September 24 In Radio History

In 1933...the first dramatic presentation for radio, "Roses and Drums", was heard on WABC in New York City.



In 1948..."Axis Sally" (real name Mildred Gillars) pleaded innocent to charges of treason. She was convicted and wound up serving 12 years behind bars for being a Nazi wartime radio propagandist.

Mildred Gillars

In 1934 she moved to Dresden, Germany, to study music, later being employed as a teacher of English at the Berlitz School of Languages in Berlin. In 1940 she obtained work as an announcer with the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG), German State Radio.

By 1941, as the U.S. State Department was advising American nationals to return home, Gillars chose to stay in Germany after her fiancé, Paul Karlson, a naturalized German citizen, said that he would never marry her if she returned to the United States. Shortly afterwards, Karlson was sent to the Eastern Front, where he died in action.

Until 1942 Gillars' broadcasts were largely apolitical. This changed when Max Otto Koischwitz, the program director in the USA Zone at the RRG, cast Gillars in a new show called Home Sweet Home.

Soon she acquired several names amongst her GI listeners, including Berlin Bitch, Berlin Babe, Olga, and Sally, but the one that became most common was "Axis Sally".

This name probably came from the time when, asked to describe herself on the air, Gillars had said she was "the Irish type… a real Sally."

In 1943, an Italian-American woman, Rita Zucca, also began broadcasting to American troops from Rome, using the name "Sally". Often the two women were thought to be one and the same.

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Gillars' main programs from Berlin were:

Home Sweet Home Hour, from December 24, 1942, until 1945, a regular propaganda program the purpose of which was to make American forces in Europe feel homesick. A running theme of these broadcasts was the infidelity of soldiers' wives and sweethearts while the listeners were stationed in Europe and North Africa.

Midge-at-the-Mike, broadcast from March to late fall 1943,  in which she played American songs interspersed with defeatist propaganda, anti-Semitic rhetoric and attacks on Franklin D. Roosevelt.

G. I.’s Letter-box and Medical Reports 1944, directed at the US home audience in which Gillars used information on wounded and captured US airmen to cause fear and worry in their families.

She remained in Berlin until the end of the war. Her last broadcast was on May 6, 1945, just two days before the German surrender.

Mildred Gillars died of colon cancer at Grant Medical Center in Columbus on June 25, 1988



In 1957...MLB Dodgers play last game in Brooklyn airing on WMGM 1050 AM


In 1960…Radio announcer (Truth or Consequences, The Baby Snooks Show, The Amos 'n' Andy Show, Fibber McGee and Molly)/commercial pitchman (Johnson Wax, Pet Milk, Auto-Lite, Rinso, Reynolds Aluminum) Harlow Wilcox died at the age of 60.

In 1977...The Hot 100...The Emotions returned to #1, making it five weeks for "Best of My Love".  The Floaters had to settle for #2 with "Float On" while another hit from Rumours--"Don't Stop" kept Fleetwood Mac in the limelight.  K.C. and the Sunshine Band were up with "Keep It Comin' Love" and the Brothers Johnson were at 5 with "Strawberry Letter 23".

The rest of the Top 10:  Andy Gibb's previous #1 "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" tumbled, ELO moved up with "Telephone Line", Meco's instrumental "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" moved from 13-8, Shaun Cassidy had a hit with the Eric Carmen song "That's Rock 'N' Roll" and Foreigner cracked the list with "Cold As Ice".


In 1977...The Album Charts..Rumours by Fleetwood Mac was #1 for a record 20th week.  It wasn't done yet.

In 1988...The Hot 100...Bobby McFerrin took over at #1 with his positive song "Don't Worry Be Happy".  Guns N' Roses slipped to 2 with "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Taylor Dayne edged up with "I'll Always Love You".  Robert Palmer fell after a long run with "Simply Irresistible" and Leppard had their third Top 10 song from Hysteria--"Love Bites".

The rest of the Top 10:  Huey Lewis & the News with "Perfect World", Peter Cetera from Sun Valley, Idaho with "One Good Woman", the New Edition dropped with "If It Isn't Love", Kenny Loggins had the #9 song--"Nobody's Fool" and Cheap Trick joined the party with their remake of the Elvis Presley classic "Don't Be Cruel".