack Obama a racist.

A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Walmart Stores Inc., CVS Caremark, Clorox and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Beck's show, according to the companies and Color of change, a group that promotes political action among blacks and launched a campaign to get advertisers to abandon him. That's more than a dozen more than were identified a week ago.