Friday, July 14, 2023

Radio History: July 14


➦In 1917...Douglas Edwards born (Died at age 73 – October 13, 1990). He anchored CBS's first network nightly television news broadcast from 1947–1962, which was later to be titled CBS Evening News.

Douglas Edwards
Edwards joined CBS Radio in 1942, eventually becoming anchor for the regular evening newscast The World Today as well as World News Today on Sunday afternoons. Edwards came to CBS, after stints as a newscaster and announcer at WSB in Atlanta, Georgia and WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan.

In the mid-1940s, Edwards was host of the radio program Behind the Scenes at CBS.

In 1947, as CBS's top correspondents and commentators shunned the fledgling medium of television, Edwards was chosen to present regular CBS television news programs and to host CBS's television coverage of the 1948 Democratic and Republican conventions. The term "anchor" would not be used until 1952, when CBS News chief Sig Mikelson would use it to describe Walter Cronkite's role in the network's political convention coverage.

At first, Edwards would be eclipsed by John Cameron Swayze of NBC News's Camel News Caravan, but he would eventually regain his ratings lead. By the mid-1950s, the nightly 15-minute newscast Douglas Edwards with the News was watched by nearly 30 million viewers.

Edwards' last newscast on the evening news was on April 13, 1962. Edwards was replaced by Walter Cronkite, and the program became Walter Cronkite with the News. On September 2, 1963, the program was retitled CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and became the first half-hour weeknight news broadcast of network television and was moved to 6:30 p.m. .

Edwards subsequently moved back to CBS Radio, where he delivered the network's flagship evening newscasts The World Tonight for many years.

➦In 1927...NBC newsman John Chancellor was born in Chicago. He spent most of his career with NBC News. He served as anchor of the NBC Nightly News from 1970 to 1982 and continued to do editorials and commentaries for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw until 1993.

During the 1976 election he introduced the concept of Red and Blue states, which survives to this day.

He died of stomach cancer July 12 1996, two days shy of his 69th birthday.

➦In 1957…Master satirist Stan Freberg debuted a new weekly comedy program on CBS Radio Network in the time slot previously occupied by Jack Benny.

In addition to Freberg, the cast included June Foray, Peter Leeds, and Daws Butler. Billy May arranged and conducted the music. The program failed to attract sponsors and the network cancelled the series after 15 episodes. It was the last U.S. network radio show to devote itself purely to comedy.

➦In 1969...WBZ 1030 AM, Boston increased its talk programming to a full 10 1/2 hours-a-day.


Increased competition in the top 40 format — first from WMEX 1510 AM which had programmed a top 40 format since 1957, then from WRKO, which adopted the format in 1967 — led WBZ to shift its music programming to adult contemporary in 1969, playing several songs an hour between 6 and 9 a.m. (though it was not unheard of for Carl DeSuze to play only one, if any, song an hour during his show), 10 to 12 songs an hour between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and 4 to 6 songs an hour between 4 and 7 p.m..

At night, WBZ programmed talk shows, with such hosts as Guy Mainella, a pioneer in sports talk; Jerry Williams in the evenings; and Larry Glick's overnight show. Music was also programmed during the day on weekends.

Beginning in the late 1960s, WBZ made a major push into live play-by-play sports. From 1966 through 1979, and again from 1991 through 1994, WBZ was home to radio broadcasts of New England Patriots.  In the fall of 1969, WBZ regained the radio rights to the Boston Bruins (which it had lost in 1951), and also began carrying Boston Celtics basketball. The Bruins stayed through the 1977-78 season.

➦In 1984...FLASHBACK..from R&R Week of July 13, 1984:

➦In 2015…Marlene Sanders died at age 84 from cancer (Born - January 10, 1931). She was a TV news correspondent, anchor, producer and executive who worked for ABC News in the 1960s and 1970s and moved to CBS News in 1978. She is known for being the first woman to achieve several milestones in the then male-dominated field of television news.

Shortly after joining ABC News as a correspondent in 1964, Sanders became the first woman to anchor an evening news broadcast for a major network when she substituted for the regular anchor, who had become ill. She was also the first woman to report on the Vietnam War from the field. In 1976, ABC promoted her to vice president and director of documentaries, making her one of the first women to reach upper management in the field. She also won three Emmy Awards for documentaries she produced for CBS.

Rosey Grier is 91
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

  • Actor Nancy Olson (“Sunset Boulevard”) is 95. 
  • Football player-turned-actor Rosey Grier is 91. 
  • Actor Vincent Pastore (“The Sopranos”) is 77. 
  • Bassist Chris Cross of Ultravox is 71. 
  • Actor Jerry Houser (“Summer of ’42″) is 71. 
  • Actor Eric Laneuville (“St. Elsewhere”) is 71. 
  • Actor Stan Shaw (“Harlem Nights”) is 71. 
  • Singer-comedian Kyle Gass of Tenacious D is 63. 
  • Guitarist Ray Herndon of McBride and the Ride is 63. 
  • Actor Jane Lynch is 63. 
  • Actor Jackie Earle Haley is 62. 
  • Actor Matthew Fox (“Lost,” ″Party of Five”) is 57. 
  • Keyboardist Ellen Reid of Crash Test Dummies is 57. 
  • Singer-guitarist Tanya Donelly of Belly is 57. 
  • Actor Missy Gold (“Benson”) is 53. 
  • Singer Tameka Cottle of Xscape is 48. 
  • Country singer Jamey Johnson is 48. 
  • Musician taboo of Black Eyed Peas is 48. 
  • Actor Scott Porter (“Friday Night Lights”) is 44. 
  • Actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “Fleabag”) is 38. 
  • Singer Dan Smith of Bastille is 37. 
  • Actor Sara Canning (“The Vampire Diaries”) is 36. 
  • Singer Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons is 36.

✞DEATH REMEMBERANCES
  • In 1881..Billy the Kid, American frontier outlaw and gunfighter of the Wild West, shot by sheriff Pat Garrett and dies of gunshot wounds at 21
  • In 1968..Westbrook Van Voorhis, American announcer (March of Time), dies at 64
  • In 1979..George De Witt, American TV host (Name that Tune), dies at 56
  • In 2000..Meredith MacRae, American actress (b. 1944)
  • In 2022..William Hart, American soul singer and songwriter (4 Gents; Delfonics - "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)"; "La-La Means I Love You"), dies of surgery complications at 77

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