January 1 In Radio History

In 1925...Lucrezia Bori and John McCormack of New York City's Metropolitan Opera made their radio singing debuts.

In 1926...The Rose Bowl football game was aired for the first time, coast-to-coast, on network radio.

In 1930..."The Cuckoo Hour" was broadcast for the first time on the NBC-Blue Network (it later became the ABC Radio Network).

In 1941...Lorne Greene was appointed first announcer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's new national radio news service. Years before his emergence as Pa Cartwright on the TV western series "Bonanza," Greene's stentorian tones in nightly wartime broadcasts earned him the nickname, "The Voice of Doom."


In 1950...Twenty-six-year-old disc jockey Sam Phillips opened his Memphis Recording Service where, in July of 1953, Elvis Presley spent $3.98 to make his first recording.




In 1968...the ABC Radio Network split into 4 networks: the Information, Entertainment, Contemporary and FM networks.

In 1968...Alison Steele starts at AOR WNEW 102.7 FM

In 1971...the tobacco industry was banned from buying advertisements on television and radio.

In 1974...the NBC Radio Network began on-the-hour news, 24 hours-a-day.

In 1992...The ESPN Radio Network debuted.

In 1997...EAS Rules go in effect



In 2006...former Chicago radio personality, Alan Stagg, died of complications from pneumonia.