➦In 1907...actor John 'Jack" Mather Born. (Died from heart attack at age 58 – August 16, 1966). He a radio and television actor, best known for playing The Cisco Kid on Mutual radio from 1947 to 1956. and for being the original voice of Wally Walrus.
➦In 1930...WBEN signed on in Buffalo, NY. However, its history dates to the 1920s. WBEN initially used the facility built by the Norton Laboratories organization from Boston, as part of an experiment to send voice transmissions between Niagara Falls, New York, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, as WMAK.
WMAK was closed in the spring of 1930 as federal regulators began probing concentration of media ownership in the nation's largest radio markets. Buffalo Broadcasting Company chose to retain WGR and WKBW while shutting down WMAK and another daytime-only station, WKEN in suburban Kenmore, New York.
At the same time, the Buffalo Evening News was granted a broadcast license of its own, purchased the decommissioned transmitting facility of WMAK on Shawnee Road in Martinsville (North Tonawanda, New York) and re-licensed it as WBEN.
In 1941, the station moved to its current position on the dial, at 930 kHz, as a result of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA).
The station also relocated its transmitter to Grand Island at during this time, increasing full-time power to its current 5,000 watts. The Grand Island transmitter and two towers are still in use today.
Click Here for more WBEN History.
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| The Hoboken Four with Major Bowes |
The Hoboken Four won the contest that night. Bowes said: “They walked right into the hearts of their audience.” The prize was a 6-month contract to perform on stage and on radio and they were earning a lot more than before.
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| The Bickersons |
➦In 1954...Alan Freed departed Cleveland, Ohio for New York City and 1010 WINS radio.
The station eventually became an around-the-clock Top 40 rock and roll radio station, and would remain so until April 19, 1965—long after Freed left and three months after he had died— when it became an all-news outlet.
➦In 1969...the radio voice of Superman (and TV game show host) Clayton “Bud” Collyer (Beat the Clock, To Tell the Truth), died of a circulatory ailment at age 61.
Collyer's best-remembered radio starring role began in early 1940 in The Adventures of Superman on the Mutual Broadcasting System, a role he also performed in the subsequent Superman cartoons.
Collyer supplied the voices of both Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent, opposite radio actress Joan Alexander as Lois Lane. Every Superman episode featured a scene in which Clark Kent changed into his Superman costume, an effect which Collyer conveyed by shifting voices while speaking the phrase "This is (or "looks like") a job for Superman!" his voice always dropping when becoming Superman.
Also pictured is Superman announcer Jackson Beck is on the left.
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| Willie Tyler is 81 |
- Ventriloquist Willie Tyler (with Lester) is 81.
- Actor Alan Feinstein is 80.
- Singer Sal Valentino of The Beau Brummels is 79.
- Bassist Will Lee of the CBS Orchestra (“Late Show with David Letterman”) is 69.
- Actor Heather Thomas (“The Fall Guy”) is 64.
- Singer Aimee Mann is 61.
- Bassist David Steele of Fine Young Cannibals is 61.
- Actor Thomas Kretschmann (“The Pianist”) is 59.
- Singer Marc Gordon of Levert is 57.
- Gospel singer Darlene Zschech is 56.
- Singer Neko Case is 51.
- Actor David Arquette is 50.
Actor Martin Freeman (“Black Panther,” ″The Hobbit”) is 50.
Pink is 42 - TV personality Kennedy is 49.
- Drummer Richard Hughes of Keane is 46.
- Actor Larenz Tate is 46.
- Actor Nathan Corddry (“Mom,”) is 44.
- Singer Pink is 42.
- Singer-songwriter Eric Hutchinson is 41.
- Actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas (“Home Improvement”) is 40.
- Rapper Wiz Khalifa is 34.
- Actor Gaten Matarazzo (“Stranger Things”) is 19.
