November 5 In Radio History

In 1948...Jack Sterling starts at WCBS 880 AM.

Jack Sterling

The "Jack Sterling Show," broadcast Monday to Saturday from 1948 to 1966, was noted for its relaxed chatter, joking, storytelling, interviews, features on news and sports and tips on fishing sites.

The show was one of the last radio programs to offer live music -- by a quintet occasionally joined by the host's drumming. Mr. Sterling succeeded Arthur Godfrey in the local show when that humorist joined the CBS network.

Sterling, a six-footer with a trim mustache and contagious laugh, described his style this way: "It isn't pleasant for most people to get up early in the morning, so we use the undersell, quiet approach."



He appeared in vintage hits and worked up a minstrel routine. At age 24, he turned to radio, working for stations in Peoria and Quincy, Ill.; St. Louis; Bridgeport, Conn., and Chicago. He worked for CBS and its affiliates for 25 years and retired in 1979.

Sterling died November 1, 1990 at his home in Stuart, Fla. He was 75 years old.






In 1988...The Beach Boys set two records with their latest #1 hit, "Kokomo," which marks the group as having the longest gap between chart-toppers (21 years and ten months from 1966's "Good Vibrations") and the longest stretch of career #1s (dating back to their first, "I Get Around," 24 years and four months earlier).

In 2011…Veteran radio personality (WEEP-Pittsburgh, WIND-Chicago, WJAS-Pittsburgh, KQV-Pittsburgh, KDKA-Pittsburgh) Perry Marshall died of a heart ailment at 86.