September 29 Radio History

In 1907...Cowboy actor & singer Gene Autry was born in Tioga Texas.  As well as producing scores of movie oaters & several hit records, he had his own long-running programs on network radio & later TV, owned his own baseball team (California Angels) & Golden West Broadcasting (radio & TV stations.)  Autry is the only person to have 5 Hollywood Walk of Fame stars [film, radio, TV, stage, records];

He died Oct 2, 1998 at age 91.


In 1915...the first transcontinental radio-telephone message was sent.


In 1920...the Joseph Horne Company in Pittsburgh began selling radios for $10 apiece.


In 1926...NBC incorporated.

In 1923, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) acquired control of WJZ in Newark, New Jersey, from Westinghouse, and moved the station to New York City. The same year, RCA obtained a license for station WRC in Washington, D.C., and attempted to transmit audio between WJZ and WRC via low-quality telegraph lines, in an attempt to make a network comparable to that operated by American Telephone & Telegraph.

AT&T had created its own network in 1922, with WEAF in New York serving the research and development function for Western Electric's research and development of radio transmitters and antennas, as well as AT&T's long-distance and local Bell technologies for transmitting voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, via both wireless and wired methods. WEAF's regular schedule of a variety of programs, and its selling of commercial sponsorships, had been a success, and what was known at first as "chain broadcasting" became a network that linked WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island and AT&T's WCAP in Washington.

Since AT&T refused access of its high-quality phone lines to competitors, RCA's New York-Washington operated with uninsulated telegraph lines which were incapable of good audio transmission quality and very susceptible to both atmospheric and man-made electrical interference. In 1926, however, the management of AT&T concluded that operating a radio network was incompatible with its operation of America's telephone and telegraph service, and sold WEAF and WCAP to RCA for approximately one million dollars. As part of the purchase, RCA also gained the rights to rent AT&T's phone lines for network transmission, and the technology for operating a quality radio network.

On September 13, 1926, RCA chairman of the board Owen D. Young and president James G. Harbord announced the formation of the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., to begin broadcasting upon RCA's acquisition of WEAF on November 15. "The purpose of the National Broadcasting Company will be to provide the best programs available for broadcasting in the United States. ... It is hoped that arrangements may be made so that every event of national importance may be broadcast widely throughout the United States," announced M.H. Aylesworth, the first president of NBC, in the press release.


In 1930...Lowell Thomas made his debut on the CBS Radio Network replacing Floyd Gibbons.

Lowell Thomas

In 1930, he became a broadcaster with the CBS Radio network, delivering a nightly news and commentary program. After two years, he switched to the NBC Radio network but returned to CBS in 1947. In contrast to today's practices, Thomas was not an employee of either NBC News or CBS News. Prior to 1947 he was employed by the broadcast's sponsor, Sunoco. When he returned to CBS to take advantage of lower capital-gains tax rates, he established an independent company to produce the broadcast which he sold to CBS.

He hosted the first-ever television-news broadcast in 1939 and the first regularly scheduled television news broadcast (even though it was just a simulcast of his radio broadcast), beginning on February 21, 1940, on NBC Television. While W2XBS New York carried every TV/radio simulcast, it is not known if the two other stations capable of being fed programs by W2XBS, W2XB Schenectady and/or W3XE Philadelphia carried all or some of the simulcasts


In 1930...New York City College offered its first course in radio advertising.


In 1940...the radio quiz show "Double or Nothing," was first heard on the Mutual Radio Network.





In 1946...The radio detective series "The Adventures of Sam Spade" starring Howard Duff, made its debut. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS from 1946 to 1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC from 1949 to 1951. Steve Dunne took over the title role in 1950.



In 1953...comedian Danny Thomas, who many now remember as Marlo’s dad and Phil Donahue’s father-in-law, debuted in the family comedy Make Room for Daddy on ABC-TV. Danny had negotiated a deal that would allow him to retain an ownership interest in his programs, an arrangement so successful that it allowed him to give something back to the world, in the form of his philanthropic efforts to build St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis. “All I prayed for was a break,” he once told an interviewer, “and I said I would do anything, anything, to pay back the prayer if it could be answered. All I needed was a sign of what to do and I would do it.”


In 1957...MLB Giants play last game in New York airing on WMCA 570 AM NYC


In 1961...Radio/TV Personality Bill Cullen does last show at WNBC 660 AM NYC

Bill Cullen 1954

Cullen's broadcasting career began in Pittsburgh at WWSW radio, where he worked as a disc jockey and play-by-play announcer or color commentator for Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Hornets games. In 1943, Cullen left WWSW to briefly work at rival station KDKA before leaving Pittsburgh a year later to try his luck in New York. A week after arriving in New York he was hired as a staff announcer at CBS. To supplement his then-meager income, he became a freelance joke writer for some of the top radio stars of the day including Arthur Godfrey, Danny Kaye, and Jack Benny;  he also worked as a staff writer for the Easy Aces radio show.

His first venture into game shows was in 1945 when he was hired as announcer for a radio quiz called Give And Take. Between 1946 and 1953 he also worked as announcer for various other local and network shows, including the radio version of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman's first game show, Winner Take All, hosted by Ward Wilson; Cullen took over as host four months later when Wilson left.

After a brief stint at WNEW-AM in 1951 he later hosted a popular morning show at WRCA radio from 1955 to 1961. His last regular radio job was as one of the hosts of NBC Radio's Monitor from 1971 to 1973.


In 1970...character actor Edward Everett Horton died at age 84 due to cancer.  He had an active 50 year career from the silent era of movies to running roles in TV’s F Troop and Dennis the Menace series, as well as narrating The Bullwinkle Show.  He’d also hosted NBC Radio’s Kraft Music Hall in the mid 1940′s.



In 1973..Shooting at KGO San Francisco.

Jim Dunbar

A deranged young gunman fired three shots at Jim Dunbar's head while the talk show host was conducting a radio interview, shortly after 10 a.m., at KGO's studio at 277 Golden Gate avenue.
Although the gunman was just a few feet away when he fired, the bullets were deflected by a bulletproof glass window between the studio and the sidewalk outside.

Dunbar shouted to an aide to telephone police as the gunman ran inside the station's offices. "Hey, will you guys call the cops on that? . . ." his listeners heard Dunbar say. "Whew! I just had a man take a shot at me."

Once inside the station, the gunman shot Ben Munson, 47, an advertising account executive for KGO radio (He died from the wounds). Then, with several executives in pursuit, the youth passed Dunbar's view twice before heading for Hyde street.  The young man shot himself in the head outside Hastings College of the Law and died two hours later at San Francisco General Hospital.

The station said Kwong believed "KGO radio was controlling his mind."


In 1992...First FM HD Radio broadcast: WILL-FM, Urbana, IL.



In 2012...KZOK Seattle radio personality Donny Bonaduce received a painful bite on the cheek from a female fan who had asked for a kiss.  It happened at a Tacoma casino where Bonaduce was to emcee a concert.  The onetime star of TV’s Partridge Family was treated with antibiotics and did not press charges.