October 10 In Radio History

Orville Gibson, Undated

In 1902...Kalamazoo, MI, mandolin maker Orville Gibson founds the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. In 1936 it would create the first commercially successful electric guitar.

Gibson began in 1894 in his home workshop in Kalamazoo, Michigan. With no formal training, Gibson created an entirely new style of mandolin and guitar, with tops carved and arched like the top of a violin. His creations were so different that he was granted a patent on his design.  More importantly, they were louder and more durable than contemporary fretted instruments, and musicians soon demanded more than he was able to build in his one-man shop.

On the strength of Gibson's ideas, five Kalamazoo businessmen formed the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd., in 1902. Within a short period after the company was started, the board passed a motion that "Orville H. Gibson be paid only for the actual time he works for the Company." After that time, there is no clear indication whether he worked there full-time, or as a consultant. Julius Bellson states in his 1973 publication, The Gibson Story, that "Orville Gibson had visions and dreams that were considered eccentric."

Starting in 1908, Gibson was paid a salary of $500 by Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Limited (equivalent to $20,000 a year in modern terms). He had a number of stays in hospitals between 1907 and 1911. In 1916, he was again hospitalized, and died on August 19, 1918, at 62 years of age, in St. Lawrence State Hospital in Ogdensburg, New York.  Gibson is buried at Morningside Cemetery in Malone, New York

In 1932..."Betty & Bob" premiered on radio.

Betty and Bob was the first widely popular daytime serial soap opera created by the powerhouse producer-couple Anne and Frank Hummert in 1932.  The show was similar to their future soap opera creations featuring a poor simple girl who marries a rich distinguished man.  Betty is Bob's secretary and the two fall in love despite the disapproval of Bob's family.

Betty and Bob love created drama all around them including family problems, loss of money, murder, death of the young Bob jr., and bouts of amnesia and insanity.  Poor Bob was sent to a mental institution on more than one episode.  Originally starring Elizabeth Reller and Don Ameche as Betty and Bob, the cast underwent a number of changes.


In 1959...We all have career choices to make.  On this date, Ken Brown decided to leave the Quarrymen, leaving John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison to fend for themselves.  (Don't worry about them; they were going to be fine...)  The group had played at the popular Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool, England in a show that Brown was unable to perform due to a heavy cold.  McCartney felt that Brown should not get a share of the performance fee since he did not perform.  Lennon and Harrison sided with McCartney and so Brown quit the group.

In 1970...The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head, Nicholas Johnson, responded to recent comments made by Vice President Spiro Agnew that attacked radio stations for playing songs that contained "drug culture propaganda... (in) too many of the lyrics the message of the drug culture is purveyed," saying, "If we really want to do something about drugs, let's do something about life... The song writers are trying to help us understand our plight and deal with it. It's about the only leadership we're getting. They're not really urging you to adopt a heroin distribution program, Mr. Vice President."   In 1973…U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew pled no contest to income tax evasion, then resigned.

In 1970...The hot 100...1970:  Neil Diamond sipped his way to #1 with "Cracklin' Rosie" but the Jackson 5 were hot in pursuit with "I'll Be There".  "Candida" moved to #3 for Dawn while the previous #1 from Diana Ross--"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" came in fourth.  Newcomer Free was up from 10 to 5 with "All Right Now".  The rest of the Top 10:  "Julie, Do Ya Love Me" by Bobby Sherman, CCR's double sided "Lookin' Out My Back Door"/"Long As I Can See the Light", Sugarloaf had their song "Green-Eyed Lady" in the Top 10, the Carpenters moved from 18-9 with "We've Only Just Begun" and Rare Earth was at 10 with "(I Know) I'm Losing You".

In 1970...The Album Charts..1970:  CCR set the pace on the Album chart for the eighth straight week with Cosmo's Factory.  Mad Dogs & Englishmen by Joe Cocker was second with the Moody Blues making a healthy move (7-3) for their album A Question of Balance.  The "Woodstock" Soundtrack dropped to 4 and the Third Album from the Jackson 5 catapulted from 12 to 5.

The rest of the Top 10:  Tommy from the Who, Chicago II, Abraxas debuted at #8 for Santana, After the Gold Rush by Neil Young and James Taylor first hit it big with the album Sweet Baby James.



In 1998…Announcer (WNYC-New York starting in 1937, Arthur Godfrey's radio and TV shows for nearly 14 years starting in 1945)/commercial spokesman (Chesterfield cigarettes, the original Kellogg's Tony the Tiger)/radio newsman (Mutual Broadcasting System in the 1960s) Tony Marvin died at age 86.


In 2003...conservative talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh, admitted to his audience of 20 million listeners that he was addicted to painkillers and would be entering rehab for 30 days.