December 3 Radio History

In 1923...the first Congressional open session was broadcast on radio.


In 1928…A program of classical music, "The Firestone Hour," later re-titled "The Voice of Firestone," began its 28-year Monday night run on the NBC Radio Network.


In 1950...Paul Harvey began broadcasting his show nationally.

Paul Harvey Aurandt broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays on the ABC Radio Network.  He also voiced his famous "The Rest of the Story" segments. From the 1950s through the 1990s, Harvey's programs reached as many as 24 million people a week. Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations and 300 newspapers.

Harvey made radio receivers as a young boy. He attended Tulsa Central High School where a teacher was "impressed by his voice." On her recommendation, he started working at KVOO in Tulsa in 1933, when he was 14. His first job was helping clean up. Eventually he was allowed to fill in on the air, reading commercials and the news.

While attending the University of Tulsa, he continued working at KVOO, first as an announcer, and later as a program director. Harvey, at age nineteen spent three years as a station manager for KFBI AM, now known as KFDI, a radio station that once had studios in Salina, Kansas. From there, he moved to a newscasting job at KOMA in Oklahoma City, and then to KXOK, in St. Louis in 1938, where he was Director of Special Events and a roving reporter.



Harvey then moved to Hawaii to cover the United States Navy as it concentrated its fleet in the Pacific. He was returning to the mainland from assignment when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He eventually enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces but served only from December 1943 to March 1944.

Harvey then moved to Chicago, where in June 1944, he began broadcasting from the ABC affiliate WENR. In 1945, he began hosting the postwar employment program Jobs for G.I. Joe on WENR.

Harvey added The Rest of the Story as a tagline to in-depth feature stories in 1946.

On April 1, 1951, the ABC Radio Network debuted Paul Harvey News and Comment "Commentary and analysis of Paul Harvey each weekday at 12 Noon". Paul Harvey was also heard originally on Sundays; the first Sunday program was Harvey's introduction. Later, the Sunday program would move to Saturdays. The program continued until his death.


In 1955...Elvis Presley's first single release for RCA Victor was announced as "Mystery Train" b/w "I Forgot to Remember to Forget," sides purchased from Presley's previous label, Sun Records. His new record company described Elvis as "The most talked about personality in recorded music in the last 10 years."


In 1961…The Beatles met Brian Epstein for the first time at his Liverpool record store, NEMS. They met again that evening to discuss Epstein's management of the group.



In 1968...Elvis' critically-acclaimed comeback TV special aired on NBC.

In 1979...Debut of Shadow Traffic in NYC.

The company originated in 1975 by Michael Lenet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The name was derived from Lenet’s handle, or nickname; he called himself the "Silver Shadow."  Lenet began the operation as an informal traffic reporting service that was provided over citizens' band radio. Soon after, Lenet began providing traffic information to various radio stations in Philadelphia.

(NY Times photo)

The company grew and expanded into other markets, beginning in 1978 with Chicago, Illinois. New York City followed in December, 1979.  This expansion continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s. During that time the company began offering news, weather, and sports services to its affiliates. The primary business philosophy was to provide broadcast services at little or no cost to their affiliates. The majority of the revenue was brought in through sponsorship deals; direct sponsoring of the traffic reports themselves did this.

Today, Metro/Shadow claims to have more than 1,800 traffic reporters, with radio and TV affiliates in all of the major US markets.


In 1991...Disc jockey Alan Feed posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


In 2003...Canadian broadcast pioneer Allan Waters died in his sleep at the age of 84. Waters founded 1050/CHUM, once one of Canada's most prominent Top 40 radio stations.

Allan Waters

Waters worked in a drug company and quit in 1954 and with partner Jerry Grafstein purchased a then money-losing station, 1050 CHUM. From this small humble station, Waters built his media empire.

Getting ideas from a visit to Florida, Waters returned to Toronto and introduced the CHUM Chart, CHUM Chicks and CHUM bugs to attract teenage listeners.

Waters expanded from radio into the television market by buying Barrie CBC affiliate CKVR in 1969, four television stations in the Maritimes in 1972 which formed the CTV-affiliated Atlantic Television System (ATV), and then Toronto's fledgling CITY in 1978. Today CHUM consists of 33 radio stations, 12 television stations and 21 specialty channels, including MuchMusic, Bravo and Space.

Waters stepped down from the Board of Directors on October 29, 2005.


In 2007...Don Imus first show at WABC, NYC